NHL 2011-2012: Possible Uniform Changes

[The_Admiral]

Funny how Leafs fans are annoyed with this while Wings fans take it as a supreme compliment from their demi-god in exile.

[murtaugh]

Shockingly, humans are not a hive mind with only one opinion.

Well, if anything, I was confirming that fact.

[IceCap]

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!

You're entire point is completely shot to hell by the fact that your blinded to the obvious by your Leafs hatred. Your entire point is lost in the tirade of Leafs bashing.

Winnipeg's look included red.

Quebec's look included a much lighter shade of blue and a predominantly red logo.

Phoenix's look uses a darker red then Detroit does, and their logo utilizes the colours sand and black.

Carolina uses black and silver in addition to red and white.

Tampa Bay, on the other hand, flat out took a colour scheme that's been the Leafs' monopoly for 86 years. You may not like me repeating the 86 years thing, but guess what sparky? That's the reality of the situation. A team with a monopoly on a colour scheme for close to a century has had their look stolen by a 90s expansion team that's thrown out their own history so they can pretend to be an Original 6 franchise.

When you're willing to comment on all of this without your (irrelevant) Leafs hate/jokes I'll discuss this with you.

[TruColor]

You're entire point is completely shot to hell by the fact that your blinded to the obvious by your Leafs hatred. Your entire point is lost in the tirade of Leafs bashing.

Winnipeg's look included red.

Quebec's look included a much lighter shade of blue and a predominantly red logo.

Phoenix's look uses a darker red then Detroit does, and their logo utilizes the colours sand and black.

Carolina uses black and silver in addition to red and white.

Tampa Bay, on the other hand, flat out took a colour scheme that's been the Leafs' monopoly for 86 years. You may not like me repeating the 86 years thing, but guess what sparky? That's the reality of the situation. A team with a monopoly on a colour scheme for close to a century has had their look stolen by a 90s expansion team that's thrown out their own history so they can pretend to be an Original 6 franchise.

When you're willing to comment on all of this without your (irrelevant) Leafs hate/jokes I'll discuss this with you.

This.

[The_Admiral]

If anything, the Jets looked too much like the Rangers, at one point having bought the Rags' abandoned stock of those awful John Ferguson sweaters.

[IceCap]

Also hectibro, it's Laefs not Laffs. If you're going to forgo making a point to ridicule my favourite team you can at least get the insult right.

[Don]

Did Stevie Y forget the team was not in the league when he started? This is completely bland and boring for an expansion team. If there was some instance of black or silver I could palette this. He just straight ripped off Detroits template (what? did he think he owned it?), yanked 2 colors from Toronto and pasted a clip art logo on it. Complete with the generic athletic font and you've got the makings for a completely unoriginal boring jersey.

Congrats Stevie Y, you've made your first bad move as GM of the Lightning and shot to hell one of the more enjoyable identities in the league.

(On the other hand, what I would kill for Tomas Fleischmann to sign there in the offseason so I can get "Flash" on the back of this jersey)

[jeh-see]

My guesses/opinions:

Atlanta - Thank god we're getting rid of the wordmarked football jersey. I have no clue what it could possibly be, but probably red and anything that they make would be better than their current junk.

Yes, i hope that thing goes away!!! Its so gross looking. The colors are ehh but the design is garbage. I would prefer this RED one coming back:

But thats just me. I know im new here but i love this website and talking about jerseys so i thought id give this a try.

on the Thrashers messageboard we have posted a ton of concepts:

The navy recoloring of the current third and the very last pic you have posted here are pretty snazzy. I really wouldn't mind if they went along a route like one of those uniforms.

UniJ

[tvko]

Ice_Cap:

Blue and white aren't some sacred color scheme that the Leafs had bestowed upon them by the benevolent hockey gods. You know how many teams use blue and white in every pro sports league? They didn't STEAL it from Toronto, did they?

Why would Tampa Bay worry about that when unveiling a new look? Toronto doesn't own those colors. They're free to use.

Don't take it personally

I think the jerseys are classy and the new logo is a major upgrade. I want to see a third, though.

[The_Admiral]

If there was some instance of black or silver I could palette this.

haha.

It's gonna suck when someone goes to a Predators-Lightning game next year and can't tell which team is Toronto. The two teams that more than any other should be decked out in Lights Out clownsuits, and they're both using blue athletic block on white or vice-versa. Florida Panthers, you are now on the clock to even further screw things up with misplaced faux-retro silliness.

[The_Admiral]

Ice_Cap:

Blue and white aren't some sacred color scheme that the Leafs had bestowed upon them by the benevolent hockey gods. You know how many teams use blue and white in every pro sports league? They didn't STEAL it from Toronto, did they?

Why would Tampa Bay worry about that when unveiling a new look? Toronto doesn't own those colors. They're free to use.

