2014-2015 NHL Jersey/Logo Changes

[tubby34]

The building looked (a little) more full last night against Philadelphia.

no it didn't

I mean I suppose technically you're right that it wasn't less full than the games with Phoenix and Ottawa but that's still dire, especially for a game that's supposed to be a draw down there. South Florida is lousy with transplanted Philadelphians (there's never a better time to use "lousy" as a synonym for "teeming" than concerning a number of Philadelphians).

Here's rhe Phoenix game, sometime in the second or third- those seats behind the benches are all inclusive food and drink and are $200 a seat.

[Gothamite]

the overall effect was such a ludicrously huge upgrade (especially the logo) that it doesn't bother me.

The clip art logo is a downgrade. The colours are a downgrade. It looks better because it's not a reebok made abomination, but it's still not a good look for the lightning.

You and I will just have to agree to disagree (even on the meaning of the term "clip art", apparently).

[mafiaman]

The building looked (a little) more full last night against Philadelphia.

no it didn't

I mean I suppose technically you're right that it wasn't less full than the games with Phoenix and Ottawa but that's still dire, especially for a game that's supposed to be a draw down there. South Florida is lousy with transplanted Philadelphians (there's never a better time to use "lousy" as a synonym for "teeming" than concerning a number of Philadelphians).

That's beyond "dire"...

[Morgan33]

1996 seems like a long time ago (if it didn't already)...

[ohryan]

Here we go again...

When the Leafs first started wearing blue and white, Robert Borden and Wilfred Laurier were duking it out in the House of Commons over the Conscription Crisis. Barring a brief period in green and white, they've owned that colour scheme as much as a sports team can "own" one. When you dress in head-to-toe blue for nearly a century, win twelve Cups in the colour, have over sixty Hall of Famers wear it, and have your team nicknamed "the blue and white", you're going to develop a special connection. Excuse me for being bothered by the fact that a 1993 expansion team decided to drop their fairly consistent identity in favour of one that dresses head-to-toe in the exact same shade of blue, and pushed for by a guy who grew up cheering for the Leafs.

You're arguing that the Leafs deserve the color blue because they've won 12 cups?

When did they win the last one? How old were you when you last witnessed someone from the "blue and white" team hoisting a Stanley Cup?

The Leafs haven't been relevant for almost 50 years. They own the color blue? They're the Chicago Cubs of hockey - a lovable laughingstock at best. It's really cute that Leafs fans try to pretend that their team is still relevant. Nah, fo real though, dog - Dion Phaneuf is for sure bringing the cup back to Toronto!

The best thing that ever happened to the Toronto Maple Leafs was another team coming along and confusing people. That must sting even worse when a "southern" team dressed in your "colors" wins their 2nd Stanley Cup! Keep dreaming about Stamkos, though. I'm sure he'll probably leave his stacked team to play with Dion Phaneuf. Let's Go Leafs!!!! (or Let's Go Leaf's...or Let's Go Blue and White...or whatever used to fire you up.)

[Morgan33]

The Leafs have won 13 cups in blue and white, the Lightning have won 0 cups in blue and white...

[Chromatic]

Here we go again...

When the Leafs first started wearing blue and white, Robert Borden and Wilfred Laurier were duking it out in the House of Commons over the Conscription Crisis. Barring a brief period in green and white, they've owned that colour scheme as much as a sports team can "own" one. When you dress in head-to-toe blue for nearly a century, win twelve Cups in the colour, have over sixty Hall of Famers wear it, and have your team nicknamed "the blue and white", you're going to develop a special connection. Excuse me for being bothered by the fact that a 1993 expansion team decided to drop their fairly consistent identity in favour of one that dresses head-to-toe in the exact same shade of blue, and pushed for by a guy who grew up cheering for the Leafs.

You're arguing that the Leafs deserve the color blue because they've won 12 cups?

When did they win the last one? How old were you when you last witnessed someone from the "blue and white" team hoisting a Stanley Cup?

The Leafs haven't been relevant for almost 50 years. They own the color blue? They're the Chicago Cubs of hockey - a lovable laughingstock at best. It's really cute that Leafs fans try to pretend that their team is still relevant. Nah, fo real though, dog - Dion Phaneuf is for sure bringing the cup back to Toronto!

