There was a very interesting Tweet over the weekend from The Hockey News editor Ryan Kennedy, who shares the news that the NHL is considering returning to white jerseys at home and dark jerseys on the road. In addition, Kennedy hints that in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the NHL might even consider some color vs. color games.
Exciting sartorial gossip: I'm told the NHL might switch back to white jerseys at home, dark jerseys on the road in the next CBA. But could we ever see dark on dark sometimes, I wonder? Red Detroit vs. Blue Toronto, for example.
— Ryan Kennedy (@THNRyanKennedy) February 15, 2025
This would be a fantastic development.
As you may be aware, the history of NHL home sweater color has changed over the many decades the NHL has been in existence. Briefly, there have been four distinct “eras.” From its founding until 1955-56, there was no home sweater requirement, and in fact, up until the 1950s, some teams (like the Rangers) only had one jersey. From 1955-56 until 1970-71, the NHL mandated that home teams wear colors and visiting teams wear white, which is the same protocol as today. Then things reversed themselves. From 1970-71 until 2003-04, home teams wore white sweaters. And from 2003-04 until today, the arrangement is for home teams to wear a color jersey.
There have been a few games since 2003 where the home team has worn white, but they’ve needed to inform the visiting club of this so the road team brings along a set of color jerseys for contrast.
Real old-time traditionalists probably prefer home teams to wear color sweaters, as that was the style from 1955-1971, but for Generation X’ers like myself, we grew up in that sweet spot when home jerseys were always white, and road teams wore their darks. Younger viewers, on the other hand, may have only grown up after the 2003 reversal, and so for them, dark at home is all they’ve ever known.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both systems: dark at home means teams can wear third jerseys (which are almost always color), which of course has a merch-driven component to it. But it also means that all road teams will be in white sweaters, so home fans will basically always see the same color matchups.
If you’re not already aware, I’m a big prononent of white at home (as God intended), and that’s almost entirely because for the first 30+ years of my hockey-watching life, that was the way things were. But in a way it goes even deeper than that. Back then, MLB and NBA teams wore white at home, so it felt right — I always wondered, growing up, why the NFL mostly had home teams in dark jerseys, and in my youth this always struck me as odd.
White at home in the NHL was, to me anyway, something special. I was fortunate to come of age when the Islanders won four straight cups (1980-83) and the protocol was white at home. But before cable television, only Islanders road games were broadcast on network TV. To see them in their white sweaters meant I either had to attend a game in person, or catch a very rare national broadcast with the Isles at the Coliseum. That made seeing the team in home white even more special. Once cable arrived, seeing the team in their home whites was a much more regular occurrence, but it was still special.
As far as color vs. color games, this also intrigues me as a possibility. As I noted in my article on the Four Nations Face-Off, half of those games are color vs. color — but not every color vs. color game looks good. I would hope if the NHL does go this route and encourage more color vs. color games, they’ll be judicious in which games (and which dark vs. dark jerseys) they’re permitted.
I’m not so sure I’d want to see the Red Wings in red vs. Maple Leafs in blue, but there are plenty of good potential color vs. color matchups out there. For outdoor games however, like the 2014 Winter Classic above, I’d be very OK with color vs. color.
The NHL’s current CBA agreement is set to expire in September of 2026, so it’s unlikely we’d see any of these changes before the 2026-27 NHL season. But the NHL and NHL Players’ Association are expected to begin talks on a new collective bargaining agreement early in 2025, so we may have some movement on the white at home issue in the not too distant future.
What do you guys think? Do you prefer white or dark at home? Is that a function of what you grew up with (or are just plain used to seeing), or do you really prefer one or the other?
Discuss.
The 2014 Winter Classic was Red Wings in red vs Maple Leafs in blue and I thought it looked fine. Watching the USA vs Canada made me wonder if the NHL would do more color on color and I hope they do.
F-I-N-E is a weird way to spell ‘spectacular’
They need to do what they do in major junior. Best of both worlds. Dark at home first half of season. White at home second half and playoffs. Or vice versa.
