Every year, NHL teams roll out new jerseys to sell to make money from merchandise sales update the look of a franchise. Sometimes these jerseys are retro uniforms that are a throwback to the good old days of a team. Other jerseys are a completely new look for the franchise. Last year, I ranked the 23 third jerseys regularly used by NHL teams. With four new third jerseys rolled out this season, let’s take another look at the NHL’s best alternate jerseys.

#1 St. Louis Blues
For the second year in a row, I give the top spot on my third jersey rankings to the Blues. I love the dark blue that they use and the circular logo with the Gateway Arch is a great alternate logo design. Among the third jersey-only circular logos, the Blues’ is by far the superior one.

#2 Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks get a third jersey for the first time since the switch to Reebok this season. It sure beats the black, beige and white they had been using at home until this point. The addition of orange is a much needed splash of colour and seems much more duck-ish than beige.

#3 Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres have done away with the Sabres slug jersey and gone completely retro with the old buffalo leaping over the sabres logo. Now, we’ve got a leaping “Buffalo” instead of a leaping buffalo. The circular logo is still there but it’s quite small. It’s basically the home jersey with a different chest logo but I still like it.

#4 New York Rangers
The Rangers also get a third jersey for the first time since the switch to the Reebok Edge jerseys. This one is in the dark blue colour used in the Rangers last third jersey but this one has “New York” written on it in a throwback to some of their older jerseys instead of Lady Liberty’s head. Not a bad jersey to celebrate their 85th anniversary.

#5 Pittsburgh Penguins
While the Pens will be using a dark blue shirt for the Winter Classic, their original Winter Classic jersey is considered their third jersey. There’s the retro element in using the powder blue colour scheme that traces back to the 1970s (though not using that logo). While I like the design, I just can’t get behind powder blue on a hockey jersey. That’s a colour for baseball umpires, not hockey players.

#6 Chicago Blackhawks
Here’s another holdover from the Winter Classic. The Blackhawks used this 1930s throwback for the 2009 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field and replaced the all-black jersey with this retro design. The only real problem I have with this jersey is the lack of colour in it. The whole jersey looks a little washed out and needs a little colour saturation to climb up the list.

#7 Edmonton Oilers
A couple of years back, the classic 80s jersey was reintroduced as the third jersey. It was so popular that they made it the permanent home jersey and made the previous home jersey the alternate. The jersey is pretty generic as far as home jerseys were concerned. However, it’s far better than some of the experimental designs that are used for third jerseys. That and I still love that dark blue that they use.

#8 San Jose Sharks
The Sharks third jersey is a lot cleaner and simpler than their home and away jerseys. There’s no orange tossed in for the sake of being there. This is a very easy on the eyes black, teal, and white. Those are traditional San Jose Shark colours. The only thing that really needs changing is that “SJ” on the shoulders but it’s so out of the way that you can’t really take points off for that.

#9 Columbus Blue Jackets
Like the Panthers, the Jackets have a third jersey that uses dark and powder blue in the design. Unlike the Panthers, Columbus uses blue predominantly  in their regular jerseys. The old-timey look and cannon in the logo are much closer to something one would associate with the Blue Jackets than a green insect so at least this is a step in the right direction.

#10 Vancouver Canucks
The Canuckleheads basically swapped one logo for another with this jersey. They drop the C with whale exploding out the top for a rectangle with a white hockey stick that’s supposed to make something that looks like a C. It’s supposed to be a throwback to the 1970s but it’s not the retro jerseys I remember. Fortunately, they didn’t go with the black, yellow and red monstrosities of the 80s and 90s.

#11 Los Angeles Kings
The Kings used the old purples and yellow jerseys for one game earlier this season but their third jersey is still the Gretzky era black and silver jerseys. The crest does have the old school Kings crown from the Gretzky era but that’s the only real connection. They had a chance to do more with this one (like purple and yellow) but at least it’s not an abomination like some of the jerseys below.

#12 Calgary Flames
The Flames are using a different jersey for the Heritage Classic but for now, this is the third jersey. This dates back to their only Stanley Cup Championship in 1989. They used the red jersey with white C as a dark jersey until 2000 and the red-coloured dark jersey with the black C took over in 2003. While I like the attempt at nostalgia, there’s a reason why they got rid of it in the first place.

