Predators embrace 'Smashville' identity for 2022 NHL Stadium Series
Jerseys for outdoor game against Lightning reflect forward-thinking attitude
"The one that kind of kept jumping out at us was the 'SMASHVILLE' being emblazoned across the chest," Predators president Sean Henry said.
After playing with ideas and combining concepts, the NHL, adidas and the Predators settled on the final product for the outdoor game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Nissan Stadium on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET; TNT, SN360, TVAS2, NHL LIVE).
Oh, they emblazoned "SMASHVILLE" across the chest, all right, using a city nickname on an NHL jersey for the first time. But they also stacked "SMASH" on top of "VILLE," used a playful font inspired by letterpress music posters and placed a secondary guitar-pick logo over the heart.
The bold look fits the spirit of the Stadium Series and the theme of this event in particular: Smashville meets Music City.
When the NHL started staging outdoor events with the Heritage Classic in 2003 and the Winter Classic in 2008, the idea was to romanticize hockey's roots.
The events were so successful that more markets wanted to host, and the NHL expanded its portfolio with the Stadium Series in 2014.
The League decided not to go retro for the Stadium Series. The uniforms would feature large letters and numbers to be seen by fans in a stadium. The field designs would not be winter wonderlands.
"We looked at it really through a progressive lens," NHL executive vice president of marketing Brian Jennings said. "It was going to be a future-forward look at the sport of hockey."
To illustrate the difference, consider the jerseys the Predators wore against the Dallas Stars in the 2020 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at Cotton Bowl Stadium. They were inspired by the Dixie Flyers, who played in Nashville in the Eastern Hockey League from 1962-71.
The "SMASHVILLE" jerseys are something new and proudly display the Predators' adopted identity.
"It's just one of those things that developed out of hockey being a hard-hitting sport, Nashville, Smashville," said David Poile, the Predators general manager since they joined the NHL in 1998-99. "We're in the South, and there's also a lot of NASCAR, and football is huge here. It just seemed to be a perfect fit to Nashville, Smashville.
"We've totally embraced it with a lot of things we've done over the years, and we've got the cherry on the top this year by having it on our jerseys."
The Predators have put old cars in front of Bridgestone Arena, painted the logos and nicknames of opponents on them, and invited the fans to smash 'em up.
They've used Smashville as their return address and called season-ticket holders residents of Smashville, because Smashville isn't just Nashville. It's Tennessee. It's the South. It's wherever Predators fans might be.
"We love Nashville," Henry said. "It's our home. It's the heart of where we are. But Smashville is our entire market."
Smashville also is a state of mind.
"It just describes everything's a little bit bigger, a little bit more irreverent," Henry said. "It's louder. You just never know what's going to happen in Smashville. You don't know who's going to pop up on the band stage. One night it might be Alice Cooper with Vince Gill. The next night it might be Keith Urban."
On Saturday night, it will be Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley during the first intermission, plus many more artists in the Broadway entertainment district, outside the stadium and inside the stadium before and during the game.
This is Music City. Hence the playful font inspired by letterpress music posters, the secondary guitar-pick logo and field design, which features three stages, the neon lights of Broadway, a cowboy hat with a hockey stick, a music note with hockey pucks and a cowboy boot with a skate blade.
"I think this is going to be awesome," NHL chief content officer Steve Mayer said. "It's just a whole different type of vibe. I think this will feel unique and colorful and big."
There is room in the NHL for both types of outdoor approaches, just as there is room in the NHL for diverse markets across North America.
When Matt Duchene played for the Ottawa Senators against the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL100 Classic in Ottawa on Dec. 16, 2017, he wore a retro jersey and reminisced about the rink his dad used to build for him as a kid in Haliburton, Ontario.
This time the center will wear a Smashville jersey and love it for different reasons. He's a country music fan and is friends with country music stars like Bentley, Thomas Rhett, Cole Swindell and Russell Dickerson. He plays the guitar and sings himself.
"Aw, it's great," said Duchene, standing with his 3-year-old son, Beau. "For me, it's two of my biggest passions in life and the way I was brought up. My little guy here loves hockey and country music as well. That's the way he's getting brought up as well, so no better place to do it than here."
