2024-25 NHL Changes

[BJ Sands]

 

[MinnyHockey]

Well now Russo said this. No idea what's happening. 

[The_Admiral]

On 6/10/2024 at 11:45 AM, tBBP said:

I wonder if this may jump off a lil' mini-trend in the NHL, now that San Jose has claimed head-to-toe teal (yet for some reason made the numbers on their white sweaters black with teal stroke). Between that and what seems like an uptick in teams wanting to "own" colors/colorways, we'll see what the Utah TBDs come up with for a uniform.

 

I was thinking about the Sharks in this context, too. I wonder if we're going to see a continuation of Color Rush and the NBA's BIG COLOR promotion where, to accommodate smaller screens, we see teams opting for one head-to-toe color for optimal contrast with a white background. Small players, fast motion, you want to simplify those elements as much as possible.

 

I see no reason why the all-teal Sharks couldn't play the all-orange Ducks, or all-red Red Wings against all-blue Lightning and Maple Leafs, or almost anyone against all-black Kings, and now apparently add the Wild doing a North Stars larp in bright kelly green. Obviously, older teams like the Blackhawks, Habs, and Flyers would stand athwart against BIG COLOR, but I could easily see the league steering everyone toward a single-color approach as much as possible. Go figure that advancing technology would reduce aesthetics to those of an 8-bit NES game.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

I'm mixed on this. I love the Wild's current scheme, but always loved the North Stars get up as well.

[SSmith48]

42 minutes ago, MinnyHockey said:

Per Icethetics, the Wild are rebranding with North Stars colors beginning in the 25-26 season. 

 

Only gripe I have about this is that they will be sharing the brighter green color with the previous Minnesota hockey team. I understand that's what they are trying to accomplish, but I would prefer a dark green instead in order to help distinguish the look. The red/dark green/cream look is really nice, so I'm sad to see it go, but once the Wild started leaning more into the whole Reverse Retro look more, I knew the writing was on the wall. 

[spearson]

Maybe it's been discussed here a thousand times, but pretty sure it's the NHL that owns the North Stars name not Dallas so it's not entirely impossible.   

[tBBP]

USAToday has also picked up on this "report".

 

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2024/06/minnesota-wild-north-stars-jersey-colors-2025-rebrand-reaction

 

And so here's today's quick block of counsel on media literacy.

 

Pay very close to the usage of words and phrases  like "reported to" or "reportedly" in stories...even more so in headlines, especially when those words are absent from the headlines only to be found in the stories. Unless a named source of the report comes out, always take with a couple kernels of salt. Doesn't mean the news will ultimately be false, but in this age of instant reaction, all it takes is for one person to turn "reported to" or "reportedly" into "will" or "are" and then people start running, um, wild with stuff because not enough people are willing to backcheck the source of the info, and then emotions run high, and, well, we know...

 

Just now, The_Admiral said:

 

I was thinking about the Sharks in this context, too. I wonder if we're going to see a continuation of Color Rush and the NBA's BIG COLOR promotion where, to accommodate smaller screens, we see teams opting for one head-to-toe color for optimal contrast with a white background. Small players, fast motion, you want to simplify those elements as much as possible.

 

I see no reason why the all-teal Sharks couldn't play the all-orange Ducks, or all-red Red Wings against all-blue Lightning and Maple Leafs, or almost anyone against all-black Kings, and now apparently add the Wild doing a North Stars larp in bright kelly green. Obviously, older teams like the Blackhawks, Habs, and Flyers would stand athwart against BIG COLOR, but I could easily see the league steering everyone toward a single-color approach as much as possible. Go figure that advancing technology would reduce aesthetics to those of an 8-bit NES game.

 

All of this is exactly what I was thinking. In theory, head-to-toe solid colors shouldn't be an problem on the ice (unless it's head-to-toe white, let the Leafs tell it), but it's the trend-chasing thing that could become the issue.

 

If it makes sense for the brand, it's one thing. Otherwise, remember Kevin Stefanski's wise words: "you gotta have contrast, man."

[bowld]

Best the Wild have ever looked--

 

[Digby]

19 minutes ago, The_Admiral said:

I was thinking about the Sharks in this context, too. I wonder if we're going to see a continuation of Color Rush and the NBA's BIG COLOR promotion where, to accommodate smaller screens, we see teams opting for one head-to-toe color for optimal contrast with a white background. Small players, fast motion, you want to simplify those elements as much as possible.

 

 

This has been the emergent trend in soccer for a while, too. Just in time for another round of people getting mad about Germany playing in white shorts at the Euro Cup. Whether it's to accomodate accessibility and small/low-res screens, or it's to make the brightly-colored shoes stand out even more, who can say.

[LMU]

If the Wild do rebrand, can they at least make the slightest effort to stick with a home sweater for more than a couple year stretch?  All they've done their entire existence is continue to tinker and dilute their identity.

[SFGiants58]

I know Russo has just denied it, but I’ve long felt that “North Stars in all but name (and maybe soon in name)” was inevitably where Minnesota was going after the Reverse Retros.

[tBBP]

So, as a non-Minnesotan and increasingly more engaged hockey fan (I mean I've always liked the sport, but I've really gotten more into it over the past seven or eight years), and also an engaged fan of sports design and all things branding, I have some thoughts.

 

The first concerns this nostalgia wave in general. This is something that transcends sports. It's the reason that shows like Star Trek: Picard and Power Rangers: Once and Always exist. It's also the reason certain people keep trying to reboot certain television shows, and why some people can't break out of the comfort zone of their own pasts. Nostalgia is really a safe space for the fun memories and experiences of our inner child(ren) to come outside and play again. Longing for times past is also what causes things like this rumored North Stars change (as has been the case with several teams across several leagues.)

