Stand Down: Islanders release new/old third jersey for 2018-19

Normally, the phrase “Islanders set to announce third jersey” is enough to make droves of people run for the nearest rock to hide under, either for fear of another hideous fashion monstrosity or the myriad of histrionic responses that uniform reveals, particularly hockey ones, tend to generate. This one has been a source of fan worry and chatter for some time, with everyone and their grandmother taking to Photoshop to cook up a concept that could be passed throughout social media for eons.

The Islanders did indeed release video and pictures of their new Adidas-approved third uniforms today and I’m happy to report that the world didn’t burn down and that the jerseys are, in my opinion, shrug-worthy and totally fine.

Here’s the video tweeted out by the team this morning. Don’t read the replies. People on Twitter are, without exception, assholes.

A tweet from the NHL has some of the finer details, and more can be seen at the gallery at the team site.

The basis for the new sweater is one from the Stadium Series uniforms the Islanders revealed in 2013 ahead of their outdoor game against the Rangers at Yankee Stadium. That one had some weird quirks (diagonal stripes to nowhere, a loss of the map of Long Island that defined the franchise’s greatest era, chrome for some reason), but it was mostly met with acceptance and used as a third jersey until the team’s move to Barclays Center two years later.

This new version keeps the NY Stick logo but squishes it a little and adds four stripes to the blade representing the team’s four Stanley Cup dynasty. The map of the Island is now sewn into the inner collar and those blocky shoulder yolks seem to have been shortened a little. The lace-up collar is also gone.

Oh, and it has orange numbers:

It has the definite feel of the EA Sports NHL video game create-a-jersey project, but again, it’s mostly inoffensive and fine.

Hey, at least it’s blue and orange.

And Mathew Barzal likes them so whatever.

“Our third jersey that we got done this year, I saw it a little bit and it looks really good,” Barzal told NHL.com. “You can tell all the fans it’s going to be a good one.”