With a design that speaks as much to the past as it does to the future, the Bruins will don new uniforms this autumn.
Stated differently, it’s time for a shift.
Over the last ten or so years, I’ve been asked by a number of players, “Why can’t we get back into the jersey from the late 80s, early 90s?” Cam Neely, the team president, said. I didn’t think it was appropriate to do that at the time.
It’s time now.
The squad will reintroduce its spoked-B, dual-purpose uniforms from 1948 to 1985, but with a twist.
The road whites will wear a black B with serifs added in 2007, while the black home jerseys will feature a gold B crescent.
The team revived the logos on Monday along with the motto “Built By Boston, Powered By Tradition,” which it utilized during its 2023–24 centennial season.
When the club’s season-long celebration of its 100th anniversary came to a close, all the chatter about a new look started.
Whether it’s from the Stadium Series, the Winter Classic, or out in Tahoe for the Winter Classic, we’ve obviously had a variety of outfits, and we’ve always looked back far into our rich past and what was worn in the early years,” Neely said. I firmly believe that this is a jersey that many people will find appealing and relatable.
Since 1995, the only black B has appeared on the Bruins’ black home jerseys, with the exception of the centennial season.
Neely thinks people will notice when the gold B is returned.
“My feeling is they’ll pick up on that right away,” Neely said, “because the color of the B is very prominent on the jersey, right in the middle of the jersey and the crest.” That’s the first thing we all see.
Every time a trademark or outfit was updated in the 2020s, the Bruins made sure to include a video.
Neely, his old friend Michael J. Fox, and a current Bruins player who is nearly unrecognizable due to a lot of makeup and a flashy clothing, ham it up in the well-made clip that heavily draws from the Back to the Future franchise’s time-space continuum ideas.
The idea is that Fox talks about Neely, who wore his black home No. 8 jersey with the gold B, while viewing a video clip of his 2004 uniform retirement ceremony.
Neely interprets Fox’s phone call telling him how awesome it would be to go back as an invitation to go back on the ice.
“I can’t see seriously because I have four joint replacements,” Neely adds.
Fox corrects him and sends him a text with a photo of the black and gold B shirt.
“People love returning,” Fox adds.
In order to fulfill Fox’s desire, Neely then calls the Bruins player from his office.
After some smoke and flashing lights, the heavy-breathing Bruins player uses a cane to limp into Fox’s office and hand him the new black jersey, a special gift from your close friend Cam, without giving away the entire spot.
The new Bruins logo and a well-known but modified Emmett Doc Brown remark mark the end of the commercial.
According to Andrea Mazzarelli, the team’s VP of marketing, “We have so many wonderful uniforms from our history, and if you look back, our uniform changes in history often signify a more significant transition, like from era to era.” In light of our organization’s significant transformation coming out of the centennial, it seemed like the ideal moment.
A new shoulder patch featuring a bear silhouette filled in by the words Boston on the road whites and Bruins on the home blacks is another modification to the jersey. The sleeve features a retro stripe and a new hem loop. The jersey’s right front retains the Rapid 7 sponsor patch.
That should take care of the Bruins uniform issue for a while.
Neely stated, “I don’t see a change anytime soon, but we’ll probably introduce something else if we’re involved in some other outdoor games.”
