Caps GM Says No Third Jersey

Washington Capitals fans may not be happy about this news — I guess, depending on your stand with regard to third jerseys. On Monday some information I received seemed to indicate the Capitals might be among the teams with third jerseys this season. But according to the team's general manager, that is not the case.

Washington Post writer Tarik El-Bashir wrote in his blog Capitals Insider that GM George McPhee said his team won't be wearing an alternate sweater anytime soon.

As you might have heard, the Capitals won't be among the 18 teams introducing a third jersey this season. But it might not happen next season, or the season after that, either, if McPhee has his way.

"We just came up with these jerseys a year ago and we're still building equity in them," he said. "Personally, I'm not a third jersey fan. Half the time, you don't know who is playing out there. So I'm in no rush to do it."

So if you were among those hoping for a blue "Weagle" jersey — keep dreaming. It sounds like there's no possibility of a third until at least 2010.

Thanks to James for the tip!

IHA Poll: Vancouver Dynamo

Cast your vote and leave a comment about your decision. Then tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Starts Fri Aug 22
Ends Mon Aug 25

Catching Up On News

It seems I've been slacking a little this week when it comes to news coverage. I really try to stay on top of this for you guys so here's a wrap-up some of what's going on.

The Buffalo Sabres became the first team in my book to bring the new third jerseys into their marketing campaign. This ad began appearing on their official web site this week.

This comes after Sunday's announcement of a sweater unveiling ceremony to be held on September 20.

…
On Monday the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins — better known as the baby Pens to fans — unveiled their new third jersey. Yes, even the AHL is going that route this year.

credit: wbspenguins.com

No word on whether the green plaid shorts will be part of the official uniform.…
The WHL's Prince George Cougars unveiled a new logo on Wednesday.

credit: pgcougars.com

You may remember the Cougars saw a first-round exit courtesy of the Regina Pats in the WHL Tournament of Logos back in March. Perhaps this logo will give them a better shot at advancing further in the future.

Such a cute kitty.

There you have it. Sometimes I think it's just better to get it out all at once.

Finding Lost Logos

Tuesday's post about blogger James Gordon finding unreleased logos in public trademark filings and an email from JP at Japers' Rink got me thinking about what other hidden gems might be out there on the United States Patent & Trademark Office's web site. Now I think "gems" is misleading because, by and large, logos that were trademarked but never used probably weren't that good in the first place.

Even one that was trademarked and will be used wasn't that good. I'm of course referring to the Kings.

That got me thinking about the one other team who is supposed to be getting a new logo for their third jersey — the Blues. And we haven't seen anything from them yet. So I did a search. Unfortunately, it seems they haven't filed yet. However, I did find one interesting wordmark.

A Blues fan would have to let me know if this was used or not at any point. But I don't remember ever seeing it. I believe it dates back to the days of the trumpet logo you see on the right. That was a secondary logo worn as a shoulder patch during the Gretzky days when the team introduced red into the uniform.

I did like that trumpet logo a lot though, for what it's worth.

Moving on now to the Capitals. Here's a logo we have seen before here.

And here's one we haven't.

This is what JP pointed out to me in the first place. Last year he wrote up a post about these two logos. He didn't like either and while I know my opinion doesn't count for anything, I have to say I really like the one on the right.

Yeah, it has text in it and all that, but if you can look beyond it's major flaw, I think it's a very balanced and well-designed logo. Shame it never saw the light of day.

And finally, I have to bring it all back to my Tampa Bay Lightning.

This logo was trademarked by the Bolts but never used — thankfully. I first saw it at Boltsmag a few years back.

If you guys find anything else of interest, let me know and I'll post it.

UPDATE (8/22 1:02 AM): All right, this is incredible. Not only were both of those Blues logos used, a reader emailed in a picture of a banner that features both on a hockey mask — together!

How cool is that?

IHA Poll: Seattle Metropolitans

Cast your vote and leave a comment about your decision. Then tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Starts Thu Aug 21
Ends Sun Aug 24

IHA Poll: San Jose Express

Cast your vote and leave a comment about your decision. Then tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Starts Wed Aug 20
Ends Sat Aug 23

Logos Revealed In Public Docs

A rather industrious reporter for the Ottawa Citizen may have found some new third jersey logos. In his blog Hockey Capital, James Gordon writes, "Potential new logos and third jersey centrepieces are starting to trickle out of public document filings in the lead-up to the 2008/2009 NHL season and I've posted a few here for your perusal."

The new image we haven't seen before is this one, which appears to be the Los Angeles Kings logo described by Howard Berger last month.

He said, "The Kings will unveil a predominantly black jersey with the letters 'LA' inside a pencil-point logo on the front." If he's right, this appears to be our winner.

This concept jersey I posted a few days later is the closest yet.

It doesn't end there. A logo he found for the Coyotes all but confirms the logos I posted here and here.

Though this is the black and white version. I really love that logo, by the way.

