Season Preview 2010, Part I
Monday · Sep 27 · 2010 | 7:00 AM PDTSqueaky clean seats not yet caked with the sticky remnants of spilled sodas. Your brand new jersey is free from mustard stains — for now. A fresh sense of hope lies ahead because this is your team's year. They're unstoppable at 0-0-0. The arena is buzzing as you settle in. Then you look to the ice and... wait, what are the players wearing?!
Icethetics can't do anything about the mess you'll make with that hot dog or the inevitable win-loss letdown, but we can get you prepared for uniform and logo changes for the 2010-11 hockey season. Welcome to the Icethetics Season Preview.
NHL Logo Changes
A handful of teams are changing logos or adopting new ones this season. We'll take a look at those in today's edition of the Season Preview.
Primary Logos
Two teams are changing their primary logos this season — both to updated versions of their original emblems used more than 30 years ago. Vintage is making a comeback.
The Buffalo Sabres ditch the hated Buffaslug logo for a belated return to retro in this their 40th anniversary season. The classic logo which originated on the team's uniforms in 1970 is back with a modernized twist — silver outlining pretty much everything. The color scheme will remain unchanged. This logo was previously in use on the Sabres' third jersey.
It's a subtle change but the New York Islanders go back to basics this year, swapping the navy for royal blue. The keen observer will also note that a fourth piece of tape has been added to the shaft of the hockey stick, a subdued tribute to the club's Stanley Cup championships. This logo was previously used on the Islanders' third jersey.
Alternate Logos
A handful of NHL teams will debut new alternate logos on their uniforms this season — be it on their regular sweaters or perhaps a new third jersey.
The Toronto Maple Leafs unveiled new home and road uniforms over the summer. They both featured a brand new patch that calls back to past Leafs uniforms.
The logo matches the veined leaf seen on the team's third jersey and throughout its history, minus the text in the middle. The new leaf will be white on the blue home sweater (left) and reversed to blue on the white sweater.
The Maple Leafs have not had a secondary logo since the league-wide uniform redesign lead by Reebok in 2007.
Uniforms worn in preseason games indicate the Minnesota Wild have changed their secondary logo. The ferocious wordmark, in use as a shoulder patch since 2000, has been replaced, rather ironically, by a tamer one. A version of the previous logo was the original mark used when the franchise was announced. The current primary logo was added later.
Two teams will wear throwback sweaters for a few games this year, similar to what the Calgary Flames did in 2009-10.
The Vancouver Canucks return a fan favorite to the arsenal this season as they don a replica of their original 1970 uniform for their 40th anniversary season, featuring that classic stick-in-rink logo.
This logo was first retired in 1978. A white version of the original logo was re-introduced on the Canucks' blue third jersey for the 2006-07 season. A maroon and navy version was also worn as a shoulder patch from 2003 to 2006.
Joining the Canucks, the Los Angeles Kings will sport vintage attire on a handful of occasions, including opening night when they face Vancouver.
While the Kings have yet to officially confirm this, they did give a retro jersey to their top pick at the NHL Entry Draft, which they hosted in June.
That jersey featured this logo, which made its debut in 1967 and was in use until 1988. It hadn't been used in any official capacity until June.
Earlier this month, the Buffalo Sabres unveiled a new third jersey with a brand new crest. It features a new script and the club's 40th anniversary logo (more below).
The logo was inspired by and pays tribute to the city's first pro hockey team, which pre-dated the Sabres by 30 years. The Buffalo Bisons wore a similar script on their uniforms. Team operations were ceased in 1970 when the Sabres began play.
The script is vintage white, emblazoned on a royal blue sweater. The Sabres' previous third jersey crest has been adopted as the primary logo this season.
The New York Rangers will also add a third jersey, featuring a new script mark. While it has not yet been officially unveiled by the team, a sneak peek began making the rounds on the web when Sean Avery posted a photo on his blog. It is expected the team will make this official in November.
