Ranking New Jersey Devils New Jerseys This Season Including The “Jersey” Jersey

The New Jersey Devils have released several new jerseys this season, including the very controversial “Jersey” jersey. Which ones came out best?

What the New Jersey Devils wear has been as much of a talking point this season as anything. The Devils introduced a black alternate jersey for the first time, and to say the reaction was mixed is being nice. At first, the reaction was entirely negative. Seeing the jersey sitting on a hanger with just the logo in the front seemed like a mistake. The traditional Devils crest that we all know and love was missing.

However, this isn’t the only new Devils jersey we’ve seen this season. Between the black alternate and the special pregame warmup jerseys, there have been five new jersey designs released this season. So naturally, we are going to rank them from top to bottom for our favorites.

We’ll start by saying we love the fact the Devils take the time to represent underrepresented communities in hockey. Using the pregame jersey might seem like a small gesture, but it really helps to show some of us really are pushing to make hockey for everyone. We aren’t there yet, but nights like “Pride Night” and “Hispanic Heritage Night” help normalize the sport for anyone and everyone.

And now that we’ve seen all the jerseys on the ice and in action, we don’t have any of them. They are all quite good, yes even the “Jersey” jersey. Seeing that one on the ice a few times really changed the perspective. We still hate the crest, though.

5. Hispanic Heritage Night

There had to be one jersey on the bottom. It’s sad because there are aspects of this jersey that we love. The numbers are cool as heck. We love using a different font on things like the practice jerseys to bring out the creativity. Finding a new font is something that is incredibly important.

To be fair to this jersey, it’s hard to find the explanations of the jersey’s intricate details, making it harder to connect with the jersey. What’s the reason for the font of the numbers? What does the design on the front of the jersey mean?

The jersey is also very simplistic. Pulling an all-black jersey with such intricate designs seemed like the wrong decision. We would have loved a purple or maybe even a yellow for this jersey. It seems preposterous for the Devils to wear a yellow jersey. Fine, just make it red. Make things easy.

The black is a little too simple, and the Devils could go for something bold. These warm up jerseys don’t actually get NHL ice time, so going all out with the bold is always the right choice. We appreciate a lot of the parts of this design, but the lack of an explanation as to what the designs mean and the black jersey put it at the bottom of the list.

4. The black alternate jersey

We all HATED this jersey when it first came out. There are some people who said they “didn’t hate it as much as everyone else” now that we’ve seen it on the ice, but those people were few and far between when the jerseys were originally introduced. The first thing people saw was the Devils logo was changed. It was no longer the perfect interlocking N and J. It now just said “Jersey” on a jersey. Some said that people from New Jersey never call it “Jersey” (which isn’t true, we just don’t say it to people from the state). Others were very upset we finally got a new black alternate jersey, but they changed the logo. There was also criticism of the stripes, but we didn’t feel the same way.

The Devils did tell a story with this new jersey. They told the story of the Newark Bulldogs, a team that played for one season (although they did have some Hockey Hall of Famers on the team). There is lacing at the top of the jersey that’s made to look like a goalie net, a nod to the jersey’s co-designer Martin Brodeur.

The 21 stripes on the jersey are meant to represent 21 counties (Ocean County represent) in the state. It seems like a lot, but on the ice it’s not that noticeable. The five stripes on the shoulders represent the five retired numbers.

For all the negatives, the numbers and the name on the jersey are sharp. The piping around the details is immaculate. And again, the jersey looks really good on the ice. The players look great in the jersey. Maybe my frumpy body doesn’t look great in it, but Jack Hughes looks sharp when he’s wearing it.

3. Pride Night jerseys

The Devils have made it a tradition for Pride Night every year to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. It’s nice to celebrate love in all forms, and it really gives the Devils an option for creativity. Using the rainbow flag within the jersey could go haywire. The Devils have done well to avoid being too tacky or using too much of the rainbow flag. This season, they really hit the nail on the head with the use of the colors.

Let’s look at the jersey itself. Last year, the Devils just took the black warmup jerseys, and made the logo, lettering, and numbers in rainbow colors. This year, they did it much better.

The crest has the words “Hockey is for Everyone” written in different colors. It’s not just ironing on a rainbow flag on a Devils jersey. They really put time into this design. They also added rainbow piping around the numbers and letters on the back. This over a white jersey really ended up with a sharp design. There was a lot to love about this jersey design.

The Devils used the jerseys to raise money for multiple LGBTQ+ organizations, including Garden State Equality and You Can Play. Auctioning off these jerseys to help raise money for organizations shows it’s not just a money grab.

1. Hockey Fights Cancer Night

The New Jersey Devils do a special “Hockey Fights Cancer Night” jersey every season, but this year they introduced a slightly new design, and it is sweet. The NHL as a whole has accepted lavender as the color to represent a special night across the NHL. Across the world, people who wear lavender ribbons are showing support for people with all cancers, so it makes sense the NHL would also use that color for its jerseys.

The black and lavender jerseys always look sharp, but it was something about the white and separate shades of purple this year that came out amazing. The way they added big lavender stripes around the numbers with a darker purple stripe underneath was awesome. Then, they added those same stripes at the bottom of the jersey.

There was a lot more on this night. Dougie Hamilton honored a little girl who lost her battle with bone cancer. The Devils honored two kids who are currently fighting cancer and are big Devils fans.

These jerseys are great. Honestly, we’d like to see them wear them once during an actual game. They usually make slight changes to the Hockey Fights Cancer Night jerseys every year, but we’re okay with them making this the full-time jersey moving forward.