NHL 2011-2012: Possible Uniform Changes

[IceCap]

If I were the Ducks I wound want to stuck with the look that's associated with the organization's Stanley Cup Championship.

[TheOldRoman]

Based on my very unscientific survey of what I've seen at games and around town, it seems like the black jersey has been the most prevalent fake out there.

I agree. The majority of fakes I see are the black jerseys.

[alwaysr92]

If I were the Ducks I wound want to stuck with the look that's associated with the organization's Stanley Cup Championship.

If; in my opinion, it wasnt such a boring, bland look, i would totally agree with you. I just think they could make their set a million times better with just a few tweaks.

[The Giant Pacific Octopus]

Anyone know if they Preds are keeping their blue 3rd jerseys?

Nothing's been confirmed, but the common concensus amongst everyone is that they will not be using them this season.

Unfortunately the navy alternate will not see action next season. Only lasted 2 seasons.

Thats too bad. I thought that was a sharp looking jersey. Sure it needed some work (lighter blue checkers on the stripes so they can be seen from a distance, no ring around the fossilized sabre-toothed tiger skull on the shoulders) but overall a nice design. While I like the new yellow/white combo thats coming out next year, I still like that jersey. I don't see why they don't keep it as an alternate.

[wildwing64]

Winning a Stanley Cup in a uniform doesn't necessarily make it better or untouchable. The Ducks regular set is far from perfect. The thing that's been bugging me the most outside of the wordmark is how the orange stripe, for some reason, disappears into the black from a distance on TV, much like the blue on Tampa Bay's previous home uniform. That said, I'm only able to watch games on ESPN Player, maybe the orange is more noticeable on an actual TV?

The third is without question my favourite of the current set, firstly for the logos and secondly for the use of orange that makes it more lively than the regular set. To be honest, I'd be quite happy if either this was made the new home uniform, or tweaks were made to the current regular set (swapping the third jersey logos and using more orange) to make it better.

[FiddySicks]

Might be something, might be nothing- Corey Perry threw out the first pitch for tonights Angels game in the Duck's alternate, still advertising? Or a preview of a change coming to their primaries?

Anaheim has one of the worst problems they could have when it comes to jerseys. The regular set looks good but has an awful wordmark logo, where the alt has a great logo but the sweater itself looks flat out terrible. Slap the D logo and shoulder patches on the home and away, burn the rest of the set, and they'd look decent. Overall though, the more I see of the Ducks, the more I miss their old set.

[Still MIGHTY]

Winning a Stanley Cup in a uniform doesn't necessarily make it better or untouchable. The Ducks regular set is far from perfect. The thing that's been bugging me the most outside of the wordmark is how the orange stripe, for some reason, disappears into the black from a distance on TV, much like the blue on Tampa Bay's previous home uniform. That said, I'm only able to watch games on ESPN Player, maybe the orange is more noticeable on an actual TV?

The third is without question my favourite of the current set, firstly for the logos and secondly for the use of orange that makes it more lively than the regular set. To be honest, I'd be quite happy if either this was made the new home uniform, or tweaks were made to the current regular set (swapping the third jersey logos and using more orange) to make it better.

This one.

Really, I like the 3rd, but I don't know if I'd like it full time. The design is that much different and way brighter than the primart set to make it a nice break from the ins and outs of the normal set. But full time, I think it would be a bit much.

Slap the "D" on the front, try and get some more orange (like the sleeve cuffs on the 3rd, and maybe transfer that same idea to the hem stripe, swap the gold/orange portions on the collar?), and hell even Bucfan's idea of throwing the 3rds shoulder patchers on the primaries I could groove with. But at the very least, throw the D on the front.

I have a bad feeling that if the 3rds do become the primaries, we'll only be 3-4 years from another redesign or new jersey set. Make some simple changes to the current primary, and the Ducks would be set for a while.

[Patchey13]

I really wish Winnipeg would release something, even just a teaser. The suspense is killing me.

