Behind The Uniform with Darren Granger, Head Equipment Manager for the Kings

The making of a jersey is a complex process.

It’s also about more than just a jersey. More than just a logo, more than just the striping, more than just the patches.

It always used to upset me when I’d see a jersey leak and instantly say “these don’t look right.” I’d be soured on a jersey off a leak. Now I realize why. Of course they don’t look right. A jersey haphazardly slapped onto a mannequin isn’t how the jerseys are meant to be worn. They’re designed to be a part of a head-to-toe uniform. That includes the helmets, the gloves, the pants, the socks. They’re worn over shoulder pads and shin guards. At the very least, they’re meant to be worn by a fan at a game, supporting the squad.

When I leave the house, I match my clothes, even if my wife’s definition of matching doesn’t always match mine. That’s part of the jersey look as well and I’ve found it’s important to look at the whole “kit” if you will. That’s the look we’ve now got here.

You could say the same thing about a logo. Until you see that logo come to life off the computer screen it might not pop the same way it does when it’s on the front of a jersey for the world to see in person.

Last week, we got the first public glimpse at the new logo. Reception was good, but today was different. Today, that logos jumped off the page onto a new uniform. It truly came to life and it was worth the wait.

For Head Equipment Manager Darren Granger, today was certainly not the first time he’s seen the jersey. In fact, he’s probably seen it as often as anyone in the world has.

Granger is often behind the scenes. You see him on the bench, you see the recognition he gets as Team Canada’s regular equipment manager at major international tournaments but you don’t typically see the influence he has into processes like these.

Granger has been with the Kings through multiple jersey designs, refreshes, alternates and manufacturers. He was here for Reebok. He was here for Los Angeles across the bottom. He was here for the chrome domes at the top. Through it all, Granger has become one of the most respected voices in his world across the league. He has the respect of the players in the room and he provides the business side of the Kings with feedback both from a performance standpoint and from an aesthetic standpoint. That’s an important voice in the process.

The aesthetic side of the conversation is the one we mostly see and hear about. I mean, from our perspective, it either looks cool or it doesn’t, right?

Things like Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar talking about their affection for the home jersey. Doughty calling it the best jersey he’s worn with the Kings. Dustin Brown offering similar feedback, even in retirement, about his thoughts on these jerseys. The reactions of Quinton Byfield and Phillip Danault when seeing it for the first time.

The performance side, though, is also interesting because I always thought all jerseys were the same.

I wouldn’t have known that the necklines on the older jerseys was actually giving the players jersey burn. Same with the cuffs. Wouldn’t have known about material issues on the alternate jerseys last season either, or even that where the numbers are positioned on the sleeves plays a small role in comfort and performance.

“There’s been a few things over the course of the last few years, where we’ve had issues with construction of the jersey,” Granger explained. “The neckline with the glitter silver was a big one with the players, that it does sting when you get those jersey burns – and they last for a while around their neck – but we were also seeing them in the wrists as well. The other issue we had with our alternate jersey was the lower striping, the glitter silver, doesn’t stretch as much and we had a pretty big stripe-line in that jersey, so the goalies especially had a tough time getting that jersey on.”

That’s why Granger was such an important part of the process.

He’s got the respect of the players and can get authentic feedback from that group to relay what is important into the re-design conversation. He has a good pulse on what the guys like and what they might like. He can help loop them into the process directly. He’s got the respect of team leadership, earned by his time and performance over nearly 20 seasons in Los Angeles and he’s earned an influence on decisions like these.

Granger saw how the outgoing Kings jerseys were designed and understood it was a flawed process. For good reason, with two Stanley Cups, but flawed nonetheless. With performance feedback and aesthetic feedback, Granger was a powerful voice in the jersey conversation. A conversation that ultimately emphasized one word perhaps stronger than others – consistency.

“When we started the alternate jersey, which is the [outgoing] black jersey, everybody really liked it,” Granger detailed. “We wore it for a couple of seasons prior to wearing it full time but what happened during that time, which was a great thing, we won two Stanley Cups in that uniform and at that time, we didn’t want to change the black one. Because of the history of winning, we didn’t want to change the black. Everybody knew we needed the base striping fixed up but we were worried about taking away the look of the black jersey because of the two Cup winning teams. It is nice to be able to get it covered off, all at one time, rather than kind of piecemealing it.”

