Protoype Jerseys

[Zeshy25]

Saw a Rangers prototype jersey recently that was made by Nike. Prior to league consolidating all jerseys under Pro-Player in 1999-2000 season, teams had their choice of manufacturer: CCM, Nike, Starter. My guess would be this was a prototype to show the jersey design if Rangers went with Nike. Given the collar style I am guessing this is from between 1996-1999.

Interested to hear thoughts on how prototype jerseys are viewed in the hobby.

Is there interest in them? Are they simply viewed as novelty items? Since they were never worn in any games, what would people recommend for customizing - someone from that era or anything goes? 

I think I had seen some All-Star prototypes and maybe a Lightning jersey. Anyone know of any others?

[mfitz804]

I don’t know if any for my team, if I did, I would be interested. 

I would stick with a customization of someone on the team at the time it was produced. Otherwise it wouldn't make sense in my mind. 

[Hockey Bob]

I have a few prototype jerseys and the feedback I received was to leave them blank as they were never used.

It is more of a novelty IMO

As far as value,... I don't know what to make of them.
On one hand, it's a prototype so it's limited in production
On the other hand, it's a prototype and never something the team ever used so nailing down a player to put on it does not make much sense.
I liken the value to putting a player from the 70's on a current jersey. They never wore it, and someone may get excited about it, but in the long run it's not correct.  
If it is a team you follow it could be something cool to you and a narrow group of collectors but so far I have not seen them going for big money.
Who knows, maybe down the road these will be highly sought after (if left blank) but I wouldn't spend a lot at this stage of the game.

[mfitz804]

26 minutes ago, Hockey Bob said:

I have a few prototype jerseys and the feedback I received was to leave them blank as they were never used.

It is more of a novelty IMO

As far as value,... I don't know what to make of them.
On one hand, it's a prototype so it's limited in production
On the other hand, it's a prototype and never something the team ever used so nailing down a player to put on it does not make much sense.
I liken the value to putting a player from the 70's on a current jersey. They never wore it, and someone may get excited about it, but in the long run it's not correct.  
If it is a team you follow it could be something cool to you and a narrow group of collectors but so far I have not seen them going for big money.
Who knows, maybe down the road these will be highly sought after (if left blank) but I wouldn't spend a lot at this stage of the game.

Probably makes 100% sense to leave it blank. But I don’t have a lot of success doing that. 

[TheKevinShow]

Yeah, I’m in that same boat since I have a Pro Player Wild jersey. Their NHL2000 patch would’ve been the same as the other green teams but the authentic green NHL2000s are rare enough as is so I’m not wasting one on that jersey. It’s going to stay blank. 

[Devilsguy]

From what I remember, roughly half the league switched to pro player in 99-00 season and the rest was others or CCM.  The league wide deal didn't kick in until next season with CCM/Koho

As for prototype jerseys, they always seem to be worth less than what a lot of people think they are worth.

[jsh139]

1 hour ago, Devilsguy said:

As for prototype jerseys, they always seem to be worth less than what a lot of people think they are worth.

You can replace "prototype" with a blank space, and it would still apply.  Unfortunately for all of us

Edited September 17, 2019 by jsh139

[furiousd]

41 minutes ago, jsh139 said:

You can replace "prototype" with a blank space, and it would still apply.  Unfortunately for all of us

No kidding.  I generally try to stay away from anything that wasn't an on-ice version (repros, prototypes, tagging variations), but off the top of my head, the white Preds prototype was tempting.  I liked that one.

[TheKevinShow]

3 hours ago, Devilsguy said:

From what I remember, roughly half the league switched to pro player in 99-00 season and the rest was others or CCM.  The league wide deal didn't kick in until next season with CCM/Koho

Yeah, but Minnesota didn’t start playing until the 2000-01 season. They never wore Pro Player on ice. 

[Hockey Bob]

1 hour ago, furiousd said:

No kidding.  I generally try to stay away from anything that wasn't an on-ice version (repros, prototypes, tagging variations), but off the top of my head, the white Preds prototype was tempting.  I liked that one.

This one threw me,
Many on here were going nuts for them and they were going for crazy prices.
Glad I don't like the Preds and stayed out of that hub bub

[Devilsguy]

2 hours ago, TheKevinShow said:

Yeah, but Minnesota didn’t start playing until the 2000-01 season. They never wore Pro Player on ice. 

I have no idea how that connects to my statement.  Same is true with Columbus and even by extension Vegas.

Edit: I think I see the confusion.  I was making a general statement but more towards Zeshy's statement about the whole league going with PP in 99-00.

Edited September 17, 2019 by Devilsguy

[Devilsguy]

2 hours ago, jsh139 said:

You can replace "prototype" with a blank space, and it would still apply.  Unfortunately for all of us

True, everything has taken a beating.  Over the past year I've been getting better sales with current players who have largely accomplished little than vintage ones of players who won championships.  Go figure.

