1992-93 Los Angeles Kings Wayne Gretzky Jersey

It was on this day in 1993 that Wayne Gretzky scored his record eighth career hat trick as the Los Angeles Kings won the Campbell Conference title with 5-4 victory in their hard fought seventh game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, making the Kings the last of the "second six" expansion teams to make the Stanley Cup Finals. His first goal of the hat trick was shorthanded.

Prior to that, Gretzky also scored the overtime goal to win Game 6, forcing the seventh game of the series.

Gretzky's hat trick broke a tie at seven with Maurice Richard and Jari Kurri. He ranked it as his second most memorable game behind Game 2 of the 1987 Canada Cup versus the Soviet Union and called it "The best NHL game I ever played."

Be sure not to miss Barry Melrose's mullet at it's peak form in the video highlights from that famous Game 7 between Los Angeles and Toronto.

Today's featured jersey is a 1992-93 Los Angeles Kings Wayne Gretzky jersey featuring the attractive Stanley Cup Centennial patch. Kings jerseys from this era can be a bit tricky to get right and we highly recommend doing your research when getting one customized and patched.

For example, during Gretzky's first season in Los Angeles, 1988-89, the Kings used two color names and numbers, silver outlined in black, with the name sewn on a nameplate. Gretzky also wore the "A" that season since Dave Taylor was captain when he arrived.

In 1989-90, Gretzky was made captain and the jerseys remained the same through the following season, 1990-91.

In 1991-92, the jerseys sported the NHL 75th Anniversary patch and evolved to have three color numbers and names - silver trimmed in white and outlined in black, the only season to have this exact combination. It was also the year that the nameplates disappeared from this style jersey for good.

For the next season, 1992-93, change was once again the order of the day as the back numbers were finally changed to a more contrasting black, trimmed in white and outlined in sliver. The names on the other hand were now a single color for the first time, also in black, still without any nameplate. Why the white jerseys ever had silver numbers is a mystery to me, only exceeded by the fact they lasted four full seasons in that low contrast form. This final combination of three color black numbers with one color names lasted for the rest of the life of this style through 1997-98.

An interesting note about the Stanley Cup Centennial patch is that while all the other teams wore the English language version of the patch, the Montreal Canadiens and the Quebec Nordiques wore a French version of the patch, reading "Coupe Stanley • 1893-1993" and the shield logo on the players chest read "LNH", which stands for "Ligue Nationale de Hockey". The French variation of the patch is quite difficult to come by in it's original form, but has subsequently been reproduced, although a sharp eye can spot the thinner lettering among other subtle differences to an original.