What if the Minnesota North Stars never left?

[StevenGrant94]

7 hours ago, ClevelandBaronsNHLfan said:

Can you do a what if for the Cleveland Barons? You can do a version where the ahl team successfully joined the nhl in the 1950s or a version where they never merged with the north stars in 1978.

I have no ideas for the Barons so I probably won't be doing them. I'll keep trying to think of something though.

[ClevelandBaronsNHLfan]

1 minute ago, StevenGrant94 said:

I have no ideas for the Barons so I probably won't be doing them. I'll keep trying to think of something though.

Ok

[The_Admiral]

I love the Nordiques in two-tone blue for two reasons:

 

1) a NFB/ONF documentary on the Nordiques revealed that the igloo logo was originally designed in two-tone blue to make a clear break from the bleu, blanc, et rouge of the old-guard  Canadiens

 

2) It makes more sense this way: the familiar powder blue for the provincial flag, and a dark royal blue for the city flag. That makes them truly a Quebec [City optional] team.

[DustDevil61]

1 hour ago, the admiral said:

I love the Nordiques in two-tone blue for two reasons:

 

1) a NFB/ONF documentary on the Nordiques revealed that the igloo logo was originally designed in two-tone blue to make a clear break from the bleu, blanc, et rouge of the old-guard  Canadiens

 

2) It makes more sense this way: the familiar powder blue for the provincial flag, and a dark royal blue for the city flag. That makes them truly a Quebec [City optional] team.

I never knew about that about the Nordiques. If those (pre-Edge) two-tone blues were available for retail (or if anyone wants to make and sell a decent DIY version of those), I’d get one in a heartbeat.

 

I’d also like to reiterate how good and under-appreciated the original WHA Light Blue/Red look is, too.

 

I love these kind of alternate-universe “what if this team didn’t/did move” concepts. Great job @StevenGrant94!

 

Edited June 19, 2022 by DustDevil61
Original WHA look

[The_Admiral]

14 minutes ago, DustDevil61 said:

I never knew about that about the Nordiques.

 

voici

[johne9109]

Love this. Great idea and wonderful concepts. I'd love to see something similar for the Whalers!

[jackkmart]

Damn, I really like this travel through time of sorts. Very nice.

[Ted Cunningham]

Very nice work. Every transition feels very era- and trend-appropriate.

[StevenGrant94]

I'm finally back with my What If? for the original Jets. As was the case with my Nordiques concepts, this is an update to a series I did exactly ten years ago (so everything up to the 2012-13 season was decided by me in 2012).

 

Also, this is a separate timeline to my Nordiques concepts (the Avalanche exist in this timeline, the Nordiques do not).

 

Let's get started...

 

1990-99

The set of jerseys the Jets introduced in 1990 would stick around unchanged until the end of the 1998-99 season.

 

1999-2007

The Jets updated their uniforms before the start of the 1999-2000 season. The blue became navy, grey was added to the colour scheme, and the striping pattern was altered.

[StevenGrant94]

2007-11

A few changes were made to the jerseys during the switch to the Reebok Edge cut. Front numbers were added, the collar changed, and the armpits became grey.

 

2011 Heritage Classic

The Winnipeg Jets hosted the Montreal Canadians in the 2011 Heritage Classic. They wore replicas of their 1976 WHA uniforms, the first year they won the Avco Cup.

 

2011-14

The previous year's Heritage Classic jersey became their full time third jersey.

 

2014-17

The Jets introduced a brand new set of jerseys in 2014, which brought back the wordmark and jet from their 1973-90 roundel. Also grey was ditched from the colour scheme, and a new name and number font was introduced.

[StevenGrant94]

2017-18

No changes were made to the design during the switch to Adidas jerseys.

 

2018-22

The Jets made a bold choice by adding a "whiteout" third jersey, complete with white gloves and grey pants. The striping pattern brought back the sleeve stripes from their 1979-90 jerseys.

