What if the NHL absorbed 8 teams from the WHA? A Hockey Week Alternate History - Sportslogos page NHL 2015

[Wackyriderfan14]

The 1991 expansion should go to Phoenix or Anahiem

[Topherlee2]

Love this series. Hope you do Kansas City.

[Burmy]

What...a...SWERVE! Florida Flames...that brand really works.

I think Milwaukee and Indy should be the '91 expansion teams.

[Snipes115]

Milwaukee and Thunder Bay XD

[mamiller99]

Seattle or Hamilton?

[Snipes115]

Albuquerque and Sioux City ?

[Keel]

I'm going to say Minnesota and Hampton Roads (Norfolk).

[hockey week]

I haven't said things one way or another on what else is happening behind the scenes.

Kansas City still moves to Colorado still moves to New Jersey

Quebec still moves to Colorado

Winnipeg still moves to Phoenix

Anaheim still expanded in 1993

Minnesota still expanded in 2000

Ottawa still expanded in 1992

Atlanta still expanded in 1997

The NHL still (eventually) goes to 30 teams.

Any of that help?

[TVIXX]

Wished you kept the blue for the flames

[Morgan33]

The "Hot Blue" was genius. Though I think the set you ended up with was still the best.

[SFGiants58]

The "Hot Blue" was genius. Though I think the set you ended up with was still the best.

I'd agree. While I did enjoy how the "Hot Blue" worked with the red and yellow, I could see why the Florida Flames would eventually drop it and return to form with their latest set. This whole series has been a blast to follow (especially California, Houston, and Nashville), and I can't wait to see what you'll do with the expansion teams!

[BBallSuperFan]

Hampton Roads Rhinos come to friction in this universe, right?

Great work on all of this. Love the Hot Blue.

[eick74]

Will there be a 1991 expansion? With the 4 additional teams, this NHL is at 25 teams (1990 expansion brought it to 22 teams, 24 in 1991, and to 26 in 1992). We now know that Ottawa and Anahiem are coming in 1992 and 1993. That will put this NHL at 27 teams and it would make sense to go to 28, especially knowing we got two more coming later to go to 30.

Atlanta will return in 1997 (which would be two years earlier than their actual return) and Minnesota will return in 2000.

San Jose came into the NHL in 1990, Tampa Bay and Ottawa came in 1991, and Florida (Miami) and Anahiem came in 1992.

I could see a one team expansion in 1991 or 1992. Possible cities could include Miami (I know Florida would be against it, but the other owners might see it as a way to give them a regional rivalry), New Orleans, or Seattle.

[hockey week]

First off, I'm genuinely surprised at the positive response to Hot Blue. I wanted a third color to add, like Calgary's use of black in the 90s/2000s, and I never expected the three light colors to be so popular.

But I'll end the suspense on the expansion. With Tampa Bay no longer needing an expansion team, and Florida out of the mix, I knew I had to add one. and I just couldn't help myself, I couldn't avoid this beaut:

That's right, this is happening.

1991: The Hampton Roads Rhinos

Upon acceptance into the NHL, the Rhinos were forced to tone some things down. The jagged edge of the triangle had to go. Obviously the NHL shield on the shoulders wouldn't work for a team in the NHL. The text was also dropped, seen as redundant, especially with the secondary logo.

1991-93

If you look back to 1991, every team was traditional. There weren't any wacky themes, crazy stripes, even slanted stripes were out of the question. It was a stoic league. Look back to the original Sharks jerseys. They were extremely traditional despite their colors. The only thing that had any sort of wildness to it was number fonts (see: Tampa Bay), so the team is slightly ahead of its time there, but otherwise maintains an NHL look.

The owners are the same owners as the Charlotte Hornets, so the color scheme is deliberately similar.

1993-96

There are complaints about the font legibility of the nameplates. Those are changed.

1996-97

The initial group of third jerseys featured some really wild uniforms. This is a wild franchise having a shot at a wild uniform. What they came up with dominates lists of the worst things ever worn by a team in the history of sports. They envisioned a team of angry, charging rhinos. What they got were a group of embarrassed hockey players. The jerseys were worn for 6 games, the NHL minimum, and promptly destroyed. SO 90S!

1997-98

The third jersey is dropped.

1998-2000

A new third jersey is created. This time, more it's more normal. It features a new charging rhino logo, and the hemline stripe and sleeves are meant to evoke the thought of a rhino's horn to demonstrate toughness. It's very popular, especially the logo, which the world is rather done with its cartoonishness. The pants are changed to gray to be more "rhino-like", it has its fans and its detractors.

To Be Continued...

[hockey week]

2000-03

The Rhinos redesign their third jersey and make a new home and road based on the improved design. The charging Rhino logo becomes the official primary. this design becomes incredibly popular among youth and college teams, like how the Sabres' 90s jerseys were seen everywhere at the lower levels until recently.

2003-07

A black third jersey is introduced and is very popular.

2007-11

The team is struggling on the ice and off the ice. Splitting the fanbase between Washington, Hampton Roads, and since 1997, Atlanta has been too much for hockey in the south. It doesn't help that Hampton Roads, Norfolk, and Chesapeake have a constant power struggle going on and local politics don't help the front office or ticket sales. The Edge jerseys gut the team identity, shoehorning them into the new pattern. However, the Rhinos laud how great that the horns are so prominent on the sleeves, and are added to the socks.

2011-Present

Ticket sales are bad. The ownership group wants out. There's no chance of a new arena from the city. Hampton Roads' time as an NHL city has run out. There are talks of Indianapolis wanting the team, but the ownership group runs a rather fly-by-night operation, and before anyone could really realize what was going on, the team had packed up and moved to Winnipeg. The Jets were back, before Atlanta had a chance to get there.

I rather liked this one, it's a crazy logo and an interesting story, and I wanted to do something with it. I think it turned out rather well. I wanted to split San Jose's and Atlanta's histories here, and I think it fits that pretty well.

ONE MORE TO GO! This should be a total surprise, I was actually going to omit the expansion altogether, but then I realized I had 29 teams, and that couldn't happen. So...a real short surprise will wrap up the new material of this alternate history.

[BBallSuperFan]

I was right!! I was right!!!

In other news, this is just so 90's I love it.

Do we see a team in Seattle next?

[Morgan33]

In a strange twist, the edge jerseys actually end up looking good

[Wackyriderfan14]

Seattle, Hamilton, Quebec, Portland, or Hardford

[T-ROY]

Hmm seems like every team got awful designs when Reebok came in. I'm a little disappointed in the creativity with that. Not every team's identity was butchered when Reebok came in, but whatever you can do what you want.

The execution and logos need more work for my complete utter attention. When those are fixed, I'll enjoy this series much more.

[BigRed618]

Well, I sure learned something today. I would've never thought Norfolk, Va. almost had an NHL team. That old logo is too awesome. If the Rhinos were real, and they followed the same history you described, I'll bet there'll be a lot of fans calling for a return to that older logo. The full-body rhino is nice, but it doesn't have the personality that the older one has. That's why you don't see the Robo-Penguin around anymore.