Wild 3rd (Officially) Unveiled!
Sunday · Aug 30 · 2009 | 12:31 PM PDT
As promised, the Minnesota Wild officially unveiled their brand new third jersey today to fans at the State Fair. The sweater was first leaked by Icethetics on Tuesday.
The new official pictures from the Wild offer us a better look at the new crest. Elements from it — such as the new stylized "M" — are set to make their way onto a bunch of new merchandise this season.
Here's a closer look at the front from the team's official photo gallery.
;)
Minnesota Wild third jersey (photos by Bruce Kluckhohn)
In the previous leak, we never actually got to see what that "M" really looks like. Now that we have, I'm not so sure about it. It may grow on me but it just feels more Wild West than Minnesota hockey at the moment.
;)
Back of new third jerseyThe new third makes use of the same numbering and lettering style seen on the red home jersey — the old third. You can see an example on jersey model Derek Boogaard here to the right.
This whole uniform very much lacks red — a plus, if I'm the one being asked. You see it very sparingly on the new crest and right at the collar behind the laces. Technically it's also on the gloves as well but that's just because players aren't going to get new gloves every time they wear a different jersey.
Even the socks are devoid of red, as you saw the in the leaked pictures this past week. The Wild's release had this to say about the new sweaters.
Based in the Wild’s Forest Green with Wheat trim and a hint of Iron Range Red, the jersey’s classic sports look was the overwhelming favorite of Wild fans surveyed during the summer of 2008. The jersey crest features a script “Minnesota” with “WILD” emblazoned below. The script look, including the classic “M”, harkens back to historic Minnesota teams of the past including Minneapolis and Saint Paul teams of the 1930s and 1940s. The familiar “north star” element, borrowed from the primary Wild logo, dots the “I” and adds a decorative detail to the stylized “M”.
“We wanted to provide our fans with a new look and feel for our third uniform that is uniquely Minnesota and true to our brand — authentic, classic, contemporary and truly worthy of The State of Hockey,” said John Maher, Vice President of Brand Marketing.
The new third jersey was designed by New York City-based SME and produced by Reebok, the exclusive provider of jerseys to all NHL clubs. SONY is proud to partner with the Wild for the introduction of the third jersey. Look for SONY high-definition displays throughout Xcel Energy Center beginning this fall.
Minnesota will debut the jerseys on Wednesday, Oct. 21 against the Colorado Avalanche on FOX Sports North and wear them 15 times this season (13 home games and two road contests). The Wild will continue to wear their original white jerseys for most road matches and their Iron Range Red jerseys for the remaining home games.
When/if the team releases a full third jersey schedule, look for it here on Icethetics.
Overall, it's an incredibly well-designed third uniform and should rank among the likes of the Penguins and Sabres in terms of current alternates. It may well rank among the best third jerseys in NHL history.
I'd like to do a complete ranking of all-time NHL third jerseys later this year after all of this year's new ones have been unveiled. Let THN try to stomp all over our turf, but nobody does logo/jersey tournaments better than Icethetics!
Reader Comments (49)
looks a little tight in one full-body shot, but i have to say : this is a gorgeous and well-designed jersey. it's nice to see the flyers with orange, penguins with powder blue, wild with the dark green returning some COLOR to the game. When you add the flyers orange, penguins blue, oilers third with royal blue and orange, ditto for the Islanders, Devils going back to the green for a game (which to me will slowly go from 1 game to 5 to 10 to alternate...), Sabres and Blues alternates, the Chicago Blackhawks using their throwback...it's really starting to look like a much more colorful and bold league...
which leads me to believe that RBK is not to blame for all the new jerseys' faults. seems like a lack of intuition / imagination and spirit was more pervasive.
Few things to hope for in seasons to come:
1. Toronto fixes their jerseys and / or goes with the white alternate with the multi-point leaf (gorgeous jersey) for 75 % of their games (it looks that good...use it anywhere).
