Faceoff Factor

Retro Time: A Look At The Penguins Uniforms

Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins

Jan 4, 12:57 PM | Hype this story!

The Winter Classic brought about many topics of discussion, but possibly the most intriguing is the idea of new (or old) uniforms for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

While it’s difficult to imagine seeing the Penguins in blue on a regular basis, the idea of using retro uniforms as an alternative is one that appears to be a distinct possibility.

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “The Penguins are expected to make a formal request with the league to wear a third jersey next season. Team officials are so pleased with the look of the retro-themed uniforms the club (wore) in the AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Day that the Penguins will seek permission to make that design their alternate look.”

No complaint here.

In fact, I wouldn’t be opposed to going a little “retro” all the time.

The Penguins’ color scheme is very classy up-close, but from afar and on television, they appear to be on a grayscale, which is far from flattering.

Whatever happened to the good old days of the black and yellow?

I am of the belief that the Penguins would be quite wise to return to the color scheme and uniform design that they donned during the Stanley Cup years.

It may be only a coincidence, but the Penguins haven’t won the Cup since changing their logo in 1992-93, then changing their color scheme in the early 2000s.

Below is an image portraying the current, dull jerseys; the colorful, flashy jerseys from the early 90s; and the Winter Classic baby blue jersey that may be worn as an alternate next season.

I think it’s quite obvious that tradition is the way to go, and while the true history of the Penguins lies in the blue, the team’s Golden Era happened to come when they wore black and yellow.

So, now that I have established that the current Las Vegas gold must be replaced by the classic Pittsburgh gold, the question turns to timing.

With the true retro jersey supposedly arriving next season, debuting the recent-retro jerseys at the same time would be bad timing.

Why not debut them with the opening of the new arena in a few years?

The transition to arena will mark a new era for the Pittsburgh Penguins, what better way to distinguish this new era than to go back to the true colors of the city of Pittsburgh?