Reverse Retros for Defunct Teams - Updated 5/1 w/ COL, MNS, and QUE Double-Header

[DTConcepts]

There are already a solid 3 or 4 active Reverse Retro threads right now, but I figured I'd jump back into jersey design with a new series. For this one, I'm going through defunct NHL teams in no particular order and giving them each their own Reverse Retro jersey. To start, here's my design for the Atlanta Thrashers, based on their inaugural road jerseys.

 

The Thrashers' inaugural jerseys are some of my favorite NHL jerseys ever, since I love their arrow patterns and jagged striping. This design keeps that design alive, down to the arrow pattern on the collar.

 

Any thoughts? I'll probably be posting a new jersey each day, so stay tuned.

[StevenGrant94]

Great idea for a series!

 

I was always a fan of the Thrashers original jerseys as well, and this version also looks really good.

[DTConcepts]

Thanks for the kind words and warm reception! Here's the second team in the series, the Hartford Whalers.

 

I know the Whalers aren't technically a defunct team, and they also have a real-life Reverse Retro jersey dedicated to them, but this one was too good to pass up. This jersey is a flashback to the Whalers' 1974-75 season, when they played in the World Hockey Association as the New England Whalers. This jersey doesn't have any particular historical relevance, but I chose it because it has a neat logo that's often forgotten about, as well as a cool striping pattern.

[DTConcepts]

Nothing? That's alright, on to the next team!

 

The Flames were relatively conservative with their jerseys in Atlanta, and that carries over here. No flashy designs, no new color schemes, just a bright yellow jersey with the same striping pattern as their other uniforms.

 

Any thoughts on the series so far?

[johne9109]

On 4/22/2021 at 12:30 PM, DTConcepts said:

Thanks for the kind words and warm reception! Here's the second team in the series, the Hartford Whalers.

 

I know the Whalers aren't technically a defunct team, and they also have a real-life Reverse Retro jersey dedicated to them, but this one was too good to pass up. This jersey is a flashback to the Whalers' 1974-75 season, when they played in the World Hockey Association as the New England Whalers. This jersey doesn't have any particular historical relevance, but I chose it because it has a neat logo that's often forgotten about, as well as a cool striping pattern.

YOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! This is fire!!!!! You got me hopeful that if Carolina continues to dig into the Whalers barrel (which I do enjoy) that they go into the New England Whalers days and we get something like this. THIS IS BEAUTIFUL!

[DTConcepts]

Thanks again for the likes and the kind words! Today's concept is a double-header for the Kansas City Scouts. The Scouts only existed for a couple years, and as a result didn't have any real interesting "retro" jerseys to use, so I dove into Kansas City's hockey history. Turns out, there was a team called the Kansas City Greyhounds that played in the American Hockey Association from 1933 to 1940. They don't have any particularly notable history, as they weren't Kansas City's first professional hockey team, nor were they the first pro hockey team to win a championship in the city, but they did have some pretty cool jerseys:

 

So, with this history in mind, I created some Scouts jerseys based off these wonderfully complex Greyhounds jerseys. There are two versions, one with a silhouette of a horse in place of a greyhound, and one without the silhouette, since I couldn't decide which version I liked best.

 

And that's that! Which version do you guys like better? Are there any tweaks I should make to the designs? Let me know!

[vtgco]

I like seeing the Thrashers in red and not light blue! I think an artistic liberty of putting the hem stripes in blue instead of red would be nice, though.

 

I'd ditch the white outline for the Flames logo, but otherwise that look is extremely pretty!

 

For KC, the throwback is nicer with the horse than without. Either way, I'd swap the logo and number, and maybe go without number outlines to match the wordmark better. Also,  it might not work out, but a version with a thinner chest stripe so that the text hits the edges (like in the photo) might be cool. Regardless, a cool idea for a throwback that would be nice for a KC hockey team.

 

Not feeling the Whalers one, personally. The color balancing feels off, IMO, with the yellow feeling out of place and all concentrated on the top half. Based on that '74 set, I'd either base it off the home OR the road, not both, by either commiting to outlined stripes like you have on the hem or no outlines like you have on the sleeve. Maybe the green sleeves from the original white jersey would help, idk. 

 

Anyways, cool idea for a series! Stands out even among the many Reverse Retro concepts.

[DTConcepts]

I'll go ahead and make some of those edits in the next couple days when I have some more time. For now, here's today and yesterday's teams, since I missed a day.

 

First up is the Cleveland Barons. Arguably the NHL's most embarrassing franchise, the Barons had a long life prior to their tenure in the NHL, but they only lasted a few short years in the big league. They were plagued by poor attendance and even worse performance, which both lead to the team's eventual merger with the Minnesota North Stars. Anyways, these jerseys are based on the Barons' 1965 season in the AHL. The season doesn't hold any particular significance, but I like the team's design and logo. Here's the inspiration:

 

The Reverse Retros I designed are, essentially, those jerseys in the NHL Barons' black-and-red color scheme rather than the AHL Barons' blue-and-white color scheme. They use that loveable, cartoony logo, and try to balance out the colors in the current scheme.

 

The second team I'm posting today is the California/Oakland (Golden) Seals. Their name is all weird and stylized, as in their short 9 year tenure in the league, they went through three different names: the California Seals, the Oakland Seals, and the California Golden Seals. The team was marred by the same problems facing the Barons, as the team switched owners several times in the course of only a few years, and also faced less than stellar production on the ice. The games were almost always empty, and the team seldom made the playoffs. These jerseys are based on their uniforms from the 1969-70 season, their last before they became the Golden Seals.

