2024-25 NHL Changes

[Kevin W.]

This is only the second time overall (first time permanently) that a team will wear orange pants in the NHL and the first time a team will wear orange helmets.

 

Also, RIP to anyone who tries to DIY Ducks customization (since the company who does their on-ice lettering is impossible to get a hold of and doesn't take fan orders from what I've heard) since the numbers are four layers.

[AFirestormToPurify]

Looks like a cheap knockoff with wonky proportions of the orange third jersey

Disgusting

 

When will they listen to the fans and go back to eggplant and jade? Nobody likes this color scheme

[Dynasty]

42 minutes ago, Maz said:

Now that it's "real", here are my thoughts on the Ducks:

 

1. Give me black pants at home, please. I can live with orange on the road, but it just feels unbalanced at home.

 

2. I don't like the orange yoke on the road.

 

3. Webbed D along with updated Mighty Duck feels mismatched. It's shades of when the Pens went back to the skating penguin but kept the robo on the shoulders. Granted, in both cases, when you see them on the jersey as opposed to side by side, the mismatch isn't as bad. 

 

EDIT: If the league will own the Coyotes name, then I don't see why Utah can't pick it up. After all they've gone through so far, I really doubt they'd do it, and I'm willing to bet they would have had no intentions of keeping the Coyotes name even if it was an original option. But, they could.

 

 

Everyone is bringing up black pants, but I feel like that would look more unbalanced. I think you would need a black helmet so it's not all top-heavy with orange and bottom-heavy with black. But then we'll probably have people finding another reason to complain, like with the Flyers connection.

 

With the Coyotes, I think Ryan Smith would want something fresh with the name so it doesn't remind everybody of Arizona. The Utah team is considered an expansion after all.

[Kevin W.]

28 minutes ago, AFirestormToPurify said:

When will they listen to the fans and go back to eggplant and jade? Nobody likes this color scheme

Rumors suggest that they will have a throwback alternate.

[CS85]

Like the Sharks, Anaheim went full-blast with their bright color and it didn’t work out.  It’s fine, certainly, but feels unremarkable and far from striking. 

[wildwing64]

I'm so  ing happy. It's nice be excited instead of hopeful about this team's brand, at long last. As much as I may continue to pine for eggplum and jade, this is the next best thing. Or maybe I'll end up liking it even more.

 

THE GOOD

• The duck mask taking back its rightful place as the primary crest.
• I think I much prefer the new sticks. Also those four mask holes that lined up diagonally with one of the sticks on the original are now curved, which makes more sense when you think of the mask as a 3D object.
• People are mixed on the orange eye, but it gives it a bit more character and I like it a lot.
• Despite my minor gripes with the sleeve stripes (moreso that they're angled up the wrong way!) I love the jersey designs overall. Not only a great update to the classic Mighty Ducks look, but also an all-round excellent design and a much needed breath of fresh air compared to what they just got rid of.
• The new numbers, specifically on the orange  jersey. I can appreciate them going with more of a local influence for the font instead of sticking with the Army inspired design.
• Small tweaks to the duck foot D helps it read better both as a duck foot and a D. I sorta like how the colours and details mirror the mask, being gold with white drop shadows - but the loss of the other aspects will take some getting used to, moreso on the digital version. It was never a strong primary logo but it's a solid shoulder patch.

THE EH

• On one hand, too bad they stuck with beige instead of gold on the stripes. On the other hand, because they're a bit dull they're not drawing attention away from the rest of the uniform.
• Even though I like the orange yoke on the roads, there's enough orange throughout that it probably doesn't need it. I feel like they may have added it just to make it a bit more different than the Reverse Retro 2, which it's already heavily based on.
• Speaking of which, we've seen orange pants with the RR2 so we already know how that will look on the ice. I ended up liking that more than I expected, so I'm still cautiously optimistic about the orange helmets.
• The new numbers, specifically on the white jersey. I've never liked when gold touches orange - which looks much, much worse in digital applications  - and I'm not sure how I feel about it here.
• A small part of me laments the lack of laces, but I'll admit I'm a sucker for them. Ironically I think they would've fit way better here than they did on the Edge mess they wore previously. Then again no laces better matches the original Mighty Ducks look, so... oh well.
• "Ducks Hockey" not inside the collar but on the inside back on the hem. Er, okay, sure.
• Icethetics' new video showed a graphic of the jersey with a hanger effect reading "Fly Together" but it looks like it's absent from the final design. Would've been cool to have, but I'm not losing sleep over it.

THE BAD

• The new wordmark. I get wanting to match the logo and number design with the gold details, but this would look so much cleaner without it. And again, gold and orange touching looks awful in digital applications.

 

OTHER THOUGHTS

• I did wonder why the stick tape resembled a pair of W's and now I know. Fun nod to Wild Wing - but I thought he would have been named and designed after the logo...?
• As much as this rebrand has been in the works for some time, it feels surreal in how fast it's happened from our perspective. Thinking back on the '06 rebrand we had months if not a year to speculate on that, but this time we only heard about it a short while ago and, bam, here it is. To think less than a month ago I was expecting nothing, maybe the third coming of the orange thirds at most.

