Report: Adidas will not return as NHL jersey manufacturer after 2023–24

Sports apparel manufacturer Adidas will stop making authentic National Hockey League jerseys after the end of the 2023–24 season, according to a report by ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski.

Adidas replaced Reebok as the NHL’s official jersey partner starting with the 2017–18 season on a deal reportedly worth “at least double the $35 million annually that Reebok had been paying for the rights.”

After a successful test run manufacturing jerseys for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, Adidas created a slate of updated primary home and away kits for all 31 NHL teams in 2017. Adidas also assisted in the development of the first Seattle Kraken uniforms.

Adidas and the NHL released the highly successful “Reverse Retro” line for all 31 teams prior to the 2020–21 season. A second edition of the series is expected later this year to be worn in 2022–23.

The NHL previously worked with Reebok as its official uniform partner from 2005–06 to 2016–17. Under the partnership, Reebok introduced the polarizing “Reebok Edge” line of uniforms in 2007; almost none of the Edge-style jerseys are still in use today.

CCM and Starter are among the apparel manufacturing companies that worked with the NHL prior to the 2005 lockout. The league confirmed the news of Adidas’ impending departure to ESPN and is expected to begin searching for a new uniform partner before Adidas’ current seven-year contract to produce NHL jerseys expires in 2024.