Why doesn't the NHL allow both teams wear their home jerseys during a game?

[LeafsNation75]

Thinking back to the 2014 Winter Classic I would say that was the first time when Toronto and Detroit had jerseys where they were both blue and red as the main design, instead of the Maple Leafs featuring a jersey that was mostly white as the road team.

So I'm wondering how come the NHL hasn't let teams during a game both wear their current home jersey design, instead of the road team wearing their white designed jersey and the home team wearing their darker color jersey design.

That's something you see a lot in NBA games when you see an example like this.

 

[Viqsi]

My presumption would be that it's about logistics. An NBA uniform is a sleeveless shirt and a pair of shorts. A NHL uniform is the sweater, shorts, socks, gloves, helmet - not only more things, but bulkier things as well. (You can't fold up a helmet.)

EDIT: I accidentally part of my argument. You're going to have occasional color clashes (the Lightning and the Maple Leafs can't exactly wear their home colors on the ice at the same time), which means you have to have both colors readily available. At home, this isn't an issue. On the road, it's a significant issue.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Thinking back to the 2014 Winter Classic I would say that was the first time when Toronto and Detroit had jerseys where they were both blue and red as the main design, instead of the Maple Leafs featuring a jersey that was mostly white as the road team.

So I'm wondering how come the NHL hasn't let teams during a game both wear their current home jersey design, instead of the road team wearing their white designed jersey and the home team wearing their darker color jersey design.

That's something you see a lot in NBA games when you see an example like this.

because there's the alternate or thirds to be considered

 

[Backcheckmonster3]

Red v Blue is the best.

 

[Backcheckmonster3]

My presumption would be that it's about logistics. An NBA uniform is a sleeveless shirt and a pair of shorts. A NHL uniform is the sweater, shorts, socks, gloves, helmet - not only more things, but bulkier things as well. (You can't fold up a helmet.)

Are you saying home gear is somehow heavier?

 

[tenken00]

Are you saying home gear is somehow heavier?

Gotta lug it around with you on a road trip. Could bring two sets of clothes with you everywhere, or just wear the clothes you are wearing every day.

 

[M88K]

My presumption would be that it's about logistics. An NBA uniform is a sleeveless shirt and a pair of shorts. A NHL uniform is the sweater, shorts, socks, gloves, helmet - not only more things, but bulkier things as well. (You can't fold up a helmet.)

Where are you going with this?

Home vs away is the same amount of gear to carry around.
The only potential issue is teams with similar color patterns
Calgary, Detroit, Montreal, Carolina.
Where they would look similar enough to TV viewers to be a problem.
Nevermind anyone with a color blindness

 

[kingsholygrail]

Because when I eventually go to a road game, I'm going to get to wear my white jersey and I don't want them screwing that up.

 

[IceNeophyte]

It's a tradition that hails back to the B&W TV days so the team jerseys could stand apart. I suppose it continues today so the average viewer (and refs in the heat of battle) can more easily tell the teams apart. I don't think there is a major sport besides baseball that doesn't do this.

 

[Viqsi]

Are you saying home gear is somehow heavier?

Where are you going with this?

Home vs away is the same amount of gear to carry around.
The only potential issue is teams with similar color patterns
Calgary, Detroit, Montreal, Carolina.
Where they would look similar enough to TV viewers to be a problem.
Nevermind anyone with a color blindness

I forgot to include the second part of my argument. On the road, that means you'd have two (or more, if thirds are included) sets of uniforms to wrangle.

 

[SladeWilson23]

Are you saying home gear is somehow heavier?

Where are you going with this?

Home vs away is the same amount of gear to carry around.
The only potential issue is teams with similar color patterns
Calgary, Detroit, Montreal, Carolina.
Where they would look similar enough to TV viewers to be a problem

On road trips it would be a major problem to have to bring two sets of uniforms. That's two sets of helmets, two sets of socks, and two sets of jerseys for 30-ish players.

 

[Elvs]

Just from playing NHL on xbox, I always found it more easy to distinct the opposing players from my own teammates when one team is wearing white. Or maybe my peripheral vision is just bad when it comes to separating colors.

However, if I'm playing in the Winter Classic and it's snowing (such as in the Detroit-Toronto picture you posted), I imagine I'd prefer both teams wearing colors.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Tampa vs Toronto both wearing home jerseys DO IT NHL YOU COWARDS. Followed by Detroit v Carolina

 

[Backcheckmonster3]

Gotta lug it around with you on a road trip. Could bring two sets of clothes with you everywhere, or just wear the clothes you are wearing every day.

