The Lehigh Valley Phantoms are very much entering a new era in their history. The last remnants of the Hextall days have been flushed away and an influx of very talented youth from the Fletcher/Flahr era of drafting are arriving. It led to their first playoff berth since 2018, despite the fact that they didn’t get a home game, and should provide many years of sustained success to come. Now is as good a time as any to overhaul their jerseys and market a fun new public perception.
Their current home/away/alt kits have been around for quite a few years now and aren’t really anything worth getting excited about. The white jerseys always felt out of place, meanwhile the orange and black jerseys definitely aren’t terrible but could really use a facelift.
The Phantoms already had one of the more creative alternate jersey concepts in place with their “blackout” setup, an all-black uniform with just minor orange highlights and no white on the entire kit. They’ve been in the rotation for a couple years and are a massive hit with the fans.
The then doubled down and introduced a “whiteout” uniform in 2022-23 and it was an immediate hit making waves across the sport due to its unique camouflage look. The white-on-white scheme is something that is utilized surprisingly rarely in professional hockey. The most recent example is the 2020 Dallas Stars Reverse Retro jersey, which were a very similar design, just rocking green instead of orange.
Both were alternate looks during the 2022-23 season, broke out only for special theme nights, but the team could hit a real home run if they made the blackout and whiteout looks their full-time home and away uniforms.
Both jerseys are a slightly brighter shade of orange than their current home/away/alts which could be a nice contract to the supposedly darker orange the Flyers could be taking with their new jerseys. It could also open the door for an “orangeout” third jersey. A similar wacky concept to the other two, just with a neon orange base and minimal shades of either black or white. Fully embrace the insanity.
Also, while making jersey demands, the LVP Olympic jerseys from 2019-20 were high on the list of greatest hockey jerseys of all time, please bring them back as an alternate.
For an AHL team, the goal should always be to put eyes on your product and maximize merchandise sales. And what better way to do that than having the most unique setup in the league? It would get the entire hockey world talking and they’d sell merch far beyond their own fan base. They currently don’t sell either jersey in replica form to the public, which always felt like a missed opportunity.
So what do ya say, Phantoms? Make the change for the fans!
Thank me later from your new throne of hundred dollar bills.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: JustSports Photography / Lehigh Valley Phantoms Instagram
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