2014-2015 NHL Jersey/Logo Changes

[BigBubba]

Pros:

- Stretched font is a huge improvement

- An actual crest, and a good one at that

- More emphasis on orange

- Mighty Duck lives on

Cons:

- Font still isn't very good

- The road crest is overly-outlined

- The colour balance is downright awful

- Double-outlined NOBs? Eww

- Two mega-thin outlines on the numbers looks bad. Shoulda gone with one thicker orange outline

- Those side panels are a mess and are WAAAYY too busy. They should've used the previous template, which woulda worked because the "swoosh" in the stripe would've (or could've, if you altered it) ran parallel to the "swoosh" in the logo

- Laces with a modern look, and the crappy kind at that

- Phantom yoke

- Unnecessary roundel on the shoulder patch

Overall: Lateral move

[Cosmic]

I agree with every single point that Big Bubba made, except I'd still call these a big upgrade just for getting rid of that stupid wordmark logo. Never should have been the crest on the jersey like that when the D looks so good.

[charger77]

I miss the "fat" numbers on the Ducks jerseys.

[Lights Out]

Why does everyone like the "D" logo? It's no better than the full wordmark IMO. It would make for a good secondary logo alongside a primary depicting a full-body duck or something, but it's not a good crest on its own.

Aside from that, the color balance is poor (black yoke with orange-heavy striping) and that color scheme remains ugly.

[ColeJ]

i think the webbed-d is a really good solid primary logo.

it's just not nearly as good or solid as the inaugural logo, regardless of what colors you use.

[The Giant Pacific Octopus]

Off topic right now, but I wondered if anybody had heard anything about this. I'm reading Eddie Shore: And That Old Time Hockey by C. Michael Haim, and he has an aside to Howie Morenz's time with the Chicago Black Hawks. Right after talking about the 1936-37 All Americans failure, he says,

[Frederic] McLaughlin had earlier let his wife, Irene, design the Chicago uniform, and, according to reports, she "spent considerable time in museums and art galleries studying the war paint, feathers, and art of the original Black Hawk Indians. Then she incorporated her findings into her husband's team's uniform. As a final touch she had specially made hockey gloves with tessellated doodads similar to those worn by Buffalo Bill." One night [Howie] Morenz had sheepishly shown Frank Patrick the gloves and said, sadly, "You never thought, Frank, did you, that I'd finish my career rigged out like this?"

That WOULD explain the major change in uniforms:

1936-37 1937-38

But tassels on the gloves? Tell me a photo of this exists somewhere! Anybody confirm this story?

Note it doesn't say "tassellated", it says "tessellated". This means there wasn't fringe on the gloves, but likely some sort patterned design made of geometric shapes. The triangular inserts on the 1936-37 pants may lend some insight into this.

In one of my hockey history books it shows a picture of a Black Hawk player wearing the 1936/37 uniform posing for the cameraman and the gloves he was wearing had a fringed look.to it. The caption under the picture said something like "(players name) wearing the new Hawks uniform. The team wore fringed gloves and art deco style pants to compliment their new sweater". Or something like that. I'm paraphrasing since its been years since I leafed through that book so I'm going by memory here. But they defiantly had unique looking gloves.

EDIT: Google searching I found the pic online

The fancy stripes on the socks and the striping on the pants match but the gloves don't really look tessellated do they unless you go by corrugated tessellation.

[Sodboy13]

Awesome photo find, GPO. Interesting that the sock chevrons point downward in the photo, but upward in NHLUniforms' graphic.

EDIT: Maybe they zigzagged all the way around? That would be very intricate.

[habsfan1]

It looks like a 90s Roller Hockey jersey.

But at least it's not an Original 6 dress-up.

[ColeJ]

it is much better to look hideous and tacky than inappropriately timeless, clean, and classy... which is a right reserved only for the oldest of teams.

[ColeJ]

i completely agree. i was being facetious.

[The_Admiral]

it is much better to look hideous and tacky than inappropriately timeless, clean, and classy... which is a right reserved only for the oldest of teams.

You're not serious, but I am. Modern warm-weather expansion teams should be made to look non-traditional. There's a spot on the continuum for the Lightning between sublimated rainfall and the Maple Wings.

[wildwing64]

Maybe the white jersey isn't as bad as I imagined. I'll have to see the full thing first. At least I don't have to complain about the wordmark jerseys anymore

I like the white jersey. I think that overall it works very well. It finally brings some life to the road jersey. A road jersey that's essentially been black and white since the rebrand.

I'm also happy I don't have to listen to people complain about the word mark any more

Being able to rejoice at its long-awaited exit instead is a weird feeling, trust me

Now that I've had a better look at the new white jersey, it's definitely grown on me. I completely agree, while I preferred the white over the home in the previous set, it too needed some life and colour injected into it. The black jersey needed it more, but then again they already did that with the third new home. Dammit, that's gonna be a tough habit to break.

These are still the best jersey the Ducks have ever worn.

