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From USAToday.com:

By Michael McCarthy, USA TODAY

The NHL is launching its biggest uniform makeover in decades.
The league Monday will unveil sleeker, lighter, more durable hockey uniforms from Reebok that will enable players to skate faster with greater range of motion, while staying drier and cooler on the ice, says Brian Jennings, the NHL's executive vice president of consumer products marketing.

Hockey fans will get their first look at the new "Rbk Edge" uniforms from official outfitter Reebok during Versus' live coverage of the 2007 All-Star Game on Jan. 24. All 30 NHL teams switch to the new uniforms for the 2007-08 season.

The NHL and Reebok have been designing and testing the new uniforms for 30 months. That quiet period has spawned several myths, Jennings told USA TODAY. No, NHL players won't wear form-fitting garb like Olympic speedskaters. No, the new uniforms won't eliminate horizontal stripes, although some clubs will experiment with vertical striping next season.

"They'll still look like hockey players in hockey sweaters," Jennings says. "But the jerseys have incredible technology that allows players to perform better."

Matt O'Toole, chief executive officer of Reebok-CCM Hockey, says the revamped uniforms give players unprecedented performance and protection. "They'll go from driving a Ford to a Ferrari. They'll still be in a car — but a car that's more sculpted and sleek," he says.

Photos of the uniforms, obtained exclusively by USA TODAY, show more of an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary change.

The uniform shift is bound to spark controversy among players and hockey traditionalists. To stave off the kind of player revolt that derailed the NBA's composite ball from Spalding, the NHL and Reebok incorporated feedback from the NHL Players Association, general managers, retired stars and even draft picks. Nearly all 750 NHL players, from superstars to enforcers, have been personally fitted by Reebok, Jennings says. More than half the teams have practiced in the uniforms, O'Toole says.

NHLPA director of hockey affairs Mike Gartner says the union got involved later in the process. He believes the player input pushed full rollout back to next season from this season. But Gart-ner gives credit to Reebok for listening to complaints and making modifications. "By doing that, they avoided the NBA ball," he says.

The players, for example, put their foot down against one idea to have them tuck their jerseys inside their pants. The design would have trapped too much heat near players' bodies, Jennings says. The league also toyed with a version of those funky Cooperall long pants worn by the Philadelphia Flyers in the early 1980s.

Sidney Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins star who is Reebok's lead hockey endorser, suggested the company loosen up the jerseys and make logos bigger. "Anything that can make you faster, I'm for," he says.

Nearly two years after the season-long lockout that remade the NHL's rule book and finances, the league is revamping its uniform. Details on the biggest change since teams switched from the old wool jerseys to synthetic fabrics in the early 1960s:

•The uniforms are 14% lighter in pregame weight, the equivalent of more than a 6-ounce puck in weight. Current jerseys and socks absorb moisture from sweat, ice and water bottles, Jennings says. But water repellent "Bead Away" technology allows the new duds to retain 76% less moisture. "The players' eyes bug out when they see it," he says. The result? The lighter, drier uniforms generated 9% less wind drag in wind tunnel tests at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That will translate into faster, "less fatigued" players, Jennings says.

•The new uniforms are more ergonomically fitted to a player's body, shoulder and elbow pads, pants and shin guards. But newer fabrics such as stretch mesh actually give players greater range of motion because the uniforms move with their bodies, O'Toole says. Impact tests indicate the uniform's new "core body protector," or new hockey pants, generates 61% more hip protection.

•Ventilated "Play Dry" fabric helps wick away sweat and heat buildup, keeping players 4 to 10 degrees cooler, according to thermal lab tests at Central Michigan University. The newer, more rugged construction materials will double the life span of uniforms, O'Toole says.

Vincent Lecavalier, the Tampa Bay Lightning star and CCM endorser, says the uniforms make him feel quicker on the ice.

"They're the real deal," he says. "The water doesn't soak into your jersey. So you don't feel like you have 10 pounds on your back by the end of the third period."

Other players are more negative. After practicing with the new system in December, San Jose Sharks defenseman Kyle McLaren worried opponents will have "a birds-eye view" of where his equipment stops and tape from an injury begins.

"You come back from an injury, and they can see it because you're all taped up," he says.

Teammate Scott Hannan was dubious about promised technology benefits. "I feel 8% faster out there," he says with a smirk.

All 30 NHL clubs will have the opportunity to redesign their individual looks this summer, Jennings says. Hockey uniforms for teams such as the Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens are revered as the best in any sport. Any change causes fierce debate. The Buffalo Sabres unveiled a new jersey last season. While some fans like it, critics say the new logo looks more like a "Buffaslug" than a bison.

Says Jennings: "There will be teams that skate out (this fall) and don't look very different. Others will have more of a vertical design."

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