[Drakonius26]

I really wish Winnipeg would release something, even just a teaser. The suspense is killing me.

If the NHL Draft was any indication, the new Winnipeg Jets will wait until the beginning of the actual season (quite possibly a quick conference five minutes before the first game) to show off their new uniforms.

[Morgan33]

Winning a Stanley Cup in a uniform doesn't necessarily make it better or untouchable. The Ducks regular set is far from perfect. The thing that's been bugging me the most outside of the wordmark is how the orange stripe, for some reason, disappears into the black from a distance on TV, much like the blue on Tampa Bay's previous home uniform. That said, I'm only able to watch games on ESPN Player, maybe the orange is more noticeable on an actual TV?

90% of the time I would say "stick with the look you won a championship in" but the Duck's jerseys fall into that other 10%. They are dull, generic and lacking in creativity.

The third is without question my favourite of the current set, firstly for the logos and secondly for the use of orange that makes it more lively than the regular set. To be honest, I'd be quite happy if either this was made the new home uniform, or tweaks were made to the current regular set (swapping the third jersey logos and using more orange) to make it better.

Agreed, the third is definitely the best jersey the Ducks ever had but it's far from perfect. For starters they really need to lose that phantom shoulder yoke. It does nothing but clutter the design. Also why does the disney logo need to be in a circle with the team name spelled out around it? The recoloured disney logo on its own would be a much stronger mark.

[elliott]

Gotta disagree with some of yall, I don't like the current Ducks alts very much. I prefer the black first, bronze second, minimal amount of orange for the Ducks. The tiny bit of orange piping really makes it stand out on the home and away, I think the alt has too much orange. I like the striping pattern they use on the alt, but not the color balance. That includes the socks, the socks are hideous, and the orange shoulder piping is unneccesary. My last gripe is that I despise that they brought back the duck mask, it's a completely different brand associated with the "disney era", if anything they should have come up with a new logo in the new style to add to the brand. Having this recolored logo just muddles the consistency, especially when they add the current font in to that circle logo. Comes across as total laziness. Plus have you looked at the arching of the wordmark going around the duck mask? It's a horribly rendered arch, the wordmark doesn't curve with the circle, it looks like each letter was turned individually and I don't like it at all.

Clearly the D logo is superior to the Ducks wordmark but I think the alternate is just as bad as the home and away if not worse.

[dgnmrwrw]

Gotta disagree with some of yall, I don't like the current Ducks alts very much. I prefer the black first, bronze second, minimal amount of orange for the Ducks. The tiny bit of orange piping really makes it stand out on the home and away, I think the alt has too much orange. I like the striping pattern they use on the alt, but not the color balance. That includes the socks, the socks are hideous, and the orange shoulder piping is unneccesary. My last gripe is that I despise that they brought back the duck mask, it's a completely different brand associated with the "disney era", if anything they should have come up with a new logo in the new style to add to the brand. Having this recolored logo just muddles the consistency, especially when they add the current font in to that circle logo. Comes across as total laziness. Plus have you looked at the arching of the wordmark going around the duck mask? It's a horribly rendered arch, the wordmark doesn't curve with the circle, it looks like each letter was turned individually and I don't like it at all.

Clearly the D logo is superior to the Ducks wordmark but I think the alternate is just as bad as the home and away if not worse.

Elliott, you're not alone on any of these points. The Ducks' identity--especially in its implementation throughout the uniforms--is a hot mess. The wordmark isn't appropriate or effective as a primary hockey crest, and the D-logo (while much better) isn't that great either. The oval/type logo is very poorly rendered. And while I generally like the colors overall, the way they're used on the home/road uniforms is infinitely better than the way they're used on the alternate. That tiny, thin orange stripes really stands out against the black (or white), and using HUGE chunks of the bright orange on the alt is too much for me.

[wildwing64]

Gotta disagree with some of yall, I don't like the current Ducks alts very much. I prefer the black first, bronze gold second, minimal amount of orange for the Ducks. The tiny bit of orange piping really makes it stand out on the home and away

Not really.