In major junior they make the switch after Christmas break. This way you can get white at home, but also colour at home. Many 3rd uniforms are dark and would be good to still see them worn at home.
^ THIS! 100%^
I am a color vs Color person even though I grew up with white at home.
And it suitations where there is a clash [Washington @ Detroit] the Caps could wear white, blue or Detroit could go with white.
I would argue against color vs color specifically because of color blindness. Recall that that was a big issue during color rush for the NFL. Obviously with some forethought and planning that could be avoided.
I’d argue also that one of the reasons color vs. color didn’t work all the way up through the late nineties is black and white photos were still common in newspapers (which themselves were still common), which would make it hard to differentiate players. I’m all for it, though, assuming they can do it in a way that isn’t exclusionary to any fans.
Gen x who prefers color at home. Color brings vibrancy to a fan base and seeing the stands in home team jerseys like black in Pittsburgh or red in Montreal looks amazing.
As a Gen-X, I have always preferred white at home, as I spent the late 70s and early 80s going to Penguins games. I have mixed feelings on color vs. color, but I think that says more about me than color vs. color! (Must…follow…the…system!)
As a Gen-X’er like you, white at home was ALWAYS the norm, and I’m STILL not used to seeing certain teams wear their colors at home (The dominant Canadiens of the late 70s were unbeatable at the old Forum in their home whites – the home red STILL looks wrong to me!) Secondly, my family has had LA Kings season seats for 50 years! So I miss the days when the road teams would visit with a rainbow of dark colors…red, blue, black, green, orange, teal. Bring back the home whites!!!
As you mentioned, many of our opinions are influenced by our age/era. So being a milennial, I prefer color at home. However, it goes beyond just that for me; I prefer color at home across all sports. I believe, aesthetically speaking, color is stronger than white. It embodies character, richness, and boldness, moreso than white. If the league reverted here, home fans would very rarely see their team wearing color (I guess just in instances of special color on color games), which doesn’t seem right to me. I can’t imagine going to a lifetime of Ravens, O’s, and Caps games seeing nothing but white; yes, the O’s wear home whites, but also regularly wear orange or black alternates. I don’t mind when they wear their standard whites (so clean!), but there’s something special about watching them in color. But as we both stated, each age/era has their own opinion, influenced by nostalgia.
Though my first 13 years of watching hockey they wore white at home, I prefer color sweaters at home.
My thoughts don’t align with what you said about baseball, because most teams wear gray on the road, though that’s changed a lot recently. Baseball seems like it’s out of control.
I grew up a Cowboys fan. I’m a Gen-X, so white at home for all my teams seems the way God intended it to be. But color vs color would be nice when possible.
Color vs color for me. I like the way English football traditionally does it. It’s not “home and away,” it’s “primary and change,” or “primary and clash.” You wear your primary colored uniform whenever possible. If it clashes with the home team’s shirt, then you have a secondary uniform to avoid the clash. Home team decides on their uniform, away team has to defer and wear their clash uniform if a color issue arises.
On the one hand, the first/second uniform scheme strengthens the brand by making the first colors more recognizable, but on the other hand, football clubs tend to revise their uniforms every single year because wearing the same uniform all year, every year doesn’t help merch sales.
Would love if the NHL went back to white sweaters at home. Also wish the NBA would do the same, but Nike’s gonna Nike.
I would like to see the NHL allow the Predators and Knights wear gold instead of white, like the Kings did when their colors mirrored the Lakers. Of course, then those teams could be inclined to be like the late 80s/early 90s Astros and wear gold every game (except when they play each other).
I prefer white at home
That said, first half of the season, white at home, second half dark at home.
I grew up watching white at home/color on the road, but I understand why today, color at home works better (most alt uniforms are dark and teams prefer to wear those at home).
In my ideal world, I like Alex C’s take of “primary vs clash”, but my concern is that, unless the clash is very different, there could be issues for colorblind people.
Next best to me is Wade’s take of dark at home for the first half of the season and white at home for the second half (or visa versa). Like he said, that would be the best of both worlds.
