spartacat_12

It looks like the Sens have unveiled their 30th anniversary logo. Pretty minimalist, but I like it. Should make for a nice looking patch on the jerseys (although with the ads who knows where it will be placed). I wonder if it's a hint at the Peace Tower script potentially being used on the reverse retro.

Ooof, how hard would it have been for them to go with one of the dozen or so Scottish-themed nicknames that were suggested in this thread? Red Leafs is an awful choice. I'm sure there were trademark issues around "Maple Leafs", but Red Leafs sounds like something a person who's never heard of Canada would say when describing the flag. It's been a bad couple of weeks for Canadian universities rebranding their sports teams.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of this Sharks change at all. Their brand could definitely use a refresh, but this feels like 1 step forward and 2 back. I've never once heard anyone complain about them wearing black equipment. The Flyers wear black pants/helmets/gloves, but no one gets confused about whether or not they're a black or orange team. They clearly wanted to do some version of their inaugural jersey striping, but without the grey it just looks dull & uninspired. They should have just went the Buffalo route and made some tweaks to their original logo & jerseys.

I do like the black, red, orange combo, but I'm not a fan of that jersey. The amount of outlines on the numbers is ridiculous.

I don't remember the goat head being beloved at the time. It benefited from being worn by Hasek and being part of a Stanley Cup run. The slug was awful, but it was also worn the last time the Sabres actually had good teams. I'm sure kids who grew up around the President's Trophy/Ryan Miller Vezina season have fond memories of those teams. We just saw the Ducks bring back the Wild Wing jersey, the Lightning are most likely bringing back the storm uniform, Blasty went from being a joke to being beloved, and somehow the Canucks flying skate has turned into one of the most loved uniforms in the league. The NBA has also brought back a ton of gaudy '90s throwbacks that people hated at the time (Raptors dinosaur, Nets tie-dye, Pistons teal horse). Nostalgia has always been a driving factor of marketing, but it feels like it's ramped up a lot in the last 5 years or so, even beyond sports. Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man movies were hated by most, but now that he showed up in the last one people suddenly want to see an Amazing Spider-Man 3.

It's pretty funny that after 25 years the Sabres finally listened to fans and went back to the royal & gold, but now that they've announced a black & red alternate/throwback suddenly there are fans saying "bring it back full time". I honestly won't be surprised if in another 10-15 years we get a Buffaslug throwback.

Well they ended up going with the worst possible option and are now the TMU Bold. They also went off the board and will be using a falcon as a mascot. The mascot design & uniforms will be released at a later date. I'm still not quite sure why they felt the need to change their athletic identity. It seems a bit like throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and is just going to remove the one connection alumni have to the school. They could've easily just given the ram mascot a new name and kept living life as the TMU Rams. As for the new handle, Bold might be the worst sports nickname I've ever heard. I can't even think of what you could use as a logo other than a letter or wordmark. Maybe they'll include a falcon somewhere, but Ontario already has a few other bird mascot schools. As most people have been joking about online, it sounds like the name of a font, not a team.

If it were a Winter Classic I'd say that would be a possibility, but the Stadium Series has always been about using some sort of innovative/modern uniform. My guess is that logo is just meant for merchandise. Given the switch to black at home, we'll see if they decide to bring back the leaked version from last year, or if they pivot to a red jersey instead.

I can't read that word without thinking of this scene:

I'm surprised to see the Bengals using their helmet instead of the striped B. Yeah I think they wanted to remove as much metallic gold as possible to distance themselves from St. Louis, but they didn't want to make wholesale changes to the uniform until they moved into the new stadium. At least they were able to wear the throwbacks for the Super Bowl. For the rebrand their market research showed that most of the fanbase wanted royal & yellow as the colours. I think they knew that the diehard Rams fans who lived in the city would be buying tickets regardless, so they included all the hypebeast elements as a way to try and attract new fans who grew up without an NFL team in town.

Considering they're just swapping out the silver for orange on the jersey, it's odd that they're keeping the silver in the logos. I think it might've looked better if they kept the oil drop navy and changed the silver parts to orange and/or white.

