Original 6 dress up. Let's talk about it.

[twi]

What's ridiculous is thinking it's something worth lying over...

Anyway, there's the truth. Believe it or not. Doesn't make any difference to me. Excited for work because we're getting first batch of Bauer's new jerseys. Supposed to be head and shoulders above RBK, and from a retail standpoint that would be much welcomed.

[IceCap]

What's ridiculous is thinking it's something worth lying over...

I don't think anyone's calling you a liar. What you don't seem to get, though, is that your dealings with people who know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what they want does not equate to "no one's ever gotten these two uniforms confused." I tell you that a good deal of posters here say that Leafs/Lightning games look like inter-squad scrimmages (something you could confirm for yourself with a simple search) and you write it off as people overreacting. Yet someone questions your own anecdotal evidence and you claim that we're all wrong. Sorry, that's not how it works. We're both dealing with stories based on reactions we've seen. Hell, here's one more for you. A friend of mine, he's been a hockey fan his whole life. And he's never given the Tampa Bay Lightning a second thought until just recently, when he said some not very nice things about them. His reasoning? "They stole our uniforms." Guy's working on his second Masters degree at the moment, he's no airheaded hockey mom.

My larger point being that your stories about "no one ever confusing" these two looks is no more or less valid then my stories of people who complain they're way to similar. I'm not calling you a liar. I'm just saying that the overall opinion on the topic is not necessarily reflected in your sampling of interactions at your job.

Another thing you need to consider is that you're dealing with people who can handle the two sweaters themselves on a rack right in front of them. They can take a second or two to confirm which is which. That's completely different from watching the two teams play each other on television, while the game's moving at a very fast pace. You're right, people should be able to tell the teams apart. Simply knowing who's the home team would solve that problem. That doesn't discount the idea that the two uniforms are way more similar then they should be though.

[El Scorcho]

The new logo is far and away the best logo in franchise history. The old logos were terrible.

The best in franchise history? It looks like it was slapped together in 5 minutes so the "designers" at SME could get an early lunch... The break in the circle is laughable and looks like they couldn't decide on whether to make 2 or 3 dimensional. Adding "Tampa Bay" to the top of the road version makes it look even more amateur. Overall, it's hard to imagine SME spending more than 10 minutes on this logo package including the jerseys.

Even if I totally agreed with this post, it's still much, much nicer than anything they had before. The old lightning logos were some of the worst in the NHL.

[IceCap]

The new logo is far and away the best logo in franchise history. The old logos were terrible.

The best in franchise history? It looks like it was slapped together in 5 minutes so the "designers" at SME could get an early lunch... The break in the circle is laughable and looks like they couldn't decide on whether to make 2 or 3 dimensional. Adding "Tampa Bay" to the top of the road version makes it look even more amateur. Overall, it's hard to imagine SME spending more than 10 minutes on this logo package including the jerseys.

Even if I totally agreed with this post, it's still much, much nicer than anything they had before. The old lightning logos were some of the worst in the NHL.

The first one was downright amateur, I'll give you that. The second one was a valiant attempt to make the design work. Still, either logo that incorporated the bolt and the state of Florida would have worked very well as a primary.

Of the current logos, the primary is a mess. It's trying to be two very different things, and failing at both. It wants to be simple and "iconic" like the Leafs' or Wings' logos, but it also wants to have a modern skewing effect. The end result is that the logo looks like it was run over by a steamroller.

I know people here have a knee jerk reaction to roundel logos, but I think the one the Lightning use as their alternate mark would make for a much better primary. The simple "bolt in a circle" design with no skewing makes it an instant improvement over what they're wearing as their primary currently.

So I guess the Lighting have always had subpar primary logos compared to their alternate marks.

[Sport]

There's only 30 teams in the NHL. There's no reason one should look like any other. It boggles my mind that people defend the lightning.

[Kramerica Industries]

So I guess the Lighting have always had subpar primary logos compared to their alternate marks.

That would make them an excellent NBA team, then.

[IceCap]

There's only 30 teams in the NHL. There's no reason one should look like any other. It boggles my mind that people defend the lightning.

To be fair to twi he did say that he would prefer the current look with more silver and black. Which I think we can all agree would be a step in the right direction. I don't get the "they don't look like the Leafs" arguments though. Especially when the people who designed the current set named the Leafs as one of their inspirations. They look like the Leafs. That was by design. And you're right. There's no reason for it. Not when they had a unique colour scheme all to themselves for years.

