Islanders Gameday News: The latest Sharks jersey abuse

The San Jose Sharks are in town tonight, which gives us occasion to witness the latest (continued) abuse of their jerseys by a trendy branding house/uniform manufacturer.

For some godforsaken reason, during the Adidas takeover they decided to continue going without hem stripes at the bottom section of the jersey, which had briefly (albeit busily) been restored in the otherwise regrettable RBK (vowels not included). Upon their founding the Sharks had one of the best incorporations of traditional uniform style with modern colors (yeah yeah, it was teal, go ahead and laugh, but it was thematically appropriate).

Yet Every. Single. Manufacturer. since then has chosen the Sharks as a vehicle for their poorly thought trend-chasing designs. Nike. Koho. RBK (vowels not included). Now Adidas. Granted, Adidas in this case merely continues what was already going on with the Sharks the last few seasons -- RBK had restored the hemlines, but did so by making everything too busy, so the final few seasons of RBK featured a practice-jersey kind of simplicity — but still.

Why? Why.

Between that and the Devils’ new RBK-style hem-line atrocity, last nights Sharks-Devils game was like watching a feud between two families with no chins. The Sharks won, 3-0, slowing the hot New Jersey start and bringing the Sharks up to 3-3 on the season.

Leave your FIG Picks for the game here.

Islanders Reading

• The Islanders need to clean up some of their sloppy play — most notable in their last two wins — and Josh Ho-Sang might draw one of the short straws tonight. [Newsday]
• A little bit of presumptive language here, but: Barzal taking the next step for the Isles. [NHL]
• The Sound Tigers are off to a tough 1-3 start after losing to the Phantoms last night. The home opener is a welcome and overdue relief. [CT Post | Soundin’ Off | BST]
• Kieffer Bellows had a goal and two assists in Portland’s 3-1 win over Kelowna yesterday. The Winterhawks have won seven straight. [Tribune]

Apparently John Ledecky had a lot to do with driving this event:

Elsewhere

• Erik Gudbranson gets a one-game suspension for boarding. [NHL]
• “Some tough ratings there.” This is hilarious, with veteran Craig Anderson offering tips as Ottawa Senators play NHL ‘97 with the then-terrible Sens, then using the then-awesome Hawks to spank people. [Sens]
• The Bruins’ Adam McQuaid has a broken leg. [SCOC]
• The Devils’ Cory Schneider is on IR with a “lower body” thing. [NHL]
• Andreas Athanasiou finally re-signs with the Wings, who lost in OT to the Capitals last night. [WIIM]
• Questioning advanced stats based on who enters the data at NHL.com. [Cyrgalis / Post]