A New Leaf Look For Next Season

The t-shirts disguised as Maple Leaf home and away uniforms are about to change.

The club has applied - actually, the forms were all filled out with the NHL last spring - to alter its home blues and road whites for next season. The team's classy third jersey - predominantly white, blue shoulders, old-style emblem - is expected to remain untouched.

Richard Peddie, the CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, confirmed today that the uniform change has been accepted by the league, but declined to provide details.

"I'm going to leave that to when it's all unveiled," said Peddie.

The Leafs went to their current look after the 2004-05 lockout when the entire league switched to a new manufacturer. The look of the jerseys was very basic, blue and white, while the lack of any piping around the waist created a t-shirt effect that many have panned.

The new jerseys won't include dramatic changes, but will add some lines and piping to where none currently existed. The Leafs applied in April, 2009 for the uniform change, which will take effect for Brian Burke's second full season in Toronto. When he was in Anaheim, he also changed that team's uniforms to the currently black and orange scheme.

The new Leaf uniforms are likely to be unveiled in the summer, probably on a date when, it's expected, Dion Phaneuf will be named the club's next captain.

Comments

[MP]

I find the Leafs third jersey to be stodgy and boring. While I understand the urge to connect and embrace tradition, I would much rather those jerseys stay mothballed for occasions where such tribute is properly warranted. I realize that MLSE has a very loose definition of what constitutes an "occasion" (spirit being everything to these people), but ideally I only want to see those jerseys against an original six opponent or a HHOF game.

The alternate uniforms should reflect the team identity. For example, I would have no problem with the Leafs skating out with a line of black and blue alternate uniforms (call it the "Truculence" collection). Just a thought.

[Andy Frank]

Thanks heavens!!!

[Jimmy]

Are you kidding me? How is what we have right now supposedly worse than having stupid Reebok pipping like the Oilers, Panthers or Aves, for example do?

[Gordie]

Typical Peddie nonsense. A turd by any other name is still the Leafs. How about getting some quality players first Richie Boy? Maybe the new uniforms will be yellow and black like most No-Name products.

[Graeme B]

Hopefully they keep it just blue and white, with no cheesy silver or black additions (as in when the Jays ruined their logo). I do wish they would use the old-style alternate leaf full-time. It's much more aesthetically pleasing, I find.
If the new ones are nice, I'll pick up a Gustavsson, Kessel, or Phaneuf sweater.

[Norman]

How many blue trees have you seen lately? Any blue on the Canadian flag?Burke changed the colour in Ananheim. Isn't it about time the Maple Leafs wore red jerseys? Once and for all, let the true color of Canada and the maple leaf stand true.

[Sizzle]

anyone ever seen an old Chelsea FC jersey that was Charcoal with fluorescent yellow details?? awesome. Leafs should test'er out.

[Pat Ribble]

this is fantastic news. i've been bitching about those cotton-pickin' sweaters since 2005. they are just so very, very bad. i do hold concerns, though, that the MLSE deep thinkers might find a way to make the sweaters even worse. is that possible?

i think the current third top--the composite design featuring the leafy leaf--is great. but i would agree that it shouldn't be overused. if the regular sweaters actually look good starting in the fall, then the vintagey one could be kept on the hangers most of the time.

anyway, so glad that a warm body over in sushi land has finally seen the light. it really does burn that teams have to get butthead's approval for this sort of thing. when will the hockey gods smite butthead.

[stickhandle]

Yawn

[JPB]

Ho can they name Dion Phaneuf captain? A very skilled player but he is uncoachable to many. Wait another year to see if the team is actually good and then name a captain, I would rather see Luke Schenn be named captain in 2011/2012.

[Dtrain]

Black has absolutely NO PLACE in a leaf uniform. It is the most overused colour in all of pro sports. Glad to see the t-shirt look go. Get rid of the scooped dress shirt hem next please.

[Bill Mogulsby]

Wish they'd add some details down the outside of the pant leg. The Leafs could vastly improve their look if they adopted that of the Toronto Royals (a GTHL team).

[Joe]

Its about time they got rid of those practice jerseys! I also agree that the third jersey should be kept for only VERY special occasions!

[DB]

Black and blue? Not a chance!

Lets go back to the tradition, and keep it that way. Montreal, NY, Detroit and Chicago all have kept their uniforms the same for years. Lets do the same!

[MarkfromTO]

i gotta say, i much prefer the jerseys without the "piping". makes for a cleaner look. I agree with MP above, the 3rd jersey has seen its day, maybe once a year is ok, but other then that, i say drop them all together.

[Matt B]

Good lord, MP, what on earth are talking about? Black!!!??!! C'mon! I have no problem with modernizing the jersey, but respect the history of the team.

As a graphic designer, I love the third jersey. Classic design, and evokes some of the history of the team. I loathe the current t-shirt design. Some piping on the bottom would be nice. Hopefully there is a return of the maple leaf on the shoulder too.

What would be classy is to have the players who wear the honoured numbers (7, 9, 21, 27, etc) to have the shoulder leaf include the name of the former player. For instance, Hagman would have had Teeder Kennedy's name in the middle of the leaf. Its a small, subtle idea but worthy of the players who brought pride to the specific number and jersey.

[David]

Got to sell more jerseys to the suckers

[Bob]

The Leafs third jersey is essentially their road jersey from the 60's and is one of my favourites since the road games weren't televised in those days so we didn't get to see it very often. You've got maintain some links with tradition or it just becomes another marketing ploy to keep selling new sweaters to the same fans all the time. At least the Leaf's sweater changes are usually fairly subtle and not the joke some other teams sweater changes have undergone. Modernize, sure, but don't stray too far from tradition or you lose it.

[Mario]

The jersey for the leafs though nostalgic is in dire need of a revamp. It is unfortunate but the blue and white does not hold its own against the other original 6 team jersey's. The Blackhawks have the red and black accent, Montreal the wonderful red, Boston has the black, New York has an important red trim, and lastly Red Wings have the red. Toronto has one thing to change, they need a standout colour on their jersey.

One of the most boring jerseys in sports.....

[Robert Laprade]

The Leafs should remain one of the few teams in pro sports that have only two colours in all versions of their uniforms. (Red Wings, Old style Celtics, NY Jets, Indy Colts. Any others? The Coyotes are close.) As well, this was reported by Howard Berger on his blog months ago. The missing stripes are back as is some kind of shoulder logo, not the TML which was the creation of Ken Dryden.

[CRUSADER RABBIT]

i LIKE THE 3RD JERSEY AS BOTH HOME AND AWAY, BUT WITH A MAPLE LEAF AT THE SHOULDERS....GET A DIFFERENT 3RD JERSEY!

[burzyy]

Black & Blue is a horrible idea, can you destroy an Original Six jersey any more? I agree with MP, thank God the practice jerseys are going, on more memory of JFJ thrown in the bin.

[GorillaFever]

I'd prefer they wore the St Pats jerseys as their third jersey.

[Brian Waugh]

I love the third jersey, always have, it is a great retro look. Classic and solid look. Glad that it will be kept. Agree that the present T-shirt look needs tweeking and Burke's hands will be all over this. Another tweek would be lets go back to Home whites and Road Darks so there is variety all over the NHL.

[other mark]

Peddie is getting an early start on the marketing spin. The boys aren't even on the golf course yet and he's priming suckers for more money to be spent on the 'new look Leafs'. Bah Bah Bah. Line up Sheep Nation. Get your 'New Look Leafs' jersey before they are all gone. Bah Bah. I'm still a fan, but won't spend a dime on this crap.