Which other thirds looked like the Blues prior to them releasing that design? Only other one I can think of is the Penguins original winter classic jersey which came out in 2008 (same year as the Blues' thirds).
Jackets are the only one still using this
design as far as I can tell and I don't think it's as universally loved as folks in this thread are making it out to be.
I'm more referring to the striping and color placement - "shoulder yoke and elbow stripes". The logo being circular with a wordmark doesn't really register as significantly distinctive to me.
Personally, I think for the sake of continuity, the one design element that should always be present in any full-time Jackets jersey is the arm-length shoulder yoke. That's been there from Day 1 (altho admittedly only in the whites at first) and I think it's underutilized.
* * *
Personally I wouldn't mind a redesign. I like the logo more than the average person, but I'd still say it's in bottom half of the league.
See prior post re: "Toronto is great while Tampa Bay is awful".
The O6 logos, from a strict design perspective, are tremendously overrated. But from a recognition standpoint, they get a lot of props simply because they've had one hell of a head start - half a century to a century in some cases.
* * *
The third jerseys pull in those elements pretty well. The problem is that the Civil War aspect of the name wasn’t even realized/ marketed until about 10 years in. “Blue Jackets” had zero identity at inception other than a neon bug.
Technically, it
did have that identity early on - take a close look at what Stinger's wearing in that original logo - but folks kept overlooking it because, well, all they saw was the neon bug; they paid no attention to its uniform. When we were obliged to pivot away from just leaning on the mascot in the logo, more emphasis on the Civil War part independent of same started coming out.
EDIT: For reference:
That there's a Union Army uniform.
EDIT 2: Also, my headcanon insists that Stinger in particular was chosen because of the
Cincinnati Stingers and you'll never convince me of anything other than that.
* * *
I don’t remember anything about the kepis in the early days. Not anything Civil War-related at all, frankly. Hitchcock seemed to start all of that
He didn't start it per se, but he did push for more recognition of same.