The “Jersey jersey” is going bye-bye.
Sunday’s contest against the Ottawa Senators marks the final time the New Jersey Devils will wear their iconic “Jersey jersey” — an all-black jersey with 21 white stripes (one for each of New Jersey’s counties) coupled with a cursive “Jersey” wordmark across its chest.
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Bye-Bye, Jersey Jersey
Most will look back on the days of the jersey with a smile. In a recent social media poll, 1,062 of 1,257 fans surveyed (84.5%) said they “loved” the jersey and “will miss it”, while the remaining 187 said they “disliked” it and are “glad it’s leaving”.
The public consensus wasn’t always this clear. On Nov. 24, 2021 against the Minnesota Wild, the Devils showed their newly announced “Jersey jersey” to the crowd on the jumbotron. It was met with instant and widespread boos.
Chris, 38, from Hartford, Connecticut, who drives down for 10–12 games a year, was blunt at first: “They didn’t feel like hockey sweaters. They felt like a baseball or basketball jersey trying to be a hockey sweater.”
Mark, 22, a Devils fan from Long Island, joined those doubters: “I actually hated them at the start.”
Jade Penney, 27, from Paterson, New Jersey (NJ), said it “didn’t seem very ‘Devils’” to her at first.
Andrew Vitale, 37, of East Rutherford, NJ, felt the same: “I will always bleed red and black until the day I die [but] not going to lie, at first I wasn’t a fan,” he said.
All four of those fans said they grew to really like the jersey.
It’s a common phenomenon among sports fans to dislike a jersey and then grow fond of it as it becomes a part of their favorite team’s identity. In Major League Baseball, countless fanbases first lambasted their City Connect Uniforms, just to have them fly off the shelves months later.
It’s near-impossible to replicate the true emotion a jersey entails by a simple promotional video or photo shoot. Thus, fans’ emotions truly change quickly when, perhaps, they see Jack Hughes slicing and dicing in the new jersey against their rival New York Rangers. Or Dougie Hamilton blasting an overtime game winner and subsequently hyping up the crowd as a sea of black and white mobs him.
Jack Hughes finishes off the give-and-go with Hischier on the power play, giving the Devils a 6-3 lead!#NJDevils pic.twitter.com/MQrN6FC3Fz
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) March 23, 2022
But it’s the language – or in a better word, memes – that caused the jersey to ascend to ‘iconic’ status. A team from New Jersey wearing a new jersey designed with New Jersey in mind…and it says Jersey. Fans ran with the hilarity of that:
If you’re driving down Route 21 in Newark, there’s a good chance you’ll pass a car with a magnet in the same cursive font that simply says: “Car”. Same for a “Jeep Jeep”.
Some fans even have magnets on their fridge that say, you guessed it, “Fridge”. Or maybe you’ll take a stroll on the concourse and catch a fan wearing “Sock Socks”.
And this past Sunday, Apr. 4, when the Devils Den Team Store re-stocked their infamous “Hat Hat”, they sold like hotcakes.
While the jersey certainly grew in popularity over time, not all fans were filled with vitriol at the first sight of these jerseys:
Matt Golas, 23, from Passaic County, loved it from the jump. “I think it is one of the cleanest looking jerseys we’ve ever had,” he said. “The simplicity and the color scheme is beautiful and it will be missed deeply.”
Brett Kiliyanski, 35, who grew up in Basking Ridge and now lives in Hoboken, had the same instant affection. And he’s in a unique position to judge – as a member of the Devils’ Ice Crew, he’s seen the players in the jersey night after night up close: “I thought it was a refreshed take on having a third jersey because we only had two jerseys for decades,” he said. “My opinion never changed.”
For as much fun as the Jersey jersey created, the Devils mostly struggled while wearing it, going 23-27-3 over its five seasons. But maybe that’s part of what made it so special; it replicated the Devils as a whole. It lived and breathed with them:
In the two seasons they made the playoffs (2022-23 & 2024-25), they went a combined 12-7-1 (.625 PTS%) in the Jersey jersey. That means in the three seasons they didn’t (2021-22, 2023-24 & 2025-26), they went 11-20-2 (.364 PTS%).
The Jersey jersey has seen highs. It has seen lows. But now it’s time to put it to rest, and in the meantime, fans eagerly await the design of next year’s alternate, dubbed the “Hometown Remix” jerseys.
Devils president Jake Reynolds put it plainly at a team event in February: “The new jersey is going to be exciting. That’s one piece I will tell you,” he said. “Obviously, the Jersey jersey has been a huge piece of our identity for the last several years. To be able to kind of hang that up for the time being and be able to introduce something that we think our fanbase will be really excited about, we’re pretty pumped up about it. But you got to leave some elements for surprise.”
Fans Look Forward to New ‘Hometown Remix” Jersey
Fans already have their wish lists: “I just hope the main jersey is black with red detailing,” said Zachary Chin, 26, originally from Hamilton, NJ and now living in Newark.
Marissa McCoy, 21, from Morgantown, West Virginia, said she would love to see green make a comeback, before adding, “I also know if the jerseys were similar to the Stadium Series or more of the original look but all black, I’ll immediately be buying another!”
Mark hopes for an inversion of the Stadium Series look: “Black with a red logo.” Vitale would be more than content with them returning the Stadium Series jersey as-is.
Penney hopes the new design keeps the “Jersey” script: “Whatever the design may be, I hope it holds as much love for New Jersey as the Jersey jersey did,” she added. In a similar vein, Kiliyanski would like to see “Perhaps more of the state shown on the jersey.”
Chris said, “Since they’ve made the ‘Black and Red’ their identity, the next jersey should definitely lean into the black and red coloring, and drop the white.”
Whatever arrives, the Jersey jersey is getting its proper send-off on Sunday — not with the boos that greeted it, but with the affection it earned along the way. A lot of fans who once rolled their eyes are now more than happy to admit they’ll miss the darn thing.
The first 9,000 fans in attendance today will receive a special “Jersey Shirsey” – AKA “Shirt Shirt” – commemorating the Jersey jersey’s last hurrah. All Jersey Jerseys in the Devils Den will be 40% off.
