2024-25 NHL Changes

[ruttep]

3 hours ago, Cujo said:

The Leafs never looked better than this,

 

 

Nah, never liked that font

[ruttep]

3 hours ago, The_Admiral said:

 

Yeah, those are the ones I was talking about. The secondary logo was a variation on the old 35-point leaf but without lettering. Exception that proves the "secondaries shouldn't have the same concept as their primaries" rule.

 

Gotcha. Don't think I've ever seen that secondary uniform, though, it's not even on NHLuniforms.com. Do you have a picture of it?

[pepis21]

Controversial opinion, but take this:

Change crest to current one and you might have a winner.

Reebok version was even better than adidas:

[uniformity]

On 8/15/2024 at 10:38 AM, Morgan33 said:

 

Exactly what they should have done in 2016.  The double stripe is distinctive, looks good and has historical significance.  The hem treatment they have now is beyond bland and makes them look even more like Tampa Bay. 

It seems like some teams go a little outside of tradition with a minor detail so they so they can continually make changes and sell uniforms.  I mean cmon. The Leafs are an original six team. They allowed reebok to butcher the uniform that they wore for the bulk of their franchise and for most of their championships. They knew they would eventually rebrand and sell more uniforms.

 

The thing that irks me the most is when Addisas started getting rid of idiosyncratic details like the Leafs non matching socks that they wore for like 70 years. Same with the Bruins yellow socks. Same even with the Canucks socks which suddenly became wider - which is not a good look. Next it's stripeless pants. I don't think teams should look like they were all designed by the same company.

[Ricky_Roby]

Take this with a grain of salt, but some select Senators fans (according to some reliable sources on Reddit) were part of a focus group for Ottawa's new third jersey - coming possibly in 2025-26 (but I guess that's up to Fanatics). I'm told the team is submitting their final design to the league/Fanatics in October, so not sure what that suggests for timelines.

 

It's going to be red (the team officially confirmed this at a season ticket holder event), but some fans that got a look at concepts said they are focusing on an alternate design of the centurion helmet, think Michigan State Spartans. I'm told a few different designs are being considered - some just the helmet, some with a face included. But it's a new alt logo. Something I'm glad to hear because I think the team could use some fresh material. The Sena-goth and the 2.5D centurion were ok, but they've had their time and it would be nice to see something new on an Alt.

 

Told the jerseys are going to have gold trim/striping, a colour that the Sens have largely ignored in recent years.

[spartacat_12]

1 hour ago, Ricky_Roby said:

Take this with a grain of salt, but some select Senators fans (according to some reliable sources on Reddit) were part of a focus group for Ottawa's new third jersey - coming possibly in 2025-26 (but I guess that's up to Fanatics). I'm told the team is submitting their final design to the league/Fanatics in October, so not sure what the suggests for timelines.

 

It's going to be red (the team officially confirmed this at a season ticket holder event), but some fans that got a look at concepts said they are focusing on an alternate design of the centurion helmet, think Michigan State Spartans. I'm told a few different designs are being considered - some just the helmet, some with a face included. But it's a new alt logo. Something I'm glad to hear because I think the team could use some fresh material. The Sena-goth and the 2.5D centurion were ok, but they've had their time and it would be nice to see something new on an Alt.

 

Told the jerseys are going to have gold trim/striping, a colour that the Sens have largely ignored in recent years.

 

Based on this (along with the general uniform takes I've seen on Sens reddit), I'm expecting to be disappointed with this uniform. I've said it before, but I have no interest in gold being used any more than it currently is. The brand already has enough overlap with Vegas, and gold stripes are just going to bring even more attention to that.

 

I've also mentioned that I'd rather see them avoid leaning into the spartan/centurion stuff. The 2D logo is fine for nostalgia, but it has no connection to the city beyond that. I get that they've already gotten a lot of mileage out of the heritage branding, so may not want to go back to that well again, but this should be an opportunity to try something completely new.

 

Coming up with a new logo based on the Ceremonial Guard that stands on Parliament Hill would be something original, unique to Ottawa, and a little less plain than the =O= or Peace Tower. The colours already match the team's, plus they are technically a military unit which tends to be a big selling feature in the NHL. Maybe a Johnny Canuck-style logo featuring a guard carrying a hockey stick, or if that's too kitschy they could do something similar to the Kitchener Rangers alternate logo.