[mfitz804]

17 minutes ago, Devilsguy said:

True, everything has taken a beating.  Over the past year I've been getting better sales with current players who have largely accomplished little than vintage ones of players who won championships.  Go figure.

I'd say its all about "what have you done for me lately", but outside of Hall, basically no current Devils have done anything for anyone lately. 

Let's hope this season changes that. 

[JimmyGagner]

22 hours ago, Zeshy25 said:

Saw a Rangers prototype jersey recently that was made by Nike. Prior to league consolidating all jerseys under Pro-Player in 1999-2000 season, teams had their choice of manufacturer: CCM, Nike, Starter. My guess would be this was a prototype to show the jersey design if Rangers went with Nike. Given the collar style I am guessing this is from between 1996-1999.

Interested to hear thoughts on how prototype jerseys are viewed in the hobby.

Is there interest in them? Are they simply viewed as novelty items? Since they were never worn in any games, what would people recommend for customizing - someone from that era or anything goes? 

I think I had seen some All-Star prototypes and maybe a Lightning jersey. Anyone know of any others?

One correction I'll make is that the teams got to choose who made their jerseys, this is not true. That would have been worked into the deal negotiated by Nike, they were

trying to add another 6 top teams at the time. They would have had NYR, Buffalo, Pittsburgh for sure, plus I believe Florida or Tampa, Montreal and another who I can't recall. Maybe Colorado.  Nike wanted to the best teams or historic teams.

 

 

[jsh139]

Flyers used Nike for three seasons from 1996-99.  I don't particularly care for the Nike Flo-Knit as it feels really silky and I swear it's thinner than Air-Knit.

[JimmyGagner]

SP still uses that exact fabric. The Bauer/Nike factory is the SP factory.

[jsh139]

32 minutes ago, HannuVirta said:

SP still uses that exact fabric. The Bauer/Nike factory is the SP factory.

Yep.  I have some Bauer/SP jerseys and it's all the same material.

[tomtucker]

15 hours ago, furiousd said:

No kidding.  I generally try to stay away from anything that wasn't an on-ice version (repros, prototypes, tagging variations), but off the top of my head, the white Preds prototype was tempting.  I liked that one.

would have been sweet if they had added some yellow 👀

[Zeshy25]

Sounds like prototypes have less value than most people would think and there's a split amongst customizing vs keeping blank.

Not sure if I'll keep it, sell it, or customize. I mean I think it's neat but, at the same time it looks exactly the same as the other Rangers jerseys of the era. 

If anything would customize as Leetch or Richter as there term spanned any time these would have been considered.

An idea I've thought of would be to personally customize it. I wouldn't feel as bad since these were never worn on ice but, I also don't want to ruin such a unique jersey. The collector in me will probably win out

[Hockey Bob]

I'd say go with the old standard "It's yours, do with it as you wish" but just know the value would go down even more if your name was on it. 
I'd keep it and leave it blank but that's just me. 

[mfitz804]

2 minutes ago, Hockey Bob said:

I'd say go with the old standard "It's yours, do with it as you wish" but just know the value would go down even more if your name was on it. 
I'd keep it and leave it blank but that's just me. 

Having thought about it, I now believe this is the “right” answer. 

[JimmyGagner]

Agreed 100%.  Since it is a proto, leaving it as it is keeps the integrity of it.

 

[TheKevinShow]

On 9/17/2019 at 10:35 AM, jsh139 said:

Flyers used Nike for three seasons from 1996-99.  I don't particularly care for the Nike Flo-Knit as it feels really silky and I swear it's thinner than Air-Knit.

It can’t be as bad as what Nike currently uses. I’d read before that people had described Nike’s current material as trash bag-like. I didn’t know how scarily accurate that was until I actually got my hands on a TI Olympic jersey. 

[jsh139]

6 hours ago, TheKevinShow said:

It can’t be as bad as what Nike currently uses. I’d read before that people had described Nike’s current material as trash bag-like. I didn’t know how scarily accurate that was until I actually got my hands on a TI Olympic jersey. 

I haven't seen any swift material in person, so I can't comment, but I have heard that as well.

[mdwsta4]

On 9/19/2019 at 2:05 AM, TheKevinShow said:

It can’t be as bad as what Nike currently uses. I’d read before that people had described Nike’s current material as trash bag-like. I didn’t know how scarily accurate that was until I actually got my hands on a TI Olympic jersey. 

More rain coat than trash bag IMO. And if I’m being honest, I actually don’t hate Swift material. I’ve had a Canada Olympic jersey and now a pair of socks. It’s so light it’s crazy!! It’s just such an odd feeling that it throws you off. The socks may be the best designed socks I’ve ever used. The way Nike uses elastic to hold the shins in place is genius