Are you saying they walk around everyday wearing their game away-kits?
This makes no sense. You still need to bring the gear for away trips anyways, or are you saying they somehow wear less gear in road games? It's literary just the color that is different. Do you think the color white somehow weighs less than red?

 

[Profet]

Where are you going with this?

Home vs away is the same amount of gear to carry around.
The only potential issue is teams with similar color patterns
Calgary, Detroit, Montreal, Carolina.
Where they would look similar enough to TV viewers to be a problem.
Nevermind anyone with a color blindness

Teams would need to carry 2 sets of gear on road trips.

There are just too many teams with like colors.

Red/Blue: Rangers, Montreal, Columbus, Washington, Winnipeg.

Red/White: Detroit, Carolina, NJ

etc.


I think Montreal wore their colored jerseys at home for a while... (when the rest of the league wore white at home) and it was a pain in the ass for teams.

 

[M88K]

On road trips it would be a major problem to have to bring two sets of uniforms. That's two sets of helmets, two sets of socks, and two sets of jerseys for 30-ish players.

I took Ops premise as such that instead of carrying around multiple jerseys. They'd have 1 and only 1 jersey kind of thing ( for a specific road trip or whatever)
So the logistics of carrying extra socks, pants, jerseys didn't make sense under that assumption

Dallas jersey is unique enough that they could play every team in the league with their home uniform only and have no issues Minnesota being a largely darker green being a minor inconvenience of any.

 

[Critical13]

I actually miss the days where home team was white, however I believe that led to some confusing crowd perspectives when the other team wears your primary colour lol.

 

[Backcheckmonster3]

On road trips it would be a major problem to have to bring two sets of uniforms. That's two sets of helmets, two sets of socks, and two sets of jerseys for 30-ish players.

I'm not saying that. They can just bring their home-kits if they for example this season are going to play 2 games vs the same team.

 

[Jumptheshark]

 

[tenken00]

Are you saying they walk around everyday wearing their game away-kits?
This makes no sense. You still need to bring the gear for away trips anyways, or are you saying they somehow wear less gear in road games? It's literary just the color that is different. Do you think the color white somehow weighs less than red?

This was sort of tongue-in-cheek. They don't really walk around in full gear on the streets everyday.

But yeah, the poster was talking about logistics in that bringing gear with you on to buses and on to planes is a bit more of a hassle for an NHL team than say an NBA team where its just a jersey and shorts for 11 or 12 guys.

 

[Backcheckmonster3]

It's a tradition that hails back to the B&W TV days so the team jerseys could stand apart. I suppose it continues today so the average viewer (and refs in the heat of battle) can more easily tell the teams apart. I don't think there is a major sport besides baseball that doesn't do this.

Does the by far biggest sport in the world count as a major sport?

 

[M88K]

Does the by far biggest sport in the world count as a major sport?

Sex?

 

[Brodeur]

Are you saying home gear is somehow heavier?

It's the case of having to carry two sets of jerseys/helmet/socks on a road trip. For instance, Chicago has an upcoming six game road trip with two games apiece at Detroit, Carolina, and Columbus. Chicago's red jerseys would be fine against Columbus, but Detroit and Carolina would have to wear their non-red jerseys. There was this preseason goof a few years back when Florida and Dallas only brought their white jerseys for a neutral site game: NHL teams have uniform mix-up, wear same color jerseys to preseason game

Apparently the Panthers thought Dallas was bringing its home sweaters since the two teams meet again Tuesday in Texas.

It only made sense for Florida to bring one set of jerseys on this road trip.

Dallas, however, was originally listed as the road team for Sunday’s game and brought its road jerseys.

Maybe the OP's suggestion would work better for a shorter trip like Chicago having a quick two game stop against Dallas before coming back home.

In our beer league, most teams wear a dark jersey and sometimes there'll be instances where there's two colors which you would think would contrast enough, but it ends up causing confusion. The NFL learned a lesson about people who are red-green color blind when they had the Bills and Jets wear their dark jerseys for a game.

 

[IceNeophyte]

Does the by far biggest sport in the world count as a major sport?

I was focusing on Murican sports.

 

[Backcheckmonster3]

Sex?

You need gear for that?