 

 

 Another option I've though of is something involving a beaver. If the Capitals can use multiple logos centered on eagles, why shouldn't the Sens incorporate the national animal of Canada? Near the entrance to the Peace Tower there's a statue of a beaver holding a shield containing symbols of the various settler groups. Maybe turn that into a logo and swap out the symbols on the shield for the O and some barberpole stripes.

 

[officeglenn]

Neat little piece from TSN this morning: From Adidas to Fanatics, one Quebec company makes every NHL jersey

[The_Admiral]

14 minutes ago, spartacat_12 said:

Another option I've though of is something involving a beaver. If the Capitals can use multiple logos centered on eagles, why shouldn't the Sens incorporate the national animal of Canada?

 

Because no one's ever called one of those an eagle.

[Ricky_Roby]

1 hour ago, spartacat_12 said:

 

Based on this (along with the general uniform takes I've seen on Sens reddit), I'm expecting to be disappointed with this uniform. I've said it before, but I have no interest in gold being used any more than it currently is. The brand already has enough overlap with Vegas, and gold stripes are just going to bring even more attention to that.

 

I've also mentioned that I'd rather see them avoid leaning into the spartan/centurion stuff. The 2D logo is fine for nostalgia, but it has no connection to the city beyond that. I get that they've already gotten a lot of mileage out of the heritage branding, so may not want to go back to that well again, but this should be an opportunity to try something completely new.

 

Coming up with a new logo based on the Ceremonial Guard that stands on Parliament Hill would be something original, unique to Ottawa, and a little less plain than the =O= or Peace Tower. The colours already match the team's, plus they are technically a military unit which tends to be a big selling feature in the NHL. Maybe a Johnny Canuck-style logo featuring a guard carrying a hockey stick, or if that's too kitschy they could do something similar to the Kitchener Rangers alternate logo.

 

 

From what I've heard, the team did briefly consider something related to the Peace Tower but they quickly dropped it. I think it's just not what they need to get the sales numbers they want on jerseys? I mean, I wouldn't mind it. There's a world where they  could create something nice with some Parliament imagery... don't ask me to design it, but I'm sure it could be done (create an Ottawa equivalent to the Capitals Weagle or something, and have the Parliament or Peace Tower outlined in the negative space).

 

Re: the Centurion. I get where you're coming from - and I kind of agree too. For me, I adore the 2D logo so much, I don't mind sticking with the centurion theme as the primary mark (it just feels timeless to me now, I can't separate the Senators from it more than I could separate the flying music note from the Blues, or the Blackhawks head from Chicago...), but you're not wrong. For an Alternate, it's a good opportunity to branch out and do something different. The team does need to tie things to the city a bit more... alot of other teams do too, actually, and I wouldn't be surprised if down the road, the NHL/Fanatics steals the MLB's City Connect idea but for hockey....

 

The Kitchener Rangers comparison is interesting... I always thought, if I was in charge of this for the Sens, I'd tell designers to look at the NYR Statue of Liberty head. It remains, to me, the perfect example of an alt logo. That's what the Senators need - they need their own Statue of Liberty head logo... something that doesn't replace the primary mark, but that compliments it, and gives it more of a local flair.

 

 

[spartacat_12]

10 minutes ago, Ricky_Roby said:

From what I've heard, the team did briefly consider something related to the Peace Tower but they quickly dropped it. I think it's just not what they need to get the sales numbers they want on jerseys? I mean, I wouldn't mind it. There's a world where they  could create something nice with some Parliament imagery... don't ask me to design it, but I'm sure it could be done (create an Ottawa equivalent to the Capitals Weagle or something, and have the Parliament or Peace Tower outlined in the negative space).

 

Yeah that makes sense considering merch sales were what caused them to pivot from the Peace Tower script to the Roman stuff in the '90s. Even the updated version of that logo they came out with for the 30th anniversary didn't get used except for on a few t-shirts.

 

It would just be nice to see some imagery from the actual city incorporated into the brand somewhere.

