2016-17 NHL Uniform and Logo Changes

[NeverSayNever]

Well to be fair, the Penguins would have won the Cup in athletic gold and black if they had won game 5 at home.  It's not like it was a completely unused color scheme that season.

 

So not the point. Point is these team's won their titles in jerseys that would be retired the following season so Ice_Cap's point is not valid... 

[CreamSoda]

Just now, NeverSayNever said:

Well to be fair, the Penguins would have won the Cup in athletic gold and black if they had won game 5 at home.  It's not like it was a completely unused color scheme that season.

 

So not the point. Point is these team's won their titles in jerseys that would be retired the following season so Ice_Cap's point is not valid... 

 

 

 

I wonder what the Houston jersey would look like with that Calgary C mocked up on it...

[SFGiants58]

7 hours ago, M4One said:

The Senators should use more gold.  That would keep them away from comparisons to the Devils or any other team with red and black in their colour scheme.  I'll take the peace tower alternate over what they have now any day of the week.

 

 

The Binghamton Senators wore something based off them.

 

 

 

 

Put the updated 2D Centurion on the front of those sweaters, find a way to incorporate the laurel pattern into the sock stripes, maybe switch to a block font (at least for the NOB's), and you'd have the perfect uniform for the Sens! As long as there was a barberpole alternate to appease those fans, it'd be good.

[NeverSayNever]

Anything the Rockets would do would look better than the trainwreck that is their current identity. So brutal. Maybe an H with some "Flames" trailing behind it?

[IceCap]

17 minutes ago, NeverSayNever said:

Wrong. Houston Rockets won two championships in the red and yellow then went to the snarly rocket pajama look a year later... And right under your nose the Pens won in the Vegas Gold and Black but will be changing back to the sunflower yellow and black jerseys from the '90's... Have to

back up claims when you blurt them out.

The Rockets made a huge mistake when they did that. For the reasons I outlined. They ditched a look associated with back to back wins and their identity has been in flux since then. 

 

As for the Pens? The team won two titles in athletic gold and black, so the Pens are really returning to a look still associated with success, which the added bonus of being more athletically pleasing.

[sparkychewbarky]

7 minutes ago, NeverSayNever said:

Anything the Rockets would do would look better than the trainwreck that is their current identity. So brutal. Maybe an H with some "Flames" trailing behind it?

 

That's a FANTASTIC-looking Flames logo! 

[NeverSayNever]

The Rockets won two championships because some guy wearing #45 in a Bulls jersey came back from his baseball hiatus, realized he had the wrong # jersey, out on his Superman cape and won three more titles. The Rockets got a two-year mulligan... The Penguins had already won a championship in the vegas gold... they made the change because fan clamored for a cooler look after they change back to the Steelers/Pirates inspired sunflower and black... and not tied to the Lemieux years...

[NeverSayNever]

11 minutes ago, Ice_Cap said:

The Rockets made a huge mistake when they did that. For the reasons I outlined. They ditched a look associated with back to back wins and their identity has been in flux since then. 

 

As for the Pens? The team won two titles in athletic gold and black, so the Pens are really returning to a look still associated with success, which the added bonus of being more athletically pleasing.

Rockets won in that two-year Jordan-less window. Hardly a reason to embrace greatness. Pens changed their look in reaction to fan's positive response to the cooler looking '90's or Penguins GOLD as the team marketed when the new (old) jersey was unveiled. 

[IceCap]

1 minute ago, NeverSayNever said:

Rockets won in that two-year Jordan-less window. Hardly a reason to embrace greatness. 

Doesn't matter. The team was fresh off a two year run as the best team in basketball. They were never more relevant in world of sports, and they ditched a look associated with that success to chase a trend. That's terrible marketing.

Their identity has been shaky ever since. It's no coincidence that their most stable look since that time was primarily red, calling back to the championship years. 

Even that suffered though, and they've slowly been chipping away at it with trendy alternates through the years. 

The best choice would for them to go back to that championship look, or at least a modernized version of it. Go back to "the" Houston Rockets look. Until then? They're stuck chasing trends with a shaky identity that will never truly catch on because it's not associated with success like the championship era look is.

