Photo from WBS Penguins (Instagram)There's a good reason why a site like NHLUniforms.com doesn't exist for the American Hockey League. It's called the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Thanks to them, no one would ever be able to keep track.

Last week, the Penguins posted this photo (right) on Instagram. At first glance, it just looks like players signing autographs for fans. But look closer and you'll notice the guys are sporting sweaters we've never seen before.

No one should be surprised. This team typically wears a large number of jersey designs throughout the season — apart from their standard home and road sets. In fact, they proudly display most of the dozens of designs from their 13 years of existence on a special section of their website.

The other reason I wanted to get this new checkerboard-sleeved jersey on the record is that just over a month ago, we got a look at yet another alternate sweater that would be worn this season.

Chirps from Center Ice — a Penguins fan blog — treated us to photos on Sept. 7 of a Pittsburgh Hornets-inspired third jersey apparently on display at PensFest.

So the question is this: How many alternate jerseys could one AHL team possibly need? (And are they solely responsible for keeping Reebok in business?) Even as I ask the question I realize I should be posing the same question to the Syracuse Crunch. (That was No. 5 — even though it only saw preseason action this year.)

I never really paid attention to how many difference jerseys AHL teams use in a season until the NHL went away.

I really want the NHL back.