[Morgan33]

Just bring back this and restore metallic gold to the primaries. 

[Lights Out]

19 hours ago, Cujo said:

The Leafs never looked better than this,

 

 

I don't love the shoulder patches, but I agree.

[Morgan33]

12 hours ago, uniformity said:

It seems like some teams go a little outside of tradition with a minor detail so they so they can continually make changes and sell uniforms.  I mean cmon. The Leafs are an original six team. They allowed reebok to butcher the uniform that they wore for the bulk of their franchise and for most of their championships. They knew they would eventually rebrand and sell more uniforms.

 

Yeah, that's exactly what they did with the current uniforms and they admitted as much.   But the only reason they dropped the hem stripes during the Reebok era was because they thought the uniforms were going to be tucked into the pants.  Something they'd rectify 3 seasons later.

 

 

[ruttep]

3 hours ago, Morgan33 said:

 

Yeah, that's exactly what they did with the current uniforms and they admitted as much.   But the only reason they dropped the hem stripes during the Reebok era was because they thought the uniforms were going to be tucked into the pants.  Something they'd rectify 3 seasons later.

 

 

 

Yeah, iirc it was the rest of the Original Six plus the Devils that pushed against that idea and were eventually permitted to keep their hem stripes. 

[The_Admiral]

22 hours ago, ruttep said:

Gotcha. Don't think I've ever seen that secondary uniform, though, it's not even on NHLuniforms.com. Do you have a picture of it?

 

I'm talking about secondary/shoulder logos. not alternate sweaters. 

 

Normally, I would have a problem with a maple leaf and then a different kind of maple leaf, because they're competing ideas rather than one supporting the other (the Sharks did this and I found it very annoying) but it worked here for some reason. Truth be told, the Leafs never needed a secondary.

[Morgan33]

18 minutes ago, ruttep said:

 

Yeah, iirc it was the rest of the Original Six plus the Devils that pushed against that idea and were eventually permitted to keep their hem stripes. 

 

The Hurricanes also pushed hard against it.  Ironic considering how little they care about having a coherent identity today...

[ruttep]

3 hours ago, The_Admiral said:

 

I'm talking about secondary/shoulder logos. not alternate sweaters. 

 

Normally, I would have a problem with a maple leaf and then a different kind of maple leaf, because they're competing ideas rather than one supporting the other (the Sharks did this and I found it very annoying) but it worked here for some reason. Truth be told, the Leafs never needed a secondary.

 

That's fair. The 2010s uniform lineup I posted was basically that jersey plus a 1967 throwback alternate.

[ruttep]

2 hours ago, Morgan33 said:

 

The Hurricanes also pushed hard against it.  Ironic considering how little they care about having a coherent identity today...

 

They still added a shoulder yoke outline  for no reason though . . .

[Kevin W.]

19 hours ago, uniformity said:

They allowed reebok to butcher the uniform that they wore for the bulk of their franchise and for most of their championships.

This got me interested and it turns out that from 1917 to 2007, the Leafs had worn some variation of that design for 46 seasons (32 in the original iterations of the design from 1934-35 to 1966-67 and 14 from 1992-93 to 2006-07) so it's just about exactly half of the team's existence up to that point.

[Ricky_Roby]

14 hours ago, Morgan33 said:

Just bring back this and restore metallic gold to the primaries. 

 

Ehh, I don't know. I'm a lifelong Sens fan and I know that one - and all the Senagoth alternates - have a special place in fans' hearts, but I never thought this one was anything more than just okay. I don't dislike the Senagoth logo, it was a cool alt logo at the time, I just feel like we've seen it enough (and I blame it for causing the team to move towards that meh 2.5D primary logo for most of the 2000s, ugh). The franchise just needs something new right now to balance out the return to the old look and logo (a primary logo that should never, ever change again), and demarcate a new chapter - with a new owner, potential new building on the way, etc.

 

If I had to add any colour to their current set (which is near perfect, anyway), I would add white instead of gold. Like @spartacat_12 said earlier, gold is sort of leaning too much towards Vegas territory now. It's the hockey jersey equivalent of Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" - yeah ok, it's not the original, but they are owning it now.