The original photo has since been removed, but we did get a look at the jersey which is dark blue and features NEW YORK in red text across the chest. The letters are outlined in vintage white, which seems to be all the rage this season.
The new script mimics what was used on the uniform during the 1930s, only it read RANGERS instead. The Rangers have not had an alternate uniform since the Reebok redesign in 2007.
unofficialThe Anaheim Ducks will debut a new third jersey in late November. But Icethetics learned through a trusted source what it looks like earlier this month.
The sweater is highlighted by the use of the standalone webbed "D" logo, which has been in use as an alternate mark for several years. However, this is the first time it will be placed on the front of a uniform.
In addition, the Ducks are adding a new logo (left), also by looking to their past. The new mark will be worn as a shoulder patch on the alternate sweater and includes a recolored version of the original Mighty Ducks logo.
The team changed its name and colors in 2006. This marks the first time since then that the Disney-designed logo will be seen on an Anaheim uniform.
Lastly, the Columbus Blue Jackets will debut a new third jersey this season for their 10th anniversary. It is said to include a brand new logo with a cannon as the primary element. No further details have been made available at this time.
Team Event Logos
A half-dozen NHL teams are celebrating important anniversaries this season. And with that comes a number of specialty logos which will be used this season only.
The New York Rangers, established in 1926, will celebrate 85 years during the 2010-11 season. This logo, along with a secondary shield logo (right), will be used on team marketing materials.
In addition, this logo (left) is painted at center ice in Madison Square Garden. It uses the same colors as the yet to be released third jersey — dark blue, red and vintage white.
The alternate anniversary mark seen above is displayed in the Rangers' standard color scheme but is more likely to be seen in the "vintage" colors.
Established in 1970, the Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks will each celebrate their 40th anniversaries.
The Sabres (left) have simply taken their original logo, swapped the white for vintage white, and added the year 1970 inside the circle.
The Canucks (right), meanwhile, play off of their secondary logo, a modernized version of their original mark. The stick in the rink is replaced by a 40 and a banner beneath it displays the years 1970 and 2010 along with the club's primary logo.
Both teams will join the Rangers in using these logos at center ice during the season.
The San Jose Sharks, created in 1991, commemorate 20 years of NHL hockey in the Bay Area this season.
The Sharks will use this logo (left) as a sleeve patch, placed just below the sweater number on the left arm. Unusual placement for a patch, but the dimensions suit it.
Interestingly, this is not the only version of the Sharks' 20th anniversary logo. In fact, the team unveiled a total of five unique marks back in June.
The NHL's most recent expansion franchises, the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets, both celebrate a decade.
The Wild (left) introduce a simple mark in which the roman numeral X stands in for a pair of crossed hockey sticks. The team's primary logo is centered in a banner displaying the years 2000 and 2010.
The Blue Jackets (right) make use of the Ohio state flag in their 10th anniversary logo, which features a large 10 underneath which a red banner shows the years 2000 and 2010 on either side of the club's primary mark.
Both teams will wear their logo as a patch on the front of their sweaters. But only the Wild have theirs painted at center ice.
Finally, the Pittsburgh Penguins will wear a special shoulder patch, commemorating the inaugural season playing in their new arena, the CONSOL Energy Center.
The logo features a stylized drawing of the building encircled by the text INAUGURAL SEASON 2010 2011 and the Penguins' primary logo at the bottom.
The patch is situated just slightly above of the sweater number on the right shoulder. It's a little low but that may change when the season begins.
League Event Logos
The NHL will hold a number of special events throughout the 2010-11 season, each of which gets its very own branding.
The first event of the season's calendar is the NHL Premiere, in which a few teams play their first games of the season in Europe. It's been an annual event since 2007. This season six teams will face off in three cities — each of which has previously played host to NHL Premiere games.
Helsinki will host the Hurricanes and Wild. The Bruins and Coyotes will open the season in Prague. And Stockholm will see the season begin for the Blue Jackets and Sharks. Each city will host two games and use a customized version of the logo with its name and national flag. This year the NHL Premiere is sponsored by Compuware, whose logo is prominently featured in each version.
