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NHL 2011-2012: Possible Uniform Changes


uah8tr

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or even worse, the new scourge of "we've never had a simple, classic look, so let's just make one out of thin air."

Since when are "simple" and "classic" bad words in the design world? That's what every good designer strives for.

Normally I love simple and classic stuff. This though? It's not original in any conceivable fashion, stealing design elements from two of the more storied franchises in the league.

Gotta agree with Ice_Cap. Everything else being equal, I'd say that simple is better. But in this case, everything else isn't equal. The elimination of two colors, creating a near identical look to the Leaf's "palette" is a step backward. The extreme simplification of the striping (including the loss of the Victory Stripes and the bolt on the pants) is a step backward. And while the basic composition of the logo has the beginnings of something nice, the single-tone, flat, spray-painted-on look of the crest is a step backward.

Don't want to turn this into a concept thread, but here's a very quick and rough mock up of what they could have done. (Using some old logos I made for a Lightning concept. With more time, I would have updated their new oval-bolt logo to include more colors.) This keeps focus on the blue and a simplification of the striping while still keeping their well-established color scheme, uses a new variation on their well-established type style, and keeps well-established elements like the Victory Stripes and the bolt on the pants (not shown). To me, this is a kind of way that they could have bridged eras, instead of white-washing everything in some overly forced, boring, fauxback style.

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HURRICANES | PANTHERS | WHITE SOX | WOLFPACK

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If they released the blue jersey only as an alternate instead of shoving this retro theme up our you know where, more people would love it, as would I. That's what they should have done. Release new 3rd, see how people respond and go from there.

Right now, it's very difficult to embrace this new look. It's not Buffaslug ugly, but throwing everything they had out the window creates alot of emptiness.

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Surprised no one else has keyed in on the amazing similarities to two other Central Florida sports teams - the Magic and Rays.

Think about it, all three started with unique, albeit dated looks. The Rays and Magic went to looks that were both bold and a little more conservative than their previous incarnation (Magic with the Dazzle jerseys and pinstripe sidepanels, Rays with pairing green and two shades of blue), while the Lightning were a little limited based off of the league-wide uniform transition, yet still modernized their original look. For all three teams, what came next? Super boring, "traditional" looks that were primarily blue and white and were not easily distinguished from other teams in their league.

The Magic quickly ditched the "traditional" effort and went with what fans wanted all along - true updated versions of the original uniforms.

The Rays have found ways to put a little spice in their boring uniforms (Columbia alts, emphasized sunburst, possibly introducing plaid).

The Lightning... well, it remains to be seen.

(Interestingly, the original Magic jerseys were pinstriped because they were inspired by the Yankees.)

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Black, silver, and electric blue can be a neat color combination. Just look at the Carolina Panthers. Unfortunately, Steve Yzerman must merely pretend he runs the Red Wings until Ken Holland retires, so here we are.

Did the Lightning change their color scheme in their history? People always mention them as "electric blue" and this color is clearly royal blue. I thought I remembered them having a lighter blue years ago.

It seems from looking at nhluniforms.com, they darkened the blue when they switched to the block number font (in 2001, I think). I'm not certain, though.

It was darkened, yeah. I was just postulating that the Bolts could do well by switching to the same blue as the Carolina Panthers.

I just remembered that the Predators are switching to Maple Leafs ripoffs full time next year, too. Original Six design is permeating NASCAR Country.

The fact that the original 6 team designs are permeating Nascar country means that those teams original designs sucked. Now if we could only get rid of the others down south that designs suck, Atlanta and Carolina. I'd add Washington into that, but they aren't quite down south.

 

 

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I am just curious why they are unveiling the jerseys and logos in the middle of the season? Has this happened before? I vaguely remember the Cavs doing it in 2003 a couple games before the end of the year.

They've had the new stuff ready to go for a few months now, and they realized that the longer they kept it under wraps the greater the chance someone will leak it. So they decided to just release them now. Of course they've killed all potential merchandise sales for the rest of the season, but eh. They'll survive.

Unless the fans go and partake in a mass panic buy of the current set to get 'em while they still can. Or to, hopefully, prove a point. :P

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PotD: 24/08/2017

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People overreacting though really confuses me. It's not like they unveiled the Fisherman or Buffaslug.

No, but they stole a colour scheme from a team that had a monopoly on it for eighty-six years and a striping pattern from one of, if not the, most famous hockey teams in the world.

How many times are you going to repeat that line about 86 years? We get it, you're a Laffs fan. I can think of something the Lightning have done in the past 43 years that your boys in Toronto haven't.

And like someone else mentioned, Quebec basically used blue and white for their time in the league. There was hardly any red in it. Come to think of it, the Jets looked pretty similar to Toronto for a while too. Should I be all pissed off about Phoenix or Carolina trying to emulate Detroit's look? Maybe I would be, but I'm too busy enjoying a watchable, competitive team!

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