Assuming that any day now the Penguins are going to unveil their third jerseys for the 2018-2019 season, I figured we’d throw it back today to the time they almost made the biggest mistake in franchise history. And no, I’m not talking about the time Jim Rutherford decided it was a good idea to hire Mike Johnston to be their head coach. I’m talking about these putrid ass looking jersey designs:

Hold on a moment.

Wait. Almost there.

Sorry, last one.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ9kgKIDQZ7/?hl=en&taken-by=barstoolsports

Alright, so I think you get the point. What in the absolute fuck were the Penguins thinking?

According to PittsburghHockey.net (who have since deleted the post, but another write up from Puck Daddy can be found here), the Penguins were all but set to introduce one of these two jersey designs as their official alternate jerseys for the 1994-1995 season. In fact, the same design firm that came up with the 1992 Robo-Penguin jerseys (or “pigeons” as G affectionately calls them), Vance Wright Adams, was also responsible for these designs.

So what ultimately stopped the Penguins from going forward with implementing these jerseys into their repertoire? And more importantly, why didn’t the Penguins fire the shit out of this company the second these designs were pitched to them? Well, apparently the lockout put a stall on things.

Thank Christ.

Could you imagine Le Magnifique rocking one of these dumbass looking roller hockey sweaters in his heyday? I’m pretty sure he would’ve retired on the spot. And to be honest, I wouldn’t blame him at all.

Then again, if I’m being totally honest, not all of it is horrible. In fact, like Sean Leahy alludes to in his blog, I’m all about the igloo shoulder patches, too.