Next on the agenda is the 2011 Winter Classic, which takes plays on New Year's Day.
The Pittsburgh Penguins will host the Washington Capitals at Heinz Field. It will be the second time the Pens have taken part in the yearly event since it began in 2008.
Special retro logos were unveiled for both teams along with the Winter Classic logo itself back in July. The Penguins' logo was team's primary mark from their debut in 1967 but was never worn on a uniform. The Capitals logo was used from their inception in 1974 until 1995.
Less than a month later, the Carolina Hurricanes will host the 2011 NHL All-Star Game and Weekend in Raleigh.
The logo was unveiled in July and features Carolina's colors of red and black along with maroon. The general shape of the mark is similar to the Hurricanes' logo. The 58th NHL All-Star Game will take place on Jan. 30, 2011.
It will be the Hurricanes' first time hosting the event, which happens every year except when the Winter Olympics are held. The previous All-Star Game took place on Jan. 25, 2009 in Montreal.
The last big event of the season until the playoffs will be the 2011 Heritage Classic, another outdoor game which takes place between two Canadian teams.
This year, the Calgary Flames will host the Montreal Canadiens at McMahon Stadium on Feb. 20, 2011. Like the Winter Classic, both club will don specials jerseys for the game.
Montreal will feature only slight changes to the uniform and no new logos. However, the Flames will use a recolored version of their primary mark (right) on a specially designed sweater.
The last Heritage Classic was held in 2003 when the Edmonton Oilers hosted Montreal.
The final event of the 2010-11 season is the 2011 NHL Entry Draft which will be held at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 24-25.
The logo is part of a new design standard for NHL draft logos introduced with the 2010 draft held in Los Angeles. The word DRAFT and the name of the host location can easily stand alone as needed.
The Entry Draft was previously held in Minnesota only once, in 1989 when the Minnesota North Stars were a member of the NHL.
Retired Logos
In addition to the aforementioned logos which have been replaced this season, there are a couple more which will be retired in 2010.
The shoulder patches previously worn on the Sabres' and Islanders' jerseys will not be used on the new uniforms. These two logos have seen action for the last time.
Tomorrow we pick up with Part 2 of the Season Preview, featuring new and changing logos in the minor leagues — specifically the AHL and ECHL.
Reader Comments (27)
That new/old Ducks logo is something... surprised they're going back to it, but it was a very popular logo, certainly.
Not sure how I feel about it right now.
I wish they would just at least announce WHEN they are going to unveil the All-Star Jerseys!!! AHH!!!
Great website!! btw: The Kings did use the home and away uniforms from the "80's back in the 2003-04 season as part of the vintage jersey program. nhluniforms.com confirms that. I also remember seeing a pic of then-Chicago defenseman Phil Housley playing against the Kings with them wearing the gold uniform from that season.
Why are the Islanders getting rid of their shoulder patch!? That was seriously my favorite shoulder patch in the league.
"Why are the Islanders getting rid of their shoulder patch!? That was seriously my favorite shoulder patch in the league."
Because they're terrible and it's embarrassing that they're only relevant history is from over 20 years ago?
Glad to see the Mighty Ducks logo return. It's a decent logo that was stuck in a terrible (but unique) color scheme. Not the best, but decent.
I'm shocked to see Buffalo's shoudler logo diappear. It was a good mark in both color schemes. My favorite aspect of the last two designs.
Love that (Mighty) Ducks throwback logo, it's one of my favorites! But what will the "wild" Wild script logo be used for now that it is being replaced? or will it also be out of use for at least the current season as it is being replaced by the "tame" Wild script on the shoulder patches?
The 1970 font for the Sabre's logo looks awfully similar to the one that is rumored to be used on the Penguin's Winter Classic jerseys.