And for whatever it's worth, Gordon also had this logo for the Edmonton Oilers' 30th anniversary celebration.

My unending appreciation goes to Greg at Puck Daddy for the tip as well as continuing to pimp Icethetics!

IHA Poll: Portland Rebels

Cast your vote and leave a comment about your decision. Then tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Starts Tue Aug 19
Ends Fri Aug 22

On-Ice Dates For Third Jerseys

This isn't official, but I felt it newsworthy considering it could be. A reader sent me an email he says he received — from where I do not know — regarding the release dates of this season's new third jerseys. And I know how you all just love third jersey news.

The email contained information regarding the date the jerseys will make their on-ice debut as well as when retailers will get delivery. The dates differ because the teams "get a certain time frame of exclusivity." The majority of the jerseys hit the ice in November so I'll imagine I'll be pretty busy here at that time.

Carolina Hurricanes
Releases Sunday, September 21 (at Caniac Carnival)
Retailers get it Friday, September 26

Edmonton Oilers
Hits the ice Sunday, October 12 (vs Colorado)
Retailers get it Thursday, November 20

New York Islanders
Hits the ice Saturday, November 1 (vs Montreal)
Retailers get it Thursday, November 6

Atlanta Thrashers
Hits the ice Friday, November 14 (vs Carolina)
Retailers get it Saturday, November 15

Vancouver Canucks
Hits the ice Saturday, November 15 (vs Toronto)
Retailers get it Thursday, November 20

Dallas Stars
Releases Tuesday, November 18 (no game)
Retailers get it Sunday, November 23

St. Louis Blues
Hits the ice Friday, November 21 (vs Anaheim)
Retail delivery TBD

Los Angeles Kings
Hits the ice Saturday, November 22 (vs Colorado)
Retailers get it Friday, November 28

Ottawa Senators
Hits the ice Saturday, November 22 (vs NY Rangers)
Retailers get it Friday, November 28

San Jose Sharks
Hits the ice Saturday, November 22 (vs Washington)
Retailers get it Thursday, November 27

Buffalo Sabres
Hits the ice Wednesday, November 26 (vs Boston)
Retailers get it Tuesday, December 2

Tampa Bay Lightning
Hits the ice Wednesday, November 26 (vs NY Rangers)
Retailers get it Friday, November 28

Philadelphia Flyers
Hits the ice Friday, November 28 (vs Carolina)
Retailers get it Wednesday, December 3

Phoenix Coyotes
Hits the ice Friday, November 28 (vs Colorado)
Retail delivery TBD

The following teams were listed in the email without any dates: Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Washington Capitals. And that's where things get interesting because this is the first time we're hearing of a Capitals third jersey. But this is all the information I have on them.

I've got a couple of other notes. The dates above for the Oilers seem strange to me too but I'm just posting what I have. The Thrashers, Lightning and Sabres all had asterisks next to their names on the list but I assume the email was truncated because there were no explanations for them. So I'm not quite sure what that means.

Speaking of the Sabres, you'll note that on-ice date for their third jersey is said to be November 26 despite the fact that they've announced they will be unveiling them prior to the pre-season on September 20. We'll see if these dates continue to hold up.

That's all for now. Should I learn anything new, you can count on me to let you know.

From The Ground Up, Part 2

We're moving forward with the fictional Icethetics-based hockey league I mentioned last Sunday. From those of you that voted, 69% are in favor of creating and branding a fake hockey league and 59% of you think it should be strictly set in North America.

Next, you're going to decide how many teams this North American-based league will have and how it will be divided up. I've created five scenarios that you can now vote on in the pollbar. They are as follows:

36 teams
2 conferences / 6 divisions
The 2 conferences will each be made up of 3 divisions. Each division will have 6 teams, meaning 18 in each conference.

32 teams
2 conferences / 4 divisions
The 2 conferences will each be made up of 2 divisions. Each division will have 8 teams, meaning 16 in each conference.

30 teams
2 conferences / 6 divisions
The 2 conferences will each be made up of 3 divisions. Each division will have 5 teams, meaning 15 in each conference.

27 teams
3 conferences / 6 divisions
The 3 conferences will each be made up of 2 divisions. Each conference will have 9 teams, meaning 4 or 5 in each division.

24 teams
2 conferences / 6 divisions
The 2 conferences will each be made up of 3 divisions. Each division will have 4 teams, meaning 12 in each conference.

I threw in the 27-team option just for something different — an odd number of teams, conferences and uneven divisions. I'm assuming most of you will just want as many teams as you can get and go for the 36 — and that's fine too.

None of it is set in stone. If you have a better idea, write it in the comments. The only thing I'd like to hold to is the maximum number of teams at 36 and minimum number at 24. I think 40 is too many and 20 is too few. Other than that, if you have a better idea of how they should be divided up, I'd love to hear it.

The poll will remain open until Saturday afternoon. Next week I imagine we'll move on to deciding which cities will get teams. Happy voting!