The New York Rangers have an old-school big apple on their shoulder. The Florida Panthers have a hidden rat on their hem. Their 2026 NHL Winter Classic jerseys, created by Fanatics and released on Wednesday, are full of other surprises, too.
The 17th NHL Winter Classic is scheduled for Jan. 2 at LoanDepot Park, home of MLB's Miami Marlins. It'll make history as the first outdoor game in Florida and the southernmost outdoor game ever played in the NHL. It's also the first time the Panthers are appearing in a stadium game, leaving the second-year Utah Mammoth as the only NHL team never to appear in one.
The Panthers' Winter Classic jersey references the team's original "leaping panther" logo, but with a nostalgic twist. Dom Fillion, creative director for Fanatics, said Florida's ownership had a lot of input into the design. He said the Viola family suggested taking the "leaping Panther" logo and imagining what it would have looked like in the 1920s. So Fillion's team created a hand-stitched crafted logo to mimic that era's look.
"We thought this was an amazing challenge," Fillion said. "As you can imagine, there's a lot of back and forth, a lot of points of views when it comes down to craftmanship like this. But they had a really clear vision."
The classic feel of the jersey was enhanced with striping down the sleeves and on the socks, and a darker shade of red than their traditional jerseys.
There's a patch on the shoulder featuring the Florida state flag and the team's "walking panther" design. But the detail that might get the most attention is the silhouette of a rat on a fabric loop on the sweater's hem -- an Easter Egg honoring the decades-long tradition in which Panthers fans throw plastic rats on the ice.
The Rangers' jerseys are part of the franchise's celebration of its 100th season. They complement the blue Centennial jerseys they're wearing this season, although that one has "Rangers" going diagonally across the chest while this one says "New York" instead. The off-white color found on their Centennial jersey is the dominant color in their Winter Classic look.
"We saw this as an opportunity to create a second chapter to that Centennial narrative," Fillion said. "New York certainly has been very consistent with their identity and their look and feel. But I think there are still nuances within those history elements that we can amplify a little bit further."
One interesting element is the red apple found on the jersey's shoulder. That was the Easter Egg found on the hem of their Centennial jersey. It's blown up here and includes a modern "NYR" wordmark.
Fillion said the Fanatics team discovered the apple logo on an old Rangers practice jersey. "It's connecting with an historic element to create something unique," he said. "When we presented it to the Rangers, they were on board with it."
The Winter Classic is one of two NHL stadium games to be played in Florida this season. The Tampa Bay Lightning will host the Boston Bruins on Feb. 1 at Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
