Fanatics are taking over the National Hockey League as the exclusive jersey provider. Adidas will no longer be making NHL jerseys. Teams will wear fanatics jerseys starting for the 2024-25 season. Providing jerseys for the NHL was not as lucrative for Adidas as they hoped. Adidas has also been going through some financial troubles in recent years. Adidas tried to get a few deals with the NHL. Ultimately the NHL decided to go in a different direction. Several companies were interested in becoming the new NHL jersey supplier but the NHL ultimately went with Fanatics. That was partially due to the NHL having a large investment in Fanatics. The best thing the NHL could have done was what Adidas reportedly suggested and copy what they do in soccer with brands making deals with teams instead of leagues. It would not be the first time the NHL has had multiple brands provide jerseys for the NHL. I would be cool to see different companies sponsor different teams. It would be interesting to see what those teams come up with. It would also be cool to see teams use different templates. That way it is not just one template with different brand logos.
The reception upon the announcement of Fanatics taking over was not good. A lot of people have had quality issues with them in the past. The jerseys are being made by SP Apparel with the Fanatics logo being put on the jersey. This will help at least in the beginning with quality. Long term it is still unclear what will happen or what the reception will be in the future.
Fanatics released what all of the National Hockey League home jerseys will look like for the upcoming season. The first big change with the new jerseys is the Fanatics logo replacing the Adidas logo on the back. On the front the National Hockey League logo now has a holographic shine to it. The shoulders no longer have dimples. The jerseys are being called the Fanatics Authentic Pro jerseys. To make for a smooth transition the changes are minimal. Fanatics ran into a lot of problems earlier this year with the new Major League Baseball jerseys. There have been some complaints that the white jerseys are slightly see through. This has been a feature of white NHL jerseys for a long time.
Prior to 2000 different teams had different manufacturers for their jerseys. That is similar to soccer and what Adidas suggested. From 2000 to 2007 jerseys had one of two manufacturer logos. Jerseys had either CCM or Koho on them. All of those jerseys came from the same factory. From 2007 to 2017 Reebok was the exclusive NHL jersey manufacture. Adidas took over in 2017. Now Fanatics is taking over. As far as I can tell the NHL jerseys have been made in the same factory since at least 2000.
The Utah Hockey Club, the Los Angeles Kings, and the Anaheim Ducks are the only teams to get new home and away jerseys for the upcoming season. The Boston Bruins are returning to the jerseys they wore from 2007 to 2023. All of the other NHL teams are not making changes to their home and away jerseys for next season. It is unclear at this time of there will be any alternate jerseys. It is also unclear at this time what the special event jerseys will look like.
Zac Electrifly 
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