 

As for the Pens, yeah the athletic gold and black throwback look was very popular. I wonder why that was? Could it be because it's associated with back to back Stanley Cups and probably the second greatest player to ever live?  

[CreamSoda]

6 minutes ago, Ice_Cap said:

Doesn't matter. The team was fresh off a two year run as the best team in basketball. They were never more relevant in world of sports, and they ditched a look associated with that success to chase a trend. That's terrible marketing.

Their identity has been shaky ever since. It's no coincidence that their most stable look since that time was primarily red, calling back to the championship years. 

Even that suffered though, and they've slowly been chipping away at it with trendy alternates through the years. 

The best choice would for them to go back to that championship look, or at least a modernized version of it. Go back to "the" Houston Rockets look. Until then? They're stuck chasing trends with a shaky identity that will never truly catch on because it's not associated with success like the championship era look is.

 

As for the Pens, yeah the athletic gold and black throwback look was very popular. I wonder why that was? Could it be because it's associated with back to back Stanley Cups and probably the second greatest player to ever live?  

 

I didn't know Gordie Howe played for the Pens! 

[IceCap]

9 minutes ago, NeverSayNever said:

Pens changed their look in reaction to fan's positive response...

Let's examine this point by getting back to the team that started this discussion. The Kings. 

Both the Kings and Vegas gold-era Pens wore and sold throwbacks. Both throwbacks used athletic gold and a darker colour. 

The Kings' purple and athletic gold look has remained relegated to alternate status. The Pens' athletic gold and black look was embraced by the fanbases and brought back as the team's full-time look. 

 

Now why is that? Why did Pens fans embrace their team's retro look while Kings fans have only been mildly enthusiastic about their team's retro look? Why is purple and gold relegated to the one-off retro nights at the Staples Centre while the black and athletic gold is making a full-time comeback in Pittsburgh. 

 

Fan reaction. Fans embraced Pittsburgh's old look, but not LA's. Why is that? I would argue it's because Pittsburgh's retro look is associated with two Stanley Cups and the legacy of Mario "runner up to Gretzky ain't too bad" Lemieux.

LA's retro look meanwhile? It's associated with a bottom feeding team that always lagged in attendance. The current black and silver remains more popular among the LA hockey faithful because it's associated the greatest amount of success the team's ever had. 

[chcarlson23]

3 minutes ago, Ice_Cap said:

Let's examine this point by getting back to the team that started this discussion. The Kings. 

Both the Kings and Vegas gold-era Pens wore and sold throwbacks. Both throwbacks used athletic gold and a darker colour. 

The Kings' purple and athletic gold look has remained relegated to alternate status. The Pens' athletic gold and black look was embraced by the fanbases and brought back as the team's full-time look. 

 

Now why is that? Why did Pens fans embrace their team's retro look while Kings fans have only been mildly enthusiastic about their team's retro look? Why is purple and gold relegated to the one-off retro nights at the Staples Centre while the black and athletic gold is making a full-time comeback in Pittsburgh. 

 

Fan reaction. Fans embraced Pittsburgh's old look, but not LA's. Why is that? I would argue it's because Pittsburgh's retro look is associated with two Stanley Cups and the legacy of Mario "runner up to Gretzky ain't too bad" Lemieux.

LA's retro look meanwhile? It's associated with a bottom feeding team that always lagged in attendance. The current black and silver remains more popular among the LA hockey faithful because it's associated the greatest amount of success the team's ever had. 

You know because they were Hawks fans the year before, and after... and then after the second one  

LA Kings fans like the Black and silver better because that's all they've really known!

[Morgan33]

2 hours ago, VikWings said:

So should we expect the remaining reebok templated mess teams (OTT, CGY and COL) to move over to the adidas template next year?

 

Please, please let this happen.  It is absolutely astonishing that two worst uniform sets of the Edge re-design are still worn on a full time basis.  Even more astonishing is that one of the teams actually made their uniforms worse.

 

As far as Calgary goes, they have a lot to work with.  Leave the primary logo unchanged, adopt a traditional striping pattern and for the love of god, ditch the flags for good.  If they must use a shoulder patch, go with the one from the western-themed alternate.