 

2019 Heritage Classic

Speaking of their 1979-90 jerseys, Winnipeg brought the blue version back when they played the Flames in the 2019 Heritage Classic in Regina, Saskatchewan.

 

2021 Reverse Retro

For the NHL's Reverse Retro program, the Jets swapped the red and blue on their 1990's road jersey. Also, they added Bell as their helmet sponsor.

 

2022-Future

The whiteout third jersey is retired after four seasons. In its place the Jets introduce a grey third jersey which is partially inspired by the 1948 RCAF Flyers' Olympic jerseys. Additionally, SkipTheDishes is introduced as the Jets first jersey sponsor.

 

That's all for now, but I'll be back soon with a What If? for the Atlanta Thrashers!

[johne9109]

Overall another really good set. You really seem to understand the design aspects of different eras. switching to darker colors and adding silver is such a late 90's/early 00's move; makes perfect sense. I don't know if they would've went back to their old logo though. Unlike teams who have gone back to a retro look i.e. Buffalo, that Jets logo looks very dated. I think they would've stuck with what they had or even updated that logo. Still great job

[B-mer]

I LOVE the new set you made for them for the last redesign/Adidas era. I actually think it’d look better with the updated wordmark logo the real Jets have now and what was on the aviator blue alt. Hell, it could have worked to use that and their current logo for a shoulder logo. But that’s just my brain connecting dots, overall love this set. 

[VampyrRabbit]

Man, those silver armpits look brutal.

Any reason why the Jets got rid of shoulder logos?

[johne9109]

59 minutes ago, VampyrRabbitDesign said:

Man, those silver armpits look brutal.

Any reason why the Jets got rid of shoulder logos?

They are but very Reebok Edge era; I'm so glad the NHL moved away from Reebok

[StevenGrant94]

17 hours ago, VampyrRabbitDesign said:

Any reason why the Jets got rid of shoulder logos?

No reason in particular, it just seemed like what might happen at that point in the timeline.

[Blindsay]

So if both of these things happened, what would’ve become of the Avs, Yotes and Thrashers? And by extension Vegas and the Kraken?

[raysox]

These look good so far, I would say that you're missing one step in the rebrand process however. I've kind of worked on a theory of rebrands where teams go two steps away from the lovable original logos. The Buffalo Sabres are an example for hockey, but here's sort of what I mean.


I think the Jets could use a middle rebrand with a modern fighter jet that everyone hated and bought the throwback logo merch for. The Nordiques have the husky logo which would work, but I think the igloo logo would at least have a minor facelift to modernize it like the Bruins did.

That aside, I think you've nailed the aesthetics for the eras represented !

[StevenGrant94]

6 hours ago, Blindsay said:

So if both of these things happened, what would’ve become of the Avs, Yotes and Thrashers? And by extension Vegas and the Kraken?

 

I'm guessing the Avalanche and Coyotes would exist as expansion franchises, and the Thrashers would relocate somewhere else but I have no idea where. Then maybe the NHL expands to 34 teams to fit the Golden Knights and Thrashers.

 

6 hours ago, raysox said:

These look good so far, I would say that you're missing one step in the rebrand process however. I've kind of worked on a theory of rebrands where teams go two steps away from the lovable original logos. The Buffalo Sabres are an example for hockey, but here's sort of what I mean.

I think the Jets could use a middle rebrand with a modern fighter jet that everyone hated and bought the throwback logo merch for. The Nordiques have the husky logo which would work, but I think the igloo logo would at least have a minor facelift to modernize it like the Bruins did.

That aside, I think you've nailed the aesthetics for the eras represented !

Thanks for the feedback, I hadn't noticed that pattern before! I guess a couple of other similar-ish examples would be the Canucks using two different colour schemes before they returned to blue and green, and the Penguins robo-penguin and vegas gold sets before they returned to their throwback jerseys.

 

I would love to include more logo redesigns in these concepts, but creating logos isn't my strong suit.

[FCMacbeth]

I bet the Whalers are going to be next if it it's going to become a series.