News Drop: 4 Nations Jerseys, Altitude+ Is Here, and the NHL’s Lululemon Partnership

With all the news dropping around the league over the past few days, I felt it would be best to share some thoughts. We’ve got 4 Nations jerseys, an official release of the Altitude+ streaming service, and for those who know me on a personal level, my favorite news of them all: The new Fanatics x Lululemon collab for NHL apparel. Sign me up.

4 Nations

The NHL officially released the first look of the 4 Nations sweaters that the teams will wear in February. On some level, it almost feels like it was an accidental leak of the new jerseys because they wanted to drive ticket revenue sales. At least that’s the way it looks at first glance.

Absolutely wild they leaked their own jerseys in a promo ad. https://t.co/zG5SxnQV65

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) October 23, 2024

I’m not one to overly criticize jerseys when they’re first released unless they’re an absolute abomination. These aren’t the most unique or different, but they’re fine. I’m just happy to see Connor McDavid in a Canadian sweater and Auston Matthews repping the U.S. We haven’t had best-on-best in a long, long time and I’m just excited to see the league finally figure this out. The setup this year is a “fake tournament” — that’s something I’ve heard several NHL players say in at least three different dressing rooms. But if it’s going to set us up for a proper Olympics in 2026, then I’m all for it. Granted, if Russia doesn’t participate then, it’ll still have somewhat of a weird fakeness to it.

But obviously, that’s not something we could predict. Not in October of 2024 at least.

Also, for those who are new to my coverage: I was born in Ottawa and I’m a proud Canadian. So, we might not be rooting for the same side at the international level.

Altitude+

The new Altitude+ streaming service, which was announced last month, is finally here. Colorado’s game Thursday at Utah will be the first Avs game shown on the new service — available for download in the Apple Store and Google Play for $19.95/month. It’s been a long time coming, but I’m just glad the fans finally have something they can turn to.

I will say, I’ll never understand why they felt it was appropriate to announce the new service in September without an actual release date. We were told last month that it would be released sometime in October. It just felt strange to me after five years of drama. In the end, the fans were the ones who had to pay for the standoff between millionaires and billionaires.

Let’s hope this new service sticks.

Lululemon x Fanatics

I do want to preface this by saying I’m glad to see that two weeks into the regular season, the new Fanatics jerseys have not been an issue. After the craziness at the start of the MLB season, the new NHL jersey manufacturer was smart to settle things down and continue production of basically the same sweaters Adidas nearly perfected over the past seven years.

But this new announcement is my favorite of them all. Lululemon and Fanatics announced on Tuesday a partnership with the NHL to launch a new fan premium fan apparel collection.

My close friends and family always make fun of me for calling Lululemon gear “life-changing,” but it really is. If you’re into fitted fitness wear and a classy casual look, you can’t go wrong with Lululemon. Several NHL players love their gear as well and you often see them wearing Lulu apparel when they’re at the rink for practice or morning skate. I imagine we’ll see them repping team names and colors as part of their everyday attire in the near future.

The new apparel line will feature 11 NHL teams for the remainder of the 2024-25 season, before expanding to a full 32-team assortment for the 2025-26 season. This is a great time to get your Christmas 2025 wishlist prepared more than a year in advance. The Avalanche are not part of the initial 11-team launch.