On Saturday, the NHL released the 2024 All-Star jerseys, this year designed by Justin Bieber’s fashion brand Drew House. This makes sense, given the game is in Toronto and Bieber is a noted Maple Leafs fan (and designed one of the Leafs jerseys previously as well).
This year’s jerseys have received a fair amount of criticism, from the asymmetrical design of the star on the star on the jersey to the colours matching up perfectly with different Doritos bags (what a missed sponsorship opportunity).
The All-Star jerseys tend to generate fairly divisive opinions, given that they are a brand new jersey each year and NHL fans love to critique anything different.
So how does this year’s jersey compare to previous years? I am going to give my subjective top five and bottom five All-Star jerseys of all time (not including this year since we haven’t yet seen them on the ice), and my rating for each one on a scale of 1-10. I look forward to the fighting and name calling in the comments section. Over/under on how many “are you blind”, “get some taste” and overaggressive/bordering on death threats there are?
Bad: 2000–2001 All-Star Games
I won’t lie, it was a struggle to decide on the fifth worst jersey. I could have gone with 2007 or 2008 due to the Reebok Edge piping, or the 2018 ones because the neon yellow just didn’t work in my opinion (but then they went back to it this year, so what do I know?).
But these 2000–01 ones just have so much going on that they had to make the list.
I like that both teams wore a colour, and it was an interesting decision for the goalies to wear white versions (because otherwise how would we know who is the goalie?).
The name on the bottom of the jersey was also unique (and apparently a violation of the NHL uniform rules), but the fact that only one team had it that way was weird. The jerseys also had different collars for some reason.
The stripe across the middle, the logo, and the number on the chest also just seem too small for the jersey. I also don’t like that there isn’t any logos to differentiate North America versus the World.
I think there could be something here, but it felt like the NHL wanted to both try new stuff but also not try to be too outlandish, and the result is just meh.
Rating: 3.5/10 (for the 3.5 differences among the jerseys)
Good: 2020 All-Star Game
Apparently I am in the minority in liking this jersey, but it checks all the boxes for me.
It’s unique in that it has every team’s logo on the jersey, plus the logos are coloured to match the player’s team, differentiating it from the previous year’s. I also like that it isn’t just the team’s usual logo, but a colourized version and picking only one colour, making it even more of a novelty. The lines on the jersey are representative of a musical staff, which makes sense given the game was held in St. Louis, and I love the nod to the host city.
I get the argument that these jerseys are a bit bland, particularly the white ones. I would have preferred if the lines continued to the back of the jersey at least, and a jersey without a shoulder yoke and/or a waist stripe is always going to give the “practice jersey” vibes. So definitely room for improvement, but far from the worst we have seen.
Rating: 7.5/10
Bad: 1982 All-Star Game
After having the same jersey for the previous eight All-Star games, the NHL decided to shake it up. And I guess when they did that shaking a whole bunch of stars fell out and stuck to the new jerseys.
From my count, the uniforms went from eight stars to 51 on the jersey (not to mention additional stars on the socks). With that many stars, you’re probably thinking that this game was held in Minnesota, where the team was called the North Stars, right?
Wrong. The game was actually held in Washington, DC. So instead, I am going to assume that the NHL decided on 51 to match the 50 states plus the District of Columbia. The remaining stars on the pants and socks must then represent the 10 Canadian provinces (sorry territories).
At least if you saw this jersey, you would know for a fact that it was for an All-Star game. Because it has all the stars. Literally.
Rating: 3/10 (1 point for every 17 stars)
Good: 1984–86 All-Star Games
A couple years after the Star Wars jerseys (as I have now dubbed them), the NHL redeemed themselves.
Now instead of stars literally everywhere, they are just along the arms and the waistline, giving it a nice clean look. I’m a sucker for the full length sleeve yokes, and the striping in between the yoke and the base of the jersey lifts this one over the previous year’s iteration.
Add in the addition of the Conference names to differentiate the jerseys and the shading of the numbers, and this is definitely an all-timer. Plus, the first year of this jersey the Edmonton Oilers sent six players plus Glen Sather to the game, so you had a lot of options if you wanted to get one with a hometown player.
Rating: 8/10
Good: 1994–97 All-Star Games
After the NHL changed the conference names from the Prince of Wales Conference and the Clarence Campbell Conference, to the Eastern and Western Conference (one of the first changes implemented by Gary Bettman), new All-Star jersey followed.