What we have here is another example of what's wrong with hockey fans; the constant need to divide "them" from "us". In no other sport do you hear things as ridiculous as teams needing to base their look upon when they started playing.

If you think that's a hockey-only problem then you're not paying attention. You see similar augments and divisions in NCAA football/NFL, NBA, and MLB threads.

Off the top of my head there are people saying the Diamondbacks should wear the very 90s colour scheme of teal and purple because they're a 90s expansion team. Or people saying the renamed Hornets should embrace the late 80s/early 90s aesthetic the original team had. So yeah, this isn't a hockey problem.

[Lee.]

There's only 30 teams in the NHL. There's no reason one should look like any other. It boggles my mind that people defend the lightning.

It boggles my mind that the NHL Marketing Squadron approved that uniform change.

[MDGP]

There's only 30 teams in the NHL. There's no reason one should look like any other. It boggles my mind that people defend the lightning.

It boggles my mind that the NHL Marketing Squadron approved that uniform change.

It's a league run by Gary Bettman. I feel like that alone is enough of an explanation as to how it got approved.

[IceCap]

I just mean in the sense that there is absolutely no argument over whether Carolina or Tampa Bay fall into the O6DU category, but some people (including the OP) have been arguing that Dallas don't because no O6 team wears green.

As I said before, the three teams rebranded with a very similar design philosophy in mind. I don't think Tampa Bay and Carolina should be dragged through the mud and Dallas lauded when really, all three teams decided to go with O6 inspired, simplified, predominantly one solid colour and traditionally striped designs.

As I pointed out earlier simple striping does not equate to "O6DU." Go to nhluniforms.com and click any league view from the early or mid 1990s. Everyone's got basic, traditional striping. No one's saying all of those teams are copying the Original Six. Likewise Dallas gets a pass because their striping pattern isn't enough to be "O6DU." They use a traditional striping pattern, sure, but so did the 1992 San Jose Sharks. The Stars' unique kelly green colour scheme is enough to keep them from aping an Original Six team's look. Which is exactly what Tampa Bay and, to a lesser extent, Carolina did.

[BBTV]

Are the Flyers (original, '80s, or current) considered "traditional"? I don't think any of the O6 wore that kind of shoulder / sleeve template before, and I think only the LA Kings have used it (albeit for a short period of time) since.

[IceCap]

I think the Flyers have always been an aesthetic unto themselves.

[Kramerica Industries]

They are also to themselves with wearing orange sets for over 90% of their existence. Off the top of my head, I can't even think of another NHL team that really uses or used orange in any kind of relevant capacity.

[IceCap]

They are also to themselves with wearing orange sets for over 90% of their existence. Off the top of my head, I can't even think of another NHL team that really uses or used orange in any kind of relevant capacity.

The Pirates wore orange during their last season in Pittsburgh and their one season in Philadelphia as the Quakers. The Oilers also wore orange during their early WHA days. The Ducks and Sharks also currently use it as a trim. The Flyers have, however, mostly had the colour to themselves.

[Kramerica Industries]

Oh, the Oilers and Islanders also wear orange as a trim. Duh. Not sure how those slipped my mind.

But, yeah, we've only seen one orange sweater not worn by the Flyers in the past 30 or so years, and that was the Isles alt in the mid-'00s. And those were mercifully not revived after EDGE.

[BigBubba]

The new logo is far and away the best logo in franchise history. The old logos were terrible.

The best in franchise history? It looks like it was slapped together in 5 minutes so the "designers" at SME could get an early lunch... The break in the circle is laughable and looks like they couldn't decide on whether to make 2 or 3 dimensional. Adding "Tampa Bay" to the top of the road version makes it look even more amateur. Overall, it's hard to imagine SME spending more than 10 minutes on this logo package including the jerseys.

Yeah. I can't believe how much love that God-awful thing is getting. The other logos, while not by no means perfect, had depth and the metallic silver looked fantastic on a jersey crest. I love simplistic and traditional designs, but there needs to be a balance between old-school and modern looks. For every Leafs and Bruins there needs to be a Mighty Ducks and '90s Capitals. When you have newer teams using pre-existing elements already in use by a number of teams instead of trying to create something new to call their own, the league's creativity and overall aesthetic quality greatly suffers. To make things worse, teams are giving up their own creative, unique, great designs - Carolina, Tampa (they never quite nailed the jerseys, but they had all the tools to have a great look), Minnesota - because they feel that sporting fauxbacks is the only way to look good.