 

For the Golden Seals, I have two designs. The first is a recolor of the original jerseys, swapping the green out for blue...

 

While the second recolors the jersey in the Golden Seals' most infamous color scheme, with bright teal and gold.

 

And that's that! Sorry for missing yesterday. What do y'all think?

[DTConcepts]

On 4/24/2021 at 5:33 PM, vtgco said:

I like seeing the Thrashers in red and not light blue! I think an artistic liberty of putting the hem stripes in blue instead of red would be nice, though.

 

I'd ditch the white outline for the Flames logo, but otherwise that look is extremely pretty!

 

For KC, the throwback is nicer with the horse than without. Either way, I'd swap the logo and number, and maybe go without number outlines to match the wordmark better. Also,  it might not work out, but a version with a thinner chest stripe so that the text hits the edges (like in the photo) might be cool. Regardless, a cool idea for a throwback that would be nice for a KC hockey team.

 

Not feeling the Whalers one, personally. The color balancing feels off, IMO, with the yellow feeling out of place and all concentrated on the top half. Based on that '74 set, I'd either base it off the home OR the road, not both, by either commiting to outlined stripes like you have on the hem or no outlines like you have on the sleeve. Maybe the green sleeves from the original white jersey would help, idk. 

 

Anyways, cool idea for a series! Stands out even among the many Reverse Retro concepts.

 

Here are the updates. I think the Thrashers look better, but the other two are lateral moves imo. I didn't touch the Whalers, since they were based directly off their 1974-76 road, not a blend of the two jerseys.

 

I'll post the next team later today. Any thoughts on these updates, or on the Golden Seals?

[vtgco]

The updates look great! I might even ditch the number outlines for the Flames, but otherwise, those three are as good as can be.

 

On 4/27/2021 at 10:21 AM, DTConcepts said:

I didn't touch the Whalers, since they were based directly off their 1974-76 road, not a blend of the two jerseys.

You know, now that I look at it again, you're totally right... Brain-fart on my end, I suppose. That said, I still think maybe the design wants either more yellow or no yellow. If the logos are white outlined with yellow, maybe the hem stripe should be too.

 

I like your teal & yellow Seals take a lot! I've keep thinking that those colors were nice on the Seals and would be great for the Sharks.

The blue & green one, I feel, has the same lack of yellow problem as the Whalers concept. You could ditch the yellow altogether (except for in the logo) for a truer look to the original, or maybe add more with yellow thin outside stripes on the sleeve and hem instead of white.

 

Cleveland looks great! Never seen that logo before, but it's pretty adorable. It's not necessary, but the NHL Barons logo (maybe recolored to have fewer outlines?) might work on the shoulders.

 

More nice work you've done here!

[DTConcepts]

Apologies for the delay, finals are kicking up and my life is getting a little hectic. As a little apology, I've got another little splurge of concepts.

 

First up is the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies were one of the easier teams to do in this series, as they only used one jersey design. The jersey is one of my all-time favorites, though, which made it pretty easy to stick with. All I had to do was swap the colors around and make it vibrant, and I think it looks pretty slick.

 

Next up is the Minnesota North Stars, who seem to have one of the more revered identities of any defunct NHL team out there. This design was inspired by two North Stars designs, the first being their 1988-91 road jerseys, and the second being their unused jerseys from 1981, when they tweaked their jerseys and added black to their visual identity. This jersey is one of my favorites of the series, and I can't quite put my finger on why. Something about it just pops, imo.

 

The last team in this series is the Quebec Nordiques, who have one of the touchier identities in the NHL. The fans in Quebec are extremely passionate about their team, and were incredibly resistant to change during their time in the league. As a result, there wasn't a lot to work with, but I did find inspiration in their inaugural World Hockey Association jerseys.

 

After making this jersey, an idea popped into my head. The Nordiques have an infamous jersey floating around the internet, that being their unused 1995 jerseys they would have worn had they not moved to Colorado. What this inspired was an angular, purple and teal monstrosity that just screams 90s from top to bottom. This jersey is probably one of my favorite concepts ever, and is my favorite from this series.

 

And that's that! Sorry for taking so long to upload all of these, but here they are! What do you think? Which jersey is your favorite from the series? Is there anything I should change? Let me know!

[MilSox]

Great series!  Your North Stars concept looks a lot like their unused black prototype from the 80s.  I'd love to see a gold version of one of their 1970s designs.

Also, if you're open to doing minor league teams and taking requests, I'd love to see a reverse retro for my hometown Admirals.  Milwaukee never had an NHL team. but I think their last IHL jerseys are some of the coolest, most distinct in hockey history.  Loved Captain Crunch and the anchor stripe.

[vtgco]

I think for Minnesota that maybe you should go with one of the primarily white logo colorations from the jerseys you linked. That would work better with the numbers, anyway.

 

Colorado looks good in red but I'd be curious to see yellow/blue/yellow or blue/white/blue for the striping...

 

No complaints for either Nordiques take, looks great!

[B-mer]

this is a great series.  Love the Thrashers, but only thing that sticks out in a bad way to me is the gold pentagon of the collar.  I'd make it navy.  KC, Oakland are my other favorites.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. All of them.