A Tail of a Whale
Saturday · Aug 21 · 2010 | 10:49 AM PDT
With word coming down this week that merchandise emblazoned with that classic Hartford Whalers logo is among the hottest selling in the NHL, it's only fitting that we talk about its inexorable return to professional hockey.
It's been 13 years now since the Whalers left Connecticut for Raleigh, N.C. Despite that, T-shirts, hats and jerseys with that iconic blue-and-green mark continue to sell like that of a team that just won the Stanley Cup.
Howard BaldwinHoward Baldwin is a man bent on bringing back his team. And he may get his wish sooner than we think.
In June, Icethetics reported on Baldwin's plans for Whalers Hockey Fest 2011. A day of outdoor hockey featuring Connecticut's best college teams. But he's not nearly done.
Howlings, a blog dedicated to the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack, has been following some interesting developments. Blogger Mitch Beck says Baldwin will be taking over the Wolf Pack and renaming it the Connecticut Whalers.
As many have read in local newspapers, or here on Howlings, the last hurdle has been cleared for Howard Baldwin and his Whalers Sports & Entertainment to take over operation of the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Well, it is only a matter of time now, as early as next week, that it should become official. When that happens, the Hartford Wolf Pack will be no more and the new team will be the Connecticut Whalers.
This will be a huge moment for the city of Hartford and for the players as well. With Baldwin running things there should be a renewed interest in the team and making it an event once again. Expect the team to once again start drawing big crowds and become the place to be.
Connecticut Whalers T-shirtThat was posted about a month ago. While we wait for something official, Beck at Howlings continues to stress the inevitability of the change as recently as a week ago.
[The] Greenville Road Warriors will be the new ECHL affiliate for the Rangers and the Connecticut Whalers… Technically they’re still the Hartford Wolf Pack, but that’s only a matter of time.
And even now you can buy a Connecticut Whalers T-shirt from Baldwin's website, WhalersProShop.com — complete with a brand new logo and everything. The potential new logo for a rebranded Wolf Pack franchise?
It's not a great logo, but how much can really stand up to that original HW design? Some people go years before even noticing the H in the negative space. It's a logo so great, it gets featured in a book titled Design Principles and Problems, published in 1995 and referenced by Paul Lukas on Uni Watch last December.
Whalers logo evolutionWhen the WHA folded in 1979, the New England Whalers were forced by the Boston Bruins to change their name before they could enter the NHL. That meant the need for a new logo. The following is an excerpt from Design Principles and Problems:
When Peter Good was commissioned to create a new logo for the Hartford Whalers hockey team, he was given a specific message to convey. Good's challenge was to give the H of Hartford and the W of Whalers equal billing in a design that suggests whaling and the feeling of a partnership between a dynamic team and a dynamic city.
The trial sketches and the final solution reveal Good pushing this basic idea through a variety of solutions until a design evolved that conveyed the desired message well. The first solution shown (a) was accepted by the client but unsatisfactory to Good because the H repressed by the enclosed, unfilled area was stronger than the W.
In the second sketch (b), Good softened the impact of the H by opening it to look more like harpoons than in the first solution. In the third sketch (c) he extended the attempt to soften the H, pushing the harpoons to the side. This possibility he rejected as ugly. In the fourth sketch (d) Good tried omitting the harpoons. The result balanced the W and H but was not particularly exciting.
The fifth sketch (e) reveals the sudden inspiration of using a whale's tail. Sketch after sketch followed, with Good trying to develop a more flowing interlock between the tail and the W. When he hit on the final solution, he wrote, "Eureka! Good 'W' and good 'H' living happily together."
Finally, Good notes a special effect created in the "empty" H space: Light seems to flow into the H legs from the outside, becoming trapped in glimmering optical pools of brightness at their base. This heightens the contrast between the straight-based H and the curved both of the W, giving the design an exciting look.
Stories like this always help me find inspiration when designing.
Anyway, though Baldwin might get his wish with the Wolf Pack, the chances of the NHL returning to Hartford in the near future are slim. Let's not forget the nature of expansion in the NHL over the past decade. This has been the league's most stable period since the 1960s.
Brian Favat of SB Nation Boston also makes a good point:
Thirteen years later, the primary factors that caused the Whalers to leave town — a viable market and lack of modern playing facilities — are still present. When the Whalers were in town, Hartford was the smallest market in the NHL. As Hartford straddles both the New York and Boston markets, their marketability was severely limited by geography.
