NHL encouraging teams to play more color-on-color jersey matchups

The scuffle at the end of Sunday’s Rangers-Red Wings game wasn’t notable only because both teams’ benches cleared in their entirety. It was also visually striking: New York and Detroit wore blue and red jerseys, respectively, to celebrate their centennials, so there was a flood of color on the ice.

The night was a rarity from an equipment perspective. Normally, away teams wear white jerseys while the home club dresses in its primary color. The visiting Red Wings taking the ice in red was a surprise, but according to an NHL spokesperson, the league’s marketing department has actively encouraged teams to explore color-on-color jersey matchups. The idea has been brought up at GM and board meetings, the spokesperson said. After all, hockey is played on a white surface, so the primary-color jersey combinations pop nicely, as they did Sunday.

The Rangers and Red Wings had to get permission from the NHL to both wear their centennial jerseys, just as teams sometimes have done in the past for outdoor games. Detroit and Toronto wore their primary colors at the 2014 Winter Classic at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Bruins and Flyers did the same at the 2021 game at Lake Tahoe.

The NHL, its teams and its broadcast partners have a few factors to consider with jersey matchups. Some games don’t have the option of both teams wearing primary colors because they’d look too similar — think Carolina-New Jersey or Tampa Bay-Toronto. Watching could be confusing for fans watching on TV or in the stands, and perhaps even the players, too.

And some jersey matchups might not work because of fans who experience color blindness. In 2015, the NFL heard enough complaints after a New York Jets (green jerseys) and Buffalo Bills (red jerseys) Color Rush game that it put out a statement acknowledging it failed to account for color blindness. So, a Stars-Flames matchup in primary jersey colors might not work because of red-green color blindness.

But after the reception to the Rangers-Red Wings jerseys in Sunday’s game — the aesthetically pleasing red-blue matchup drew positive reviews on social media — and the league’s marketing department’s encouragement, perhaps other colorful matchups will follow.