The Wild have been one of only a few teams without a third jersey for two seasons now. A variant of the current home red jersey was the alternate a few years ago, when the now-retired original green jersey was their home sweater. When news first broke that the Wild would be unveiling a new third jersey at the MN State Fair, it seemed most Wild fans hoped they would simply bring that original green sweater back into the mix. It holds a certain nostolgia; as much as a 9 year old franchise can have. There were rumors from blog writers and beat columnists and even Wild Twitter accounts that the jersey would be a new design, with the word "Minnesota" in script or block letters across the front.

Then, someone apparently flipped a switch too soon over at Wild.com and the official jersey was leaked all over the interwebs. The redesigned website was only up for a short time before the mistake was rectified, but hockey jersey blog Icethetics let us all know what the new jersey looks like.

Naturally the Wild went ahead with their big unveiling event at the State Fair, with Derek Boogaard and Brent Burns modeling the jersey. From what I can tell, fan reaction is mixed. Alot of people really want that original green, and I would've been ok with that too since my jersey is the original green and it would have been relevant again.



I really like the new sweater though. Green base with the "harvest wheat" lettering and numbering Minnesota spelled out in script accross the chest with Wild in red in the underlining tail. The striking element to me is the star dotting the i and crossing the t in Minnesota is the same star that is present in the main animal head logo. It makes the uni very dramatic. When I first heard script, I was worried it may look like some of the U of M Gopher jerseys they've rolled out in recent history, and we'll just say I would not have been happy with that.

The squad now sports three completly different jersey desings: White roadies with the main logo, pretty much the standard when you think Wild hockey. Red homes with a smaller main logo encircled, and the new alternate, which will be worn a handful of times at home. I will withhold my ranking until I see the new sweater in person. The Wild will first wear their new jersey October 21st v. Colorado.

What do YOU think about the new sweater?