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Before the NHL and Adidas unveiled all 31 teams' Reverse Retro uniforms for the 2020-21 season, I was already thinking about what I'd do if I had the opportunity. I like where the Predators went with their Reverse Retro this past year. They weren't perfect, but I would say they were an improvement on the originals . Just a bit cleaner overall and much more interesting than their standard home uniform. I wasn't quite sure where to go with a different concept. Well, I was sure, but I didn't have a good reason. I decided to do it anyway.

One of the most interesting sweaters the Predators ever introduced was a short-lived checkerboard alternate , worn for just two seasons. The design is just old enough that I can't really find much in terms of rationale or reception. Was it some sort of NASCAR thing? I really don't know. On the original, though, it was a very subtle black and dark blue pattern with white accents that honestly looks pretty classy. More recent blogs seem to think of it fondly, so that was enough for me to move ahead with the option. Little did I anticipate the pain it would be. I should have known.

Rather than go with another yellow jersey, I opted to keep the base colour for this Reverse Retro. The blue would stay blue everywhere. The major swaps were white-to-yellow and black-to-white, just to make the pattern stand out more readily. I thought about doing black to yellow, but the question of what to do with the white didn't have a great answer. Could've made it silver to match details on the home and away of the day, but that just wasn't all that satisfying. Another change was to use the primary logo of the era with the yellow outline rather than the toned down alternate version. In the end, you get a sweater that's identifiably Predators. Bright yellow, standing out more than most other teams, but not the primary focus in this case, with the navy blue base being an homage to their classic duds.

Oh, and those checkerboard stripes... I'm never, ever doing that again. It was almost agonizing, not for the technical side of things, just the tedium of it, at least as far as the waist stripes. The sleeve ones were a simple perspective shear, but the waist stripes were done manually because the curve distort just made everything look janky and pixelated. Oh well, it's done, so that's that.

As I said, I don't really have a good reason for this one's existence. I just wanted to do it. So, with that arbitrariness in mind, the 09 is the year in which the uniform debuted with Alternate meaning, well, it was their alternate.

I think this puts me at 15 Reverse Retries to go... I absolutely love the NJD concept I've got on deck. NYI will be ambitious. NYR, classy if not adventurous. OTT I already kind of love. PHI, same. PIT, I'm conflicted on which way to go. STL has been staring me in the face since the original debuted. SJS I may have an idea, I'm just not sure yet. TBL is perplexing me. TOR I think will look gorgeous. VAN was another obvious idea. VGK, well, I'm sure there's another heritage team to emulate. WAS is simple and should look pleasant if not overly exciting. Finally, WPG will provide a compromise of alternates, if you can glean from that where I'm going. Once all is said and done, I'm not sure what I'll do next...

Description
Before the NHL and Adidas unveiled all 31 teams' Reverse Retro uniforms for the 2020-21 season, I was already thinking about what I'd do if I had the opportunity. I like where the Predators went with their Reverse Retro this past year. They weren't perfect, but I would say they were an improvement on the originals . Just a bit cleaner overall and much more interesting than their standard home uniform. I wasn't quite sure where to go with a different concept. Well, I was sure, but I didn't have a good reason. I decided to do it anyway.

One of the most interesting sweaters the Predators ever introduced was a short-lived checkerboard alternate , worn for just two seasons. The design is just old enough that I can't really find much in terms of rationale or reception. Was it some sort of NASCAR thing? I really don't know. On the original, though, it was a very subtle black and dark blue pattern with white accents that honestly looks pretty classy. More recent blogs seem to think of it fondly, so that was enough for me to move ahead with the option. Little did I anticipate the pain it would be. I should have known.

Rather than go with another yellow jersey, I opted to keep the base colour for this Reverse Retro. The blue would stay blue everywhere. The major swaps were white-to-yellow and black-to-white, just to make the pattern stand out more readily. I thought about doing black to yellow, but the question of what to do with the white didn't have a great answer. Could've made it silver to match details on the home and away of the day, but that just wasn't all that satisfying. Another change was to use the primary logo of the era with the yellow outline rather than the toned down alternate version. In the end, you get a sweater that's identifiably Predators. Bright yellow, standing out more than most other teams, but not the primary focus in this case, with the navy blue base being an homage to their classic duds.

Oh, and those checkerboard stripes... I'm never, ever doing that again. It was almost agonizing, not for the technical side of things, just the tedium of it, at least as far as the waist stripes. The sleeve ones were a simple perspective shear, but the waist stripes were done manually because the curve distort just made everything look janky and pixelated. Oh well, it's done, so that's that.

As I said, I don't really have a good reason for this one's existence. I just wanted to do it. So, with that arbitrariness in mind, the 09 is the year in which the uniform debuted with Alternate meaning, well, it was their alternate.

I think this puts me at 15 Reverse Retries to go... I absolutely love the NJD concept I've got on deck. NYI will be ambitious. NYR, classy if not adventurous. OTT I already kind of love. PHI, same. PIT, I'm conflicted on which way to go. STL has been staring me in the face since the original debuted. SJS I may have an idea, I'm just not sure yet. TBL is perplexing me. TOR I think will look gorgeous. VAN was another obvious idea. VGK, well, I'm sure there's another heritage team to emulate. WAS is simple and should look pleasant if not overly exciting. Finally, WPG will provide a compromise of alternates, if you can glean from that where I'm going. Once all is said and done, I'm not sure what I'll do next...