I’m Gen Z, so that certainly colors my perception of the issue, but color at home is so much better. While there’s a balance, I LIKE alternate unis, and say, the Sharks wearing a blackout alt on the road doesn’t really have the same effect.
Also, I don’t really buy the “you see more variety of matchups” line. Sure maybe that applies in the 70s, but with HD TV at home, Jumbotrons the size of a small house, color vs. white matchups aren’t the same. The Rangers in blue against the Canadiens, Leafs, Devils, or Blackhawks are NOT all the same.
Blackhawks fan here. Growing up I only saw Hawks on TV on the road, thus wearing red. When I got to games I was able to see the Hawks in white, thus why I think the Hawks white sweater is the best in the NHL.
I’m a big fan of color v color in general, but there needs to be sufficient contrast. The example used of Detroit (red) v Toronto (blue) would look amazing. By the same token, to me, Montreal and Boston’s whites don’t feel right. I feel like Montreal needs to be in red and Boston in Black. There are certainly teams that the white feels right for though. The Islanders, Florida, Calgary to name a few, are teams that feel right in white.
Personally, I’d like to see all sports take the soccer approach of having a primary color uniform that they only switch when there’s a clash with their opponent.
Prefer dark at home and would love to see more color vs. color.
The reason they went back to it was because of thirds and throwbacks, which meant teams had to travel with 2 sets of uniforms. Not an easy task with all of that equipment involved.
The real solution imo is a Primary/Clash system like in MLS. Home team decides what they want to wear, away just has to contrast enough. Allows color on color, O6 teams like NYR, Detroit, and Toronto to wear white at home, and more modern color-heavy teams like Nashville, Vegas, and Dallas to wear their colors at home. Best of all worlds!
The difference is that NHL teams go on road trips and the logistics make taking only 1 uni practical. So you need a basic rule, and can’t let each home team pick.
If you decide road teams wear colour, then the home team can choose colour v colour if sufficient difference, buy can’t pick and choose easily otherwise.
I prefer color at home vs. white in the regular season.
In the playoffs, I’d like to see the clash system that Burkus Circus mentions. Reserving it for the playoffs makes it special.
College football and NFL should do this as well
This is not difficult:
Home team decides, road team complies.
Not when a team is on a multi-city road trip and has to pack twice as much gear.
In this day and age they pretty much do this anyway.
I also grew up with teams wearing white at home, so my preference is towards that, and while a good argument can be made for the vibrancy that color can bring if the white jersey is designed well (like this: link) that isn’t so much an issue. I have also always liked the reported early logic for the Dallas Cowboys to wear white at home so that the home crowd gets to see a variety of different visiting uniform colors.
“From 1970-71 until 2003-04, home teams wore white sweaters”
…except for the second half of the 75th anniversary season in 91-92 when teams flipped the homes and roads.
I don’t really have a preference of white-at-home or color-at-home. I’m all for color-vs-color, as long as it doesn’t exclude color-blind viewers.
I like how most soccer leagues handle it, with primary kits and clash kits, and the home team getting preference when the colors are deemed too similar.
Wings in red and Leafs in blue is beautiful to me, as are most “original six” color-vs-color matchups that don’t clash (and again, by “clash” here I mean feature mostly the same color).
NHL should switch at midseason. White at home first half, dark at home second half. Double the opportunity for Alternates. White alternates and color alternates. This seems like an odd thing to have to be collectively bargained though.
As mentioned by a few others, there should not be a color/white mandate at all. Each team should decide which jersey it wants to designate as its Primary and wear that as much as possible, both home and away. When there is a clash, they pull out their secondary or even their third jersey. This should go for all sports, not just specifically hockey
I started watching sports around 1972, so for my first 30 years white at home was the norm and honestly it still looks wrong to me for white to be worn on the road in the NHL and NBA.
Looooong time reader, first time commenter! Irrespective of my age (I was born in ’85 for context), white at home is the only way.