In addition, Hartford still doesn't have a new hockey arena. The city's XL Center is 35 years old and there are no plans to build a new arena. The AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack ranks only 18th in the AHL in attendance, drawing a little over 4,000 fans a night.
Hartford's limited appeal as a viable NHL market isn't the city's only hurdle to overcome. Today, the city faces increased competition from cities like Kansas City, Winnipeg, Quebec and Hamilton, all vying for their own NHL franchise. Despite these obstacles, however, Baldwin remains positive about his chances.
Icethetics will continue to track any Howard Baldwin-related Whalers news, including any possible name change for the Wolf Pack.
Reader Comments (18)
There may no longer be a Hartford Whalers in the NHL and as much as most people in my area were/are and forever will be Whalers fans, but someone in Connecticut has seen how much we loved to have them here they made there own team, the Danbury Whalers. They are part of the Federal Hockey League which was created over the past year and a half. Herm Sorcher has done a tremendous job getting everyone in the community involved in the league and the team. They use all the old Whalers colors and have a pretty decent logo. The website for them is www.thedanburywhalers.com
Pretty interesting, and I hope the Whalers fans all the best, but sadly I'm not seeing Hartford getting a NHL team back anytime soon. Hartford's a great town, but there are just way, way too many other possible sites vying for an NHL team, like Seattle, Kansas City, Houston (for the size, you'd better believe the NHL is interested if possible), Hamilton, and the always fan-favorite Winnipeg that likely are more attractive alternatives for NHL teams that want to relocate (or if the NHL wants to expand). Plus, as Brian Favat said, it's smack dab in the middle between two of the most profitable NHL franchises in the guise of the Bruins and the Rangers, so getting their approval for another team in their turf is a huge hurdle to cross.
But I do agree that the Hartford Whalers logo is pretty awesome, and the Connecticut Whalers logo is pretty good, too. Nice, simple, easy to remember/identify, and conveys a strong point.
On a side note, I actually have a friend that's a Rangers/Wolf Pack fan that lives just outside Hartford that's furious at Baldwin and the hockey "fans" (as he puts it) that live in the area. He's been talking about this proposed move to become the CT Whalers for a couple weeks now, and as he puts it, it's just a cheap marketing ploy to get folks that don't know any better to suddenly start following a team that they mostly ignored over the years with the delusional prospect that the Whale might return if they start showing some support to the rebranded AHL team. In other words, he believes that Baldwin's not even serious about bringing the NHL back to town, but is just saying that to play on the hoping Whalers fans into supporting the Rangers-affiliated team that they've ignored for about a decade and for new merchandising sales. He's got no interest whatsoever to make Hartford an NHL town again.
Our conversations as of late have usually ended with me telling him to calm down.....
no new arena = no NHL. I would love to see the hartford whalers as an ahl team. I think hartford is better suited for the AHL than the modern NHL. i also worry that the drive to get bring the whalers back to hartford is drawn more by nostalgia than viability of the market. i used to go to whalers games when the arena was less than half full. games against the bruins at the civic center drew more bruins fans than whalers fans.
All that great logo work replaced by a hockey puck being flushed down a toilet.
Probably one of the nicest logos ever designed... and I've never even seen them play.
I believe the city of Hartford still has rights to the original name and logo. In that case, why not give Baldwin permission to use the originals? It would be one of the best-selling jerseys in the AHL.
It's kind of annoying to keep hearing this bunk about potential teams needing permission from other markets to set up shop because they are "in their territory" when they are clearly NOT.
Fact: If Hartford wanted a team they would not need the permission of the Rangers or the Bruins.
According to the NHL Constitution:
Section 4, Territorial Rights defines a team's home territory as "exclusive territorial rights in the city in which it is located and within 50 miles of that city's corporate limits."
Hartford is clearly not in the territory of the Bruins. Copps coliseum is not in the Sabres territory either and Hamilton could conceivably build an arena slightly west of the city to skirt the issue with the Leafs.
Hartford whalers brand was genius, the simple color ,perfect logo and howe! People who enjoy old school logos for simplicity will always flock to buy whalers gear. Even now when its harder to come by but still is a hot commodity this logo stands up to the beauty of an original six logo A feat that many other newer logos could not compare. Among modern logos that stand up against the original six are St. Louis, Philly and the Whalers. When will teams look back to move forward in simplifying their brands? Other than using new design techniques that don't stand the test of time and become fads. Being a Vancouverite I've seen my share of logos come and go and fail to embody the impression of the team.
