Adidas and the NHL launched their Reverse Retro 2.0 hockey jerseys on October 20, after a full day of online speculation following the terrible teasers that fans were given on the 19^th. While a handful of jerseys had leaked and another handful had details leak, finally getting to see all 32 was amazing.

I do have to question the ad campaign of History Never Repeats, when clearly a handful of these jerseys are repeat designs of the Reverse Retro’s first campaign.

If you’re interested in purchasing the jerseys, I suggest preordering them from team stores, or checking the Adidas, NHL, or Cool Hockey websites when the jerseys officially drop on November 15. I know Tampa’s already sold out on their presale and has told people to come back to the website on November 7. I haven’t heard if other teams are sold out. Anyway, on with my rankings.

1-Los Angeles-The Kings take the crown in my book. They took the 80s yellow crown jersey and made it white. It’s always nice to see the gold and Forum blue (I know, it really is a ‘royal’ purple) on a Kings jersey. The Kings accomplished this RR just as they did the first one, they nailed it!

2-Buffalo-The “Goathead” is back, and it’s back big time. The Sabres had already announced the return of the black and red “goathead” as an alternate, so they doubled down with this RR, using their original and current team colors.

3-Dallas-The Stars honor their first season in the big D, using black and victory green with white and silver accents. The shoulder patches have the state of Texas image with a “D”. It’s a sharp look to the Stars jersey.

4-Winnipeg-The Jets remixed the original NHL Winnipeg 90’s logo in the team’s current colors. This white jersey looks amazing with light blue and navy logo and striping. A winner in my honest opinion.

5-Vancouver-The Canucks jersey was the first RR 2.0 I saw. It was leaked ages ago. It looked amazing then, and it’s still tops in my book. I like the Johnny Canuck character and he looks great on the navy jersey with the green and white stripes.

6-Toronto-The Leafs are one of the teams that have a hard task when it comes to reversing. There’s plenty of retro but reversing it with only two colors is a difficult task. They used grey last time and got criticized, so this design looks like they said, ‘Let’s stick with what we know.’ It goes back to a 60s Stanley Cup championship. In keeping with the retro vibe the names and numbers will be in felt.

7-Pittsburgh-The Penguins chose the popular 1993 RoboPenguin and put it on a black jersey. It was rejected for the ’93 RoboPenguin jersey Lemieux and Jagr wore back in the day, so now Crosby and the rest of today’s Pens get their own version of the RoboPenguin.

8-New Jersey-The Devils took their original design and added the franchise’s other original colors of yellow and blue (dating back to the KC Scouts and Colorado Rockies, although Adidas only mention the Rockies in the press release!). It’s a nice nod to the past, even if Devils fans object to Rangers colors.

9-Seattle-Despite the fact it’s difficult for a 2nd year team to go retro when they already used inspiration from a previous team for their look (the Metropolitans), Seattle still did it, so I’m told. It’s reported by some sources (but not Adidas) that they took their cue for the RR from the Seattle Ironmen. Either way, I like this jersey.

10-Boston-Another popular design returns with the Bruins “Pooh” bear. This jersey is the 1995 third jersey in white, rather than gold. The jersey originally was worn in the first NHL third jersey game, and was a hit with fans. This version picks up where the 90s left off. Thumbs up from me.

11-Edmonton-The Oilers bring back another early third design with Todd McFarlane’s gear logo. This time orange makes an appearance. The crest features a gear surrounding an orange oil drop with each bolt hub representing one of the team’s Stanley Cup championships. The design is classy and a winner.

12-Anaheim-The Ducks go back to the beginning of the team. They took the original Mighty Ducks logo and reversed it by using today’s colors to accent a white jersey base. Now, if we could just get Teemu Selanne, Paul Kariya, and Guy Hebert back on the ice for a team picture. What a look!

13-San Jose-The Sharks have thrown it back to the 1974 California Golden Seals with a Sharks wordmark in Seals font and colors. I originally thought that this was going to be tops, but looking back on other designs the Seals had, I’m disappointed. I feel the Sharks could’ve gone the route of designing a Shark logo similar to the non-wordmark Seals logos. But, the colors and font still put this in the top half.

14-Philadelphia-The Flyers honor the 1974 and 75 Stanley Cup wins by remixing the design in a white and black with orange accents. It’s a sharp look, that’ll look even better in the pre-game skates with those old Cooperall pants.

15-Washington-The “screaming eagle” returns, again. This design would probably be higher if we hadn’t gotten it with the last set of RRs. It’s still a great design, which I prefer in the red of the last retro. I think I’d have preferred a throwback to the Capitol with this color scheme, but it’s still a good looking jersey.

16-Vegas-The Golden Knights design is said to be an imaginary version of what their third jersey might have looked like in 1995. The cool font of the wordmark, inspired by vintage hotel signage on the strip, and the glow-in-the-dark stars incorporated in the crest made this one a top half surprise for me.