I think the alt has too much orange. I like the striping pattern they use on the alt, but not the color balance. That includes the socks, the socks are hideous, and the orange shoulder piping is unneccesary.

Disagree, I think the colour balance is perfect. The side panels I can take or leave. Overall I find that it's a much more visually interesting uniform to watch than the regular black jersey.

My last gripe is that I despise that they brought back the duck mask, it's a completely different brand associated with the "disney era"

It's no different to any other team bringing back and/or recolouring an older logo. I think it compliments the current brand quite nicely. It's a nice link to the past for those of us who liked that era, and it at least gives the Ducks a logo that resembles, y'know, a duck.

Plus have you looked at the arching of the wordmark going around the duck mask? It's a horribly rendered arch, the wordmark doesn't curve with the circle, it looks like each letter was turned individually and I don't like it at all.

It's just the way the logo was rendered for this site. On the actual jersey there is a slight curve on the lettering to match it up with the oval.

[elliott]

Not really.

What does that prove? We live in an era of HD tvs, not whatever crappy picture quality that was grabbed from. Fact is, the orange is still part of the identity, and although you might not be able to see it from the nosebleeds, at any decent distance the tiny bit of orange really pops against the dark black background and the fairly neutral color of bronze. I mean, you might not be able to see the yellow in the Sharks jerseys if you are sitting in the top section or watching on standard definition, but it doesn't mean it's not there. Also, the underlining of the Ducks primary is just a touch of orange, which I think is reflected well in the striping choices of the home and away.

I think the alt has too much orange. I like the striping pattern they use on the alt, but not the color balance. That includes the socks, the socks are hideous, and the orange shoulder piping is unneccesary.

Disagree, I think the colour balance is perfect. The side panels I can take or leave. Overall I find that it's a much more visually interesting uniform to watch than the regular black jersey.

Well, agree to disagree, because I find the orange particularly blinding on the alternates, especially the socks.

My last gripe is that I despise that they brought back the duck mask, it's a completely different brand associated with the "disney era"

It's no different to any other team bringing back and/or recolouring an older logo. I think it compliments the current brand quite nicely. It's a nice link to the past for those of us who liked that era, and it at least gives the Ducks a logo that resembles, y'know, a duck.

Just because other teams do it frequently doesn't mean it's good. Many NBA teams have trainwrecks of identities because they can't decide whether they want to go modern or retro. In hockey, teams that go "throwback" tend to get it right more often. Like, look at the Oilers and Islanders, they went all out with their throwback looks, they went back to the original colors and original striping patterns instead of the modern disasters that came with the Edge redesign. For the Ducks, they have their new colors, new font, and Mighty Ducks era logo. It's just a confusing mashup, the mask logo is FAR superior in jade and eggplant. Plus, throw in the fact that the original logo, which features a circle and triangle already, is surrounded by an oval, and you have way too many shapes. I just don't think this is a very good logo and it has no place in the identity. Either go back to Wild Wing, or leave him in the past. Otherwise, it's just as ineffective as mediocre NBA recolors like the Jazz.

(and as a sidenote, come on, the wild wing logo doesn't really look like a duck at all, it's a mask, not a duck. There's not distinctive features of an actual duck, ie, markings, eyes, orange bill, wings, the list goes on. it's very abstract and you never actually see a duck. that holds true in both identities.)

But overall I think this debate brings up a good point about the Ducks identity as a whole, like dgnmrwrw was saying, it needs some major work. I don't think they are a team that can pull off an effective alternate at this point. The colors are black, bronze, orange, in order of decreasing usage. They already have a black jersey and typically I'm not a fan of the alternate being the same color as the home, with some exceptions. A bronze jersey, that would be hideous. An orange jersey would be bad in so many ways: look too much like the Flyers.. blinding.. orange is used in such small amounts in the home/away and logos it would be out of place, etc. They are better off not having an alternate at all. In my opinion, the ducks should use some shade of dark/forest green as the primary color, to reflect colors found on a mallard. Go from there.

