AHL team beats NHL parent club to the punch

With the Sharks uniform reveal in our rear view mirror — which by the way, from the first teaser to the full unveiling was all inside 40 hours and as efficient as the new designs themselves — it's time to look ahead to what's next in terms of new NHL jerseys.

Photo from Iowa Wild (via Facebook)According to my calendar, the Minnesota Wild are 10 days away from showing us their new road threads. But yesterday, the Iowa Wild, their AHL affiliate, beat them to the punch with an unveiling via social media.

The I-Wild — as I've taken to calling them — debuted their new green sweaters on Facebook and Twitter Wednesday. They're essentially a reversed version of the home uniform with "wheat" instead of white and the alternate roundel logo on the front.

That white home jersey was unveiled four months ago, on April 22, when the team unveiled its primary logo. Both logos are borrowed from their parent club in Minnesota — with a few key words changed.

In fact, even the jersey itself comes straight from Minnesota. It's the Wild's third with the crest swapped out. Glad to see this franchise sticking with green.

I was sad to see the Houston Aeros identity disappear this summer, but I can live with that if it means getting to see more of that excellent Wild logo.

Between the two, I'm more a fan of the road jersey, both because it's green and features an actual logo on the front. The white jersey with its green wordmark is just dull, if you ask me. Nothing special there.

What's in store for Minnesota?

Seeing Iowa's road sweater logically leads us to speculate a little on what's coming to Minnesota. In this NHL, it has to be white, right? Using that wheat color might make it look old and dingy on television. But I'd definitely expect to see more green than red.

It also might be easy to assume a white version of the green jersey — like what Iowa and Houston before them used as a home sweater. But that's the reason I think we'll get something new. NHL clubs aren't in the business of copying minor league teams. Often it's the other way around.

So whatever we get from the Wild, I expect it to be entirely new. What's your prediction?