Colorado Avalanche Reveal Sneak Peek of Reverse Retro

The Colorado Avalanche will wear a unique take of the Nordiques for their Reverse Retro jersey to be unveiled tomorrow.

Turns out the rumours were right. The Avalanche are, in fact, wearing a Quebec Nordiques throwback next season.

Sort of.

As part of the Adidas Reverse Retro set, which will be revealed Monday, every division has been releasing sneak peeks of each team. After offering fans a glimpse of the Pacific and Metropolitan divisions — including new takes on old favourites — the Avs and the Central are the latest to get teased.

There’s a lot of directions the Avs could have gone (and some that I personally hoped they’d go), being the team has technically been around since 1972. Add on the former Colorado Rockies and the Avs had a lot to go on for a “retro” design. Most assumed the Avalanche, based on a few leaks, were just going to straight up lift the Nordiques’ beloved baby blue.

As seen from the photos, the Avs gave it their own spin.

The jersey will feature burgundy fleur-de-lises, along with a burgundy collar and hem. According to numerous sources, the logo on the front will be the Nordiques in Avalanche colours (despite claiming to be from “79” it’s likely it will be the more recognizable logo). The gloves and pants, as leaked by MacKinnon and Rantanen, will be Nordique blue.

Of course, depending on who you ask, it’s either a slam dunk, or, well

Let’s get things straight. The Adidas Reverse Retro program is based around taking a retro design, and flipping the colours around. For some teams, that meant arguably changing nothing, or not exactly fitting into the year they claimed the jersey to be from. For many, it meant bringing back this or this. It’s a unique idea that for the most part, is something the NHL needed to do, instead of the standard throwback.

The Adidas Reverse Retro is also about getting weird. We’ve had the Wild Wing, a jersey maligned enough that it’s become a cult favourite, back. The Arizona Coyotes’ peyote is back, and greatest of all, in purple. While the Avalanche wearing the Nordiques in their colours is sort of a grey area in terms of what’s kosher, it’s exactly what the Reverse Retro is.

And as much as the Nordiques in baby blue is right, I’m all for a burgundy homage.