 

I get the emotional appeal about it; I just sometimes question the logic of it. Look, I grew up rooting, cheering, hooting and hollering for the creamsicle-clad Buccaneers...still have one of those original creamsicle jerseys in my possession to this day. For a while, I was one of the more vocal proponents of the Buccaneers returning to that look, and that was before they spent those dark years masquerading as alarm clocks. Thankfully, they came to their senses after realizing how failed an experiment that was...and that was also about the time I came to my senses about that old look. Here's the thing: I judged most of that based on the home version of that creamsicle look, but it wasn't until about two or three years ago that I realized just how loud and tacky the road versions of those uniforms were. Even though I still tinker around with the idea of the Buccaneers rolling out a reimagined brand identity featuring orange and white, once I separated my emotional attachment to those uniforms from the logic of the optics, I saw it clearly. Silly as it sounds, that was a real moment of clarity for me.

 

What does any of this have to do with the Wild and this rumored retrobranding? Depends on how you feel about the Wild, retrobrands, or my post in general. One thing I will say right off the bat is that those colors, the kelly green and yellow (and white), are far more engaging to the eye. That is no question. That said, given the thematic ideas around which the Wild brand as a whole was designed, I just don't think the brighter colorway makes as much sense for that brand as the colors that originally came with it: the darker green (for the many forests, obviously), red and gold (which I presume were a nod to the aurora borealis/northern lights). And then there's the logo itself, designed for such a landscape. I still think that's one of the most ingenious logos I've ever seen, to denote so much symbolism into such a connotatively abstract name as "Wild" and pull it off to powerful effect. I say all of that because I think the kelly-and-yellow recolor loses a lot of that symbolic representation. Sure, our eyes "see" the symbols and "see" the logo, but to me it just feels like what it is: a lesser reproduction of the original.

 

Then there are the uniforms. IF the Wild choose to implement basically the same uniforms as their reverse retros-turned-alternates, it's replicating dang near 1:1 the North Stars identity, number fonts and all. Not necessarily a bad thing on its own, but stylistically, that uniform style and that logo just don't fit right. The logo is sleek, obviously modern, connotes movement and dynamism, and with many curvilinear forms and line weights, while the uniform looks exactly like what it was when it was first designed: a traditional setup that while sharp on its own connotes none of those characteristics. I have a major issue with brands that attempt to "mash" together elements that tell two different visual stories to try to [re]create a cohesive whole. (To be fair, I have this same issue with the Dallas Stars' whole visual identity and whatever it is the Utah Jazz are attempting to pull off for 2025 and beyond.)

 

Now, all this long soliloquy aside, I am not a Minnesotan nor did I grow up a fan of the North Stars...nor did I grow up with hockey all in my blood and veins like that, so ultimately my POV on this may be null and void to the greenbloods (!). But for whatever it's worth, this is all just my perspective...my two rusted Lincolns to submit for your perusal. Feel free to jettison it straight into the north stars if you like; no offense taken here.

[SFGiants58]

Here’s a funny idea – if they’re gonna be the North Stars in all but name, just change the name to something bordering on “North Stars” and don’t dilute the Wild brand further.

 

The Wild have/had an excellent brand and it doesn’t really sit right with me that they’re thinking of throwing it away or pumping it full of a cheap nostalgia pop.

[5ss22]

25 minutes ago, tBBP said:

So, as a non-Minnesotan and increasingly more engaged hockey fan (I mean I've always liked the sport, but I've really gotten more into it over the past seven or eight years), and also an engaged fan of sports design and all things branding, I have some thoughts.

Based on the latest Russo tweets it seem like this is all a big false alarm, but since you typed this all out, as a Minnesotan and Wild fan, I will say I agree with pretty much everything you said.

 

The brand the Wild have cultivated in the past two and a half decades is very much a pond-hockey-at-the-cabin-up-north vibe. The Xcel Energy Center feels cozy, the team store is called the "Hockey Lodge", and the colors evoke pine trees and stereotypical Northwoods decor. I think this is a very strong and unique brand that would be a shame to lose in its own right.

 

Contrasting with that, the North Stars colors, as you said, feel sleeker and colder. they don't fit with the vibe of the rest of the brand, and would essentially require a full return of the North Stars, which would alienate a good chunk of anyone younger than 35.

[Dynasty]

Yeah, the Wild aren't the North Stars so they shouldn't pretend to be. I get nostalgia, but many fans need to get over it and realize that their childhood team is not there anymore, playing close to a thousand miles south now.

[ManillaToad]

37 minutes ago, SFGiants58 said:

Here’s a funny idea – if they’re gonna be the North Stars in all but name, just change the name to something bordering on “North Stars” and don’t dilute the Wild brand further.

 

The Wild have/had an excellent brand and it doesn’t really sit right with me that they’re thinking of throwing it away or pumping it full of a cheap nostalgia pop.

 

Northern Lights was one of the finalists when they were naming the team. I still think they should've gone with Voyageurs

[The_Admiral]

41 minutes ago, Dynasty said:

Yeah, the Wild aren't the North Stars so they shouldn't pretend to be. I get nostalgia, but many fans need to get over it and realize that their childhood team is not there anymore, playing close to a thousand miles south now.

 

I can't begrudge the nostalgia when North Stars is such a great name and Wild such a terrible one.

[BJ Sands]

Yeah, this ain't happening.

 

https://x.com/RussoHockey/status/1800938712001335778

[AFirestormToPurify]

3 hours ago, bowld said:

Best the Wild have ever looked--

 

Truth. Forget the gaudy Subway/North Stars cosplay uniforms, THIS is what they need to bring back. Complete with the jagged numbers and shiny wheat trim

[dont care]

I understand the wild not going to North Star colors full time. Why switch when you can continue to sell merch in both colors and make more money.