Chris18 wrote:
Dude, that's childhood trauma shit right there.
The fisherman, and anything related to it (teal and wavy lines) need to go the fuck away. For. Eva.
There was nothing good about that era.
Next you'll say Don Maloney should be Isles GM. Oh wait, you did that already.
Did someone piss in your coffee and say it was me?
I actually liked the Coyotes Kachina jerseys back in the day. Nice departure from the norm, for a franchise that didn't have a history to ruin. The Isles had a history and pissed on it with the teal and fisherman. I've probably written about this before on here, but the fisherman was brought about by the "Gang of Four" Isles ownership group- which was 4 season ticket holders who bought the team for a song from an out of touch Pickett. They pulled such great moves as forcing Bill Torrey to retire (and replacing him with Maloney), brought in Milbury as coach, and brought about the fisherman logo- with the ENTIRE focus group approving the logo being one of the Gang of Four's 2 kids (I believe they were 11 and 13 at the time). The league basically said "okaaaaaaay, if you really want to do this, remember jerseys are approved for 3 years at a time". Fans flipped their lids, Ray Ferraro left as a UFA and immediately said in his Rangers press conference that the logo was a disaster. The Isles changed the logo back ASAP but the league made them keep those jerseys. When they announced they were ditching the fisherman Kasparitis said on camera "Good! We look like idiots". And he was right. Fuck that logo. Fuck those jerseys. Fuck anyone who likes either of them.
Some things the Isles could have done with the RR jerseys- a lighthouse design, to pay homage to Charles Wang's idea and vision. He kept the team in NY and Isles fans owe him gratitude for that. They could have done something about Belmont! Chances are they're saving that for when they move there, but it could have been cool. They could have had jail bars for all the owners they've had with legal issues (
https://www.lighthousehockey.com/law-owners-special-islanders-unit/2013/1/4/3782660/new-york-islanders-ownership-history-stephen-walsh-paul-greenwood#:~:text=Stephen%20Walsh%20and%20Paul%20Greenwood,for%20securities%20and%20wire%20fraud..)
Funny what role perspective plays in all of this. See, I remember it differently. Back in the 1994-95 season, the Islanders had their IHL (back when the IHL still existed) affiliate right in Denver, Colorado. The Denver Grizzlies signaled a return of pro hockey after the Colorado Rangers left in 1989. It was a pretty big deal, and the Grizzlies, unlike their parent club, were frickin' awesome. They went onto win the Turner Cup championship in their first year of existence, and a friend reminded me that two notable players who contributed quite a bit to that championship run were a couple youngsters named Zigumnd Palffy and Tommy Salo. It was the beginning of great things for the Grizzlies in Colorado...except for the fact that we all found out soon after that we were getting an NHL franchise. The Grizzlies would go onto win a second Turner Cup championship the following season, except they won it in their new location in Utah, where they ended up playing until the IHL went belly-up at the turn of the century, eventually the rights got bought by, yes, the Avalanche and they became what is now known as the Cleveland Monsters.
Anyway, I digress big-time. I just remember seeing Palffy and Salo in those ridiculous jerseys and, as ridiculous and asinine as those sweaters looked, I still kinda link those two guys with that look (and also, IIRC, that infamous celebratory kiss). Time has a way of healing all wounds and I think it'd be fine to just embrace it. Yes, it was a mistake, but it happened, and shoving it away in a little box ain't gonna make it like it didn't. And frankly, the fact that they're still making merchandise out of it and it's selling well makes me think that there are quite a few fans who don't share your sentiment.
Lastly, you should probably go a little easy on Maloney. I used to think Don Waddell was one of the worst GMs in NHL history, and his stint with the Thrashers was no doubt disastrous. But seeing how he's doing running the Canes, it sure looks like the downright toxic ownership group in Atlanta was more to blame than Waddell was, and I think you can say something similar about Maloney in Long Island. Whether it was deserved or not, he would go on to win the first-ever NHL GM of The Year Award, and his stint in Arizona wasn't really that bad (and ironically that ownership situation wasn't much better). Frankly I'm surprised he hasn't gotten another shot somewhere.
Oh, sorry, I have to add this. You can call the Fishsticks jersey ugly as hell all you want, and you'd be right, but IMO they're not even close to the worst look the Isles have ever trotted out. That honor would belong to these WTF designs.
And you can disagree all you want--I think this one BY FAR is the worst fucking thing they ever came up with. Reebok EDGE was a very dark time in the NHL.