2. Boston sees how popular a brown and yellow or gold-based jersey will be and changes their boring black thirds with them...or at least use a gold template for the present third...
3. Edmonton fixes their jerseys and / or gets the white version of their alt
4. NYI gets the white version of their alt.
5. The thrashers get a complete makeover and keep only the color maroon/ brown
6. Purple jersey for the Kings
7. Dallas Stars get a complete revamp
I have to say, I like the jersey- especially the green! :D
i would buy that; but im a canucks fan so ....yeah
anyway i seemed to notice that icethetics is now 19/19 for third jersey leaks. NO mistakes
The new Minnesota Wild third jersey IS entirely "Minnesota Hockey" and one of a bit of a history lesson. The jerseys logo and specifiacally "western M" is right out of the pages of Minnesota Hockey History modeled after the older Minneapolis Millers hockey teams sweaters, and older St. Paul Saints. See here.
"i would buy that; but im a canucks fan so ....yeah"
Agreed friend, agreed. Sometimes I wish they didn't hate us as much so we could by their jerseys.
"Ladies and gentlemen... your Anaheim Ducks!!!... Errrr.... ummmm... I mean... Minnesota Wild!! A-hem. COMPLETELY different looking logo's. Yes. Totally different. oi"
Simply a MASSIVE improvement over the god-awful eye torture they currently wear.
Huge kudos on the subtle nod to the North Stars. I don't think fans would object to the Wild using more references to the previous MN team.
I agree with a couple of people:
1. The Kings NEED to go back to Forum Blue and Gold. Nuff said.
2. This looks A LOT like the Ducks old 3rd jersey from the season before the lockout.
3. The stylized "M" is awesome. Nicely done, Minnesota. You went from one of the worst logos in the NHL, to something a lot more classy. I'm impressed.
I certainly prefer the Wild animal/scenic logo they have used since they were brought into the league a whole lot better. Single handedly the BEST logo in the league wasted with words....
That jersey is fantastic! Except for the baseball logo.
BEAUTIFUL!
Awesome. Love it, logo and all. In fact, I really like the logo. Just very well designed. North Stars nod with the stars, well chosen font, nice use of the red letters and stars....
I can think of a few teams that need to hire the Wild's graphic design team.
And as for the comment on Atlanta earlier in the thread, sue me, I like a lot of their stuff. Get rid of the damn number on the third and it turns into a fresh, original design with a unique color scheme and pattern that's really not overdone and screwy (See Ottawa if you want a blocking scheme that falls under overdone, screwy and evil). I've always liked the Baby blues, like them more with the hem stripe though.
Whites aren't that good though. That one falls under "bad color blocking".
HATE the shooting stars on this jersey. C'mon, they aren't the Minnesota North Stars. They need to get away from another franchise's history.
Other than that, this is a great jersey. The original green jersey was all green and very little white and red. It was basically the same as Columbus' third jersey at the time, with a shoulder trim, one that you could tell was a shoulder trim, the same color as the body. This jersey has the perfect amount of white, the perfect amount of red (so it doesn't look like a Christmas tree), and the perfect stripes. Not too wild about the shoulder piping from the Canes' jersey, but this looks nice.
It seems like the red and green gloves are going to be out of place. I mean, there is hardly any red. I guess we will have to wait till they're on the ice to really make a decision.
And MJP, the Stars aren't going to do a complete revamp. That would be absurd for any team to do two years after the total revamp the just had and during this economic condition since part of creating a new style is the jerseys/merchandise sales. They aren't going to have good sales if they debut a completely new style now. What is actually logical is to drop the current third for this year and come out with a much different, better one next year.
My points from when this Jersey was leaked still stand. However, the overall look has grown on me a little more. Seeing the details of the logo has made the score change.
Overall, 3.5 Out of 5.
The only thing stopping it from being a 4 (or better) is...
1. It's still a Wordmark Jersey.
& 2. It doesn't have "enough" to do with the team's identity as the "Wild." Using the Wild's primary on the shoulders could have changed that for me.
