Is Devils' alternate currently the ugliest jersey in the NHL?

New Jersey's fresh third jersey, designed by franchise-icon Martin Brodeur, has sent NHL fans into meltdown and it's meme-kings to their work benches. Is the Devils' alternate the ugliest jersey in the NHL?

On the latest episode of Zone Time, Julian is joined by Omar, Justin and Avry to discuss the Battle of Alberta, the most impressive bounce-back seasons, and the small matter of a new jersey in Jersey.

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Video Transcript

JULIAN MCKENZIE: The New Jersey Devils and their alternates jersey, which literally has "Jersey" on the front.

OMAR: It is what it is, pretty much.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah. It literally is what it is. We've put together this summit with all of you guys to give us your takes on this jersey and your own personal style and what you might want to add to this if you don't think it's a nice jersey. Personally, I don't actually hate it. But I'm actually just curious just to start off what you guys think of the New Jersey Devils and what they got going on?

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: Well, I'll answer your question starting with a question. Is there-- what jersey's worse in the NHL? Like, does anyone have an idea of what jersey might be actually worse than that one anyone?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: OK.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

OMAR: I'm not really [INAUDIBLE]. I'm not really too big of a fan of the Dallas one.

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: The Dallas alternate?

OMAR: Yeah, I'm not too big a fan of, like, the black--

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: I mean, I'm not a huge fan either. But it's, like, it's objectively nicer. Come on. It's nicer.

OMAR: Yeah, yeah.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Dallas Stars alternate jersey?

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: It looks like they want to go to, like, mini putt glow in the dark, whatever it was, laser quest, whatever you did in grade 7 for your birthday. But it's like the design is better. The design is better. There's no worse jersey, I don't think, in the NHL than the one that the Devils released today.

I don't really hate it. Like, all the jerseys are a lot better. The ceiling-- or the floor, I guess, is closer to the ceiling. now. But it's just you had a lot of time to put thought into it. And you chose Martin Brodeur to design it. And the result is what it is. Like, should we really be surprised?

I don't know. Maybe get professionals in there to design jerseys. I don't know. Maybe-- I don't really care that much. It sounds like I care. But I don't really care that much. Maybe that's a sign of getting older. But, like, I don't know. It's pretty clearly a failure in, my eyes. But I don't know. I'm curious to see what you guys have to say.

OMAR: Yeah. It looks like-- it kind of looks like the-- like, the puppet from "Five Nights at Freddy's." I don't know if anyone knows that game.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I don't know what that is.

OMAR: If you just Google "Five Nights at Freddy's" puppet, like, it looks exactly like the puppet. Like, it's all black, and has it [INAUDIBLE].

JULIAN MCKENZIE: "Five Nights at Freddy's."

OMAR: Yeah. Just "Five Nights at Freddy's" puppet-- that's what it looks like. And that's why when I saw the first, I laughed and thought it was a joke. And then once I, like, looked at the actual report, I was like, oh, no, this is-- this is serious. I'm like--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: What games do you play, buddy? What is this?

OMAR: I don't play it. I just saw it.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Can we throw up, like, a photo of-- of this puppet here? Like, please?

OMAR: It looks like the puppet from "Five Nights at Freddy's," literally. And this is like--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: This is nightmare fuel.

OMAR: So weird. Like, I don't-- I don't get why it just says Jersey. Unless, like, if they did it on purpose to be funny, then that's kind of funny. Like, if they just said like, hey, let's take off the New, and it just says Jersey and it's Jersey, ha-ha, like, then that's-- that's kind of funny. But like, I don't know, man. Like, besides that, there's nothing really to it. It's just like-- like, a black bodysuit with stripes on it, you know. Like, I don't know. There's-- there's nothing really-- really too much [INAUDIBLE].

Justin's point is, like, do we really need to get Martin Brodeur to design a jersey? Like, come on. Get someone else to do it. Like, at least, like-- because you look at this. You compare it with, like, other jerseys around. Like, the Jets alternate is-- is amazing. Like, I love it.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: That's a nice one. That's objectively nice.

OMAR: Yeah. And I think the Kings are doing, like, a throwback one to, like, the Gretzky era. Like, that's a good one. So it's, like-- and, like, you see all of these, and it's like, what the heck happened? Like-- like what-- what went wrong? So, yeah, I'm definitely not-- not-- not a fan of it. It's-- it's pretty funny to me, to be honest.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Honestly, you know what? It reminds me of-- remember those older-- [INAUDIBLE] jerseys there? They weren't official jerseys. They're, like, [INAUDIBLE].

OMAR: You're saying it's bootleg?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Yeah, it's bootleg! [INAUDIBLE] bootleg [INAUDIBLE] not the worst in the league. The worst in the league are the Sharks alternates because [INAUDIBLE].

OMAR: Oh!

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: The Sharks, you are best known for teal and white. Don't go black. You're known for teal and white. Stay with that as your primary looks. The best--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: They've gone black before. They've looked good with black.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: No, it has not! The best jersey of all time was the Doug Wilson era Shark series. Stay with that.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Those were real nice, though. Those were real nice, objectively speaking, yes.

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: Man, those black jerseys are nice. Those are way [INAUDIBLE].

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Oh, yeah.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Black jerseys should've died 20 years ago, back when [INAUDIBLE] ooh, black jersey. we're edgy. You know what's edgy? I'm wearing a Peter Pan fedora unironically. That's edgy.

[LAUGHTER]

Black jerseys should've died in 2001. I'm sorry.

