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


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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.

Who actually improved? Boston and Vancouver?

A few stayed the same, but they were rare.

The Aeros improved their look and the Pioneers kept it largely the same. I felt that very proportional to the actual results of the league. Plus, I'm openly anti-Reebok, so I have no qualms with throwing their Edge system under the bus.

I'm also no logo designer and with the massive volume, I make no pretense that my logos are good, I can't get a smooth line to save my life. I'm here to tell a story of an alternate history, I'm an historian, not an artist.

I'll respect any opinion that you can defend.

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I'm an historian, not an artist.

...and yet, along with creating a really interesting and well-thought-out series, you've given us some pretty nice-looking concepts.

On a side-note, I would have loved to have had the Toros stay in Toronto.

Man, Southern Ontario needs a 2nd team!

Why the NHL insists on leaving the well-being of the biggest and most lucrative hockey market in the world. solely in the hands of those incompetent losers at MLS&E is beyond me.

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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.

Who actually improved? Boston and Vancouver?

A few stayed the same, but they were rare.

The Aeros improved their look and the Pioneers kept it largely the same. I felt that very proportional to the actual results of the league. Plus, I'm openly anti-Reebok, so I have no qualms with throwing their Edge system under the bus.

I'm also no logo designer and with the massive volume, I make no pretense that my logos are good, I can't get a smooth line to save my life. I'm here to tell a story of an alternate history, I'm an historian, not an artist.

I'm no artist either, but I at least make sure there aren't any loose pixels, unfinished lines, overlapping lines or jaggedness.

I also don't understand how you can be a historian if you're just butchering all the Reebok jerseys. You're taking your own beliefs and changing what history probably would have been based on those beliefs. Not what a "historian" would do.

But like I said before, do whatever you like, this is your series. But don't bite back when someone says the logos need to be better executed by saying "I'm no artist". I have not done many of my ideas based on that solely. I understand that you're using Paint, but it can still show up better than what it is.

usbnr3E.png     QrRvhzH.png     u0rDbga.png

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I'm an historian, not an artist.

...and yet, along with creating a really interesting and well-thought-out series, you've given us some pretty nice-looking concepts.

On a side-note, I would have loved to have had the Toros stay in Toronto.

Man, Southern Ontario needs a 2nd team!

Why the NHL insists on leaving the well-being of the biggest and most lucrative hockey market in the world. solely in the hands of those incompetent losers at MLS&E is beyond me.

Thank you. The Leafs have such a stranglehold on that area that I couldn't bring myself to add even Hamilton at any point. There's a goldmine waiting in Southern Ontario, and the NHL refuses to go for it.

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.

Who actually improved? Boston and Vancouver?

A few stayed the same, but they were rare.

The Aeros improved their look and the Pioneers kept it largely the same. I felt that very proportional to the actual results of the league. Plus, I'm openly anti-Reebok, so I have no qualms with throwing their Edge system under the bus.

I'm also no logo designer and with the massive volume, I make no pretense that my logos are good, I can't get a smooth line to save my life. I'm here to tell a story of an alternate history, I'm an historian, not an artist.

I'm no artist either, but I at least make sure there aren't any loose pixels, unfinished lines, overlapping lines or jaggedness.

I also don't understand how you can be a historian if you're just butchering all the Reebok jerseys. You're taking your own beliefs and changing what history probably would have been based on those beliefs. Not what a "historian" would do.

But like I said before, do whatever you like, this is your series. But don't bite back when someone says the logos need to be better executed by saying "I'm no artist". I have not done many of my ideas based on that solely. I understand that you're using Paint, but it can still show up better than what it is.

Not "historian", historian. It's what I do. And I have 9 teams in this series, 1 gets better in 07, 1 remains largely unchanged in 07.

In the actual NHL, 2/30 got better, 8/30 went largely unchanged (4 were Original Six)

Proportionally, I'm better than the actual NHL on reebok improving jerseys, and slightly below those who were largely unchanged.

Of the 8 teams in this series around for the Reebok switch, I've removed Carolina, who remained largely unchanged, added in Nashville, which remained largely unchanged, got rid of 7 terrible downgrades, and brought in one big upgrade with Houston. if anything, I've made the league under Reebok look better with 3/30 teams improving.

I am most certainly within the bounds of realism for this project. Reebok destroyed a lot, and destroyed so much that it's sparked a vintage craze. But don't take my word for it, go look at the history.

I'll respect any opinion that you can defend.

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Alright, it's time to wrap up the new material.

I put together a mothership-style page of all the logos of the 2015 alternate history NHL, and I realized that I had only 29 teams!

I fully planned for Hampton Roads to displace Atlanta and for the Thrashers to have never existed.

Well, so much for that. But the Thrashers moved, so I could make some good come out of it. I looked at four cities, Seattle, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, and Quebec.

Seattle...it made so much sense, but I could not, for the life of me, come up with a good team name. I refuse to use the Metropolitans, it's a name that just doesn't work today, and with the Mets in New York, I don't see it being allowed. The Winnipeg Jets had to get permission from the New York Jets to use the name. I don't see that good fortune happening twice. Totems has a very native twist to it, and with most of the native imagery going away, I didn't feel I could create a concept that would be completely free of offending people, and I did not want that either. Anything else simply wasn't a major league name. I couldn't make it work.

