2013-2014 NHL Uniform & Logo Changes

[JTernup]

No wonder this organization has won a total of 3 Conference Finals games in its history... Absolutely incompetent. Losing the hem stripes is an instant fail, as is keeping the full bodied shark as shoulder patch… It’s the same damn logo as on the front, minus a triangle. They could have used the Fin or even the sheild with the sun would be a better alternative... At least with the front numbers they have something in common with an equally incompetent organization in the Sabres… Only thing this unveiling is good for is a hearty laugh at this team’s expense… I hope they never win a Stanley Cup.

Rant over.

LOL all this coming from a Canucks fan. The Canucks and Vancouver have been an embarrassment far greater to the NHL and civilized human life than any jersey ever could be. Don't throw stones when you live in a glass house.

As for the jerseys, I'm very disappointed. I'm glad I purchased my white jersey this past season. I actually loved the use of orange when it was balanced but now it looks awful. I hate that the stripes don't have orange above and below the middle stripe. The loss of the hem stripe and yokes are vomit inducing and I too wish the front numbers would disappear. Very very frustrating, I as a Sharks fan absolutely hate this. This is now 100% the worst we have ever looked. They actually took everything good about the last set and messed it up or removed it.

[OnWis97]

Some of you need to simmer the down. They're not bad, in fact they're really close to their original look which a lot of people have been clamoring for. Are they perfect? No. They should've ditched the stupid ass front numbers and kept a hem stripe, but other than that, they're far from the "WURST JERZEEZ EVUR!!!1!11!eleven111"

And I find it hysterical that a bunch of dumbass Canucks fans are calling the Sharks out for being incompetent and mediocre. Go choke on a d**k burn down your city again you heads.

I don't even know if anyone is calling them the among the worst ever (or current). It's just such a head-scratcher. It's that to most people it would be just so hard to think of this as anything other than a downgrade.

If I had to rank 'em, I'd probably put them closer to the middle than the bottom of the NHL, but there is just such a "why" factor, particularly with the hem stripe, which alone could make them a lot less "practice jersey" looking.

The Suns, for example, is (in my opinion) a disaster and far worse than this. But this is more confusing (and disappointing) in that it almost looks like they wanted to make them look a little cheaper.

And yeah, I am a Wild fan, and my team remains mediocre on the ice and downgrades its look every time it makes a change. That does not make me less disappointed about this.

[logo-maker]

The new Sharks jersey instantly reminded me of what happened to the Coyotes (loss of hem stripe, simplification of previous set) when they introduced their current set.

Personally, if the players felt better in the black alt, the organization should have gone all the way to mimic the design on the home and road (the simplified diagonal striping and sans hem stripe). The jerseys look very unfinished.

[Kramerica Industries]

Seriously, I threw this up before with the Suns, but it bears repeating:

why the hell do all new uniforms suck these days? It's not even a matter of "nostalgia" or any of that BS. Outside of baseball, it seems like every uniform change in North American sports the past few years has been a decided downgrade. The Sharks actually kept their hem striping after EDGE, why the hell are they ditching it now? Those are awful. The inconsistent striping doesn't help at all, either.

[Sodboy13]

A Sharks fan being irrationally, angrily defensive of a poor decision by his team? Well, I never!

[BigBubba]

Over the past 5 years, can you give me examples of good-quality modern designs? What makes up a modern design? I can really own think of one, and that's the Preds. Because you can't simply be "modern" and "new" by removing elements of a classic design. If a "modern" hockey jersey looks like this new Sharks slop, count me out. There's almost nothing to it. There's NO DESIGN, NO NOTHING. It's just the slow removal of items that made you relevant and interesting to the eye.

So I guess I'm reluctantly finding myself on the old/ stodgy side of the great uniform divide of the early 21st Century, not because I am a traditionalist who simply won't change with the times. No, no, no. Au contraire. I simply haven't been shown (outside of the Preds) a great modern design that rejects/ improves upon what came before. People might reference the Kings home jersey, but look at how improved the away is from the home. The Capitals have a similar format. It's passable, but is it really better than their current thirds? Hardly! Where are these great modern designers?

All the great modern designs came in the '90s. Take the Avalanche's inaugural set. They came up with a unique colour scheme and a creative/non-conventional striping pattern. Now they (and similar teams) have either fallen to said "21st century modern design" (in other word, Reebok's crap), or cookie-cutter, copycat designs. My hope (though it's a longshot) is that once Reebok's gone, teams will revert to the creative '90s style of aesthetics instead of the fill-tool 2000s style of aesthetics.