At home you dress modestly, in the crisp, clean whites of dignified and gracious hosts, and when it’s time to visit the cities of your rivals, you stage an aesthetic invasion: you proudly, boldly fly your colors and leave no doubt as to your identity. And home fans get to see all the league’s colors pass through their city. Nothing else makes sense!
(Ok, some exceptions: I love reasonable color-on-color matchups — namely, with yellow/gold as the light color. And I also think the way soccer does it, with teams having preferred kits and clash kits, is an acceptable alternative.)
White at home, color on the road. That’s the way God always intended it.
I’ve never kept up with that ‘Gen’ nonsense but I am 72 and a Rangers fan and I’m a Color at home guy. Rangers Blue in MSG is hockey to me.
I think one of the reasons I prefer white at home is because I prefer the Red Wings’ white jerseys with the red sleeves to the more plain-looking red jerseys.
As far as the rest of the league, when it comes to white vs. dark, a majority of teams end up a push for me. The Rangers are another team where I prefer the white jersey over the blue, and again it’s largely due to a unique detail of the white jersey (the shoulder stripe pattern). In fact, the only jersey where I prefer the dark one over the white straight up is Montreal’s.\
Still, I would like to see a return to white at home.
Born in 1989…I love white at home (you get to see all the colors come through, instead of interchangeable white teams), and if there weren’t so many dang alternates/one-off promos/etc, it could work. As is, I think white on the road works better for the hockey system, even if it’s not my choice.
Like the home whites for a different reason; it kind of creates a home ice advantage when they blend in with the ice, creating an aesthetic unlike any other sport. I also agree that seeing a wide range of colors to your home fanbase is fun. And who says they can’t wear a variety of sweaters on the road?
I’m on board with a White-at-Home/Color-on-Color/Clash system. I grew up in the 1990s and was introduced when the NHL wore WAH and it only makes sense to see white (or light colors) vs. [insert visiting team’s primary color here].
As for light colors, Nashville and Vegas remain Gold at home, with Navy and Gray roads and White clash alternates. The same can go for teams wearing Orange, Light Blue, Silver/Light Gray, etc. depending on the exact shade used.
Us Kraken fans would love to see the whites at home, paired with the blue helmets.
The only thing this affects aside from nostalgia is the use of alts. I would imagine it’s not only more fun for local fans to see alts, but also easier for a local to identify their team in an alt.
For my money, I don’t see why the home team can’t decide what they want why to wear and the visitors have to be sure and provide enough contrast. If there must be a rule I would think white at home as the default but alts are not restricted (like baseball does) because dictating color at home means a team like the red wings would be a red vs white game every home game. That’s both boring for fans and makes it harder to quickly identify the opponent.
It’s time. Whites at home again and darks on the road with exceptions of course.
I guess the Bruins were the first team to wear gold at home, and this baby boomer wants to see visiting teams in dark colors.
Color on color games would be great, even if it’s Canadiens vs Rangers, but one team would need to switch to red buckets.
You can actually go back to the 1920s Pittsburgh Pirates, whose sweaters were gold.
Mark me down as a “white at home” person. I love seeing the different colors a visiting team will be wearing. And color on color is fine as long as there is sufficient contrast and both teams agree to it, although it’s hell on the equipment staff on the road to lug around two sets of unis. Wouldn’t it be great to see a Kings-Ducks matchup in full color?!
This is all to sell more jerseys.
For the last 20 years fans have been buying more color jerseys as that is what is worn at home where most fans of a team go to see them.
Switching would push many fans to buy white jerseys if they haven’t already.
This is all quite transparent.
No idea why this would be a collective bargaining issue.
Hello, All
I like the half-and-half approach, starting with white at home, then going to color at home all the way through the playoffs. Color vs. color? Maybe twice a year per team?
White at home please. Much better.
Please Please bring back the Whites at home!!!
My vote is for white at home, but mostly I’m interested in why this is something that would be negotiated in the CBA ?
Grew up with white at home. Loved seeing the road team in their unique road uniforms.
The last 20 years it’s been like watching the same game every night with home team. Boring. Love to see color on color. Works in other sports. Hockey should do more of it.