Las Vegas was my next pick, even thought of maybe moving them early and having them leave Las Vegas as a failure. But Sparky Chewbarky's Las Vegas Aces concept is so good, and is still on the front page of the board so long after its introduction, that I wouldn't come close to being that good, not without taking a lot of inspiration, and I didn't want that either. I do love that concept, it's perfect. But it's not for this project.

Indianapolis made sense here...I felt bad taking their team away when it wasn't really the fans' fault, and there definitely was support on this board for bringing them back...but Indy is NEVER on lists of NHL expansion or relocation. They're not. They're completely ignored. It's a racing city in a basketball state. Hockey isn't coming back anytime soon. I felt it to be way too unrealistic to return there at this point.

And Quebec...the Jets are back, the Nords want to be back...well...

2011-13 Atlanta Thrashers

The Atlanta Thrashers opened talks with Winnipeg to move there as early as 2010. However, they were beaten to the punch by Hampton Roads. The city wanted a team so badly that it took whoever would get there first - they would not be deprived again. So Atlanta had to look elsewhere, and it took two more years of lost revenue before they could settle on where to go.

Thrashers08.png

Man, those really were terrible jerseys, weren't they? Reebok totally destroyed that look, which seemed pretty decent in 2003.

2013 The Quebec Nordiques

THEY'RE BAAAAAAAAAACK! The pride of Quebec returns to Quebec City, the team of youthful Quebecois everywhere returns to take on stodgy, old-Quebec's Montreal Canadiens. The entire province freaks out, and pride is everywhere. Like with the new Jets, it is unclear just who owns the history, and the new ownership avoids completely any tie to the old look.

The Nords powder blue and red is back, but that is it. Red will be confined to the logo and numbers, while the actual primary colors are powder blue, carolina blue, and navy blue, the colors of the icy north. The logo itself is a compass rose, for the Voyageurs who settled Quebec, with North marked by a fleur de lis. On top is a script N, drawn like that of an ink quill, an old-tyme look of New France. The wordmark expands on that idea and is only in French. The secondary is an outlined fleur de lis.

kTN5NkH.png

os1UNua.png

ZSg9Spp.png

2013-present

The jerseys, again, completely different from the original Nordiques for ownership purposes, are meant to be plain but impressive. Icy colours make the logo and numbers stand out, like campfires among the snowy wilderness. Navy pants was for the comfort of the players, bright breezers sweat through and look awful after a while, the players definitely encouraged dark pants on the team's return.

Ice and snow is the theme, these are the Northmen, and they are proud. Everyone wants a throwback jersey, and perhaps it will happen someday, but the owners are mum on the issue. Perhaps they'll get an outdoor game someday.

2k6pzl0.png

With that, we come to the end of new material.

There are no more concepts. 9 teams affected by 4 more WHA teams entering the league. If not the best quality job, I hope I provided a realistic portrayal of an alternate history and you enjoyed the story as much as when you first went through the team histories on NHLUniforms.com, from which I did a ton of research (obviously). I am nothing if I am not realistic.

I have a set of logos done, showing what the overall league looks like, a snapshot of 2015, and I'll post that soon. I might do a few more snapshot to show the evolution of the league and add to the cohesiveness of this story, make it all easier to understand, and who knows, with some inspiration, I might look to the future a bit, plan an extra outdoor game or two and add those to the overall tale.

Otherwise, I have a few other projects I'm going to work on, a few of these might show up in an If I Ran the NHL series I'm putting together because they did turn out so well.

I'm also always open to ideas for other alternate histories...though maybe ones not quite as in-depth as this one.

Thank you all for your continued interest and support, and I hope you enjoyed.

I'll respect any opinion that you can defend.

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YESSS!!!!! this is great!


Alright, it's time to wrap up the new material.

I put together a mothership-style page of all the logos of the 2015 alternate history NHL, and I realized that I had only 29 teams!

I fully planned for Hampton Roads to displace Atlanta and for the Thrashers to have never existed.

Well, so much for that. But the Thrashers moved, so I could make some good come out of it. I looked at four cities, Seattle, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, and Quebec.

Seattle...it made so much sense, but I could not, for the life of me, come up with a good team name. I refuse to use the Metropolitans, it's a name that just doesn't work today, and with the Mets in New York, I don't see it being allowed. The Winnipeg Jets had to get permission from the New York Jets to use the name. I don't see that good fortune happening twice. Totems has a very native twist to it, and with most of the native imagery going away, I didn't feel I could create a concept that would be completely free of offending people, and I did not want that either. Anything else simply wasn't a major league name. I couldn't make it work.

Las Vegas was my next pick, even thought of maybe moving them early and having them leave Las Vegas as a failure. But Sparky Chewbarky's Las Vegas Aces concept is so good, and is still on the front page of the board so long after its introduction, that I wouldn't come close to being that good, not without taking a lot of inspiration, and I didn't want that either. I do love that concept, it's perfect. But it's not for this project.

