Philadelphia Flyers’ Best and Worst Looks
The Philadelphia Flyers surprised many with a gold-touched jersey this week. Where does this style fall in the history of Flyers jerseys?
The Philadelphia Flyers are generally not a team to chase trendy looks. Although they’ve gone through a few 3rd jerseys, and tweaked their main jerseys once every few years recently, you always pretty much know what you’re gonna get.
The Flyers have always been the “Orange and Black,” with a simple design. When the Flyers unveiled their new 50th anniversary jersey the other day, they brought gold into the mix. This was their first truly new direction in a long time.
It is likely that the use of gold is a one time thing, in recognition of their “golden” anniversary. A one-off, disposable jersey is also a new thing for the franchise, and this look is already polarizing Flyers fans.
Before anyone gets too riled up by a jersey that may only be worn 12 times ever, here’s a look at some of the worst and best looks the Philadelphia Flyers have sported over the years.
Next: Hit - Classic 70s Look
Classic 70s Style
The Philadelphia Flyers debuted a basic look with a simple color scheme–orange and black. Before the Flyers’ orange, the NHL basically only saw shades of blue and red in the original six (aside from Bruins yellow). This look proved to be a winner, being both distinctive and simple.
The Flyers wore this style essentially unchanged for their first 15 years. The only changes were tweaks to numbering and the league-mandated addition of name plates. By team’s 40th anniversary, they would come back to this look again.
Next: Miss - Cooperalls
Clean 80s/90s Look
Debuted in 1982, the Flyers updated their classic 70s jersey with bigger shoulders, trimmed with black lines. For many Flyers fans of a certain age, this is the Flyers classic look. The Flyers wore this style as their main jersey from 1982 to 2001.
Next: Miss - Men in Black
Orange Third Jersey
The Philadelphia Flyers played the 2001-02 season without an orange jersey (going with one black jersey and one white jersey). That just doesn’t seem right, so in 2002-03 they added a new orange third jersey as pictured above.
In this case, the new third jersey also brought the first ever alteration to the Flyers’ “Flying P” logo. The Flyers were on the right track to bring back orange, but the changes to the logo and the lines of the jersey look kind of tacky.
Next: Hit - Return to Classic
Return to Classic
After a year with a distinctively different look in 2007-08, the Flyers debuted a retro-style, orange third jersey in 2008. It looked a whole lot like the classic 70s look. The Flyers wore that orange shirt more and more often, and continued to step toward the full retro look with their white Winter Classic jersey in 2010 pictured above. The Flyers have been wearing this retro-style look full time since the fall of 2010.
Next: Hit - Flyers Orange Winter Classic/Third
Flyers Bold Orange Winter Classic/Third
Playing the Winter Classic at home in 2014, the Flyers unveiled another new look. This orange jersey has classic style lines with little trim, but is different from other Flyers jersey with black numbers.
Furthermore, this is the only Flyers jersey every that is actually predominantly orange AND black. Although every knows the Philadelphia Flyers as the “Orange and Black,” every other Flyers jersey is actually predominantly orange OR black and white.
The Flyers still wear this third jersey, and it serves as nice change of pace without being gaudy. It’s not clear at this point, however, how much action this jersey will see this year with the 50th anniversary white jersey in the rotation.