EA Sports unveils new, custom jerseys for Original Six teams in NHL 19

What’s better than a hockey team revealing its new jersey to the fans?

That’s a fantastic question because I can think of very few things. One of them, however, may be the unveiling of new sweaters that will only be available in an online universe, where individuals get to play the sport they love from their couch.

EA Sports and Adidas, who began producing the NHL’s uniforms last season, have come together to design special edition jerseys for each of the Original Six teams in the popular NHL 19 video game. (This collection has been dubbed “The Digital 6.”)

The two companies joined the NHL to reveal each team’s new threads on Monday, and the first thought that comes to mind is “wow!”

Actually, that word was for the wrong reasons, as I honestly have no idea what’s going on here.

“There was a moment where all of us really looked at each other and smiled and said, ‘wow, we’re about to do something that’s never been done before,'” states Adidas hockey designer Frank DiPinto at the beginning of the video.

Well, maybe there’s a good reason for that.

These radical designs are bold, which I can appreciate. People can have their own thoughts on each individual design, but what I’m not crazy about are the ridiculous explanations that EA Sports has released to justify each design decision.

For example, when breaking down the Maple Leafs’ look, EA Sports had this to say (among other things):

“Blending the Maple Leafs logo with the Team Canada Summit Series jersey from 1972, each player wearing this jersey looks like a singular flying leaf with the unified design. The untouched white area in the upper half of the jersey, combined with the frosted blue visor, pay homage to the winter cityscape when the ice has frozen over.”

Yeah, but, what does that even mean? That statement is just a bunch of nouns with fancy adjectives in front of them. And they did this for all six jerseys.

From the outside looking in, it’s a low-risk, high-reward experiment. By only releasing these very original (pun intended) designs within the video game, the powers that be have the opportunity to see which ones fans like. When that has been determined, they can decide on which jerseys may go into production for NHL fans.

This isn’t about a fresh look for these storied franchises. As always, it’s all about money.

Nevertheless, these sweaters are now available in Hockey Ultimate Team and will enter more modes on Nov. 19.

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