Indianapolis made sense here...I felt bad taking their team away when it wasn't really the fans' fault, and there definitely was support on this board for bringing them back...but Indy is NEVER on lists of NHL expansion or relocation. They're not. They're completely ignored. It's a racing city in a basketball state. Hockey isn't coming back anytime soon. I felt it to be way too unrealistic to return there at this point.

And Quebec...the Jets are back, the Nords want to be back...well...

2011-13 Atlanta Thrashers

The Atlanta Thrashers opened talks with Winnipeg to move there as early as 2010. However, they were beaten to the punch by Hampton Roads. The city wanted a team so badly that it took whoever would get there first - they would not be deprived again. So Atlanta had to look elsewhere, and it took two more years of lost revenue before they could settle on where to go.

Thrashers08.png

Man, those really were terrible jerseys, weren't they? Reebok totally destroyed that look, which seemed pretty decent in 2003.

2013 The Quebec Nordiques

THEY'RE BAAAAAAAAAACK! The pride of Quebec returns to Quebec City, the team of youthful Quebecois everywhere returns to take on stodgy, old-Quebec's Montreal Canadiens. The entire province freaks out, and pride is everywhere. Like with the new Jets, it is unclear just who owns the history, and the new ownership avoids completely any tie to the old look.

The Nords powder blue and red is back, but that is it. Red will be confined to the logo and numbers, while the actual primary colors are powder blue, carolina blue, and navy blue, the colors of the icy north. The logo itself is a compass rose, for the Voyageurs who settled Quebec, with North marked by a fleur de lis. On top is a script N, drawn like that of an ink quill, an old-tyme look of New France. The wordmark expands on that idea and is only in French. The secondary is an outlined fleur de lis.

kTN5NkH.png

os1UNua.png

ZSg9Spp.png

2013-present

The jerseys, again, completely different from the original Nordiques for ownership purposes, are meant to be plain but impressive. Icy colours make the logo and numbers stand out, like campfires among the snowy wilderness. Navy pants was for the comfort of the players, bright breezers sweat through and look awful after a while, the players definitely encouraged dark pants on the team's return.

Ice and snow is the theme, these are the Northmen, and they are proud. Everyone wants a throwback jersey, and perhaps it will happen someday, but the owners are mum on the issue. Perhaps they'll get an outdoor game someday.

2k6pzl0.png

With that, we come to the end of new material.

There are no more concepts. 9 teams affected by 4 more WHA teams entering the league. If not the best quality job, I hope I provided a realistic portrayal of an alternate history and you enjoyed the story as much as when you first went through the team histories on NHLUniforms.com, from which I did a ton of research (obviously). I am nothing if I am not realistic.

I have a set of logos done, showing what the overall league looks like, a snapshot of 2015, and I'll post that soon. I might do a few more snapshot to show the evolution of the league and add to the cohesiveness of this story, make it all easier to understand, and who knows, with some inspiration, I might look to the future a bit, plan an extra outdoor game or two and add those to the overall tale.

Otherwise, I have a few other projects I'm going to work on, a few of these might show up in an If I Ran the NHL series I'm putting together because they did turn out so well.

I'm also always open to ideas for other alternate histories...though maybe ones not quite as in-depth as this one.

Thank you all for your continued interest and support, and I hope you enjoyed.

Can i take your permesion to do an NFL Defucent team one

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Excuse the bad French, but...

Tes Nordiques de Québec sont magnifiques!

You've done a wonderful job creating a modern classic for a new Nordiques team to wear, and I also like that you avoided a re-hashing of the old Nordiques look. This whole series has been excellent, with many interesting twists and experiments with NHL design trends and existing team histories. Well done!

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This was fantastic. One of the best concept series the board has seen, due to how in-depth you went. You went the extra, it showed, and you completed an absolutely awesome series. Bravo.

On 4/10/2017 at 3:05 PM, Rollins Man said:

what the hell is ccslc?

 

 

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I don't think you need my permission for an NFL team alternate history, but I recommend having a very specific "what if" and go from there, rather than just "every defunct team is back!"

Good luck!

lffhockey, here are some ideas:

1. What if there was no strike in 1987, and the NFL actually expanded in Jan. 1988 to Phoenix and Memphis (like some Memphis fan claimed on this message board).

2. What if Seattle and Minnesota were in the AFL from the start instead of Oakland and Boston (Billy Sullivan probably gets the 1961 expansion team instead of Minnesota).

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I don't think you need my permission for an NFL team alternate history, but I recommend having a very specific "what if" and go from there, rather than just "every defunct team is back!"

Good luck!

lffhockey, here are some ideas:

1. What if there was no strike in 1987, and the NFL actually expanded in Jan. 1988 to Phoenix and Memphis (like some Memphis fan claimed on this message board).

2. What if Seattle and Minnesota were in the AFL from the start instead of Oakland and Boston (Billy Sullivan probably gets the 1961 expansion team instead of Minnesota).

i already started but thanks

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