The top five NHL outdoor game jerseys of all-time
NHL teams debut a new jersey when their squad is set to play an outdoor game. It takes creativity, historical knowledge, and design etiquette. Some sweaters we have seen over the years have been incredible. Let's break it down!
By Jackie Daly
With the 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union Stadium Series behind us, the NHL has now taken 41 regular seasons games back to hockey's roots: Outside.
Dating back to Nov. 22, 2003 when the Montréal Canadiens faced off against the Edmonton Oilers during the Heritage Classic at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, the buzz around these mid-season venue shakeups is continually felt league-wide.
What's one of the biggest debates for these outdoor games? The jerseys. Fans love them and fans hate them. The NHL has given us 82 sweaters that have been released for outdoor games, let's review the top five.
5. Boston Bruins - 2016 Winter Classic
January 1, 2016 the Montreal Canadiens visited Foxborough Stadium in Massachusetts to take on the Boston Bruins in the Winter Classic. This Original Six matchup featured the seasonal weather of a chilly 41 degrees Fahrenheit, with the visitors leaving town after a convincing 5-1 win over the home team. The Bruins may have lost the game, but they dominated the jersey battle.
The nod to history of the Bruins' sweater heads back to their inaugural season in 1924-25 where the bear emblem took its place proudly in-between the words Boston and Bruins. The original jerseys came complete with a turtleneck style up the neck, so stylistically the 2016 vibe is more modern, but with more color than the originals from almost 100 years prior. The 2016 Bruins pulled it off with flying colors.
This was the Bruins uniform for the first season only, so it was fitting to bring it back for just one game. The 67,246 fans in attendance got to witness a piece of history returning, if only for a brief moment.