[LAUGHTER]

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: I mean, that-- that-- again, I can't follow that. But, like, you said it was like the Zellers? Like, it's literally a stock font too on the-- on the-- like, the cursive font is, like, you can find that on your computer somewhere. And Marty Brodeur just printed that out and plastered it on the front of the jersey. It looked-- like, there's nothing original about it.

It looks like lame cursive writing on a blank canvas, which is apparently a no go in Avry's world, and 21 stripes because, you know, that's how many counties are in there. Like, that's too many stripes-- too many stripes on a jersey, 21.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I'll say this, the extra stuff going on--

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: --when they're on the ice.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah. The extra stuff going on, where it's all like, yeah, these stripes are for every county, I'm not here for that.

OMAR: Are you serious? I thought they're just--

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

JULIAN MCKENZIE: There's a whole graphic where they, like, point to specific parts of the jersey. And, like, the-- the strings, like, were at the front. Like-- like they point at it, and it says like, for the legacy. And I was like, what?

OMAR: Legacy of what?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I guess for Brodeur? I don't-- I don't know. Like, I'll say this. Like, the extra-- I'll say this about the jersey. I think some of the hate that's going around for the jersey is a little bit much. I don't think it's the worst alternate jersey that's out there. Like, the Dallas Stars one is pretty bad.

And I think with a few alterations-- like the piping on the sides are pretty weird. I know some people have let it be known that they are pro piping. But I'm a little, you know. And I get it. Avry, you're smiling at me phrasing. Yes pro piping, a little weird.

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: Give me piping in moderation, for god's sake. There's like [INAUDIBLE].

[LAUGHTER]

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: I'm sorry. I'm 14.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: You got [INAUDIBLE]. Justin, I'm sorry. We got to use that clip a lot. Anyway, there are some alterations that are going to have-- that I wish were made with this jersey. And I-- you know what? There's a part of me that kind of hopes that they lead into the fact that they're going to use jersey and maybe hat and maybe the label pants and stuff like that.

But this jersey is not nearly as bad as some people think. However, the whole way the jersey's been unveiled, pointing at all these things that have all just these meanings that don't really care-- however, they were showcasing Jack Hughes and PK Subban wearing the jerseys. I think that's a little bit extra for the jersey that's out there, for a Jersey that if you change the logo and add a little bit more piping-- there's that word again-- on the bottom, you pretty much get the Chicago Blackhawks jersey, what they did a couple of years ago, where they did the whole blackout thing.

So I don't think the jersey's that bad. I actually think with a few changes, you can actually turn it into a pretty good alternate jersey. Because I don't have a problem with black jerseys. I don't have a problem with the way some of it looks. It's just-- I don't know. It just kind of falls short. But I don't think it's so bad.

They're-- like-- like do you guys remember when the Canadians were wearing those, like, barber pole jerseys from a couple of years ago? Those were bad. Those were bad. Those were bad.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: They were excellent.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: But-- but also they were bad-- they're so bad that some people considered them good. Like--

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: They weren't bad at all.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: They're bad. They're bad enough that they were good. They're, like-- like-- I don't know. What's-- what's a thing that's really bad, that's so bad, that's good?

OMAR: Oh, the "Suicide Squad" movie that came out a couple of years ago.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Oh, really? Damn.

OMAR: [INAUDIBLE]

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Jeez.

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: You said that without hesitation. You just had something [INAUDIBLE].

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

OMAR: God, that movie-- that movie-- that movie is tough. But it has Will Smith in it. So, like, it has some endearing-- endearing parts of it. But, yeah, the movie's tough.

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: I will say if there's an endearing part of the jersey, the numbers look pretty good, and that's why it might look OK on the ice because you'll see a lot of the back of the jerseys. The numbers look pretty smart. So it might look OK. But again, all jerseys in the NHL pretty much look OK at this point. So that's not really saying much, to be honest.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I guess. All right. I think we've delivered enough-- we've had enough deliberation over the state of Jersey and the way that their-- well, actually, sorry, New Jersey [INAUDIBLE].

OMAR: The team or the sweater.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: --state. I guess the sweater. But also someone-- some-- someone might take it as me saying New Jersey's a state. But I don't think it's actually a state.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Yeah, it's a state.

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: Oh, it's a state. Can we scrub that? No.

[LAUGHTER]

OMAR: Oh, that was awesome.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Wait, Julian, you went-- wait, you went to school in New York, Julian. How do you not know that?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: No, no, no, no. It's just, you know, I went to school in New York not New Jersey.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Still. Jersey's right over there, though.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I know. I know. I'm very much aware. But I know, like, with DC, it's not a state. It's-- I don't know what the actual word for DC is. But like--

OMAR: Isn't it, like, District of Columbia?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: It's district.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I guess it's a District of Columbia in America. I don't know. Well, what? Look, you're getting mad at me about New Jersey and being hesitant about calling it a state. I'm sure if you go to-- you know what? Let me not insult the intelligence of some people in America. That's not very fair to do.

OK. We can scrub that, I guess, from the episode. Before I get myself in more trouble, yeah, this was another scintillating edition of "Zone Time." Sorry if it seemed as if I was going to make some bad joke about how people in America might not actually know about all the provinces we have up here. We can't insult the intelligence of anyone on the show because there are a lot of smart people everywhere.

But also, there's some other smart people here. Avry, Omar, Justin, thank you so much for tuning in and being on with me for this week's edition of "Zone Time." Hopefully I don't get canceled, I guess. Peace.