Plenty of CvC games in the NHL and NFL could certainly work. Orange or yellow vs Black or Navy. Yep. Would love to see the Preds in yellow vs Stars in green. NFL needs to do this more as well. I believe AHL is half season dark at home and other half light at home
While I am a Xennial, it’s because unlike the the other white only sports some teams have a definitive look in White and some in Colors. Rangers are the obvious example of this as the Broadway blueshirts but the same arguments can be made for teams like the Canadiens, Red Wings
I think the answer here is probably similar to the NBA/soccer basically wear either but have a white sweater for a change kit.
NFL wore color at home because through the Fifties most teams were on such tight budgets they could only afford one set of uniforms. White on the road became mandated in 1957 for contrast for the black-and-white TVs of the time.
Not actually true, go look at the GUD. Even in 1943 which was the probably the bleakest year of the 40s half the teams had change jerseys. By 1947 it was 7 of 10. Pre 1957 it was far more like Soccer in that these were essentially a change jersey not home and road. 1953 Giants for instance were primarily a red team. They only wore their blue jerseys when they played the Cardinals and the Redskins.
Seems strange this would be a CBA issue, but I admittedly don’t know enough about hockey to understand
I grew up watching white at home and like the idea of the fans getting to see a variety of visiting teams’ colors. I’d accept the “primary/clash” setup but maybe let the visiting team pick, as they’re the ones lugging all that gear around on a road trip.
As God intended? I’d be curious where in your religious text that your God speaks about sporting events and jersey colors lol. The reality is it’s just a personal preference thing and God would have nothing to do with it.
White is a color so all games are color v color.
I’ve seen a few people mention switching halfway through the season. That only makes sense if all teams reach 41 games at exactly the same time before anyone plays their 42nd game, and there can be times where a couple teams have 4-5 more games played than others at that point (some teams reached 41 games this year when other teams were still at 37-38. So no fanbase would ever be guaranteed an actual even split between home being white or the other teams colors.
Color v color could also be seeing a bit of red vs red, blue vs blue, black v black, etc; so it’s not just about one color match that we would like to see.
I don’t see the point in changing things one way or another. Either way we get the opportunity to see (for those of us that choose or can afford to pay subscription fees to watch anyways) the team we watch wear their jersey colors half the year at home and half the year away, with an alternate thrown in here and there. It sounds like the right answer to meet fan “preferences” would be to switch home and away colors every other year.
In favor of the split. Before the half season break: white at home, after: color at home. Everybody happy. Dot it with the NBA as well. NFL needs color at home as there are fewer home games, baseball needs white at home because it is baseball and we do not tinker with that as mere mortals (unfortunately we do nothing but tinker with it).
In favor of the split. Before the half season break: white at home, after: color at home. Everybody happy. Do it with the NBA as well. NFL needs color at home as there are fewer home games, baseball needs white at home because it is baseball and we do not tinker with that as mere mortals (unfortunately we do nothing but tinker with it).
Unsurprisingly, this Gen Xer comes down on the opposite side of Phil. As one who also grew up during the Isles dynasty – I never was a big fan of the “home” whites. They’re really pretty bland. The current white Jersey has more blue and orange on it than the ones worn in the 80’s. So when I finally had an opportunity to purchase my own Isles jersey, I selected a blue one. It’s a much better jersey to sport the team colors of blue and orange. And there is really no question which team you support (the Oilers wear the same colors but there’s really no way to confuse the two jerseys).
And even though there are multiple teams that wear Red, Black, or Blue…with the secondary striping and colors – it’s difficult to confuse the Red Wings for the Blackhawks, Canes, or Devils. Same with the Bruins and Kings, or Stars and Wild among others. The only teams whose home and road jerseys are similar enough to be confused from a distance are the Leafs and Lightning (and I think that is purposeful on the Lightning’s part). Still. That’s two out of thirty-two.
Thinking back to the 80’s, white jerseys with white (unmarked) boards on a white (largely unmarked) surface, it surely was a slight advantage for the team in color jerseys to pick up their teammates for passes.
