2020-2021 NHL Changes

[spartacat_12]

8 hours ago, Bayne said:

Just because the Wild can't have a nickname doesn't mean anything. You're missing my point. Northern Lights would just be a really odd thing to call an NHL team. Even if you shorten it to a knickname which seems to be your eligibility criteria: Lights. Flick the lights off for me.

 

The whole point of suggesting Northern Lights was that it's the closest the thing to North Stars that doesn't step on Dallas's toes. 

[Echo]

10 hours ago, AFirestormToPurify said:

Something about the logo leaves me wanting more.

 

I would like it better if the gold and white on the crest were switched.  Also, the thick gold collar sucks, but you know, Adidas.

[CreamSoda]

1 hour ago, spartacat_12 said:

 

The whole point of suggesting Northern Lights was that it's the closest the thing to North Stars that doesn't step on Dallas's toes. 

 

Polaris, Pole Star, Constellations

[Sport]

I never liked Minnesota Northern Lights. It's a mouthful and doesn't have good abbreviation options, which is important when your name is long. It's kind of the problem with Blue Jackets. We get to call our team the Jackets, they would've been like "let's go Lights!". Who wants to be a light? Do you want your team to be light? Is that better than Wild? I think it's a lateral move. 

 

I've grown to appreciate "Wild". It's not so bad if it's thought of as the wilderness. The first time I'd ever heard the name I was 10 or 11 and I was in a hockey equipment store and I saw the name on a hat with this logo

 

 

I thought first that was their primary logo and I thought they meant wild as in crazy as in Wild and Crazy Kids. I laughed out loud and showed it to my dad because I thought it was stupid and our team's name was a lot better. Interpreting it that way makes one think they might as well have named the team the Minnesota Xtreem or Minnesota Mania or Minnesota Madness. Then I saw the primary logo, got what they were going for, and fell in love with that. It's been 20 years, the primary logo is one of my ten favorite logos in sports, the color scheme is theirs alone. I like the identity on the whole, name included. 

 

Never been that in love with the North Stars name or brand and they can keep the fauxbacks if they'd like as an alternate, but I'd hate to see the red and dark green go away so they can pretend full-time that they're still the North Stars. 

[spartacat_12]

15 minutes ago, CreamSoda said:

Polaris, Pole Star, Constellations

 

An N logo wouldn't work with any of those.

[SFGiants58]

I used to love the whole Wild brand (except the name), but seeing them in the green and yellow really made me reconsider the whole thing.
 

The Wild brand now seems tired to me. The logo and colors are amazing, but the name is so awful that it ruins it. They haven’t had a passable green sweater since the pre-Edge set.

 

Heck, each change since then has been an overall downgrade in design.

 

 

Even the road uniform suffered from blandifying.
 

 
The way I feel about the Wild brand is the same way I feel about the Charlotte Bobcats. It started out as a cool alternative to the team that left:

 

Heck, I’ll even give the pinstripes some credit, despite looking a bit more “tired” than the first set.

 

 

But by the end, they just looked incredibly tired and the name just became frustrating.

 

 

By that point, teal & purple and the Hornets name sounded a hell of a lot better than this.

 

I think that it took the Wild longer to reach that point, but they’re pretty much there now. Let the Wild colors and maybe logos survive on a third, while the main set rights a big wrong with a North Stars-adjacent name and a similar logo.

 

Also, Minnesota needs to drop the yellow keyline for the white.
 

 

No yellow river/mouth!

[CreamSoda]

I love the Wild away sweater, the green and red really pop and the stripes are unique.   One of my favorite away sweaters easily.

[AFirestormToPurify]

1 hour ago, Echo said:

 

I would like it better if the gold and white on the crest were switched.

Yeah that's what bothers me I think

[IceCap]

7 hours ago, Bayne said:

 

I don't think @andrewharrington is massively at fault for drawing a comparison between the name Golden Knights (which was widely disapproved of at the time, and still is by many) and the name Northern Lights lol. He speaking in general terms, not about your opinion specifically. That's the more constructive way to look at this. 

Cool. Then he can do so without trying to peg me to an opinion I never had. 

[-kj]

2 hours ago, Sport said:

 

I thought first that was their primary logo

 

When they announced the team name, it was.  Thankfully, the head logo was introduced before they started playing, though that awful script appeared on the shoulders for a while.

[pepis21]

5 hours ago, -kj said:

When they announced the team name, it was.