I wish you would've sent in your concept of the Ducks logo, Chris.
yeahhhh! That classic mighty ducks logo is gonna look sick!
The Ducks logo finally seems to fit. It was never a bad logo, it just had bad colors and a bad team wearing it. It was also a little silly to be a main logo (like the Avalanche foot wouldn't look great on the front of a jersey). I think it makes a perfect shoulder patch with the new colors.
The Isles' "midshipman's stripes" patch is actually made less relevant by the more subtle usage of the four tape stripes on the stick in the logo.
I never cared too much for that B/sword logo. It just looked too cartoony to me.
Just noticed the slug is completely gone from the sabres web site now
Bummer that the sabres are dropping the B-sword logo. I really liked it.
ok maybe it's me being anal but shouldn't the sharks be using that logo next season? they started in the 91/92 season so why have the patch in this season? its not really their 20th season.....it's their 19th season....
Curious... the Sharks logos say "20 years" or "20th anniversary"... not 20 seasons. And if the lockout hadn't killed the 2004-05 season, then 2010-11 would have been the Sharks' 20th season. There's no reason why they can't use that logo this year, as 1991 to 2011 = 20 years.
"It will be the Hurricanes' first time hosting the event, which happens every year except when the Winter Olympics are held."
Before there's a massive uprising of angry Connecticuters who take issue with the wording of that sentence, yes, the Hartford Whalers hosted the All-Star Game in 1986.
A lot of teams are going back to their old logo's
Chris,
Didn't the Panthers switch to a new primary logo this season?
Bryan
Just wondering, the always-venerable sportslogos.net has listed the Buffaslug as the Sabres' alternate logo starting for the 2010-11 season. Could this possibly be true? If so, why would Buffalo even want to hold on to that logo after producing such a great set of replacements?
The Calgary Flames' anniversary logo from last season was similar, in that it only had the number 30, and the years 1980-2010, thus celebrating the franchise's thirty years in Calgary (a bit odd, though, considering they wore their 25th patch in the 05-06 season; granted, it was right after the lockout, which wiped out what would've been the 25th season).
Montreal was probably the worst offender, though, as they wore the "100 Saisons/Seasons" patch during the 08-09 season, which technically was their 99th because of the lockout. They then only wore the "100 - 1909-2009" patch last year, which was the 100th season...
... ARRGH! Stupid ******* lockout!!!
Sportslogos.net isn't infallible. The slug is dead. Everyone, including the players, is happy about it. If it were to come back, it would be a serious slap in the face to the Sabres already tortured fan base.
Even with the lockout wiped out season, that doesn't mean that this isn't their 20th season, or whichever anniversary it could be, for any team. It is a season, it is acknowledged as having been canceled, with no games being played, but the 2004-5 hockey season still happened, even if some teams didn't actually play any games. That's just my opinion.
I see ESPN finally changed from the slug logo to what its supposed to be now. However, TSN has yet to make the switch. The slug is an eyesore in every sense of the word. Shame to the person who designed and shame on the Sabres for putting their fans through hell by choosing it. Hard to say if the Gorton's Fisherman logo of the mid-90's was worse than the slug...
I think the Gorton's Fisherman logo was worse than the Buffaslug - I personally loved the Black-Red-Grey of the late 90's for Buffalo.
I would hope my beloved Capitals add some sort of flair to the old logo. Sure, I love it, and have the old pennant hanging in my office, but hope they do something special for the WC.
Note that the Canucks stick is more like the original. The previous one was shorter and fatter and looked like a little toy stick.
Really digging the new secondary Ducks logo. Good to see the team is officially bringing it back, even if it is small at first. Not that I don't enjoy the Ducks logo now, but I have such fond memories of the old logo.
Also, finding out that the standalone webbed D is the primary logo isn't much of a surprise, it's what I had expected. And now that there will be this nice shoulder patch, the potential of this third jersey is getting pretty good. Sucks that we have to wait until the end of November to see it.
Any info on the colour scheme you can reveal?