Even still, today, watching from the stands, it’s much easier to pick up the team on the ice in the color jerseys. I’m all for giving the home team a slight advantage (even if now diminished due to the additional colors on or around the ice).
Late-era Boomer here- I was 18 to 21 when the Islanders were winning those Cups, and was so fond of those old home whites. I never got used to the dark jerseys at home- Especially since they never bothered to change the socks to match the jersey hemline (I think the Isles’ current dark socks are a leftover from the first Reebok template mess), and that yoke collar is just ridiculous (not so on the white jersey, for some strange, incongruent reason)…
I tend to agree with your take, as I also grew up in the “sweet spot” for white at home. One think I saw in your article that I have a theory on is the reason some football teams wear dark at home and others wear white. I’ve seemed to notice that the teams that play in hotter climates (Texas, Florida) tended to wear white at home. Which I theorized was done because dark colors absorb heat more easily. Wearing all that equipment on a hot day in the sun, a team would look for every advantage they could get. If a white jersey kept a player even a bit cooler than a dark one… Advantage home team! Obviously this isn’t a concern in hockey, but this was always my theory in football…
I’m a proponet of standardization. Have two sweaters. Make a league-wide standard home and away look (dark/light). Go with it.
Love the idea of returning to white at home, color on the road. Beyond that, the NHL should tread carefully. They are—by far—the best dressed pro league. Not even close these days. Don’t make a lot of needless moves. No reason to. Watch what the NBA does—and do the exact opposite.
Personally, I’ve always liked dark at home. Mostly because the Ranger’s blue uniforms are the best in all of sports (imo) and watching the Blueshirts in Blue at the Garden is just Right. I can understand white at home, wouldn’t be the end of the world though.
But for the love of god, do not go down the NBA path of chaos. Teams have so many uniforms with so many different contrasting colors that its hard to pin down what some team’s colors are. It already bugs me that some NHL teams are using throwbacks often enough that its muddying the waters (Vancouver and their black/orange/yellow for example). The Rangers are blue with red and white accents. Nothing else.
The color vs white jerseys is way outdated. This was done for
television needing a contrast only having a black and white color scheme. Today’s modern TV’s clearly show the difference in opposing teams.
The color vs color matchups in the NHL’s four nations tournament have been so great.
Colour at home.
Most teams have a strong identity built around their colour. That’s what they should be wearing in front of their home fans. Not white.
Gen X here who watches a LOT of premier league games. What if teams thought of it as they do in the PL. Not necessarily have a home or away, but a primary and secondary uniform. Teams can wear what they like as long as there is a color differential that is substantial. And of course still have a third or what have you.
I grew up a Rangers fan in NYC pre-cable and when you could only see them wearing their gorgeous white jerseys if you went to a home game at MSG. I still like those jerseys much more than their blue jerseys or any of the blue alternates that they’ve worn at home since the changeover.
Also grew up as an Islanders fan (in NJ) in the 70’s – 80’s. Only saw games on Channel 9 – no cable – so every local team played in blue jerseys (Rangers, Nets, Knicks, too). Seeing the white jersey to me was truly something rare and special.
It’s been 30+ years and I still feel uncomfortable with the colors at home.
WAHAGI !! White at home as God intended !!
PS: The USA 4 Nations Jersey gives a Channel 9 Islanders of the 70’s-80’s vibe !!
As a die-hard Rangers who likes the blue jersey better, I’d go with color uniforms at home.
Holy schnizers! Your story about the Islanders white home period was exactly the same as I. While you could watch almost all road games on WWOR TV (Channel 9) where the road blues were worn, you’d have to be lucky enough to live in an Cable enabled neighborhood & subscribe to Sports Channel to see the whites (other than seeing them live at Coleseuim). . I think in the early 90’s for 1 season they reversed it to the dark at home era & shifted back till 2003. I’m all for whites at home, its still weird seing the blue unis for a home game. Yes, I’m from the home whites era, and the Jets during the 80’s were one of the few who wore white a home, so seing a green Sack Exchange Uni was a rarity .