Every Central Division Team's All-Time Best and Worst Uniforms

Let's take a trip down memory lane to look at every Central Division team's uniform highlights, as well as their lowlights.

Apr 5, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington (50) defends the net against the Colorado Avalanche during the first period at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images / Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

Brand identity is an crucial part of building any sports team, but especially in the NHL, where many fans rightfully treat their jerseys as sacred.

Every team has had its share of good jerseys, but also one or two duds over the years. So, in the dead of the offseason, let's take a trip down memory lane to look at each team's best and worst uniforms in franchise history.

Before getting started, however, let's quickly go over a couple of things. First, this series is inspired by a recent piece from The Athletic going over the same concept, so be sure to check that out as well. Second, links to every jersey mentioned will be provided to give a visual reference without cluttering things up.

With that out of the way, let's dive right into the Central Division.

Chicago Blackhawks

Best: current home

It's a classic for a reason. The red sweater with the black and white stripes has been a staple for 70 years now, and after the Blackhawks fixed the awful collar that came with the move to Adidas, this version is probably the best in franchise history. It's worth noting that they'll wear a slightly different home jersey this season to celebrate their centennial season, but this version will come back in 2026 and for the foreseeable future.

Worst: 2022-23 Reverse Retro

The Blackhawks went way back for their second Reverse Retro jersey, using the 1938 design as a base. While a neat idea, having that many stripes across the torso just doesn't look very good.

Colorado Avalanche

Best: 2021 Reverse Retro

The Avalanche threw it back to their days as the Quebec Nordiques for this jersey, but rather than just copy and pasting the original, they used their current color palette of burgundy and light blue to give it a modern flair. The result is one of the best jerseys of the past decade, and it's a shame that it only appeared in a fwe games during a COVID-shortened season.

Worst: 2007-17 home

The transition to Reebok as the NHL's uniform provider was not kind to Colorado. Not only did this jersey ditch the mountain design at the bottom, which the Avalanche eventually brought back on their current uniforms, but Reebok's signature piping breaks up the burgundy and blue in a very odd way.

Dallas Stars

Best: 1999-2007 home

Is it cheesy to have the star design running across the entire jersey? Yes, but no one can deny that it gives the uniform character. Combine that with a great color palette, as well as the fact that the Stars won their first and so far only Stanley Cup wearing these, and it's a classic look because of the admittedly cheesy design, not in spite of it.

Worst: 2007-13 home

Another case of the Reebok transition harming a team's brand, but in this case, the Stars have themselves to blame for this blunder. This might just be the most boring NHL jersey of all time, as rather than featuring a logo on the chest, it just has a "Dallas" wordmark and the player's numbers. There's not even a hint of green on this jersey, so if one didn't know any better, they could easily mistake it for belonging to a team other than the Stars.

Minnesota Wild

Best: current home

The Wild's recent throwbacks using the colors of the Minnesota North Stars, who of course moved to Dallas in 1993, are great, and a very welcome addition to their wardrobe. However, their own color scheme comes together surprisingly well, and the off-white stripe behind the logo on this jersey makes for a great all-around look.

Worst: 2007-17 home

Man, we're on a roll with these Reebok uniforms. The roundel logo on the chest is tiny, which is all the more upsetting considering Minnesota's logo is probably the best and most detailed in the league, already hurts the jersey, and the overwhelming amount of red just doesn't work well. Let this be a lesson to the Wild: the dark green works far better as a primary color than red.

Nashville Predators

Best: 2009-11 alternate

Before the Predators started using gold to such a ridiculous degree, they actually used navy blue as their primary color, which many would argue looked better than what they have today. With these beauties - which had these beauties with a navy blue base, an almost metallic-looking logo and a unique checkerboard pattern on the bottom - it's not hard to see why people feel that way. It's a shame these only lasted for two seasons.

Worst: 2001-07 alternate

The front-facing sabre-toothed cat logo honestly isn't bad, but the mustard gold base absolutely ruins these jerseys. They are known as the "Mustard Cats" due to just how off-putting the color is.

St. Louis Blues

Best: current home

The Blues originally wore this uniform for the 2017 Winter Classic, then promoted them to alternates in 2018, and have now promoted them to full-time uniforms this offseason. The light blue base really stands out in a league with so many teams that wear darker shades, and the yellow complements it perfectly. We're excited to see these beauties on a full-time basis this fall.

Worst: 2021 Reverse Retro

If we had a nickel for every time Adidas gave a team with blue in its name a primarily red jersey in the first round of Reverse Retros, we'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice. The original blue version of this jersey was already one of the most controversial in franchise history, but the odd color choice on this remixed version cements it as the worst.

Utah Mammoth

Best: current home

We're not considering any of the Arizona Coyotes' uniforms, because otherwise we'd have the Kachina here for sure. That said, Utah did a solid job in establishing its own brand. The color scheme of black and light blue works very well (even if we would've liked to have seen some purple like the Utah Jazz use), and the logo is nice as well.

Worst: 2024-25 road

Seeing as the Mammoth are entering just their second season (and first as the Mammoth), there's not much to pick from here. The white jersey with the basic "Utah" wordmark isn't terrible, but it is pretty boring.

Winnipeg Jets

Best: current alternate

This jersey features the logo of the original Jets franchise - which relocated and became the Coyotes in 1996 - that still stands as one of the best in league history. It's not a complete copy and paste, though, as it features the darker navy blue of the modern Jets and a unique striping pattern. Honestly, these should be Winnipeg's full-time uniforms.

Worst: 2023-24 RCAF Centennial

The idea of this uniform is great, as it honors the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The Jets already took inspiration from the RCAF when designing their current brand, so to see it all come full-circle is pretty neat. That said, the striping and tan gloves take away from what should've been a great uniform.

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