Let me start off by saying I’m a total jersey nerd. I have to believe that one of the big reasons I got into hockey as a little two year old lad was the awesome, bright, crazy unis of the 1990’s. That love has followed me into adulthood, and I have built up a mighty fine collection of some beautiful jerseys over the years (and some pretty ugly ones too).

One of my biggest gripes with the current state of the game today is how many teams have absolutely shocking uniform designs and decisions. I would assume these franchises are paying for top-quality business consultation and design people, yet we continue to see insane decisions like the Flames and Capitals just made recently when Adidas took over, to ditch the beautiful retro looks they had, and go with plain, pipe-y, pyjama-looking trash, while 99.9% our jaws dropped at how such a decision could be made. Is there some ugly jersey conspiracy that we’re all totally oblivious to?

But alas, we don’t have any say in which jerseys our teams will don. But it won’t stop us from dreaming! So I decided to do a series on the best jerseys that each franchise has worn. You may agree with some, you may think I’m crazy. Either way, let me know by tweeting me at @BLTJay!

Earlier this week was the Columbus Blue Jackets, which means today is the Dallas Stars!

Green Star Jersey (1997-2007)

The Dallas Stars are a tough franchise for me. They’ve never really quite done it right and the potential is there, but even going back to their days in Minnesota (which don’t count for this series, remember) I can always find a gripe with their uniforms.

But alas, we have to choose just one. And for me, the best jersey is the one they won their only Stanley Cup in. You might remember it, it’s the Cup should have never counted…

I was a big Dominator fan as a kid, so I was cheering Sabres in this one, only to have my heart shattered by this infamous goal… It’s okay though, I got over it. Real Sabres fans probably still haven’t.

The good thing about this look is obviously the giant star striping pattern. Like I’ve mentioned before, it’s cool when teams can pull off a unique look that no one else can (like kachina Coyotes, hurricane warning flag Hurricanes, mountainous Avalanche, etc.). This one does that pretty well. I’m not totally sure about how the logo lines up with it the star, but I’ve never exactly played around with it in Photoshop to see if there is indeed a better placement.

I’m also not crazy about the colours of this jersey. The green is a little too dark, and gold doesn’t belong on jerseys. The only good colour scheme they’ve ever had was back in Minnesota, so they should bring that back, with the star shaped jersey, and I think I might finally be satisfied.

I’m not even close to a design pro, but I cooked this up quickly, and have the original to compare to:

So what do you think… Are there any Dallas Stars jerseys that you just absolutely love? Do you like the concept I threw up there? Let me know in the comments, or tweet me at @BLTJay!

Check out the best jerseys of each franchise so far, here:

Anaheim Ducks

Arizona Coyotes

Boston Bruins

Buffalo Sabres

Calgary Flames

Carolina Hurricanes

Chicago Blackhawks

Colorado Avalanche

Columbus Blue Jackets

Looking to get your summer hockey fix? Check out Eppy 6 of our new NHL podcast, Post and Out: