When the Tampa Bay Lightning unveiled their new third jersey, it was met with a few strong opinions, which turned out to be inspiration for Cameron Ferguson. He writes:

I personally really like [the jersey] but I see where the critics are coming from, so I tried to come up with a slight tweak that had a similar "outside the box" feel but with a few more Tampa-specific design elements to elevate it from what some call a practice jersey to a viable NHL alternate.

First, the striping on the sleeves is representative of Tampa's Sunshine Skyway Bridge, with the spires running up the arms and the angled cable pattern going out from there. Second, the gradient effect is limited to the bottom of the sleeves and chest, and is done in a brighter gray. Florida's bay area is known for having a "fog season," which runs right through the heart of hockey season (approximately December through February), and it only makes sense that a team named for a meteorological phenomenon would celebrate the climate and weather patterns of the region. I think of it as a toned-down version of the "blue storm" alt from 1997.

To the critics who may say things like, "the '90s called, they want their black back," and "this is just more black for black's sake," well, Tampa joined the league in the '90s. Y'all are always wanting everyone to go vintage — Tampa's vintage IS the '90s. Also, it's not black for black's sake. Tampa's original colors were black so again, an all-black alt is a nod to their history. hope you enjoy this concept, even if the rest of the community would rather teams just keep doing old-timey ripoffs.