Ladies and gentlemen, the first team to have downgraded from their original Edge set:

I can guarantee that their hired some new-wave graphic designer who wanted a "cleaner" look and knew absolutely nothing about hockey aesthetic.

Agree. Pun intended?

Actually, no.

And this upcoming year will be the seventh under RBK Edge. This stuff shouldn't still be a "thing".

[GFB]

Of course an organization like the Sharks would believe that they were at a tactical disadvantage because of their sweater design and now have an advantage on the rest of the league. I mean, can you imagine how many cups the Canadiens would have won if they weren't wearing all those heavy stripes on their wool sweaters?

[The_Admiral]

Here I thought what was holding them back was their piss-on-a-plate roster depth. Nope! 7th rounders and undrafted NCAA players actually kick ass ONCE THEY'RE NOT BURDENED BY STRIPES!

[mmajeski06]

Even a Blue Jackets style thin hem pipe at the bottom would work better than not having anything.

[GFB]

However, this set is easily savable with two major changes: adding hem stripes and removing the front numbers. Sure there are a bunch of little things you could change as well: a better font, the fin logo on the shoulders, a better balance of orange, etc... but those two main changes would make this redeemable.

[Kevin W.]

However, this set is easily savable with two major changes: adding hem stripes and removing the front numbers. Sure there are a bunch of little things you could change as well: a better font, the fin logo on the shoulders, a better balance of no orange, etc... but those two main changes would make this redeemable.

I agree, apart from one slight adjustment.

[The_Admiral]

But the hem stripes make them slower. Maybe the front numbers make them faster. And the tie-down collar must really improve respiration. The old collars were too tight, you see. AND THAT'S WHY THEY WERE ALWAYS CHOKING!!! WOCKA WOCKA

[CS85]

Positives: They ditched the yoke, which I always found annoying

Negatives: They kept everything else.

[Kramerica Industries]

Of course an organization like the Sharks would believe that they were at a tactical disadvantage because of their sweater design and now have an advantage on the rest of the league. I mean, can you imagine how many cups the Canadians would have won if they weren't wearing all those heavy stripes on their wool sweaters?

But didn't the 'Canes also cite "sweater weight" or whatever-the-hell as a reason for their changes, too?

--

You know, just cut the sleeve stripes in half, and it's a recolored version of the atrocious Oilers EDGE set, which were sweaters that looked entirely like practice jerseys.

[Patchey13]

Some of you need to simmer the down. They're not bad, in fact they're really close to their original look which a lot of people have been clamoring for. Are they perfect? No. They should've ditched the stupid ass front numbers and kept a hem stripe, but other than that, they're far from the "WURST JERZEEZ EVUR!!!1!11!eleven111"

And I find it hysterical that a bunch of dumbass Canucks fans are calling the Sharks out for being incompetent and mediocre. Go choke on a d**k burn down your city again you heads.

Stay classy, asshat.

[poser]

This is what I wanted

[CS85]

This is what I wanted

Ah...no orange. No baseball numbers. Excellent.

[rvrdgsfn]

To me, it looks like a practice jersey. Its a shame really, the Sharks had some of the better jerseys in the NHL.

[Lights Out]

Seriously, I threw this up before with the Suns, but it bears repeating:

why the hell do all new uniforms suck these days? It's not even a matter of "nostalgia" or any of that BS. Outside of baseball, it seems like every uniform change in North American sports the past few years has been a decided downgrade. The Sharks actually kept their hem striping after EDGE, why the hell are they ditching it now? Those are awful. The inconsistent striping doesn't help at all, either.

I'd say it's been a combination of fans (i.e. customers) who won't accept anything creative or new and want every team to play fauxback dress-up, focus groups who help dumb down every uniform for mass retail, franchises who don't seem to give a crap about their visual appearance, and lazy manufacturers who force everyone into overly stitched and paneled templates that limit the types of usable designs.

And baseball has been just as bad with the downgrades as of late - the Rays, Nationals, Padres, and Diamondbacks come to mind as teams who have recently switched to uniforms utterly devoid of any uniqueness or character whatsoever. Apparently any unique color scheme that doesn't involve navy and/or red is immediately "too '90s" and must be drummed out as soon as possible.

[FiddySicks]

Some of you need to simmer the down. They're not bad, in fact they're really close to their original look which a lot of people have been clamoring for. Are they perfect? No. They should've ditched the stupid ass front numbers and kept a hem stripe, but other than that, they're far from the "WURST JERZEEZ EVUR!!!1!11!eleven111"

And I find it hysterical that a bunch of dumbass Canucks fans are calling the Sharks out for being incompetent and mediocre. Go choke on a d**k burn down your city again you heads.

Stay classy, asshat.