How many times does he have to say that these designs don't exist in vacuums? It doesn't matter that the Colts have the same colors as the Maple Leafs, because the Colts don't play the Maple Leafs four times a year. Seeing as this isn't baseball where you can have everyone wearing navy and red because they've been doing so for well over a hundred years, it's imperative to come up with an identity that can't be confused for anybody else's.

[TBGKon]

Anybody else starting to miss these?

Uhhhhhhhh.... NOPE. I miss the rainstorm jerseys more than I miss those bland pieces of garbage.

Agreed, really wish I could find one at a reasonable price.

[Lights Out]

The two teams that more than any other should be decked out in Lights Out clownsuits

Some call them clownsuits, I call them pieces of art.

[IceCap]

Ice_Cap:

Blue and white aren't some sacred color scheme that the Leafs had bestowed upon them by the benevolent hockey gods. You know how many teams use blue and white in every pro sports league? They didn't STEAL it from Toronto, did they?

Why would Tampa Bay worry about that when unveiling a new look? Toronto doesn't own those colors. They're free to use.

How many times does he have to say that these designs don't exist in vacuums? It doesn't matter that the Colts have the same colors as the Maple Leafs, because the Colts don't play the Maple Leafs four times a year. Seeing as this isn't baseball where you can have everyone wearing navy and red because they've been doing so for well over a hundred years, it's imperative to come up with an identity that can't be confused for anybody else's.

Good G-d Almighty, thank you.

[Lights Out]

Seeing as this isn't baseball where you can have everyone wearing navy and red because they've been doing so for well over a hundred years

The MLB has no excuse in my book. Sorry, but when the majority of the league has the exact same color scheme, something's wrong there. I don't care how long teams have been wearing red, white, and blue, it needs to be fixed.

[powersurge]

In regards to the new Lightning jerseys...I think they are fantastic.

Sorry.. but I really don't see how they "ripped off" the Maple Leafs. Yes the colors are the same but c'mon...Its not like Toronto owns simplified royal blue and white uniforms. 86 years is fine, but there aren't just 6 teams anymore. It was a lot easier to be "unique" when you were one of 6. Now there are 30. I'm sure some colors schemes are going to overlap; Its only natural.

Would I have liked to see some grey or silver trim on these unis? sure, but they are fine the way they are and I'm sure in a year or so they will grow on everyone and be fine. Remember what happened when the Tampa Bay Rays unveiled their new simplified look? I can't help but think this will be no different.

[-kj]

You're all crazy.

These are fantastic.

Sometimes I wonder if people complain just to hear their own voice, and things like this seem to confirm it.

Sure, in a vacuum, these are very sharp jerseys.

But, let's say that the Chicago Fire got rid of the white stripe across the front of their red kits, and instead went with something that very much resembled Arsenal instead. Sure, Arsenal has a (generally) very classy look. However, I get the feeling that the Fire faithful consider that stripe to be part of the team's tradition identity--even if that tradition has only existed for fifteen seasons.

That's how I feel about this redesign.

The Lightning did some unique things early on: a color scheme of black, blue, silver, and white; "victory stripes" under the arms; crazy 3-D numbering/lettering. Some of these things were off; while at the time, my teenage eyes loved the 3-D numbers, in retrospect, they're not so hot. (The Paintbrush numbers were a bad idea, too.) The logos were never quite right, though I think they got much closer with the Edge-era redesign (in fact, I think if you take "Tampa Bay" off of the current primary, you have a fine crest). The color scheme and the victory stripes have been there through every step of that process; so, nearly twenty years later, they're part of Lightning tradition, even if that tradition isn't as old as the so-called-Original Six.

I think Puckguy comes close to giving their idea the life it deserves while retaining some of what makes the Lightning--in a visual sense--the Lightning.

Sorry, Stevie: a team can't just borrow tradition; it has to make its own. Otherwise, it's likely to end up like the Kings or Canucks: a team that can never make up its mind what its identity is.

[pittfan11]

Anybody else starting to miss these?

Uhhhhhhhh.... NOPE. I miss the rainstorm jerseys more than I miss those bland pieces of garbage.

Agreed, really wish I could find one at a reasonable price.

I got a replica from another site for around $100. They pop up on Ebay once in a while for $85-100.

[IceCap]

In regards to the new Lightning jerseys...I think they are fantastic.

Sorry.. but I really don't see how they "ripped off" the Maple Leafs. Yes the colors are the same but c'mon...Its not like Toronto owns simplified royal blue and white uniforms. 86 years is fine, but there aren't just 6 teams anymore. It was a lot easier to be "unique" when you were one of 6. Now there are 30. I'm sure some colors schemes are going to overlap; Its only natural.

Except that these teams had avoided overlapping. The Lightning had a nice and unique colour scheme until they ditched it in favour of one that no other team other then the Leafs were using.

[OMMF]

Also hectibro, it's Laefs not Laffs. If you're going to forgo making a point to ridicule my favourite team you can at least get the insult right.

Quoted for the delicious ironing.