Coming soon to a city near you 🔥

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— LA Kings (@LAKings) June 26, 2024

The jersey you see before you feels like the 90’s jerseys in many ways, but it’s really an encapsulating of every era of the LA Kings.

“We wanted to try and touch on all of the eras of the Kings in this new uniform,” Granger said. “That’s why you see the 60’s crown that’s been recreated. Obviously the 90’s logo, which has been updated. We wanted to keep some elements of the current home plate crest in the jersey and we think we created that in the center part of the logo. We wanted to really touch on all the eras of Kings history and make sure that we could try and combine it into one jersey.”

Granger noted later in the interview that the silver color is the one that was introduced with the 1998 launch that I will dub the “lion in sunglasses” shield. Each era plays a part in future. Legacy moving things forward.

I said this would be an article about more than just a jersey and it is.

Let’s talk matte black helmets.

“It was a group decision with management, myself and the players were quite involved,” Granger said of the helmets. “When we started talking about making a change with the helmets, we looked at all of our helmets at once with all the different jerseys to try and find something that we may be able to make a tweak on and we kept coming back to the matte black helmet. We feel like it is a good match to the black that’s used in the jersey, whereas the shinier helmet, it still looks good, but it doesn’t have the same kind of tone as the as the jersey ends up having. We think it looks great.”

Interesting story on the matte blacks.

First off, the Kings are the first team to wear them on a permanent basis, as the primary home helmet.

Matte helmets, as I learned, are not easily accessible to the commoner. They’re not sold off the racks in hockey stores and to get them produced required a certain level of commitment from the Kings. When the Kings introduced the chrome helmet, not every manufacturer carried that either. Now they do. When Vancouver worked in the matte black with their alternate jerseys, it introduced that helmet more regularly into the marketplace and now the Kings are taking it the rest of the way towards more normalization.

For players like Drew Doughty, who wears an older model of helmet that is no longer made by the company, Granger detailed an interesting process. He can’t just wear a black helmet and the NHL does not allow helmets to be painted. So, for Doughty, he’ll wear his regular helmet, wrapped in the matte finish, to turn an older-style helmet into the same look you’ll see from other players. Would be the same for Trevor Lewis, if he is re-signed, or any other player who uses an older model of helmet.

While the matte helmets are currently slated to be worn only with the home jerseys, Granger pointed towards a trend of teams wearing a dark helmet with a white jersey around the NHL. Not necessarily the plan right now, but something the Kings could explore specifically with their matte helmets, that will also match the white jerseys.

“I think if we wanted to explore ever wearing the matte black helmet with the white jersey, I think it does look a lot better in that way,” he said. “A lot of teams are starting to do that. You see Carolina using it, Toronto explored it last season as well, so I think it kind of tones down the look of that, of the shine of the helmet. It turned out good. I think it really looks good.”

As we move towards the season, the process for Granger continues.

With a new brand comes new practice jerseys, which will be Fanatics, not Adidas. New merchandise to be order, new logos throughout the locker room, new bags to travel with on the road. It all changes, but it’s been planned for.

“We have a we have a lot of logos in this building between here and Crypto, it’s a huge change,” he said. “People see the sign that’s on the outside of the building, or the the sign as you walk into the office doors but every door has one. Then you get into the real details of the helmet stickers are all different, the apparel that, not only we all wear day to day, but the base layer that the players wear, that all has to be changed, the equipment bags that we travel with, the trunks that we travel with, all that has to be changed. So it is a huge change, and it’s probably going to take a little while to get through it all. We’re going to really target the the major ones that everybody sees right away, in the first week or so, and then over the summer we’ll pick away at the rest. It is a lot of change as far as the branding side of it.”

Part of the process here as the Kings navigate the summer and approach next season.

We’ll see the jersey live, on a member of the Kings organization, for the first time on Friday, as the player the Kings select in Round 1 of the NHL Draft will wear the black jersey on stage when selected. More to come on the draft with an inside look at team strategy heading in tomorrow, followed by a look at some potential selections on Friday morning. Then it’s Day 1, when the Kings possess a first-round selection for the first time since 2021. Exciting stuff for those who have twiddled their thumbs in the building two years running! And hopefully you all as well.