Whereas the 1970's saw a boom in expansion in the NHL, the 1980's saw the league level off. Twenty-one teams comprised the NHL for the entire decade. In fact, only two teams moved in the 1980's -- the Flames moved north from Atlanta to the towering inferno of Calgary, Alberta. They kept the Flames nickname in their new home north of the border, becoming the only team in NHL history to keep the exact same nickname in two different cities (the North Stars dropped the "North" in their nickname when they moved to Dallas in 1993). Also, in 1982, the Colorado Rockies moved to East Rutherford, New Jersey, becoming the Devils (for those who are geographically impaired, New Jersey isn't remotely close to the Rocky Mountains).

The uniforms in the 1980's weren't much different in nature from those of the 1970's, with a few interesting noteworthy innovations.

Around the turn of the decade, manufacturer's tags began appearing on the tails of the jerseys. The beginning of the decade saw many different manufacturer's logos, from Maska to Sandow SK (SandKnit) to Nike and even the obscure Eagle (they provided the jerseys for the Philadelphia Flyers). By the end of the decade, CCM would become the exclusive provider of all game-issue jerseys. In addition to the primary labels, some teams had a second tag on the opposite side of the jersey identifying the company that did the lettering. The North Stars' jerseys had "Steichens" and later "Team Choice," the Red Wings had "Eastside," "Gunzo's" adorned the left tail of the Blackhawks' jerseys, and "Cosby" appeared on the Devils' sweaters. My sources tell me that these are local companies.

For the 1981-82 season, the Philadelphia Flyers introduced the decade's most radical idea -- long pants, as modeled here by Brian Propp. The idea behind the new pants, manufactured by Cooper under the name Cooperall, was to create a faster, lighter uniform, with lighter padding underneath. The pants did make the skaters faster; unfortunately, they were also faster whenever they took a spill and would crash very hard into the boards. The Hartford Whalers joined the Flyers in wearing long pants the following season. At the end of the 1982-83 season, the NHL outlawed the long pants, causing both the Flyers and the Whalers to revert back to the old faithful, time-tested short pants.

To check out the uniforms of the 1980's, click on a year to the left.