NHL changes 2019-20

[The_Admiral]

9 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

I wouldn't mind seeing a concept where the silver was replaced by vegas gold, just to add a little more flash and tie into the royalty theme a little more, but I get that it would probably not be an improvement, since that uniform is hard to improve on.  It's miles better than what they're wearing now, and light years better than what they wore immediately after.  That looks like the uniform of a serious-professional sports team.

 

In a world where the Kings' owner didn't dupe the league into expanding to Anaheim, the Kings easily could have made black, silver, and gold a color palette to call their own. It's sacrilege to say so, but I think it would have looked really good on them. 

[Brass]

1 hour ago, Morgo said:

I've decided to take an extended break from the boards.

 

K. See you in two days.

[BBTV]

6 hours ago, DastardlyRidleylash said:

The team's calling it a 90's design. It was worn for the vast majority of the 90's. It debuted basically right at the end of the 80's and the beginning of the 90's and influenced many 90's designs.

 

It's arguably the archetypical 90's design in many aspects.

 

It absolutely does, considering it set so many trends of what we consider the 90's NHL look in motion (metallics and jerseys primarily made of darker colors, like black, being the two massive ones). It was also worn for most of the decade.

 

What qualifications "make" a jersey design 90's? To me, it's dark colors and metallic fabric. 

 

The Lightning, Panthers, Mighty Ducks and Senators all used darker colors or metallic fabric. They common on many expansion teams of the era, and other teams rebranded to bring darker colors to the fore of their identity; the Devils and Stars both changed into a darker scheme then what they had been wearing for years before then, and the Avs also wore primarily darker-colored jerseys when they relocated. Expansion teams late into the decade were still using that same design philosophy; Nashville was mainly dark blue and gray, Atlanta was mainly dark blue and maroon.

 

I'd consider the Vancouver Grizzlies to be the "archetype" of '90s design.  The Kings look is very traditional, and would look fine in any era.  I think what many people think of when they think of "90s design" is the bright teals, purples, shadows, effects, large logos, sublimation, etc.  

 

 

I wouldn't consider the Senators, Devils, or Stars (pre ASG jersey design) to be '90s design' either, as they too went with very traditional logos and overall looks.  Lightning?  OK.  Ducks?  Yeah.  

 

[The_Admiral]

54 minutes ago, BringBackTheVet said:

I'd consider the Vancouver Grizzlies to be the "archetype" of '90s design.  The Kings look is very traditional, and would look fine in any era.  I think what many people think of when they think of "90s design" is the bright teals, purples, shadows, effects, large logos, sublimation, etc. 

 

I think the 97-04 Utah Jazz would be the archetypal '90s design: they built on the teal and purple of the Hornets by adding black, plus the drop-shadows, big sublimated logos, gradients, all that. Checks all the boxes. 

[Cosmic]

8 hours ago, DastardlyRidleylash said:

What qualifications "make" a jersey design 90's? To me, it's dark colors and metallic fabric.

Dark colors were certainly popular in the 90s, but I don't see how you can make it a defining feature of 90s design. The Canucks switched to black in 1978 as an overt way to look "tougher". Them, the Penguins, the North Stars, and the Kings had all added or switched to black by 1988... nearly 20% of the league back then. Also, this was every major change in the NHL from the late 70s to early 90s, with the exception of Rockies ----> Devils. The trend was well-established by the time the 90s rolled around; it was just something that also kept happening during the 90s. 

[Bayne]

I wouldnt call the kings throwback jersey overtly 90s at all. Sure its got hints of 90s, but thats mostly because of the logo. Otherwise there are probably about 20 other jerseys that are much more reminiscent of that era.

[The_Admiral]

Mighty Ducks, Sharks, Coyotes, Avalanche, star-template Stars, slanty Blues, and of course the fishsticks Islanders would be the definitively '90s NHL designs. The Oilers were early to the party on the dark-n-fade, which I think of as a much more turn-of-the-millennium fad than pure '90s. There were other new designs in the decade, of course, but those were the ones that chased new technology and fad colors the most.