Edited Thursday at 07:23 AM by wildwing64

[SFGiants58]

Eggplant & Jade full time or GTFO. It all looks fine from an identity standpoint (good tweaking of marks and template), but would be much better in purple/teal/silver. They’ve still got the worst uniforms out of the thirty-two, because they simply won’t give people what they want, in the same way the Marlins do.

[CDunn]

I like both of these. Both are big upgrades in terms of logo and jersey. Only two things I don't like are the wide bottom hem stripes for the Kings and the orange shoulder yoke on the Ducks. In my opinion, at least one of the sleeve ends, bottom hem edge, or yoke have to match the main jersey color. It gives the main jersey color somewhere to escape or breathe. The Ducks white jersey has orange sleeve ends, orange bottom hem, and orange yoke. The white is trapped. Remove the orange yoke and it's a lot lighter. I also don't like the curved shoulder ends with the angular sleeve stripes.

[habsfan1]

40 minutes ago, AFirestormToPurify said:

Looks like a cheap knockoff with wonky proportions of the orange third jersey

Disgusting

 

When will they listen to the fans and go back to eggplant and jade? Nobody likes this color scheme

 

That's what they went with because they're from Orange County.

[spartacat_12]

1 hour ago, SenatorJake said:

So really, we could've had the Utah Coyotes all along. This Meruelo guy sucks man.

 

The Coyotes name is tainted and pretty much toxic at this point. The Kachina logo & uniforms were great, but that wouldn't have made sense for Utah anyway. They're better off getting a clean break.

 

40 minutes ago, AFirestormToPurify said:

Looks like a cheap knockoff with wonky proportions of the orange third jersey

Disgusting

 

When will they listen to the fans and go back to eggplant and jade? Nobody likes this color scheme

 

I like the colour scheme (orange pants/helmets aside). The logo is finally using team colours at least.

 

Plus you know it's just a matter of time before they bring back the eggplant & jade, either via a throwback or an alternate. That's become the common move for teams who started off with corny '90s brands (Devil Rays, Raptors).

[SenatorJake]

14 minutes ago, spartacat_12 said:

 

The Coyotes name is tainted and pretty much toxic at this point. The Kachina logo & uniforms were great, but that wouldn't have made sense for Utah anyway. They're better off getting a clean break.

 

 

I politely disagree.

 

1) I don't think most people in Utah were aware of the Arizona Coyotes at all before the move was announced. I would also say that an overwhelming majority of Americans outside of Arizona are blissfully unaware of the whole Coyotes saga.

2) It's better than any of the names they've come up with, including the extremely underwhelming Utah HC, which will be used for the next year. Even if it's simply a placeholder until 2025-26, Coyotes is a better choice than the shockingly generic placeholder name "Hockey Club". The Houston Oilers certainly didn't call themselves the "Tennessee Football Club" when they moved in 1997, they were the Tennessee Oilers. Keeping the old name for a year certainly isn't unprecedented.

 

3) Retaining the name worked out fine for the Utah Jazz, so why not have that interesting link between both franchises? Keep the Coyotes name that, quite frankly, makes a lot more sense than half the names remaining on the potential Utah name-list.

 

4) They would be wearing some of the nicest uniforms in the NHL next year rather than the extremely mid uniforms of Utah HC.

 

 

[YelichGraphics]

6 minutes ago, spartacat_12 said:

 

The Coyotes name is tainted and pretty much toxic at this point. The Kachina logo & uniforms were great, but that wouldn't have made sense for Utah anyway. They're better off getting a clean break.

 

 

I like the colour scheme (orange pants/helmets aside). The logo is finally using team colours at least.

 

Plus you know it's just a matter of time before they bring back the eggplant & jade, either via a throwback or an alternate. That's become the common move for teams who started off with corny '90s brands (Devil Rays, Raptors).

Or for teams who had a wacky brand in the 90s that doesn't resonate with the rest of their brand like the Sabres.

I agree the eggplant and jade will most likely return as a third. I wouldn't get too hard pressed on the Ducks staying with their current scheme. We knew it would happen and honestly I kinda like the warmth of the orange. It screams more like California than the eggplant and jade does. The eggplant and jade look always felt.. dark and struggled a bit with contrast. Like it or not we've had this color scheme for the Ducks for the last 18 years in their 30 year history. This look statistically at least is more consistent with the brand than the eggplant and jade.

[SenatorJake]

6 minutes ago, SenatorJake said:

 

Utah HC.

 

I hate that I have to write that.

[YelichGraphics]

2 minutes ago, SenatorJake said:

 

I politely disagree.

 

1) I don't think most people in Utah were aware of the Arizona Coyotes at all before the move was announced. I would also say that an overwhelming majority of Americans outside of Arizona are blissfully unaware of the whole Coyotes saga.

2) It's better than any of the names they've come up with, including the extremely underwhelming Utah HC, which will be used for the next year. Even if it's simply a placeholder until 2025-26, Coyotes is the better choice than the shockingly generic placeholder name "Hockey Club". 