The best thing that ever happened to the Toronto Maple Leafs was another team coming along and confusing people. That must sting even worse when a "southern" team dressed in your "colors" wins their 2nd Stanley Cup! Keep dreaming about Stamkos, though. I'm sure he'll probably leave his stacked team to play with Dion Phaneuf. Let's Go Leafs!!!! (or Let's Go Leaf's...or Let's Go Blue and White...or whatever used to fire you up.)

I hate the Leafs with a fiery passion, but if anyone "owns" that colour scheme, it's them. It's just not a good identity for the lightning. Colours strongly associated with one original six team and the striping of another. Time to bring back black and silver to the lightning.

[The_Admiral]

Yeah, I mean, a nice medium blue jumps off black so well. They can skip the silver because you always get the ambiguity between metallic silver and matte grey and it gets annoying, but blue/black/white is a really powerful color scheme contingent on the right shade of blue. Like the flag of Estonia!

A country which, by the way, really isn't producing hockey players like you'd expect it to given its proximity and cultural ties to both powerhouse Finland and they'll-surprise-ya Latvia.

[Tigers6884]

Does anyone agree with me in that I think Buffalo's uniforms would look much better with a lighter shade of blue?

[Sodboy13]

Yes, and with roughly 100% less silver.

[OnWis97]

Here we go again...

When the Leafs first started wearing blue and white, Robert Borden and Wilfred Laurier were duking it out in the House of Commons over the Conscription Crisis. Barring a brief period in green and white, they've owned that colour scheme as much as a sports team can "own" one. When you dress in head-to-toe blue for nearly a century, win twelve Cups in the colour, have over sixty Hall of Famers wear it, and have your team nicknamed "the blue and white", you're going to develop a special connection. Excuse me for being bothered by the fact that a 1993 expansion team decided to drop their fairly consistent identity in favour of one that dresses head-to-toe in the exact same shade of blue, and pushed for by a guy who grew up cheering for the Leafs.

You're arguing that the Leafs deserve the color blue because they've won 12 cups?

When did they win the last one? How old were you when you last witnessed someone from the "blue and white" team hoisting a Stanley Cup?

The Leafs haven't been relevant for almost 50 years. They own the color blue? They're the Chicago Cubs of hockey - a lovable laughingstock at best. It's really cute that Leafs fans try to pretend that their team is still relevant. Nah, fo real though, dog - Dion Phaneuf is for sure bringing the cup back to Toronto!

The best thing that ever happened to the Toronto Maple Leafs was another team coming along and confusing people. That must sting even worse when a "southern" team dressed in your "colors" wins their 2nd Stanley Cup! Keep dreaming about Stamkos, though. I'm sure he'll probably leave his stacked team to play with Dion Phaneuf. Let's Go Leafs!!!! (or Let's Go Leaf's...or Let's Go Blue and White...or whatever used to fire you up.)

I would certainly argue that this does not matter. Whether they have won 5 of the last 10 cups or not in 40 years, they're an original 6 team and they have significant history in blue.

That said, I don't really have a problem with Tampa wearing blue and white. I happen to prefer their uniforms to their original look. The original crest was awful. And I really am not fond of black and blue (or black and purple); not enough contrast. All that said, I wish Tampa would have light use of a second color. Maybe silver. Blue and silver would be a pretty good combo. Or even black as an accent (thin line around stripes, logo, numbers).

I wish the would have separated themselves from Toronto better, even if I don't think it was an absolute must.

[hockey week]

Look, it's not JUST blue, it's not JUST the striping pattern, IT'S BOTH.

If the Lightning had shoulder yokes or an over-shoulder stripe or bunches of stripes or something angled or side stripes or SOMETHING, they'd be easily distinguished.

Nobody mistakes Ottawa for New Jersey or Chicago, nobody mistakes Columbus for the Rangers, nobody mistakes Washington for Montreal, because even though the colors are the same, the stripes are different.

Nobody mistakes Carolina for Toronto, nobody mistakes Dallas for the Rangers, nobody mistakes Tampa Bay for Detroit, because even though the striping patterns are the same, the colors are different.

But if you have both pretty similar...

[The Giant Pacific Octopus]

especially for a game that's supposed to be a draw down there.

Its kinda hard to build any excitement over a team that has only made the playoffs twice in 15 years and hasn't won a playoff round in almost 20 years.

I guarantee you if that Blackhawks made 2 playoff appearances in a decade and a half and didn't win a playoff series in almost 2 decades they would be playing in front of empty seats too. Heck they drew 12,727 fans in 2006/07* and they didn't have the kind of futility leading up to that particular season that the Panthers do now.