[Sport]

I'd lump the Kings in with the North Stars, Canucks, Charlotte Hornets, Orlando Magic, and Miami Heat as teams whose uniform choices in the late 80's helped define the aesthetic for the decade that followed. 

 

But I'd argue the thing that makes them 90's is that they were one of the first teams to usher in the merchandise era when they dropped their bright colors to wear uniforms specifically designed not for what would look best on the playing surface, but for what would sell more gear, which was undeniably a factor in many design decisions made in the 19 hundred and 90's. (See: Ducks, Mighty). Within 4 years the Senators, Lightning, and Stars were all wearing black uniforms, Devils replaced green with black, and the Whalers switched from bright green to navy blue. Prior to this period uniforms were just used for identification and for looking good on the players on TV. They weren't viewed as a significant source of revenue for fans. Using darker colors, prioritizing designs that look best over a pair of jeans and what would look best on Taz and Bugs Bunny on a crew neck sweatshirt is one of the hallmarks of 1990's design in my eyes. 

 

Plus they wore them in their most famous moment, which happened in 1993. It's a 90's uniform. 

 

Now, if the argument is that there isn't a wave of nostalgia for the 90's right now, I don't know how one could arrive at that conclusion without ignoring loads of evidence. First of all, nostalgia seems to hit its peak sometime in the 20-25 years out range and if you subtract 22.5 from 2019 then you get the mid-90's. That's just math. Multiple teams in this league have already done 90's throwback nights, more will follow. 

[BBTV]

Maybe there’s multiple classes of 90s uniforms. There’s the risk-taking non-traditional outlandish designs like the Rockets, Sixers waterfall, Raptors, ducks, Lightning, Coyotes, Fishsticks, etc., and then there’s the BFMS (Black for Merchandising’s Sake) designs, where they’re still traditional designs, just with (arguably) a shift to black or unneeded black added - Kings, Stars, Sixers Iverson era, maybe Devils, etc. 

[monkeypower]

In addition to the design styles, I think we also have to take into account when the respective jersey was prominent.

 

Take into account this picture, nobody considers this a '90s jersey despite the fact it was used until 1994.

 

 

Then the next year this happens.

 

[BeerGuyJordan]

On 8/30/2019 at 10:03 PM, Old School Fool said:

Why isn't this the primary logo? When they introduced the shield logo, I liked it but then they also introduced the leaping panther logo and I'm just confused as to why they even bothered? Just pick one, man.

 

Fix the feet and I'm 100% on board with using this as the primary. Is it perfect? No, but it feels more apropos to hockey than the soccer shield they currently use.

[Survival79]

24 minutes ago, BeerGuyJordan said:

Fix the feet and I'm 100% on board with using this as the primary.

 

[THRILLHO]

4 hours ago, Survival79 said:

 

 

They really need a third jersey with this logo.  Part of me feels like they don’t have it already because the popularity would indicate their shield was a failure 

[THRILLHO]

Failure is a bit harsh. Maybe...came up a bit short.  Whatever... i prefer the leaping panther and I don’t think I’m alone 

[mcj882000]

I kinda like the leaping panther, but not that version of it. Conversely I actually like the soccer shield logo too, perhaps even more, just not the army-inspired uniforms they have to go with it. 

[mattr1198]

Looks like a second alternate/throwback is coming for the Blues on September 14...

[M4One]

17 minutes ago, mattr1198 said:

Looks like a second alternate/throwback is coming for the Blues on September 14...

 

With the description being a commeroative jersey makes me think it will have something to do with winning the Stanley Cup.

[Nordiks_19]

I hope it's a replica of their late 80's jersey. But yeah, it's probably gonna have something to do with the whole Winning the cup thing

[BeerGuyJordan]

2 hours ago, M4One said:

 

With the description being a commeroative jersey makes me think it will have something to do with winning the Stanley Cup.

I hope not. That is not a trend that needs to start. I think it's tacky and screams cash grab, so the NHL will absolutely start doing it.

[Section30]

3 hours ago, M4One said:

 

With the description being a commeroative jersey makes me think it will have something to do with winning the Stanley Cup.

 

I'm guessing we'll see something like what KC started in the MLB with a gold accented jersey for winning the Cup.