Ridleylash

Lots of teams that "go back" to a look right now modify it in some form (Buffalo with the striping, Ottawa with the logo colors and font). I think only Calgary so far has gone full throwback, and I'm pretty sure Arizona will be similar to that. And honestly, the current logo definitely has an air of "mid-2000's" to it with all the outlines, especially since no other variant of the logo before had lines separating the B and spokes from one another. It's a design aspect that definitely feels a little dated compared to the rest of the O6 logos, and mixing elements of that with elements of the Orr/Neely/Bourque logo seems like the kind of unification that'd make sense. Meth Bear's too popular among the Bruins fanbase, I think purposefully ditching it right after reviving it in the Reverse Retro might not go down well.

Binghamton may have lost the Devils, but they're getting a replacement...if you can call an FPHL team a replacement for an AHL team.

And it's confirmed, the Sound Tigers are now the Bridgeport Islanders with the leaked logo; I am thoroughly unpleased with this; not only is it just not a great logo, but it's replacing a unique minor-league identity with yet another goddamned "baby *major club*" team.

Evidently someone decided that the AHL needed another "B-major club", because the Sound Tigers are now the Bridgeport Islanders;

The Utica team is remaining the Comets, actually, per the Devils' press release;

I don't think it'll be left behind for long; the Devils seem to be moving their farm team from Binghamton to Utica, if the Comets owner trademarking "Utica Devils" is any indication.

Developmentally, it makes more sense to consolidate as opposed to spread out; the AHL-ECHL system has worked perfectly for the NHL, and there's nowhere near the kind of money necessary right now for a bunch of minor-league teams to go founding their own league. Besides, it makes it easier to sell your AHL tickets if you have the promise of seeing future NHL players, a lot like how lots of people buy Triple-A baseball tickets to watch future MLB players. Without that, what's to say some of the teams moving to this new league don't flounder horribly?

I still think they should've done a 90's Jets jersey in either their current colors or with red and blue flipped. The grey is so boring.

http://na3hl.com/news/story.cfm?id=31751 The Austin Ice Bats will return as an NA3HL team.

WOOF. That's definitely a logo an intern designed.

The cap's not lowering, but it is staying flat for the next four years. I think escrow's also been bumped up a bit, IIRC? But I can't imagine all of it was recouped by the ESPN+TBS deals, especially since the losses are still being accrued now as the season rolls along with so many teams being unable to host fans. It's probably still going to be rough going for a while, which is why I think we might see talk about expansion down the line, like we've been seeing in the NBA and MLB; it's a nice influx of cash to have new expansion teams come in.

Bettman said it was "out of the M-range and into the B-range" back in January before the season started, so probably a pretty heavy amount like many other leagues have, especially since the NHL is much more gate-reliant than your NFLs which can rely on fat as TV deals. I wouldn't be surprised if losses overall were anywhere from 2.5-4b.

Haven't even taken the ice and they've already pulled an OITGDNHL moment. Really fitting in snug as a bug, they are.

Hell, the Devils' affiliate started in Utica; so really, if I may make a Maxine Nightingale reference, they've gone right back where they started from. I could see that. One of Langley, Victoria or Abbotsford would make way more sense for the Canucks in terms of locale than Utica, and I think this recent outbreak showed them why having their affiliate so far away and in another country was problematic. Sucks that it's another lost AHL team for Binghamton, though; first the Dusters/Whalers/Rangers franchise, then the B-Sens, then the B-Devils.

At the same time, Ice, those teams didn't have a fifty-four year gap in NHL representation. The modern Senators aren't the historical Senators, and it really isn't their place to go pretending like they are by dressing up like them full-time in my opinion; put the shoe on Toronto and Montreal's feet and I still think the result ends up the same. Toronto and Montreal have the benefit of being the Dodgers and Yankees of the NHL; franchises with vast, storied histories. Ottawa is more akin to the Rockies; a team that has been around for a while and has been consistent in their brand identity since their first season in 1992.

I mean, the Leafs have had a century's worth of time to refine and tweak their look, where the Sens have had 30 or so years, a decent chunk of which was spent using a terrible Reebok template design. Obviously one's going to be better. I just don't think the answer to solving the Sens' identity is "scrap everything, go Silver Seven" because there's now too much brand equity in the look the current franchise has generally kept to since it's inception, and I'd rather them not try to Browns things by taking another franchise's design for their own. I'd argue the best option would just be to split things down the middle; keep the Silver Seven look on as a permanent alternate while using the mid-late 90's jerseys full-time. Maybe if the NHL decides to open a proper fourth jersey slot without a gimmick attached (which it feels like the Reverse Retro is a test platoon for), we could literally split the difference and have darks and whites for both. That way, both camps stay satisfied because both sides have home and away options.

Dunno if they'd go for Blackhawks given the whole kerfuffle that Chicago themselves has been through over the name as of late. Could always go for a dinosaur theme with the Rockford Rexes, since Rockford's home to the Burpee Museum, which houses Jane the T.rex. It's probably the most easily-mascotable thing Rockford has, unless anybody thinks we need a hockey team who's logo is either A.) just the face of Alexander Liberman or B.) a statue of Alexander Liberman on skates. Besides, dinosaurs always sell well with the kiddos, right?

That, and calling out the Habs for "overreliance on history" is kinda stupid because the fact is that it's literally one of the most iconic looks in hockey, and honestly probably sports in general. You show that jersey to someone and they immediately know what team it is. That's not "overreliance on history", that's "not :censored:ing with what works". And honestly, the 90's look isn't even the best look for the Sens; certainly their best primary look, but they've had two alternate designs (the laurel jersey and the modern barberpoles) that both are leagues above their primaries of any era. The main reason they should keep the current theme isn't because of some bull like "they were carried by Andrew Hammond to an Eastern Conference Final they probably didn't deserve to be in", it's because it's a solid foundation that takes a key part of the city (the fact it houses the country's government) and has fun with it to give the team evocative imagery. The barberpole works wonderfully as an alternate to homage the Senators that came before, but...well, these Senators are not those Senators. It's been 30 years of this theme, I think there's enough mileage to keep it the permanent main look.

If I'm recalling right, upon the initial reveal the logo was officially said by the team to be "the head of a Roman general, a member of the Senate of the Roman Republic, projecting from a gold circle"; it doesn't seem like the centurion aspect came up at all.

I mean, what does barber pole sweaters and a big O logo have to do with "Senators", either, to be fair? If that look didn't have the Cup legacy (or the modern team had managed to win in 2007), would people really be pushing for it so hard as the main look? It feels more like people just pushing it because it's associated with a really good team from the 1800's and early 1900's rather than because they think it's a great look in the modern day. The current look at least gives the team a real sense of identity beyond "we look like that old team that used to play here a long-ass time ago and was pretty good". Much as it may be maligned in certain circles, I think having the Roman theme makes more sense, simply because it has more visual icons to play with for branding purposes; the laurels and the armored warrior motif both make for more visually interesting iconography than the original team's logo. An O and some barberpole stripes can only get you so far, branding-wise, and we know how important branding is to sports teams nowadays. I think that's why they decided to stick to the theme they have now instead of committing to the O; branding beyond the jerseys.

"Otterbots" is at least a clever pun, and a lot more interesting than if they'd just gone and done a basic name like Evansville did. MiLB loves the kinda goofy names, after all, and I'd imagine it'll be a big seller.

Only an NHL team run by the Pegulas could manage to so consistently misspell alumni names lmfao

Would be pretty hard to play ice hockey on the surface of water.

As of today, the ECHL's Brampton Beast are ceasing operations due to the pandemic.