Michael’s Musings is brought to you by Rude Hockey. Rude Hockey celebrates chirps, old-school toughness, a Philly attitude and saying out loud what everyone else is thinking. Because if you lose your edge, you lose the game. Visit RudeHockey.com today for your official Rude Hockey merchandise.
Welcome to Michael’s Musings. Michael Lindenbaum of TXHT Hockey will be doing a weekly article where he muses on various topics around both the NHL and PWHL.
The Heritage Classic
This past Sunday the Heritage Classic returned as the Winnipeg Jets hosted the Montreal Canadiens at the Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg. With a Canadian log cabin vibe in the stadium, the stage was set for a fun one between the two teams.
However, there is one problem that I took from the day’s festivities, and that is the fact that you had 4 other games taking place that day. Chicago hosted Florida at 3p ET while Dallas hosted the New York Islanders before the Heritage Classic began. In the case of the Chicago/Florida game, they would be completed before the Heritage Classic would begin, but for the Dallas/Islanders game, they would start an hour before and would still be playing when the Heritage Classic was in action.
Then, at 8p ET, Nashville hosted Colorado for a divisional matchup, which again gave us another game while the Heritage Classic was taking place. The Vancouver/Minnesota matchup would begin at 10p ET and after the Heritage Classic had concluded.
For me, these outdoor games are losing their luster, and one of the problems is because of the fact that they are not being treated as special anymore. They’re treated like just another game on the schedule. I would love to see the outdoor games be the only game on the schedule for that day and really make it feel important again, because the way it has been going, it could definitely use that shot in the arm to revitalize it.
Also, I loved the Canadiens jerseys. It clearly showed that they made an attempt to blend some of their history together for their Heritage Classic jerseys. While on the other hand, Winnipeg just brought back what they wore during the 2016 Heritage Classic. A little lame, but still a nice jersey.
Hellebuyck Finally Traded
The Connor Hellebuyck saga is now over, as the New Jersey Devils acquired the goaltender from the Winnipeg Jets on Friday in a deal that saw Dawson Mercer, Nico Daws, two additional players, and two future draft picks go to Winnipeg.
I think we can all agree that it’s great to finally see this saga come to an end for both Hellebuyck and the Jets. However, there could be some fireworks coming soon, as the Devils will visit the Jets on Tuesday, November 10th. We know plenty of people will have that game circled on their calendars to see how Hellebuyck is received by the Winnipeg faithful.
One has to wonder what kind of reception Hellebuyck will get from the fans. We’ve seen Brady Tkachuk return to Ottawa to heavy boos and creative heckling chants, while Quinn Hughes returned to Vancouver on Sunday for the first time since being traded to Minnesota last December. Hughes was greeted with cheers and a playful chant directed at Wild general manager Bill Guerin.
It will be interesting to see how Winnipeg welcomes Hellebuyck back to town.
Hometown Remix Part 1
Back in August, both Fanatics and the NHL announced the long rumored Hometown Remix program. The jersey program, also known as HTR, is Fanatics version of Adidas’s Reverse Retro program that saw two iterations. The first during the 2020-21 season, which no one truly got to see the jerseys in action due to attendance restrictions due to COVID-19, and again for the 2022-23 season.
Personally, I have two jerseys from RR 1.0 and at least 8 from RR 2.0.
*Note: I own over 100 hockey jerseys and am still working on building my collection.*
For the new Hometown Remix program, all 32 teams will be participating and will be celebrating local city culture for each market. So far we know of 5 jerseys and what they will look like, and thanks to our friends at Brett’s Notes on Facebook, they created a look at all five.
The five that we have seen legitimate leaks for are Buffalo, Chicago, Florida, the Islanders, and the Rangers. Of the five that we’ve seen, my favorites are the Panthers and the Islanders. I love how the Panthers are really going for the Miami Vice vibes, and creating something very different and unique that hasn’t really been seen with an NHL jersey. For the Islanders, I know I’m in the minority here, but I love the Fisherman logo from the mid-90’s.
The Sabres is a nice take on the current home jerseys, but with the legendary bison head logo in the current colors. However, the change of the yellow to gold like they did for the 50th anniversary jerseys is a very nice touch. Chicago’s is lame but is understandable as it is a St. Patrick’s Day tribute. Lastly, there’s the Rangers and keeping with the tradition of having diagonal text on the jersey. While having the Lady Liberty logo back, along with some other unique details, it’s a bit lame.
The first confirmed game featuring the Hometown Remix jerseys will be on Monday, November 2nd when the Florida Panthers wear theirs, so hopefully an announcement revealing all 32 HTR jerseys are on the horizon.
I’ll be commenting on the Capitals Hometown Remix jersey, amongst other notes on the other teams, next week in Part 2.
You can read Michael’s Musings every Wednesday over at HockeyHotStove.com before it comes over to TXHTHockey.com on Fridays.
Home › Forums › Michael’s Musings: Hometown Remix
Tagged: Hometown Remix, nhl