Unsurprisingly, Auston Matthews and Sidney Crosby top list of NHL’s best-selling jerseys
By Simon Vacca
Auston Matthews had the best-selling jersey during the NHL’s 2017-18 regular season. Sidney Crosby and Conor McDavid also topped the list.
The Toronto Maple Leafs’ No. 1 center, Auston Matthews, had the top-selling jersey of the 2017-18 NHL season.
It’s really no surprise that Matthews has topped the list in his second NHL season. He is, arguably, the most marketable player in the NHL — a 20-year-old American talent playing for a relentless Canadian fanbase that, until recently, has been far removed from a culture of winning ways. Consequently, Matthews’ image lies at the forefront of an expansive platform, as his jersey enjoys sales from the heart of Scottsdale, Arizona (where he grew up) to the depths of Leafs Nation.
Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel are also youngsters that will occupy the talk circuit of their franchises for years to come. Although their jerseys promise to sell extremely well in Edmonton and Buffalo, it’s telling that neither of them have landed at the top of the list. Make no mistake: This statement does not undermine their talent. Rather, their placement in third and 13th simply reflects the fact that they do not enjoy the same level of marketability as players like Matthews, Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin — all of whom benefit from wide-ranging sales across their country of play, which is different from their country of origin.
Marc-Andre Fleury’s placement in fourth is also no shocker, especially in the context of the 2017-18 season. The 33-year-old netminder serves as the face of the most successful expansion team in the history of contemporary sport — one that continues to stun the hockey world with record after record.
That Henrik Lundqvist, Ovechkin, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Vladimir Tarasenko are among the league’s ten best-sellers is also to be expected. Each player has earned a significant degree of esteem in piloting their respective organizations — albeit for different periods of time.
According to the league’s official announcement, the figures come from “the Fanatics network of ecommerce sites.” This includes Fanatics.com, NHLShop.ca and Shop.NHL.com.
The complete list is as follows:
- Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs)
- Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)
- Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers)
- Marc-Andre Fleury (Vegas Golden Knights)
- Henrik Lundqvist (New York Rangers)
- Alex Ovechkin (Washington Capitals)
- Mats Zuccarello (New York Rangers)
- Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks)
- Jonathan Toews (Chicago Blackhawks)
- Vladimir Tarasenko (St. Louis Blues)
- Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins)
- T.J. Oshie (Washington Capitals)
- Jack Eichel (Buffalo Sabres)
- Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay Lightning)
- Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Next: 30 best NHL jerseys of all-time
While it might surprise some that Zuccarello’s #36 is currently the seventh best-selling jersey in the NHL, the situational framework of it all makes sense. The Rangers are caught in the midst of an admitted rebuild — as such, they have enjoyed less mainstream success over the course of the past year. Zuccarello was the team’s top point-scorer and a beacon of hope for a large fanbase that has seen better days.