What better way to represent an All-Star game then by having the jerseys look like actual stars? Plus, as a Mighty Ducks fan, I do love the eggplant and teal. These happened to be introduced in the Mighty Ducks first season in the NHL too, although the game was held in New York, not Anaheim, so not sure if the colours are actually an ode to them or just a coincidence.
The old school Eastern and Western logos also look great here, much better than just the regular NHL logo like in the previous years.
These jerseys were used for four years in a row, which was one of the few good things to happen to the game during the dead puck era.
Rating: 9/10
Bad: 2015 NHL All-Star Game
2015 was the long-awaited All-Star game in Columbus, which was postponed twice due to a lockout and then the Olympics (one of which fans would hate for the game to be postponed for, and the other that fans would absolutely love).
This was also the second year of the new draft format, where players were drafted onto a team regardless of conference. It was a fun format and something out of the box, which for the NHL is almost unheard of.
They may have gone a little too far outside the box when it comes to the jersey though.
While I don’t mind the chrome logo, the neon green just seems out of place. Like I said, I always like when the jersey tries to incorporate the host city in some way, and not having a single colour from the host team is a choice (unless you try to argue it’s representing the green stick and mascot from the original jersey, which you would be wrong because it’s not even the same green). These jerseys somehow combined vibrant pop with dull and boring, and that halfway attempt between both just doesn’t give a good result.
Rating: 2/10
Good: 2023 All-Star Game
One of the best things the NHL has done recently is the Reverse Retro jerseys, and incorporating it into the All-Star Game last year *chef’s kiss*.
The NHL seemed to take the reverse part a step further, by making the Western jersey teal and the Eastern jersey black, reversing the previous version from 1994–97. Although you can argue that the proper reversal would have been to make the Eastern purple, that would just make it a redux of the Western one from back then.
The game was played in Florida, so those colours were in line with the recent trend among Florida sports teams. The fact that it seemed to actually line up with the reverse as I put above is really just a coincidence.
It would appear that like the last All-Star game held in Florida (more on that below), the design makers took a cue from the name of the arena, as FLA Live definitely fits the vibe.
Rating: 9.5/10 (the fact that it is a complete copy with just colours reversed loses it half a point)
Bad: 1964 All-Star Game
Look, I get it was back in the day so you can’t expect too much from the jerseys.
But just a big number on the front and a couple stars? No name plate? Is this where the 2011 Dallas Stars got their inspiration from?
The year before also had just numbers, but I put that ahead of this one because at least the arm striping was kinda cool.
It does make more sense when you realize that apparently the NHL reused the jerseys each year, so points for corporate social responsibility before that became a thing?
Rating: 1/10
Good: 2004 All-Star Game
Remember what I said about the jersey incorporating the home team?
This was actually the first year the NHL tried to do that, with this game being held in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Wild jerseys were green and red, and their third jersey had the retro “cream” colour. All three of these are represented in these two jerseys.
Plus, just look at these. They are clean, traditional yet not boring even with a typeface instead of a logo.
For me, these are the gold standard of All-Star jerseys.
Rating: 10/10 (only because technically speaking you can’t go any higher)
Bad: 2003 All-Star Game
The 2003 game took place at the Office Depot Centre in Florida, which is fitting given that these jerseys are so boring and generic one would expect them to have come from an Office Depot bin of knock off or rejected NHL paraphernalia.
The jerseys were essentially the same as the year prior, but they replaced the burgundy one for a white one, because that was clearly too much personality (it was actually due to apparent contrast issues, but like – it’s the All-Star Game, is anyone paying that much attention?).
The “unique” part to this jersey is the number in the bottom front corner of the jersey, which is…something? I dunno, I don’t think anyone has really been in a position where they thought “oh man, I don’t recognize this player, if only there was a small number that I could see if I was directly underneath them, that would help”. They also removed the numbers from the sleeves, so that just leaves a large empty space.
This was also the year the NHL changed from the North America versus the World format back to Eastern versus Western Conference, and so that just adds to my disdain for this jersey.
Rating: 0/10 (and that’s being generous)
Like I said, I am sure that many of you will disagree with some (or probably all) of my ratings, so please, let me know in the comments how wrong I am.
Photo from @NHL on Twitter
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