Isles in Black and Other Rumors

I've never been a fan of writing blog posts based on pure speculation with no independent confirmation. Unfortunately, it's May and that's all I have for you at the moment. (The summer should be more fruitful.) So let's dive into the latest rumors.

The most ridiculous thing I've heard yet is that the New York Islanders could launch — are you sitting down? — a black third jersey next fall. Right.

Icethetics readers Jeremy and Marco have linked us to a thread at HFBoards.com in which a user claimed to have a friend at a sporting apparel store with inside information. Honestly, don't we all?

To properly dissect his assertion, let's have a look at the original post.

I stopped into my friend's store ... he sells NHL jerseys, other sports too, but has alot more NHL then anything else. ... Anyway, I was discussing with him about jersey changes for next season, he showed me the reebok catalog ordering book he gets and the Kings, Predators, Panthers and Lightning (already unveiled) are all getting new home and aways, while the Sens, Thrashers, Penguins are all getting new alternates.

...the Islanders are getting a third jersey and he said the jersey will be Black. Apparently they made up 5 different proto-types and all 5 were black jerseys. I was kind of suprised because the Islanders dont have any black in their team colors, so I am kind of afraid that it could be awful.

The mind-numbingly awful grammar aside, there are a few things wrong with this. First, I'm suspicious about Reebok already sending out unreleased uniform designs to retailers. Not impossible, but unlikely. But more importantly, under no circumstances would Reebok include team prototypes in retail planning information.

So it seems as if someone's trying to take us for a ride. I can certainly see the Islanders doing something as silly as creating a black third jersey. But where this "friend" is getting his information is suspect. Either he's making things up to appear to be "in the know" or the person who posted this is.

Guess we won't know for sure, though, until the Isles show it to us.

It's looking more and more like the Nashville Predators will be sporting gold next season. (According to unnamed sources, of course.)

Back in February, a team ticket rep apparently told a reader that a yellow sweater design was being tested. A week later, the club sent out season ticket renewal forms — which were primarily yellow — confirming a new jersey was in the works.

More recently, the unveiling of Pekka Rinne's new mask showed us a logo we've never seen before. Now, we supposedly have new rumors to support these things.

An Icethetics reader — not wanting to be named — again cites a "friend" who works for the team as indicating the following:

• New home and road jerseys are slated for 2011
• Home jersey will be unveiled at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft (June 24 in Minnesota)
• Road jersey will be unveiled in July
• Home jersey will be "yellow/gold"

Again, all speculation at this point. And more rumors doesn't make it more true. But now you know what I know when it comes to unconfirmable information.

Kings redesign website without purple / LAKings.com

Last item of the day relates to the Los Angeles Kings, who have almost completely rid their website of the color purple. This fuels the belief that the Kings will swap their home and alternate jersey and add new threads for the road.

Again, not new information but just one more thing that points in the same direction. In March, Kings official blogger Rich Hammond did confirm that a white version of the black alternate would be employed for road games beginning in 2011-12.

If anything, the one new element included in this new look for the Kings is the crown logo sans purple. It's been previously seen only inside the third jersey crest, not standing alone as it now is on the website banner.

Hat tip to Eric P. for bringing the Kings' web redesign to my attention.