FANATICS AN UPGRADE AS NHL JERSEY PARTNER

LAS VEGAS, NV — Fanatics has taken a lot of heat this year for the uniform fiasco with Major League Baseball that wasn’t their fault. By Nike’s own admission, they dropped the ball on the poorly received MLB transitional uniforms.

There won’t be any concerns with the NHL’s new threads, as the transition from Adidas to Fanatics has already been a seamless one.

Today, the NHL announced that Fanatics has officially come on board to replace Adidas for on-ice uniforms. The Fanatics Authentic Pro NHL is the first Fanatics-branded and designed NHL player uniforms that will be worn during the upcoming 2024-25 season.

The jerseys will be on display in Las Vegas this week and will make their official debuts during the NHL Draft, which begins on Friday.

Before the start of the Stanley Cup Final, I had the opportunity to check out the jerseys first-hand. I felt the material, its stitching, and saw the slight alteration to the elbow area, which now features more material to prevent wear and tear. Outside of that change, the jerseys are effectively what you would expect a professional athlete to wear.

And it has NHLPA membership and team services representative approval.

Every team’s trainer and at least one player from almost every NHL club tested out the product before Fanatics moved ahead with the jerseys. On top of that, the exact same Quebec-based manufacturer, SP Apparel, that has been producing the NHL’s jerseys for decades will continue to manufacture the Fanatics sweaters.

“We’ve put a ton of effort on craftsmanship,” Keith Leach, the VP & GM of Fanatics, told me. “They’re experts in the hockey field for nearly 50 years. We really partnered heavily with the stakeholders, along with the NHL and NHLPA have come together in a consistent approach to get to the end result. But the players and equipment managers really drove process.

“We’re extremely excited, really proud. It is a watershed moment for the brand, first time (Fanatics) will be on an athlete of one of the North America leagues.”

Auston Matthews, Brady Tkachuk, Connor McDavid, Connor Bedard, and Stanley Cup champion Aleksander Barkov were some of the NHL stars who had a say in how these jerseys would feel. It was extremely important to Fanatics, as Leach expressed, to make sure the athletes were comfortable with the material.

“I like that there is not a lot of change from the older version,” Bedard said, “I also like the design of the new practice jersey.”

These jerseys are legit. And yes, there will be skepticism at first due to the Nike/MLB hoopla from earlier in the year, but Fanatics is confident those concerns will soon change after the jerseys do the talking.

Fanatics will make their pro jerseys available to the public starting in September. The same durable quality and feel the players will sport on the ice will be the exact same you can wear at home with their Fanatics Authentic Pro jerseys.

“The demand was there. Our partners, the retailers, the consumers, they’ve been asking for it,” Leach said. “The hardcore, the collectors, they want to get that game quality jersey. It’s another added element to the fans.”

HERE AND THERE

• The Detroit Red Wings raised some eyebrows on Tuesday after completing a pair of trades, one of which led to defenceman Jake Walman shipped off to San Jose along with the second-round pick as part of a salary dump. The Wings have a lot of cap space to play with and have many irons in the fire. Whispers across the NHL suggest a move for John Gibson could be in play, while others believe Detroit has something large cooking.

• Jake Guentzel is also on Detroit’s radar, but so are several other clubs. Los Angeles is believed to be aggressively interest in Guentzel, as well.

• Toronto is in talks with pending restricted free agent Timothy Liljegren on a new contract. While that takes place, I’m also told he remains available for trade. Does a new deal make him easier to move?

• As the Winnipeg Jets continue to engage in trade talks involving Nikolaj Ehlers and Rutger McGroarty, some teams continue to poke around on Cole Perfetti. The Jets don’t have much of an appetite to move him, but that hasn’t stopped the calls from coming in.

• Sean Walker will be coveted in free agency, as several teams are interested in signing him. Nashville, Edmonton, San Jose, Utah, Calgary and New Jersey are some of the teams to keep tabs on.

• Speaking of the Predators, GM Barry Trotz is very interested in upgrading his blueline. He’s got a few irons in the fire, aside from trying to add a top-six scorer, and could add multiple defencemen in the coming week.

• The NHL’s first buyout window opens tomorrow. Expect to see some activity on Thursday.

• Nothing new to report on Tampa Bay and captain Steven Stamkos. Both sides are being tight-lipped, aside from saying they want the relationship to continue.

• Adam Henrique is expected to hit free agency and after his playoff performance, his value has certainly been given a solid boost. He’s unlikely to re-sign with the Oilers and will attractive plenty of interest July 1.

• Vegas and Jonathan Marchessault continue to talk, as agent Pat Brisson told me this week. Both sides want to get a del done, but the Golden Knights have a few things they’re working on and some of that involves creating some extra cap space.

• Contract talks between the New York Islanders and sniper Brock Nelson haven’t started yet, but they are expected to in the near future.

• Montreal is open to trading forwards Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak, both of whom are entering in the final year of their contracts.