The Washington Capitals recently asked players what their favorite jersey in team history as part of the team’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
And while the pick wasn’t unanimous, it nearly was.
“The black one with the eagle,” said Alex Ovechkin.
“Oh, black Screaming Eagle, no question,” said Dylan Strome.
“I like the black one,” said Martin Fehervary.
“Black one, yeah,” said Pierre-Luc Dubois.
“The retro,” said Charlie Lindgren. “The black one.”
“The black Screaming Eagle,” said Connor McMichael.
“Eagle, for sure,” said Aliaksei Protas.
“Black Screaming Eagle,” said Alex Alexeyev.
“Eagle, of course,” said Hendrix Lapierre.
“Screaming Eagle,” said Dylan McIlrath.
“The one we’re bringing back this year,” said Jakob Chychrun.
“Gotta do the Screaming Eagle one,” said Matt Roy.
“The Screaming Eagle,” said Taylor Raddysh.
“Same,” said Sonny Milano.
For those counting at home, that’s 14 of the 17 players polled who named the Screagle number one out of (if I’m counting right) 15 different jersey designs over the last 50 years. And the response came from all different groups of players: veterans (Ovechkin and Strome), new acquisition (Dubois, Chychrun, Roy, and Raddysh), and young players (Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas, and Hendrix Lapierre).
The only three Caps to go off the board were John Carlson (who named the team’s 2011 Winter Classic design), Tom Wilson (Capitals’ original red jersey), and Brandon Duhaime (Capitals’ original white jersey). Though, Wilson notoriously owned one of the black Capitol Dome jerseys when he was a wee lad.
The black Screaming Eagle sweater was so popular as the team’s Reverse Retro 2.0 jersey that the Capitals brought it back as their Third Jersey for the 2024-25 season, surprising Alex Ovechkin with it on his birthday.
“It’s so good,” Ovechkin said then.
The sweater is also the top seller currently in the team’s online store.
