Rangers’ Winter Classic Jersey Revealed

The New York Rangers and Florida Panthers revealed their Winter Classic jerseys on Wednesday. Florida used a blend of old elements, hearkening back to the original Miami teams with the shoulder patch, and the original Panthers team with the flying cat on their jersey. New York opted to continue the centennial theme, essentially reversing the jersey they are using this season for their 100th anniversary.

The Blueshirts jersey is nice, not bold, but nice. As mentioned, it’s a continuation of the centennial jersey theme, but this time with blue letters on a white jersey, inverting the current jersey. The piping on the jersey has the Rangers’ blue and red aligning to the centennial colors. In my opinion, and what seems to be the consensus opinion, the best part of the sweater is the apple logo on the shoulder. To me, this would have been very cool as the main body of the jersey with the centennial patch on one shoulder.

In the ice news, the Rangers play game two of their three-game western road trip. New York looks to get back in the winning column after dropping two in a row. Including a 3-2 loss to Vegas on Tuesday. The Blueshirts take on the Avalanche this evening in Colorado. 

Changes to the bottom-six, third-pair defense, and in net are possible. Adam Edstrom sat on Tuesday and could get another game off, though his size would be beneficial against the Avalanche. Scott Morrow and Urho Vaakanainen rode the line Tuesday with Matthew Robertson and Braden Schneider skating on the third pair. Morrow’s skating and puck-moving ability certainly is a missing quality from the lineup. Vaakanainen has had a solid enough season and should be in over others.

Igor Shesterkin was solid on Tuesday but allowed a bad goal to Ben Hutton that squeaked through him. If Mike Sullivan was daring, he could turn to Jonathan Quick, who has been lights out. That would be a bold change; we will see if that happens.