The Hockey News' AHL Jersey Rankings

They call it the ‘second-best hockey league in the world,’ but the American League certainly won’t settle for that title when it comes to our ultimate jersey showdown. Whether it’s completely original looks or jerseys designed to pay homage to a team’s NHL parent franchise, the AHL has a history nearly as long and illustrious as the big circuit.

While logos (last year’s competition) are certainly a big part of the hockey jersey, we also considered shoulder patches, striping and piping – so teams gained and lost points based on those factors. You'll also notice both home and away jerseys are used to represent the teams. Simply put, we took the one we liked best out of the two. Third or alternate jersey weren't considered, nor were the new duds for Abbotsford and Texas, who haven't released their sweaters yet.
 
For the AHL, jerseys we thought leaned too heavily on NHL sweaters were dropped to the middle – they looked good, but we know why.
 
With all that in play, here are the rankings. Click on each thumbnail for a larger picture.
 
And once you've taken in our top 27, head over to the voting page to select your favorite from our top 10 and help it to move on in the Jersey Tournament that will follow the rankings of each league’s jerseys (find the rankings and tournament schedule on The Hockey News Jersey Rankings and Tournament Central page).

THE HOCKEY NEWS AHL JERSEY RANKINGS

RK.	LOGO	TEAM	THE SCOOP
1		Milwaukee Admirals	Love the colors, love the logo; a winner all-around
2		Rochester Americans	Classic crest with a clean look to it
3		San Antonio Rampage	Rampage makes grey and black work; logo certainly helps
4		Springfield Falcons	Points for talons on the arms, plus nice colors
5		Manchester Monarchs	Jury was high on liberal use of purple
6		Worcester Sharks	Great original take on parent San Jose's logo
7		Norfolk Admirals	Unique color scheme backs up solid crest
8		Bridgeport Sound Tigers	Bold orange and blue backs up parent Isles
9		Peoria Rivermen	Sweet crest and cool colors
10		Chicago Wolves	Everything about Wolves' look is their own
11		Manitoba Moose	Original colors, plus a fierce-looking Moose
12		Houston Aeros	We loved the green and white
13		Herhsey Bears	Bears stay true to their chocolate-brown roots
14		Toronto Marlies	Great logo, clean look to Leafs-esque sweater
15		Grand Rapids Griffins	Nice crest, but certainly a middle-of-the-pack jersey
16		Portland Pirates	Much like Grand Rapids, Pirates' sweater does no harm
17		Hartford Wolfpack	Wolfpack ride coattails of parent Rangers
18		Providence Bruins	Circle-P also tips hat to Boston overlords
19		Lake Erie Monsters	Jury divided on Monsters' 'M' crest
20		Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins	Steroid Penguin a little too much for our tastes
21		Hamilton Bulldogs	Bulldog looks good, but sweater otherwise plain
22		Adirondack Phantoms	Odd colors, plus Phantom looks like a shadow puppet
23		Lowell Devils	Some of us dug it, others thought it was too close to NJ
24		Syracuse Crunch	Colors aren't bad; white gorilla mascot still confusing
25		Rockford Icehogs	Logo not fantastic, rest of jersey copied from parent Hawks
26		Albany River Rats	River Rat losing its lustre
27		Binghamton Senators	Bad logo has Bingo following Ottawa to the basement

Over the next two months, THN.com will leave the voting on the best jerseys up to you, the reader. To vote for your favorite, click HERE (AHL jersey voting ends at 9 a.m. EST on Aug. 20.). To see ratings from other leagues, visit THN.com's Jersey Rankings and Tournament Central.