The Columbus Blue Jackets have been wearing the same jersey templates ever since their inaugural season and it's time for a much-needed update. Ever since the start in 2000, they have had the blue shoulders which go down to the cuff on the away jerseys and an all-blue home jersey with the main logo and two shoulder patches on the top. For the first ten years of our sister team's existence (Minnesota Wild), they too had the exact same design as us until they updated and went off of a new model. References of jersey similarities can be found here: http://www.nhluniforms.com/BlueJackets/BlueJackets.html and here: http://www.nhluniforms.com/Wild/Wild01.html. Don't get me wrong, the jerseys we have are nice; however, they can be much better.

The overwhelming majority of the hockey community loves the alternate jerseys as the cannon is seen as individually unique to Columbus. The current logo is nice and hits home for a lot of CBJ fans, but the logo does not make any sense to those outside of the area. Others I have spoken to don't understand that it is the Ohio flag in the shape of a C to represent Columbus. The cannon, on the other hand, represents the unique feature of the team, its thundering fanbase, and the arena (as anyone who's been to a game can testify) and it also pays homage to the civil-war theme and our history. As a staff writer of the Columbus Blue Jackets stated, "...the state of Ohio and the city of Columbus were significantly influential on the Union Army. Ohio contributed more of its population to the Union Army than any other state, while many of the Blue Coats worn by the Union soldiers were manufactured in Columbus."

With the twentieth anniversary of the Blue Jackets coming up, there is no better time to update the uniforms and show the NHL community the new Columbus Blue Jackets. I propose that Columbus make their alternate jerseys their home and away jerseys barring some modifications however they see fit. Note, I want them to change to this design NOT to this exact colorway or at the very least, change their design and/or logo. This will allow for the current star and flag logo to be more of a throwback to the first twenty years of existence while also signifying the beginning of a new era in the franchise. And if the team wants to keep their roots of showing state pride, which they should, they could easily add the Ohio state flag on one of the shoulders.

Even if this new design is not liked by the masses, it will be something that they were willing to try. Think about it this way: if we want to go back to something before, how do we do that if there is nothing new? My example here is the Buffalo Sabres and other teams who have changed their logos over the years for periods of time only to switch back to something previously or an adaptation of something earlier. From 2006-2010 the Buffalo Sabres redesigned to what is now known as the "Buffaslug." After four years of much disapproval and dislike, the Sabres switched back to their original design from 1970. Although disliked by many, this period caused a rebirth of love for the original design. Meanwhile, the Sabres fans who liked the "Buffaslug" can now collect them as limited editions or exclusives, so by the end of it all, there is a new collectible for jersey enthusiasts and a new love for what was the original or what was before. Other examples of this can be seen in the Washington Capitals (95-07), New York Islanders (95-98), New York Rangers (76-78), LA Kings (98-02), and Pittsburgh Penguins (92-02).

Additionally, I feel that this break in sports could give the CBJ staff a chance to see our interest in a change thus giving them more time to work on a design update. So much so that potentially the next season CBJ could have a new design on the ice for the twenty-year-old team. The Blue Jackets fanbase feels that things have changed for the better since the beginning of the century and that the team is on the rise. A new era of CBJ is dawning. What better way to show it?

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Credit: Jersey design by u/11hockeyzach, quote from https://www.nhl.com/bluejackets/news/naming-a-team-the-story-behind-the-blue-jackets-name/c-479316