You are completely correct on both statements there, which is why I believe the Premiers were made to fight tighter and more like a long sleeve shirt than a jersey.
The problem I've always had with Premiers is that the CCM/Koho/Nike days of replicas were made well enough where they could be used as both, my Theodore jersey would be prodly worn (puck marks and all) to actual games yet I could still pretend I was Theodore when I was practising with my team as a kid.