#13 Minnesota Wild
I love that Minnesota brought back the green jersey with their new third jersey. Why Minnesota decided to make that red, Christmas tree knock-off former third jersey their new home jersey is inexplicable. While I like the colour and the traditional design, that logo has to go. The scripted “Minnesota Wild” on the chest belongs on a baseball jersey, not a hockey sweater, which keeps it down the list.

#14 Toronto Maple Leafs
Most throwbacks are from a more fondly remembered time in franchise history. I recall this one from the Pat Quinn era which sure wasn’t the best in Leafs history. The logo on this jersey was used up until 1967. Now why would MLSE bring back a 43-year-old logo design other than to poke fun at their fans even more. The logo really needs to be a waffle.

#15 Florida Panthers
At first, I really hated this jersey. I had it ranked second from bottom last year. I know I said I’m not fond of powder blue on hockey jerseys but considering their regular jerseys, the use here isn’t so bad. Both the big chest logo and the sunshine shoulder logos have to be changed for anyone to take this jersey seriously.

#16 Colorado Avalanche
The third jersey is predominately blue. I’m not sure if that’s a nod to the Nordiques or the Nuggets. I know they do use some blue in their jerseys but that much seems out of place. The black stripe on the sleeve also seems out of no where and clashes with the blue. (I think. I probably should never use “clashes” again.) Getting rid of that weird foot logo on the regular uniforms is an improvement, though.

#17 Nashville Predators
This jersey is very clean and the two checkered stripes are fairly unique but that’s about it. They used the same dark grey-blue that they use in their other jerseys. The use just seems unimaginative. And what does a checkered pattern have to do with Nashville? Yes, there’s a strong history of stock car racing there but they’re so busy trying to kill the history of racing in Nashville with the closing of the old Fairgrounds Speedway, the last place it needs a tribute is on the ice.

#18 Dallas Stars
The Stars move out of the bottom spot of the rankings this year by going for a throwback jersey. Well, that’s if reviving a two-year-old design is a throwback. The Stars put a logo on this jersey which is a welcome change from their nearly blank standard jerseys. It’s the rare instance of a third jersey being far superior to the regular ones.

#19 Boston Bruins
To me, this one seems like their current home jersey with less yellow and a different logo. While I can’t figure out where they came up with this design, I can tell you that it’s better than the last third jersey. Anything would be an improvement over the yellow jersey with the bear head. Mind you, it’s not much more intimidating than the old one.

#20 Atlanta Thrashers
I’m not sure what the worst part of this jersey is. It could be the maroon that shows up in no other Atlanta jersey. It could be the tossed together design. It could be the bird head logo on the shoulders. But I think the worst part is the Thrashers word logo and numbers across the chest. That’s not a hockey jersey, it’s a basketball jersey. Just because the Hawks are more popular in Atlanta doesn’t mean you have to copy them.

#21 Tampa Bay Lightning
I like the colour and that’s about it. It took far too long for the Lightning to make a blue jersey a regular fixture. They had a short-lived blue jersey in the pre-lockout days but that had lightning designs on it that looked awful. While this design is better, I have one small problem with it: BOLTS! The team is called the Lightning, not the Bolts. That’s an unbelievably bush league move.

#22 Carolina Hurricanes
Black jerseys were cool 15 years ago. Now, they’re just cliché. And when you add in bad logo decisions like the hurricane warning flag on a hockey stick, the jersey just gets corny. That’s pretty bad considering how unidentifiable their regular logo is. And what’s the deal with the black squares at the bottom? The red and black stylized storm flags work on the home and away jerseys so why not keep that here?

#23 Ottawa Senators
This jersey looks like it took the Lightning’s third jersey and wrote “SENS” over “BOLTS” in magic marker. While Sens is closer to Senators than Bolts to Lightning, it’s still pretty bush league. Going with the black earns a lower rank than the Lightning despite the fact that they’re fairly similar jerseys. Not much creativity among those early 90s expansion teams.

#24 Phoenix Coyotes
And assuming the bottom spot in the rankings is this Coyotes jersey which looks like a practice jersey. The leaping Coyote looks like it came from a contest for six-year-olds to design their own Coyotes logo. I thought the howling Coyote head was bad but this is worse. At least it’s better than the green jerseys with the Picasso logo.