That is a really nice jersey, I like the classic look and the text logo on the front, very nice!
Looking at the 3rd schedule, if the Wild are going to wear their third twice on the ROAD, then isn`t there a chance that they play Detroit in the Wing`s Winter Classic jersey? Considering that most games where a 3rd is played on the road usually matches the home team`s 3rd jersey (white), the only team that really does that is Toronto, meaning there has to be one more team.
Just speculation. This could also be a home wearing a road uniform on such an occasion.
The jersey looks great! I just wish they would lose thier green hockey pants and to with black pants,,they would look so much better than,and lose all the red too!
The creators of this third jersey also created the mighty ducks third jersey logo from 05-06, maybe that is why they look alike.
I just noticed that this jersey doesn't have a shoulder patch. Kinda unusual, since the other teams that don't have a shoulder patch (like the Ducks and Red Wings) don't have another logo to put there. The Wild have some other logos, such as the road jersey crest, the home jersey crest, and the wordmark on their white jersey. They could've put something there just to fill up the space. I wouldn't mind to see the bear head on there.
I really dig it. I think they finally hit the nail on the head in Minnesota.
I'm not 100% sold on the baseball-jersey look. The cowboy ''M'' bugs me also.
Love it.
I love it. Beautiful script and striping
I have to say it's not perfect, but it is definitely designed with consumers in mind.
When I design jerseys and logos, I often think of the kid or college student who will adorn it in public. It has to look somewhat fashionable and not too garish or loud. I think this design succeeds, even though it might not register 100% on the ice or a TV broadcast.
The Wild will rake in the coin.
Ian : While I basically agree with your point, to use another writer's words, the Stars unis are "garish." Agree? You do do a redesign if your consumers are unhappy, and I already see a petition to return to green . When you have an interesting design and color scheme (i think dallas and colorado), why change them drastically? It's not like the Stars have an interesting scheme now. Black and gold? Wow. Sadly, black, white, gold and green can work...or black and a lighter green, but they went safe , and they turned a once-recognizable and interesting jersey into modern dreck. That's why you do a redesign. Because the new jerseys simply do not work.
PS:
Can we at least utilize green on the home jersey for Dallas?
Can we at least write "Stars" if nothing else for the home jersey for Dallas?
Can we at least get a horizontal line / design to break up the very simple and plain T-shirt look?
Have you ever thought of this ... as far as i know...hockey is the only sport with "loose" jerseys...possibly a reason they are so appealing. Baseball is tucked in with belt. Basketball is supposed to be tucked in to the shorts. The football one kinda meets at the pants. Hockey jerseys truly flap around and go untucked. Because of this, you NEED some sort of visual demarcation that the jersey is ending. It looks as ridiculous as if Michael Young walked around with an untucked uniform. It would look sloppy. MLB jerseys have the same cut as the NHL jerseys...but you don't see it b/c it's tucked in and looks visually appealing.
http://getitnext.typepad.com/hockey/images/2007/09/28/dallas_stars_3.jpg
look at these things. Gross
Nice jersey, Better than I thought it would be based on the leak.
The Wild's new jersey is elegant in its simplicity. Whereas the Stars' shirts are just plain BLAND.
I like that they've gone with a straight elbow section. While the version that's narrower on the inside and friggin' fat on the outside may have seemed like a good idea at the time, there really doesn't seem to be that much of a practical benefit, and the straight stripes look far better than the contoured stripes, IMHO.
And they really should bring the full, square cut back to the bottoms of the jerseys. There is no good reason whatsoever to have that ridiculous shirt cut. I was disappointed when the Rangers stopped their square-tail rebellion....
BUT CHRIS YOU HATE WORDMARKS
RE: the THN jersey tourney.
Any ranking/tourney done by icethetics would easily be better than the THN thing. Did you see their rankings/reasonings for the WCHA?
