Over the past 10 years, the NHL has seen only six All-Star Games: 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and then here in the next month for 2019. The 2010 season didn’t see an All-Star game due to the XXI Winter Olympic games in Vancouver in which Canada took home the gold and the US took silver with Finland rounding out the top three.

For the 2013 season, the NHL went on to postpone the All-Star game due to the league’s lockout in which the season as a whole started up late in January. The league wouldn’t see the All-Star festivities resume until 2015 as there was no 2014 game due to the XXII Winter Olympics. In those Olympic games, Canada gain took the gold with Sweden finishing out in second and Finland taking home bronze.

With Adidas taking over for the NHL for Jersey duty, as Reebok passed the torch in 2017, we have seen the league swing from more traditional styles to new era styles in both of their tenures.

2011

This year introduced a new format into the All-Star game for the NHL as they let go of the two conference teams. Instead, they held a fantasy draft in which two captains had a pool of players that were selected.

The jerseys for this year continued with the NHL’s usual makeup of red, blue, and white colors. Although the design was a lot more sleek/clean compared to past jerseys with the same colorway, which is the reason they are one of my favorite.

If you are going to use these colors, this year’s design did it best.

2012

2012 featured the same format of play as the previous year, as well as seeing the same jersey from that year released yet again. The only difference was the city going from Raleigh, NC in 2011 to Ottawa, ON, that and the players selected for the game.

2015

After two years of an All-Star Game absence, the NHL returned with one of the first jerseys in the 2000s that didn’t include blue, red, and white. Reebok released a jersey that saw white and black with neon trimming on each to accent it with a pop of color.

I’m not a big fan of the color of neon green, but the design and colorway went well together to put All-Star jerseys’ creativity in the right direction. It was a good start as jerseys would now start to trend away from the typical colors everyone was accustomed to, thus creating more hype around the release of the jerseys every year.

Back in the 90s, All-Star jerseys saw a different variety of color mixed in the decade. Teal and purple for a couple of years, black and orange for a couple and then also blue, red, and white. Since 2015, jerseys would start to trend back to seeing something different and of variety.

Kudos to Reebok for bringing back the trend in the league and bringing everyone more hype surrounding the release of the jersey.

2016

Everyone has their own taste/style, but this All-Star Game jersey is my favorite. In my mind, Reebok hit it right on the nose with this one. While I like the new 2019 ones, I think they need an accent much like 2016’s had.

With the grey and gold accenting off of a black and white base, they look very similar to the Vegas Golden Knights’ jerseys. I still think Vegas looked at this jersey when looking at ideas of what they should do.

While the jerseys don’t pop with color like 2017 and 2018, the accents of gold make the jersey sleek and stand out. I mean c’mon, gold makes everything a little bit better. When I think superstar, I think elite. And so when I think of someone being elite, it means winning, it means gold medals. So this jersey fits perfectly with the superstars of the league, they are the gold standard.

2017

In Reebok’s final All-Star Game, much like the 2004 jersey, they showed love for the host city and based its colorway on the LA Kings. With purple, gold, black, and white, the LA love was real, marking only the second time the jersey would resemble the host city’s team.

The design saw a more classic look yet with modern elements intertwined within the number design and the colors add something a bit more interesting than in years past. But, I don’t think that they stand out enough, not necessarily color wise but in the simple design going for the classic look; it makes it not noticeable compared to other All-Star Game jerseys.

2018

The year of the new Adidas Adizero jerseys. In its first year, much like the 2019 jersey recently released, it brought about both positive and negative reviews.

In a sense, if you loved the 2018 jerseys, then you more than likely won’t like the 2019 sweaters and vice versa.

The 2018 All-Star jerseys brought with it more than a pop of color. It brought more color than any other jersey before it. Adidas is very comfortable trying new things and they had to make a statement in their first year. Many called it human highlighters skating around, but it was a statement none the less.

2019

The new Jerseys have received many mixed reactions since being released on Wednesday. Some say they lack creativity and color, meanwhile, others rave for its clean look and simpleness. A very drastic change in look compared to last year, in which the jerseys were very colorful.

These jerseys are the first time the league has featured zero colors within each jersey, being all black and white with a little grey in the stripe design. Some people don’t like that the jerseys are similar to the Kings’ simple design and colorway. But actually, they are supposed to somewhat reflect San Jose’s jerseys with the teal on the inside ring of the jersey.





This isn’t the first time that the NHL has reflected its host city’s colors in the design and colorway. The 2004 All-Star game, hosted in Minnesota, featured green and red jerseys for each conference. The 2017 All-Star Game featured Kings’ colors in its yellow, black, and white colorway and design.

No matter what your taste is though, everyone is on board with Adidas working with Parley on the jersey. Parley is a company that Adidas has been working with for quite some time to establish sustainable, high-performance sportswear. The jerseys are eco-friendly featuring re-purposed and upcycled marine plastic debris.

Some are willing to drop all the money in the world to acquire it. Meanwhile, others see it more akin to thrift value. What side are you picking?