 

3) Retaining the name worked out fine for the Utah Jazz, so why not have that interesting link between both franchises? Keep the Coyotes name that, quite frankly, makes a lot more sense than half the names remaining on the potential Utah name-list.

 

4) They would be wearing some of the nicest uniforms in the NHL next year rather than the extremely mid uniforms of Utah HC.

 

 

Has the Jazz worked out fine? I'd argue they have severely struggled to find an identity throughout their existence that matched their name to the region. Yeah mountains, purple and the word JAZZ or UTAH across the chest seems to be a similar theme across the eras. However I doubt Smith wants to carry another organizations name into yet another team. They cons out way the "interesting link" pro. Start from scratch and create an identity that you can be proud of for your region. 

[CreamSoda]

Go to a unique color scheme that everyone wants?  Nah.  
 

let’s go with orange and black

[SenatorJake]

26 minutes ago, YelichGraphics said:

Has the Jazz worked out fine? I'd argue they have severely struggled to find an identity throughout their existence that matched their name to the region. Yeah mountains, purple and the word JAZZ or UTAH across the chest seems to be a similar theme across the eras. However I doubt Smith wants to carry another organizations name into yet another team. They cons out way the "interesting link" pro. Start from scratch and create an identity that you can be proud of for your region. 

Absolutely, an extremely valid point could be made for a fresh re-brand, but have you seen some of the names on that list?

 

Sheesh man...  Yeti, Mammoth and even Outlaws have some merit, but at the end of the day I'm picking Coyotes over every single name on that list.

[McCall]

7 minutes ago, CreamSoda said:

Go to a unique color scheme that everyone wants?  Nah.  
 

let’s go with orange and black

DOES everyone want it or just some people outside of the Ducks' fanbase?

 

Seriously asking actual Anaheim Duck fans what their thoughts are on the team's colors.

[RyanMcD29]

KINGS: Look great, a very nice update to the classic look

 

DUCKS: Jersey design and logos themselves are very good, but not really feeling those number or name fonts. I think the roads would've been better off without the orange yokes on the shoulders but otherwise they look good. And to go off on a tangent, my brother in christ between the Wild and now the Ducks everyone shut up about color uniqueness. There's one other orange team in the league, there's all of two green teams in the league, Minnesota looks nothing like Dallas, and Anaheim's done plenty to differentiate themselves from Philadelphia, but because the Wild aren't doing the inferior North Stars cosplay and the Ducks aren't going full throwback (which to be fair I'd be fine with, but if we're talking 90s, the jade Nike alts were better and I will die on that hill) we're acting like they're adding a scheme that 9 other teams have. Ditto somewhat goes for Utah, who even though went black at least is replacing the same color jersey and has its own unique color scheme going for it, even if 4 teams and Carolina's stupidity have black too. If it looks good, it's good for the color balance of the league and I think Anaheim's separated themselves well with this.

 

FANATICS: Wake me up when the retail jerseys come to see if they really screwed it up or not

[AnPheitseog]

2 hours ago, Kevin W. said:

This is only the second time overall (first time permanently) that a team will wear orange pants in the NHL and the first time a team will wear orange helmets.

 

Also, RIP to anyone who tries to DIY Ducks customization (since the company who does their on-ice lettering is impossible to get a hold of and doesn't take fan orders from what I've heard) since the numbers are four layers.

wait, what company does them? I feel like i know this but forget

[The_Admiral]

2 hours ago, SenatorJake said:

1) I don't think most people in Utah were aware of the Arizona Coyotes at all before the move was announced. I would also say that an overwhelming majority of Americans outside of Arizona are blissfully unaware of the whole Coyotes saga.

2) It's better than any of the names they've come up with, including the extremely underwhelming Utah HC, which will be used for the next year. Even if it's simply a placeholder until 2025-26, Coyotes is a better choice than the shockingly generic placeholder name "Hockey Club". The Houston Oilers certainly didn't call themselves the "Tennessee Football Club" when they moved in 1997, they were the Tennessee Oilers. Keeping the old name for a year certainly isn't unprecedented.

 

3) Retaining the name worked out fine for the Utah Jazz, so why not have that interesting link between both franchises? Keep the Coyotes name that, quite frankly, makes a lot more sense than half the names remaining on the potential Utah name-list.

 

4) They would be wearing some of the nicest uniforms in the NHL next year rather than the extremely mid uniforms of Utah HC.

 

1) I should be so lucky!

 

2) The Oilers were a travesty of a relocation as opposed to this 15-years-overdue mercy killing. Part of the reason they kept the name was because they had to leave a year early from pissing everyone off so much, then play in a different city than the one they were moving to, which pissed everyone off even more. I wouldn't take any cues from Bud Adams.

 

3) Compared to the Coyotes, a Rick Roll is an interesting link. This would just be a coincidence.

 

4) Again, not that nice, and again, you gotta cut the cord from what might go down as the worst sports franchise of all time. Utah should have had this stuff at the ready, no excuse for this HC nonsense, but they could not go on being the Coyotes.