Favat is wrong: Hartford was not the smallest market in the league when it left; Buffalo is much smaller. Quebec City and Winnipeg are also much smaller. Raleigh is around the same size, and only when expanded to include other cities in an area the size of Connecticut does it exceed Hartford. If Hartford is combined with Springfield, Mass and New Haven, it's a market of about 2 million people. The Whalers just never really tried to enter the New Haven and Fairfield County markets as they should have.
The wealth of a market is also important, and the Hartford area is one of the wealthiest in the country, along with a strong corporate base. The population and companies of Fairfield County also await some wooing, as the New York teams are all City, Westchester, Long Island, and Jersey oriented. The market isn't to blame; the league just doesn't want a team there.
Someone is right about Hartford not being within the territorial rights of New York or Boston. And Rangers assistant GM/Wolf Pack GM Jim Schoenfeld has frequently said the Rangers would NOT stand in the way of the Whalers or any other NHL team wanting to play in Hartford. And don't ever question Baldwin's wish to have another NHL team. He reportedly has bent over backwards to get control of the Wolf Pack's off-ice actitivites but has been thwarted on several fronts, most notably Gottesdiener, who has proven to be a disaster for hockey in Hartford. Even Whalers Booster Club members have told me they saddled up to the wrong horse during the bidding for XL Center and Rentschler Field control three years ago.
@EL - You're correct in pointing out that Hartford isn't in the officially defined exclusive territory of either the Bruins or the Rangers. However, any relocation/expansion plan would need to be approved by the NHL Board of Governors, and you'd better believe that the Bruins and the Rangers would definitely do their best to throw a wrench in any plan to bring a team to Hartford again and would likely hold enough sway to get enough teams to agree to block any such move. The same would likely be the case if a team tried to move into Hamilton or even Quebec City, as you'd better believe that the Leafs and the Habs view their respective provinces (sans the area immediately around Ottawa) as their turf as well, even if both cities are further away than 50 miles away from their cities. Heck, the Maple Leafs are likely the main reason why Jim Balsillie wasn't allowed to buy the Coyotes (or the Preds or the Pens) as he wanted to move them to Hamilton, which is something that the Leafs absolutely do not want.
Just because Hartford's not in their officially defined territory doesn't mean that the Bruins and the Rangers don't view CT as their turf. Same's true for the way that the Leafs look at the rest of Ontario and the Habs likely look at the rest of Quebec.
I love how when the logo was turned on it's side...BAM!
Binghamton Whalers.
A lot of people talk about the "original six", well for me, it will always be about the "amazing 21", when the divisions had cool names, and all the teams looked great. As a kid I enjoyed drawing all the team logos, and the Whalers were a favorite to do. Just a brilliant logo that looked every bit as timeless as the other Adams Division teams.
I think that's something that is lost on teams: if a logo is not simple, it is hard to recognize and worse, hard to reproduce for fans. You have to think of the signage, the face paint, the little things.
I remember trying to draw the Florida Panthers logo - heck no.
It would be great if the "Hartford Whalers" could live on in another league, I wouldn't see it as a demotion, but a resurrection. The Moose should also be called the Jets, imho.
I made a concept like what BRETT said, but made the w into a C.
The Habs won't stand in the way of the return of the Nordiques.
Here's hoping that Baldwin doesn't manage to run another NHL team into bankruptcy.
The state of conn. has the #1 per capita income in the country,look it up...Hartford,newhaven,are the 30th largest tv market in the country look it up....so according to my calculation,it is a suitable home for an nhl team,wich I remind you,there is no pro team in any sport there....and like the other person stated,Hartford was and is its own market and don't news approval from the bruins or rangers......we will be back in the nhl,
Well, you're right about it taking some people years to notice the H in the dead space in the Whalers' logo...I've been aware of the Whalers' logo for a good 20 years now and just noticed it TONIGHT, after you mentioned it.
As a hockey fan from Des Moines, I've held the impression for several years that Howard Baldwin is a terrible owner, mostly thanks to his sale of the Iowa Stars to the Schlegel group...four years of mismanagement and outright collusion later, the Iowa Stars became the Texas Stars, and the DM area may never get AHL hockey again.
That said, I would love to see the Hartford Whalers make a comeback, and the AHL wouldn't be a bad place for it. But no NHL team will ever play in that building again...at least not permanently.