The Colorado Avalanche Nordiques-style throwback jersey

The Colorado Avalanche will have an entry in the NHL’s “Reverse Retro” program. But what is it?

I have a theory about the Colorado Avalanche (potentially) bringing back their Quebec Nordiques sweaters. Last week, our own King Dawit reported on a Nathan McKinnon Instagram post which showed a set of hockey gloves resembling those worn by the Nordiques. That post made a lot of people very giddy, because it fueled a fire in people that’s been burning white hot for a while. That fire, of course, is people wanting the Nords jerseys to make a comeback.

For those folks not in the know, the rumor has long been the 2020-21 season will feature throwback jerseys for all thirty-one franchises. Teams will wear these jerseys regardless of whether or not they already have a third jersey. So, for some—the Avalanche—it actually means a fourth jersey. But these jerseys aren’t just any old throwbacks; they’re “throwbacks with a twist” as www.icethetics.com reported over the summer.

I read the “throwbacks with a twist” article when it posted, but I really had no idea what the wording meant. Then, just a few days ago, I found out exactly what it meant; as did the rest of the hockey world. The guys at Icethetics once again ran a story about the fourth jerseys, but this time it had some real legs. They had accompanying photos.

A reader of their blog, seemingly, stumbled upon an eBay listing for a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey that suited “throwback with a twist” quite well. The reader took the photos of the jersey in the eBay posting, asked the seller for more (was given photos of a Philadelphia Flyers jersey) and then passed the whole juicy package on to Icethetics. The jerseys seem legit, very well made, and seem to be what has been teased from the beginning. In just the last few days news has leaked about more teams’ fourth jerseys, including Vegas, and Anaheim.

The recurring theme here, and these are Icethetics words not mine, is that the jerseys are from the “Reverse Retro” line. Having seen what I’ve seen, it’s an accurate description; black is white, white is black (or orange if it’s Anaheim), etc. So, after all that, where does my theory about the Colorado Avalanche land? Well, I believe it’ll be Nords related, but the team actually has a fairly lengthy (perhaps not rich, but lengthy) history of sweaters to choose from.

While I do believe they’ll go the Carolina Hurricanes’ route, and resurrect their jerseys from their former home, they wouldn’t have to necessarily. If they stayed with Colorado, they have the two outdoor jerseys to choose from, or the current thirds could get a new coat of paint. There are the blueberry thirds (my basement is actually painted to match that jersey’s sleeves…seriously), and there are the similar burgundies that preceded the blueberries. But, again, I throw my hat into the Nordiques camp.

That brings us to the Nords part of the discussion. If those are indeed the jerseys chosen for this throwback thing, then there are couple different ways I could see this go. The semi-boring route of transferring the Nordiques design over to the Adizero jersey would not exactly live up to the “with a twist” idea. But, the Nordiques also have a WHA history; a WHA history that includes a red shoulder yoke, fleur-de-lis on the shoulders only, and red-and-blue striping on the waist, and arms.

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I don’t know on how crazy Adidas and the Avalanche want to get, but the WHA years would be a really great well to draw from, in my opinion. Adidas does have a rather conservative history, but Anaheim is supposedly bringing back their Wild Wing jersey…so, yeah it doesn’t get much nuttier than that. Also, these jerseys are meant to be worn for only a handful of games; I say go crazy.

That brings me to the final part of my theory. When will these jersey be worn? Well, in the Icethetics article that broke the news about the Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia jerseys, the website states, “My understanding of these Reverse Retro jerseys is that each team will have one and they will be worn only once or twice per season—and likely between certain rivals.” Who were the Nordiques rivals? The Montreal Canadiens.

It would be a real treat to see those two jerseys on the ice at the same time again, because those two teams hated each other. Every time they played it was like a battle for the soul of Quebec Province. Good Friday Massacre, anyone? Good god…no pun intended.

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Of course, should the pandemic continue, and the NHL institute a Canadian Division for the season then that means no border-crossing. That means the latter part of my theory goes right out the window.

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