The Dallas Stars officially joined the third jersey ranks of the NHL this morning with the unveiling of their new “Blackout” third jersey.

Take a closer look and then we’ll dive into the details.

This eye-catching new design takes inspiration from the past—the Stars have worn black jerseys for most of their 27 years—while incorporating a new accent color they’re calling Skyline Green, borrowed from Dallas’s nighttime illuminations.

Originally lined with green argon tubes when it was built in the 1980s, Bank of America Plaza was renovated with LED lighting in 2013. It’s this “neon green” that lights up the Dallas skyline and inspired the Stars’ new alternate color.

The best part of this sweater may be its crest.

This Texas-shaped mark has long been one of my favorite secondary marks in the NHL. I’m very happy to see it have a moment in the sun on the chest of this new sweater.

Another nice touch is the perforations inside the logo to retain the beveled design without losing the single-color treatment. We’ve seen it on a handful of NHL jersey numbers since the Adidas takeover in 2017. (It’s also been put to good use in the KHL recently.)

In fact, we see it in the numbers of this uniform as well—with its own unique spin.

The striping on this jersey is identical to what the Stars use on their home and road designs—only featuring Skyline Green instead.

What really stands out, though, is the incredible amount of symbolism squeezed into the collar design alone, both inside and out.

Let’s start with the outside. On the left hand side is a single star—representing the Lone Star State... and the star that sits beneath the D in the primary logo... which is also the same star shape that was first used by the North Stars in Minnesota the year before they moved to Dallas.

Wrapping around the back of the neck is a series of pinstripes, which seem reminiscent of Dallas’s cable-stayed bridges—both of which are named after women named Margaret, which is certainly something we’ll have to discuss at a later time. But I digress.

Inside the collar, in what’s known as the “hanger effect,” is another symbol of Texas. In the first land battle of the Texas Revolution, a colony called Gonzales defended itself with small, used cannon in 1831. As a symbol of defiance of Mexican forces, a flag was flown featuring a single star, a cannon, and the phrase, “come and take it.”

Imagine how well that narrative would’ve played here had the Stars actually been able to win the Stanley Cup last month. Instead...

That being said, it plays just fine. The Stars stand in defiance of traditional hockey sweater design with this look and I’d argue the league is better for it. The homogenization of hockey sweaters over the past decade or so doesn’t make our league interesting. Stepping outside the box does.

Of course there is on more thing we have to discuss. This is now the second time the Stars have seemingly “borrowed” a third jersey design from an earlier NHL All-Star Game.

If all this black and neon green feels familiar, you’re probably thinking of the 2015 All-Star Game in Columbus.

And if you go back a little further in time, you’ll find another example of this.

In the mid-1990s, the All-Stars wore teal and purple jerseys with a massive star as the base. By 1997, something very similar had made its way onto a Dallas third jersey—which was adopted as their primary look two years later. It only seemed to go away because Reebok couldn’t make it work with the Edge template.

Anyway, if you want to read more about the Stars’ new third jersey, they have a whole page dedicated to it on their website.

Your turn. What do you think of the “Blackout” look?