17-St. Louis-The Blues design comes from a prototype worn by owners a year before the team hit the ice. The reverse portion of the design is it’s yellow, instead of white or blue. This is the first time the team’s worn a yellow jersey. I love this design, having seen pictures of the original in the book Fabric of the Game: The Stories Behind the NHL’s Names, Logos, and Uniforms by Chris Creamer and Todd Radom before the RR release. Where the jersey drops down to the middle of the list is the color, I’m not a fan of yellow, which will come become apparent with where another yellow jersey ranks.

18-New York Rangers-The “Lady Liberty” returns, again. While I like the design, it seems overplayed. I also didn’t like that when they replaced navy from the last RR with blue, they kept navy in the mix with the outline and striping. I think I’d have rather just seen the blue. I also feel a jersey featuring the shield could’ve been a better option.

19-New York Islanders-We want fish sticks! The most tumultuous time in Isles history can be remembered once again. The Fisherman jersey’s back, and it looks pretty good. The nit-picks being that it’s missing a lot of the teal from the 1995 version. Also, where are the lighthouse patches? If RRs are done again, I’d like to see a lighthouse design for the Isles.

20-Minnesota-The Wild honor the 1978 North Stars with a jersey the Wild’s logo. This one, while beautiful, ranks this low because it’s another case of ‘Haven’t we seen this before?’ It seems pretty much like they just reversed the last RR. Question, will the Wild manage to swing a jersey ad buy from Subway?

21-Arizona-Can we say it’s a case of de ja vu all over again? That’s the reason this one featuring a new NHL jersey color (desert sienna) ranks so low. It’s a nice taken on the 1998 – 2003 third jersey, but we’ve seen it before…just in a different color.

22-Montreal-The Habs are another team that it’s tricky for them to reverse their design. They did an amazing job last time with the blue RR. This year’s version throws back to a 1979 jersey, but can anyone really tell what year the design is from? The reversal portion is the powder blue color said to be inspired by the city’s colors, but really is a nod to the Expos. Nothing against the classic design, but powder blue just doesn’t feel right for hockey. (Btw, I know I’m contradicting myself because I like the light blue on the Jets jersey, but it’s not a dominate color on the Jets.)

23-Carolina-The Hurricanes current road jersey gets remixed in red. It has two sets of hurricane warning flags on the shoulders. This one was disappointing to me. I’d heard they’d be doing a Hartford Whalers throwback in Canes colors. I think that would’ve been amazing, but I understand they’ve beat the Whalers design to death. I’m not sure what they should’ve done, but I feel like this design wasn’t it.

24-Calgary-The Flames use the 1995 “pedestal” jersey design, but in black. I’m not a big fan of the pedestal, but Calgary did accomplish the reverse part on the assignment. They also gave some fans something else they’d been wanting, but nothing beats the return of Blasty. Guess that’s why the Blasty RR will now be an alternate jersey for the team.

25-Florida-The Panthers went back to 1998 with their RR featuring a powder blue jersey that includes their current colors of navy, yellow, and red. The crest with the sun, palm tree and stick logo that was originally on the shoulder of the 98 jersey is cool, but the mix of colors doesn’t appeal to me.

26-Tampa Bay-Tampa brought back their 1997 storm third in white. The storm was in the first wave of 90s thirds. It features rain, sea, and lightning sublimated. It probably is the ugliest of the jerseys, but rates a bit higher because they gave fans what they want and fit the RR assignment.

27-Chicago-The Hawks reverse the black and red from the classic 1938 jersey. This RR features a wordmark inspired by the 2019 Winter Classic crest. This one is a yawn, but it one-ups the next one because it does have the team logo as a shoulder patch.

28-Detroit-The Wings use the 1991 NHL 75^th Anniversary jersey as inspiration. This time they use black and red. The crest features a wordmark inspired by the 20s Cougars jersey. I feel like Chicago and Detroit had the same designer. No Winged Wheel on this jersey, that’s why it’s below the Hawks.

29-Ottawa-The Senators combined their 2006-07 jersey and 1997 third jersey. It’s just kind of meh… for me. There’s the swishing stripes to maybe create excitement, but Senators jerseys have never been terribly exciting.

30-Columbus-Another one that disappointed. For some reason, I thought they were going to do something with the cannon alternate. So, this reimagining of the original third in black body with navy stripes and stars on the sleeves was disappointing. I also don’t think the navy, light blue, and black gel that well together.

31-Colorado-The Champs come back with a RR that pays tribute to the state flag. While I know the crest is from the state flag, that circle inside the C always annoys me. I didn’t like the original version and I don’t like this one done in Colorado Rockies hockey colors. That’s just the way it is.

32-Nashville-The Predators have brought back the Mustard cat, but in yellow instead of the ugly mustard. Although, the yellow is not an improvement and really isn’t a reversal. The design was from the team’s first third jersey from 2001. It was ugly then, and it’s ugly now. It’d be much higher on my list if they had made it a navy jersey, a true reverse. The team knows fans want a navy jersey. They just ran an ad trying to unload more of their navy Smashville jerseys that even said so, a day after the release of another yellow jersey.