Blasty is back: Flames revive black horsehead jersey

The worst kept secret in town is now official.

The Calgary Flames are reviving their black horsehead jersey, nicknamed “Blasty,” as part of the National Hockey League’s Reverse Retro jersey program with Adidas. The return was announced on Monday morning by Adidas and the club.

Traditionally, the Flames have worn exclusively jerseys that are primarily red or white. They’ve had basically five different full-time versions of their red sweaters – plus the Calgary Tigers tribute throwback for the 2011 Heritage Classic – and four different full-time versions of their white sweaters, including the 2019 Heritage Classic sweater which becomes the full-time road sweater for 2020-21.

But Blasty is unique. It’s black! It has a primary logo that’s not a Flaming C! Introduced in 1998-99 to commemorate the Year of the Cowboy, it was initially disliked for the obvious reasons – it wasn’t red and didn’t feature a C – and has since become beloved in some circles because it was so audacious and fun.

So for the first time since 2006, the Flames are going to have a black jersey. If you love Blasty, it’s going to be great. If you don’t like Blasty, well… it’s only going to be for a few games, so just let the rest of us have some fun.

Our Mike Gould will have a full breakdown of the Return of Blasty on Tuesday, featuring a chat with Flames marketing guru Ryan Popowich.