The NY Islanders 2024 Stadium Series jersey is out and the reviews are harsh

It took long enough, but was it worth the wait? Maybe not.

The long-awaited reveal of the 2024 Stadium Series jerseys finally took place on Friday as the sweaters to be worn by the New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, and New Jersey Devils for their games at MetLife Stadium were released.

With a subway-setting video montage, the NHL announced that the "Metro is going outdoors," giving fans the first glimpse of the heavily anticipated designs. New releases are always polarizing, but I have never seen Islanders fans this united in the criticism of an alternate sweater.

Awful, unimaginative and atrocious were just some of the adjectives flying around social media.

Many of the independent fan concepts that had been shared since the game was announced would have been better received. Per the article on NHL.com ,"The Islanders jerseys are blue with a large orange stripe with the word "ISLES" in it, in one of the largest chest stripes adidas has ever made for the NHL. It is meant to evoke the Plimsoll line painted on the hull of ships."

For those of you who don't know what that means (I had to look it up), the Plimsoll line is a reference mark located on a ship's hull that indicates the maximum depth to which the vessel may be safely immersed when loaded with cargo.

Most fans anticipated that the jerseys would be released prior to the Holiday Season to increase sales, but that didn't happen. Then, they were delayed one last time after a rumored reveal scheduled for Thursday afternoon never occurred.

The game vs. the Rangers on Feb. 18 will be the Islanders first outdoor game since the two teams met on a frigid night at Yankee Stadium in 2014. It will also be the first meeting of the season for the two crosstown rivals, who haven't played each other since December 2022. For the Isles, it will be their first game against a Metropolitan Division team after 17 straight out of division games.