Before I begin, I want to pass along some sad news. It is with a heavy heart that I have to mention that my Uncle, Richard Zanni, passed away this afternoon at the age of 61.
He was a great supporter to me, not just when it came to this site, but in life in general. I only hope to make him proud as I am an uncle now to my brother and sister-in-law’s two boys. If I can do half the job Uncle Rick did with my brother, sister and I with them, I will leave this earth a very successful man.
Rest in peace, Rick. We love you and you will never be forgotten.
Now, you may be wondering why that was not mentioned in the title. That is because my Uncle was a very selfless person who would not want to be the center of attention. He also believed in working hard and getting done what you started.
It is in that vein that I carry on and try to make this site as good a read as I can for everyone.
And that brings me to the news piece. The Devils, along with the 30 other NHL teams, today announced their Reverse Retro jerseys, a new initiative by Adidas to sell more jerseys across the league as well as spread their creative wings a little bit.
There are some great looks in there, with the Avalanche paying full-on tribute to the Quebec Nordiques to the LA Kings mashup of eras: Gretzky with purple and gold, to the Hurricanes bringing back the Whale… again (although to be fair, it is a grey Whalers jersey this time, paying tribute to the only color that Hartford and Carolina actually shared.
But to the Devils. Theirs is a tribute to their original red, green and white road jerseys from 1982 to 1992. But, instead of the body of the jersey being red, it’s reversed and now green. Basically, they just swapped red with green and called it a day.
The green color, as per the Devils PR people, is representative of the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey, mythical home to the legendary Jersey Devil, from whom the Devils take their nickname.
Devils Senior Vice President of Marketing, Jillian Frechette said: “The Devils have been New Jersey’s team for almost four decades. Since 1992, through three Stanley Cup Championships, the team’s uniform colors, look and feel have remained consistently red, black and white. The adidas Reverse Retro ADIZERO Authentic jersey program created the opportunity for our organization to step back in time in a playful way, accentuating the Pine Barrens-inspired green that plays a significant role in our team history. In the coming months, we look forward to bringing the storied first decade of our franchise to life through storytelling, unique immersive experiences, and fan-centric promotions tied to this jersey and the games in which we will wear it.”
The jersey, according to the Devils’ press release, will be worn four times during the 2020-21 season, when it eventually gets underway. They are said to be worn in conjunction with rivalry games, so you know the Rangers and Flyers are at least two games where this jersey will be worn – possibly even in a color-versus-color matchup. Devils green versus Rangers blue and Flyers orange, what could be better?
There will be “additional creative assets … rolled out over the coming months, including unique video content, custom apparel and player and influencer engagement.”
A cool fact about the jersey is that the red and green are consistent with the pantone colors which were picked in 1982 to represent the team. Those are Green 349 and Red 032. The accents on the arms of the original jersey that the Reverse Retro is based on were meant by Jacqueline McMullen, wife of former owner, John McMullen, who designed the jerseys, to represent the green of the whole Garden State, not just the Pine Barrens.
The jerseys will be available to purchase on December 1 at adidas.com, adidas.ca, NHLShop.com and NHLShop.ca among other retailers.