I don't know for how long that logo mentioned by @Sport was as a primary but EA NHL 2001 used this as a select team logo in main menu:

 

[Sport]

2 hours ago, -kj said:

 

When they announced the team name, it was.  Thankfully, the head logo was introduced before they started playing, though that awful script appeared on the shoulders for a while.

 

Similarly, the Blue Jackets used this logo more than their CJB ribbon logo in marketing around town leading up to the 2000 season.  

 

 

I had a light blue practice jersey with that logo that I wore to school one day and got bullied for it. I was kind of surprised when they finally unveiled the uniforms and this logo was not the main crest. 

 

Fun fact: The other finalist for the team name was the Columbus Justice because the arena was built on the site of the state penitentiary. Thankfully we went with the other option because Justice would've been worse than Wild. 

[AFirestormToPurify]

22 minutes ago, Sport said:

 

I had a light blue practice jersey with that logo that I wore to school one day and got bullied for it

 

Ah, the 90s.

 

I get that not everyone liked Stinger, but I think lime green, navy and red was an interesting color scheme. And they used just the right amount of light green imo

[Sport]

7 minutes ago, AFirestormToPurify said:

Ah, the 90s.

 

I get that not everyone liked Stinger, but I think lime green, navy and red was an interesting color scheme. And they used just the right amount of light green imo

 

The real crime of our awful Reverse Retro jerseys is that they were too chicken to put Stinger on the shoulders or the pants. Also, it deprived us of a true throwback uniform for our 20th anniversary. Instead we got some weird Capitals cosplay. I'm a little bitter about that. 

 

The green made what is an otherwise stale and overused color scheme throughout sports more interesting and set them apart from the other navy blue and red teams in sports. 

 

 

 

My favorite part was they made sure to work the green onto the gloves of every player.

 

I love the C flag logo they've been using for nearly 18 years now and I've come around on the cannon alternates, but I do have a soft spot for those original uniforms. 

 

[Morgan33]

5 hours ago, SFGiants58 said:

They haven’t had a passable green sweater since the pre-Edge set.  Heck, each change since then has been an overall downgrade in design.

 

The Edge set was definitely a step backwards but I think they've more than righted the ship since.  IMO, the uniforms above are a huge upgrade over their original greens and one of the strongest designs in the league.  It's a cleaner package overall that puts more emphasis on the fantastic logo.  The "M" also works great as a shoulder patch and can't be added to the road soon enough.

[VancouverFan69]

17 hours ago, nash61 said:

 

Now, THAT is b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l. The crown inside the white shield should be gold. Nevertheless, the best Retro Reverse uniform in the NHL. Make it the primary.

 

15 hours ago, Bayne said:

 

 

Just because the Wild can't have a nickname doesn't mean anything. You're missing my point. Northern Lights would just be a really odd thing to call an NHL team. Even if you shorten it to a knickname which seems to be your eligibility criteria: Lights. Flick the lights off for me.

 

Minnesota "Lights" Up Blues 9-2.

Lights Clip Wings 4-1.

[RyanMcD29]

The Wild's reverse retros can work nicely as an alternate. Like others I don't want them to lose the green/red/white or cream look. You've got two unique yet very well done color schemes to work with so I certainly wouldn't mind them having a North Stars tribute as an alternate going forward after this season

[habsfan1]

5 hours ago, SFGiants58 said:

 

No yellow river/mouth!

 

It's an improvement because now the white looks more like a snowy road and less like.....something else.

[PlayGloria]

I have never really like the Wild branding and never probably will. It all starts with the name. And in general, I just don't like that run of "swooshy animal head" logo changes everyone did in that period. Jags, Panthers, Wild, Predators, Broncos, etc... it's just tiresome. I tend to like the types of logos that are simple, yet you know exactly what team it is when you see it, ie Blues, Flyers, Red Wings, Whalers, etc. The North Stars logo had that going for it as well. 

Recently i have come to really like the effort of the inside of the Wild main crest with the river and star eye, but i just can't get past the name and the animal head shape.

[habsfan1]

The Northern Lights is a stretch. I'm not a big fan of that name because, although it doesn't sound terrible, it's essentially a knockoff way around calling them the Stars without calling them the Stars. It feels a bit forced. The logo would be stars or a star, a north star pretty much. You'd still have 2 teams with stars as their primary visuals. I'm assuming the logo would be the N↑* pointing to the "northern light".

 

I realize that the classic North Stars name and color scheme still has a significant fanbase. Me I prefer the Wild more than the North Stars and much more than the Northern Lights. But I'm aware my opinion might not be how the majority feels.