[NeverSayNever]

21 minutes ago, Ice_Cap said:

Doesn't matter. 

The best choice would for them to go back to that championship look, or at least a modernized version of it. Go back to "the" Houston Rockets look. Until then? They're stuck chasing trends with a shaky identity that will never truly catch on because it's not associated with success like the championship era look is.

 

As for the Pens, yeah the athletic gold and black throwback look was very popular. I wonder why that was? Could it be because it's associated with back to back Stanley Cups and probably the second greatest player to ever live?  

Rockets mid-90's look was often referred to as the Wendy's Rockets look... Awful. A McDonald's fry box without the fries. Hey have actually tried to go back and failed... miserably... Ask Dwight Howard and Jeremy Lin?

 

Let's get facts straight here... the driving reason the Pens switch from navy blue and light blue (which was stunning) to

black and sunflower was because of these two other pro sports teams called the Steelers and the Pirates?? City of Champions?? Terrible Towel?? We Are Family?? Ever hear of those teams and slogans???

 

Hope this helps. From the team's

marketing VP who might have some

better insight on the topic than any of us??? Just a hunch?

 

http://www.sportingnews.com/nhl/news/penguins-uniform-history-black-gold-bruins-pittsburgh-lemeiux-crosby/1xl9sl3wvy4fs1pc08qkrrmfhx

 

In January 1980, the Pens announced plans to switch from a predominantly black-and-blue color scheme to black and gold, a nod to Pittsburgh’s status as the “city of champions.” The Pirates had won the World Series in the fall and, on Jan. 20 of that year, the Steelers captured their fourth Super Bowl in six seasons.

Sports colors can unite communities and fan bases in powerful and meaningful ways. Although it might not have been apparent at the time, in 1980, Pittsburgh was facing the end of an era. Heavy manufacturing jobs, particularly those in the steel industry, were just starting to disappear. Three years later the unemployment rate in the greater Pittsburgh region would reach a staggering 17.1 percent. As the local economy cratered, the city’s sports teams — united in black and gold, just like the flag of the city — represented a source of civic pride in turbulent times.

The Penguins were a decidedly mediocre team in 1980. Any visual association with their championship neighbors was a move that made sense. In a Jan. 13, 1980 interview with the Pittsburgh Press, Penguins VP Paul Martha said “the change to black and gold uniforms is certainly in our plans. Exactly when is yet to be determined. It will be this year. The philosophy is that black and gold has become Pittsburgh.”

[NYYNYR]

16 hours ago, CreamSoda said:

Maybe Adidas will force a change to the Avalanche sweaters.

 

They can't get any worst than they are now, so I welcome any change.  I still remember how gutted I felt when they introduced those back in 2007.

Hoping the same thing !!!!

[NeverSayNever]

Mario who? Jaromir who? Coffey who?  The change in 1980 was driven by MARKETING... and in 2015-16 change in 1980 was driven by MARKETING... not championships...

[Morgan33]

6 minutes ago, NeverSayNever said:

Mario who? Jaromir who? Coffey who?  The change in 1980 was driven by MARKETING... and in 2015-16 change in 1980 was driven by MARKETING... not championships...

 

Yeah, it was driven by marketing and later embraced when said look was associated with back to back championships.  Those colours should have never been changed in the first place and this is coming from someone who really liked their first Vegas Gold set.

[NeverSayNever]

Of course Morgo... Ice_Cap's argument is out of sequential order and further weakened by the reality that the team

made the switch back to the 1980 update because fans loved the way it

looked, even more than the 2 Cups they won in that design. But sometimes people don't like to listen to reason?

[Sport]

Every NBA championship won in a year when Jordan wasn't playing should have an asterisk and no fond memories should be allowed to be gleaned from those years. Sorry, Cavs, Warriors, Heat, Spurs, Mavericks, Lakers, Celtics, Pistons, Rockets fans. Your championships don't count because Jordan didn't play in those seasons. 

[JayMac]

It's the Rockets organization's fault that Jordan had retired from basketball! They should just have not accepted the trophy and they should return the rings!