Fantastic Fashions – The New York Islanders

1995-96 Topps - Brett Lindros

Oh, the saga of the Islanders’ uniforms.  They had a great one, a classic that got them four Stanley Cups.  Nothing special, but a good, solid uniform that fit well – I always kind of thought of the Islanders as the Mets of hockey.  I figured you either cheered for the Yankees and the Rangers or the Mets and the Islanders.  That was the only possible combination.

Around the time of the lockout, they moved to this Captain Highliner monstrosity that Mr. Lindros is modeling above on 1995-96 Topps.  They realized that was a mistake, but then they put the old logo on the new jersey design, which might have been worse.  Finally, in 1998, they fixed the mistake, and introduced the classic jerseys in a nice navy blue.  Other than the team, all was right on Long Island.

However, they found a way to fuck it up again by inflicting this orange disaster upon the unsuspecting public.  And THEN, when the Reebok Edge system took over NHL jerseys, it got WORSE AGAIN!  Finally, finally, in 2010-11, after toying with the classic as an alternate for a couple of years, it looks like they’ve fixed it.  It only took them the length of a Rick DiPietro contract.

SIDE NOTE: Check out www.nhluniforms.com for the most comprehensive database of NHL uniforms over the years.  It’s addictive as hell once you start looking around.

Fantastic Fashions – Kelly Hrudey

1990-91 Pro Set - Kelly Hrudey

While probably most famous for his bandana, we will save that Kelly Hrudey post for another day.  Right now, we need to look at what’s going on in Hrudey’s 1990-91 Pro Set card.

The mask is something else.  I think Arturs Irbe and Hrudey shopped at the same store in the early 1990’s.  That whole thing with the white neck guard hanging down is just a mess.

The pads – I just don’t understand what’s going on here.  First of all, it looks like Hrudey hadn’t gotten a new set of pads since his rookie season in 1983-84.  Those things have been abused.  Secondly, he came to Los Angeles partway through the 1988-89 season.  Either he took waaaaay to long to break in black and white pads, or (more likely) Pro Set used an old photo.

No matter what, in terms of fashion, Hrudey is just pulling together all kinds of terrible on this card.