What is your favorite Edmonton Oilers uniform set?

The Edmonton Oilers are one of the most remarkably consistent-looking teams in North American professional sports. Apart from color changes, their primary logo has remained the same for the team’s entire existence, even going back to their time in the World Hockey Association.

Still, that doesn’t mean we have nothing to talk about — the Oilers have a ton of alternates, and enough color changes to make your head spin.

This is part two of a two-part series asking Uni Watch readers what their favorite uniform set is from the two Stanley Cup Finals teams. You can find the Florida Panthers’ entry here. For the record, I’m only going to talk about the Oilers’ NHL uniforms — no WHA here.

While their NOB and number font varied in their very early NHL seasons, the Oilers spent the entirety of their dynasty wearing V-necked sweaters with large, blue-white-orange-white-blue torso and sleeve stripes at home, inverted on the road. A blue-and-orange shoulder yoke at home and orange-and-white yoke on the road completes the jersey.

The team initially had pants with a large orange stripe down the side — the stripe was dropped for the 1995-96 season, the final in this colorway.

The Oilers had their first real uni redesign in 1996. They darkened their royal blue and orange to navy and bronze, and added very thin red outlines to the bronze torso and sleeve stripes on the home and road jerseys. The first season of this look kept the shoulder yoke on the home whites before dropping it in 1997. The Oilers introduced a shoulder patch, an art deco-esque depiction of an oil worker pulling a lever that looks like a hockey stick.

The Oilers introduced their first ever alternate jersey, designed by artist Todd McFarlane, in 2001. The navy blue jersey’s primary crest depicts an oil drop encased in a metal gear. The five rivets around the drop represent the club’s five Stanley Cups. A new shoulder logo is introduced on this jersey, as well as a new number and NOB font. Silver-white-silver sleeve stripes and a silver-white torso stripe complete the look. It all screams early 2000s, and was retired following the introduction of the Reebok Edge template.

Like so many other teams, upon the introduction of the Reebok Edge template, the Oilers fell victim to some of the worst design trends caused by it. Keeping the same color scheme, their new home and road uniforms have the apron-string piping. The truncated sleeve stripes are the familiar white-navy-bronze-navy-white design at home (bronze bordered by extremely thin red), but on the road the there’s a huge bronze stripe with smaller navy and white stripes above it. They eliminated the shoulder patches.

After the reintroduction of alternate jerseys in 2009, the Oilers brought back their dynasty look. Small wonder which jersey fans wanted to buy.

The Oilers promoted the alternate look to full-time and introduced a (largely) matching road counterpart, though the blue on the road jersey looks darker than the blue at home. For the first season of the new look, the team does retain the previous set’s home uniform as an alternate before dropping it.

The team introduced an orange alternate jersey in 2015, which also featured oddly-placed TV numbers like the ones on the first WHA jerseys. The design proved so popular that the Oilers designated it as their primary home jersey for the 2016-17 season, their final at Edmonton Coliseum, and it was used in the 2016 Heritage Classic, an event that usually has special uniforms.

The Oilers move back to navy blue as they move into their new arena, and drop the royal blue unis entirely apart from four games in the 2018-19 season, the team’s 40th in the NHL. In 2019, the Oilers introduce a new navy alternate, completely bereft of white elements (even on the crest). It’s an eyesore, in my opinion.

The royal blue comes back, as does their traditional home blue uniform. The navy alternate is retained through the 2023-24 season. It took a while, but the Oilers finally look like the Oilers again.

2003 Heritage Classic

The Oilers did bring back royal blue and orange for one game in their navy-and-bronze era — the 2003 Heritage Classic at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium. The design is rather plain compared to future outdoor games, and the only embellishment is the NHL Vintage patch worn by both the Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens.

As stated above, the Oilers didn’t design a special uniform for the 2016 Heritage Classic, instead wearing their uber-popular alternates with the Heritage Classic patch added to the right sleeve. Cam Talbot wore a toque during the game though!

2021 Reverse Retro

It’s the Oilers’ standard away uni, with orange replacing blue and blue replacing orange. The whole point of Reverse Retro, if you will.

It was always odd to me that the Oilers didn’t lean fully into the orange during their orange era. This uni looks great! Why stick with the blue when you want to be an orange team?

2022-23 Reverse Retro

The Oilers brought back the Todd McFarlane alternates from 2001-07, but introduced orange, a welcome update to the drab originals.

2023 Heritage Classic

The Oilers diverged from past Heritage Classic designs by adopting a look inspired by the Edmonton Mercurys. The uni number in the oil drop on the main crest is a nice touch, but I’m not sure how I feel about the khaki-colored pants and gloves.

And that’s all! I think I’m partial to the current/original Oilers set. It’s just so iconic. But what do I now — share your thoughts down below!

Father’s Day is next Sunday, June 15. Uni Watch has proudly shared photos of Dads in uniform for over a decade now, a tradition started by Phil Hecken, continued by Jim Vilk, and now I’m taking up the mantle.

This is always a very special day, and we’d love for as many readers as possible to participate — especially those of you who haven’t done so before. A few of you have reached out to Phil saying “I’ve run out of photos of my Dad” (from years past), so if you want to resubmit a photo used before, please do so!

To take part in this annual tradition, select one photo of your father (or grandfather or uncle) in uniform (it can be sports, military, work — as long as it’s a uniform) along with a short description of 100 words or less. Then email the photo — again, only one, please — and text to anthonyemerson94@gmail.com with the subject line “Uni Watch Father’s Day 2025” by Thursday, JUNE 12, 11:59 PM Eastern. I’ll run all of the submissions on Father’s Day. Thanks!