[Morgan33]

What does that prove? We live in an era of HD tvs, not whatever crappy picture quality that was grabbed from. Fact is, the orange is still part of the identity, and although you might not be able to see it from the nosebleeds, at any decent distance the tiny bit of orange really pops against the dark black background and the fairly neutral color of bronze. I mean, you might not be able to see the yellow in the Sharks jerseys if you are sitting in the top section or watching on standard definition, but it doesn't mean it's not there. Also, the underlining of the Ducks primary is just a touch of orange, which I think is reflected well in the striping choices of the home and away.

Proves that it isn't a striking or effective colour scheme. Teams were able to have instantly recognizable looks long before before High Definition Television and this simply isn't one. The Orange is used far too sparingly and that shade of Gold, Champagne or whatever you want to call it gets lost depending on the reflection. The new jerseys go a long way to rectifying this though they are not by any means perfect.

[YELDARBfield]

The Preds' have posted pictures from their Development Camp. All of the players are wearing practice jerseys with the new logo and numbers.

LINK (Facebook)

Looks like the numbers are custom/not Anaheim's numbers. Also, the only picture where the guitar strings are noticeable is picture 8, with #56 Beck. These two things make me like the jerseys a little more.

[evanmaldonado]

So on a different note, is there anything new to know about the Senators alternate? I'm very interested in what they'll be doing

[habsfan1]

So on a different note, is there anything new to know about the Senators alternate? I'm very interested in what they'll be doing

We're just gonna have to patiently wait.

[hockey week]

Gotta disagree with some of yall, I don't like the current Ducks alts very much. I prefer the black first, bronze second, minimal amount of orange for the Ducks. The tiny bit of orange piping really makes it stand out on the home and away, I think the alt has too much orange. I like the striping pattern they use on the alt, but not the color balance. That includes the socks, the socks are hideous, and the orange shoulder piping is unneccesary. My last gripe is that I despise that they brought back the duck mask, it's a completely different brand associated with the "disney era", if anything they should have come up with a new logo in the new style to add to the brand. Having this recolored logo just muddles the consistency, especially when they add the current font in to that circle logo. Comes across as total laziness. Plus have you looked at the arching of the wordmark going around the duck mask? It's a horribly rendered arch, the wordmark doesn't curve with the circle, it looks like each letter was turned individually and I don't like it at all.

Clearly the D logo is superior to the Ducks wordmark but I think the alternate is just as bad as the home and away if not worse.

Finally someone else shares my thoughts on this. Who associates orange with the Ducks? The stripes and colors of the thirds are ridiculous as well. I joke that there's rockets in their armpits. The disney era needs to be forgotten. The team sucked for the vast majority of it, and basing a team identity on a fictional movie is about the dumbest thing possible, and can't be good for having people take the league seriously.

The stripe on the home and road jerseys line up exactly with the curve of the webbed D. Put the damned D on those jerseys and call it a day, the way it was (probably) originally intended.

[IceCap]

Winning a Stanley Cup in a uniform doesn't necessarily make it better or untouchable. The Ducks regular set is far from perfect. The thing that's been bugging me the most outside of the wordmark is how the orange stripe, for some reason, disappears into the black from a distance on TV, much like the blue on Tampa Bay's previous home uniform. That said, I'm only able to watch games on ESPN Player, maybe the orange is more noticeable on an actual TV?

90% of the time I would say "stick with the look you won a championship in" but the Duck's jerseys fall into that other 10%. They are dull, generic and lacking in creativity.

I disagree. It's not the best look in the NHL, it's not even in the top 10. It's a solid middle of the road identity though. At the very least they look like a pro hockey team and not a skating Disney advertisement.

Ducks fans are the only fans I know that lament the fact that their team won their only championship in the "wrong" uniforms.