I agree. I'd be ecstatic if they went back to these full time, or brought it in rotation as an alternate. But I'm also happy with what they have now

Why does everyone like the "D" logo? It's no better than the full wordmark IMO. It would make for a good secondary logo alongside a primary depicting a full-body duck or something, but it's not a good crest on its own.

It's a simple, clever, effective logo which - in a way - feels like a modern interpretation of a more traditional hockey mark. In terms of brand application and how it looks on a hockey uniform, it's a far superior mark to the full script. Look at any web page, arena banner, or even the Ducks' original Edge jerseys where the wordmark's been shrunk right down in order to fit, to the point where it's either not intelligible or barely visible, and then tell me why the D is no better.

I'll admit, I've had my doubts about its strength as a primary logo before. It's not immediately obvious to the average Joe that it's a duck's footprint, but then maybe that's why they used the full wordmark in the first place. That said, it's been around a while now. It's had plenty of time to establish itself as the team's primary mark, regardless of its absence on the primary uniforms. It might not be among the best in the NHL, but it's a solid logo in its own right.

I still prefer the duck mask, though.

[CS85]

Just came to say that I am a big fan of the enormity of Anaheim's D.

That is both a serious post and a stupid joke.

[Mr. Krabs]

The Sharks gave their picks their regular home teal jerseys instead of the black. I hope that's a sign they will WEAR TEAL IN THE PLAYOFFS INSTEAD OF THE BLACK. (Sorry had to get that off my chest for the record.)

[wildwing64]

Nobody except Seagate wants the Sharks to wear black in the playoffs.

[WSU151]

Just came to say that I am a big fan of the enormity of Anaheim's D.

That is both a serious post and a stupid joke.

This post is great if you read it in a Ron Swanson voice.

[habsfan1]

The Sharks gave their picks their regular home teal jerseys instead of the black. I hope that's a sign they will WEAR TEAL IN THE PLAYOFFS INSTEAD OF THE BLACK. (Sorry had to get that off my chest for the record.)

If the Bills ditched their classic red helmet to distance themselves from their 4 straight Super Bowl loses, the Sharks should cease using their totally forgettable black alts in the playoffs to distance theirselves from their 3-0 collapse.

[RyanMcD29]

Those had to be the best worst uniforms ever. On one hand it's awful, but on the other it's too freakin' awesome. That or the old Coyotes alts.

Now that I got a full view of the Ducks' uniforms I'll rule it an upgrade but in general "okay." Obviously they could do bette, especially the full slide stripes not really being tinkered, but on the other it's decent in other areas. This might be a case where the jersey is better off without stripes on the body and just on the sleeves, as I can't really think of any striping pattern on the hems that would work with what they've got going on the sleeves. I don't mind phantom yokes too much so I'm fine with that, but I think the aways could've been a tad bit better matching the yoke and the stripes. The abundance of orange is a nice touch, though, and should be much more colorful than the bland set they had before. That'll also be a welcome sign for games at the Kings and Sharks. Gotta get used to the number and letter outlines, though, as that will be a bit jarring at first. I'll probably warm up to it over time, but for now it's in the not-bad, not-good, okay category.

[The_Admiral]

Just came to say that I am a big fan of the enormity of Anaheim's D.

That is both a serious post and a stupid joke.

Yes, but chances are "enormity" doesn't mean what you think it does.

[Chewbacca]

The Ducks' new jerseys are far from the best in the NHL however, they are an upgrade from what they have been wearing. Since the Ducks brought out the 3rd turned home jersey, I have always felt that their former 3rd jersey was good enough to be the home jersey for at least a few years. I think that the Ducks have actually made their black jersey a little bit better too. I know that they are using the fake laces from the Stadium Series jerseys but, I think the fake laces really suit the look of the jerseys and I do like the new orange collars. I hope that this will end up being a primer to a much, much better look. Even though these are an improvement and a change from their ultra-bland home and road jerseys, they are still not very good. I agree that there's just too much going on these. There's black, orange and old gold. The orange sticks out like a sore thumb on these. I love the color Orange but the Orange is a little too much on these, especially the black jersey. You have a gold logo while there's far more orange on these than gold. The overall look is a mess. Orange and Old Gold? A little much. A black, orange, and silver color scheme works a lot better but, that's even more Flyers territory than the Ducks' current color scheme. Don't get me wrong, I like that these have more life to them than before but I think this is a case where it has more life to the look for all the wrong reasons. An Orange third jersey would be nice but after seeing the Mighty Ducks throwback last year, I really hope they will at least wear that as a third jersey or better yet, have an orange jersey as an alternate and wear that as a throwback two or three times a year. On that note, I wonder why people dislike the Mighty Ducks jerseys. The Mighty Ducks were one of those rare teams that made a crazy look work. Eggplant and Jade is an original identity and everybody knows what the Mighty Ducks look like. I know it is one of those crazy 90's looks but in my opinion, it's one of the few that's actually half-decent. Call me crazy but I actually like the old WildWing jersey.