Yeah it might have the most colour variations of any logo in league history. Jade triangle + yellow sticks, silver triangle + yellow sticks, gold triangle + yellow sticks, gold triangle + orange sticks, and silver triangle + orange sticks. And oddly enough the logo has never included even a sliver of eggplant, even though that was their primary colour for over a decade.

Ah, yes. Very distinct.

Yeah, the stealth look and the heathered design on the red stripes seems more like an Adidas trend than something from the Reebok Edge era. When the Adidas template debuted at the World Cup, Team North America used it heavily. I haven't been a fan of the Canes wearing black for the playoffs, and I'm definitely not a fan of them making it the full time home look, especially since it doesn't appear like they are interested in making a matching away jersey. At this point they might as well make the flags their primary logo since the coloured storm logo isn't featured anywhere on the black or white jerseys. What frustrates me personally is that Ottawa finally moved away from being a red-first team by going back to the inaugural jerseys, only to possibly see Carolina switch to an almost identical design (black jersey, 2 red stripes on sleeve, 1 on the hem, no white except for the numbers & logo outline).

I actually didn't mind this Flyers' look. I think if they had gone with an orange version at home instead of sticking with black, they would've been received a lot better. They really need to go back to the single layer black letters for the captains instead of the white outlined in black on a white background.

I've always liked this version of the crown that was on their original primary logo, but for some reason was different from the crown they used on the jerseys. Colour this black & silver, throw it on the front of the jerseys, and call it a day.

Yeah, I don't think people had a problem with the pre-Edge version as an alternate (although I found it strange that they chose powder blue despite it not being anywhere in their main uniforms aside from splashes on their logos). The issue was when the league switched to the Edge template they made a worse version of the jersey, made it the primary home look, and for some reason didn't make the away jersey match even though they were redesigning it.

Interestingly enough, the most popular version of the sport in Canada is box lacrosse, which is played 5 on 5, indoors on a hockey rink with no ice. Growing up I always assumed this was the only version of lacrosse before finding out that field lacrosse pre-dated it.

Great players can elevate seemingly "bad" numbers. 87, 71, 97, 91, 37, 68 are all associated with current/future Hall of Famers. And the standard for retiring numbers is going to vary from team to team. A guy like Saku Koivu probably won't get his number retired in Montreal, but if he had the same accomplishments with a team like Nashville he probably would. Price is most likely the only Hab from this century who'll go into the rafters in the next decade. Well they will still have their numbers in the rafters, they'll just be kept in circulation.

I'm not sure what you think nepotism is, but an organization choosing to raise a player's number to the rafters based on contributions they made to the franchise/local hockey community isn't that. Also, questionable players getting their numbers retired isn't some new phenomenon. Guys like Yvon Labre & Al Hamilton got their numbers retired in the '80s (see if you can guess which team it was by without looking it up). You've also brought up the classic overreaction anytime the topic of number retirements gets discussed. We aren't going to run out of numbers. The Habs lead the league with 15 numbers no longer in circulation, and that's after over 100 years of history, which included multiple dynasties. Even if they were to keep retiring numbers at the same pace (which won't happen), it would be another 400 years before any logistical issues actually came up. As for the Jets, they haven't actually retired any of the numbers that are in the rafters. Nik Ehlers will be allowed to keep wearing 27 if he wants to.

The 13:27 is definitely a reference to Teemu Selanne & Teppo Numminen, so I'd say it's more likely that they're announcing number retirements than a new throwback.

Based on the wording of his tweet. I'd say they're planning on some sort of Blasty alternate, just not this exact jersey. As much as I love the Flames throwback look and would rather them just stay a red, white, and yellow team, I get why they want to keep some black around as an alternate look. Basically lets them have their cake & eat it too.

I just saw a rumour that the Flames will be bringing back the Blasty RR this season as the official 3rd jersey. A listing was posted featuring the jersey without the RR hanger effect, and with a tag labeling it as the third jersey.

Even if the NHL hadn't officially retired 99 I can't imagine anyone would've had the stones to actually ask for it. And even if they had, my guess is most teams wouldn't have issued it. Just look at the debate that went on 5 years ago when Josh Ho-Sang wore 66 in honour of Lemieux. https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/josh-ho-sang-wearing-no-66-anything-ultimate-respect/

The NBA Finals MVP is already the Bill Russell Trophy.