*http://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph_season.php?lid=NHL1927&sid=2007

[Watchman]

Yeah, I mean, a nice medium blue jumps off black so well. They can skip the silver because you always get the ambiguity between metallic silver and matte grey and it gets annoying, but blue/black/white is a really powerful color scheme contingent on the right shade of blue. Like the flag of Estonia!

A country which, by the way, really isn't producing hockey players like you'd expect it to given its proximity and cultural ties to both powerhouse Finland and they'll-surprise-ya Latvia.

Funny enough, the Lightning's original blue was almost that shade.

[TruColor]

It was this:

...and is now this:

[mafiaman]

All this uproar about Toronto and Tampa Bay...yet no one bats an eye over the LA Kings adopting the LA Raiders colors after the Gretzky trade or reverting back to those colors by ditching purple a few years ago. Two Stanley Cups later, there's no going back now.

[Corvus]

All this uproar about Toronto and Tampa Bay...yet no one bats an eye over the LA Kings adopting the LA Raiders colors after the Gretzky trade or reverting back to those colors by ditching purple a few years ago. Two Stanley Cups later, there's no going back now.

There are almost certainly people on this board who weren't born yet when the Kings first went to Black and Silver (prior to adding purple back, and then dropping it again). Of course the Tampa Bay colour scheme change is going to get more buzz.

[TheOldRoman]

All this uproar about Toronto and Tampa Bay...yet no one bats an eye over the LA Kings adopting the LA Raiders colors after the Gretzky trade or reverting back to those colors by ditching purple a few years ago. Two Stanley Cups later, there's no going back now.

Well, if this were 1993, I'm sure some people would be upset about the Kings ditching the purple and yellow they had always worn. However, they didn't steal the Raiders colors since they play different sports. They adopted a color scheme which was still unique to hockey. Nobody talks about the Bulls stealing the Blackhawks' color or how everyone in Pittsburgh took after the Pirates. I mean, nobody is going to confuse the Oakland Athletics with the Green Bay Packers. Stealing the unique color scheme of one of the most storied franchises in your sport is going to piss people off.

[hockey week]

All this uproar about Toronto and Tampa Bay...yet no one bats an eye over the LA Kings adopting the LA Raiders colors after the Gretzky trade or reverting back to those colors by ditching purple a few years ago. Two Stanley Cups later, there's no going back now.

Well, if this were 1993, I'm sure some people would be upset about the Kings ditching the purple and yellow they had always worn. However, they didn't steal the Raiders colors since they play different sports. They adopted a color scheme which was still unique to hockey. Nobody talks about the Bulls stealing the Blackhawks' color or how everyone in Pittsburgh took after the Pirates. I mean, nobody is going to confuse the Oakland Athletics with the Green Bay Packers. Stealing the unique color scheme of one of the most storied franchises in your sport is going to piss people off.

Color wouldn't be a problem if their jerseys weren't so similarly striped...

[TheOldRoman]

All this uproar about Toronto and Tampa Bay...yet no one bats an eye over the LA Kings adopting the LA Raiders colors after the Gretzky trade or reverting back to those colors by ditching purple a few years ago. Two Stanley Cups later, there's no going back now.

Well, if this were 1993, I'm sure some people would be upset about the Kings ditching the purple and yellow they had always worn. However, they didn't steal the Raiders colors since they play different sports. They adopted a color scheme which was still unique to hockey. Nobody talks about the Bulls stealing the Blackhawks' color or how everyone in Pittsburgh took after the Pirates. I mean, nobody is going to confuse the Oakland Athletics with the Green Bay Packers. Stealing the unique color scheme of one of the most storied franchises in your sport is going to piss people off.

Color wouldn't be a problem if their jerseys weren't so similarly striped...

If they used black in a substantial way, it wouldn't be a problem. However, I think I would always have an issue with them using only blue and white, even if they did so in a way that looked nothing like the Maple Leafs. And before people chime in, context matters. This isn't the '30s with the league being new. The Leafs have been THE blue and white team for 80-something years, so at this point teams should probably either find their own unique scheme or copy a not-so-unique one. Sure, it would suck if they went black and red, but that scheme hasn't been unique to one team in probably 30 years, so they would be "another black and red team" rather than "copying off the Leafs."