Yep, its the old Mighty Ducks jersey from 2004
Yeah, it's pretty clear that this was designed by the same firm that did the Ducks '05-'06 jersey. Not a big fan of wordmarks, but that Ducks third was AMAZING compared to the garbage they're wearing these days. PS) I am a Ducks fan and I hate my life. Spending $200 on their new sweater was one of the most painful moments of my life.
Great looking sweater. Love the green. I personally think that forest green and red look great together. Look at the Milwaukee Bucks uniforms. Something different. However, I feel that it's time to get rid of the NHL's worst team name. Get a deal going with Dallas and get the North Stars' name, trademark, and history back. Have Dallas be known as the Lone Stars. Just like baseball has both the Red Sox AND the White Sox. The Lone Stars and the North Stars. Now, that would work.
Trevor, just because it has a script wordmark does not mean it's the same firm.
And really, that's pretty much the only similarity.
And the hem design is to make it long enough to keep it from getting caught inside the pants will allowing room the legs to move with the tighter jersey. Honestly, they don't go down far enough for that to be an issue though, but that's the reasoning.
"Trevor, just because it has a script wordmark does not mean it's the same firm.
And really, that's pretty much the only similarity."
I was just quoting another user on here who said they were from the same firm. Also, they have another obvious similarity: the drawstrings on the neckline. But yeah, besides the identical wordmark and drawstrings, they look nothing alike...
Also, I agree with Andre. "Wild" is one of the worst names created for an expansion team in any of the "Big Four" in the last decade. North Stars and Lone Stars would be awesome... I think the Lone Stars would look sharp in Red, White and Blue unis that incorporated the Texas State Flag into the logo...
I like the new jersey and the restrained use of red. The only question I have is why was it designed in - as the salsa commercial used to say - "New York City?!"
I don`t like it. What`s with the text in all these third jerseys. Plain and bland. It`s almost as bad as Dallas with text and a number below it. What`s wrong with teams using the artists out there to make a unique logo, and thinking of something original?
I agree with Mike. It's classic college hockey at it's best! Or MLB.
Stick to logos, NHL.
Couldn't help but gander at this jersey again. So now the NHL is incorporating a 'baseball' look into it's sweaters?? Good grief....... what next? Really wish Reebok would just go away, and bring us the CCM jerseys which truly made this a hockey league full of tradition. It's all slowly disapating.
Take a look at this website. It shows a lot of vintage jerseys from the Minneapolis Millers and the St. Paul teams. I think a lot of went into the Minnesota script logo is pretty neat when you look at all these older jerseys.
Only thing I like is the color. The forest green is Minnesota's color. I love the red full time home jersey, but I would prefer that jersey to be the forest green from this jersey.
The logo is too baseball-ish. And I find it lame and lazy for a team to simply use text as a logo rather than an actual logo. Granted, this is a 3rd jersey and isn't as tough to accept as the Anaheim Ducks and Dallas Stars home jersey, but I just don't like text logos period. And this one mainly because it's not a hockey logo, it's a baseball logo.
I like it. I have to say all the 3rd jerseys I've seen for this year look great. Can't wait to see the Devils' "Christmas Sweater"!! ;-)
I like it! After seeing it in a game, and then seeing the Avs one - this one rocks! They went 100% for old-school and pulled it off. Great job!
Maybe the Avs should have hired that SME firm?
the wild 3rd's look good on the ice I must admit. I finally see a team that doesn't look embarrassing (wardrobe speaking of course) However, the other two uniforms are a mess. The logo needs to be simplified, and the name violates the two golden rules of nicknames:
1.) it doesn't end in "s." (tense sounds odd.)
2.) it's not something you can hold, touch or feel. it's some amorphous thought.
Look at the original six, it's not that hard. Well, maybe it is.
the new wild jerseys are ok but thay just look old doent get me rong i like them and the team is awsom
but thay doent eaven have the right wild collors on them. thay should also pute the wild logo on them.
I'm a Penguins fan but this is my favorite 3rd jersey. Also, the Pens are getting a new third jersey soon, possibly the darker blue.