Trenton Titans Return to ECHL
Thursday · Jul 28 · 2011 | 12:04 PM PDT
The ECHL welcomed the Trenton Titans back into the league today, filling the gap left in New Jersey's capital city with the demise of the Trenton Devils.
The team has already launched its new website — which at this point, merely links you to its Facebook and Twitter pages. Today's announcement also confirmed the Titans will be affiliated with the Philadelphia Flyers. And the club's new logo will be the same as the one introduced when they first hit the ice 12 years ago.
ECHL commissioner Brian McKenna at Trenton Titans press conference / Martin Griff, The TimesThe franchise played under the Titans name from 1999 until 2007 — a tenure which included a 2005 Kelly Cup championship — at which point the New Jersey Devils bought the franchise and rebranded it, just as they'd done the year before with the AHL team in Lowell, Mass.
All the Devils' affiliates were called the Devils and basically had the same logo and uniforms for the next few years. Last summer, when the Albany River Rats became the Charlotte Checkers, the Lowell Devils headed to Albany. They then became the Albany Devils.
On July 6, the New Jersey Devils gave up on their ECHL player development plan and shut down the Trenton franchise. It was then bought up by new owners who rebranded it with that familiar Titans moniker. So Trenton hockey fans aren't missing a beat here.
So like the resurrection of the Winnipeg Jets, what's old is new again in hockey this year. And full credit to Chris Creamer over at SportsLogos.net for predicting the return of the Titans more than a month ago! Included in a blog post was the revelation that the ECHL has re-registered the Titans trademark on June 21. He assumed either the ECHL was getting into the retro gear business, or the Titans were staging a comeback.
But wait, there's more...
St. John's AHL Team Unveiling Name & Logo
When True North moved the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg, it caused a ripple effect that impacted several other leagues, including the AHL. The arrival of the Jets displaced True North's Manitoba Moose, who have since found a new home in St. John's, Newfoundland. Now they're getting a name and logos.
The AHL tweeted this morning that the new St. John's franchise will officially unveil its branding identity (meaning name and logo) on Friday morning at 11 AM local time. That's 9:30 AM Eastern and 6:30 AM on the west coast — which is far too early for me. It's widely believed the team will be named the St. John's Ice Caps.
The Ice Caps would obviously be affiliated with the Jets. And because the Moose were previously affiliated with the Canucks. But there's an easy fix. The Thrashers' departure left the Chicago Wolves without an affiliate, so naturally Vancouver is filling that void.
Unrelated to the Jets' move, there was another three-way affiliate swap this summer. The Buffalo Sabres are once again joining forces with the Rochester Americans. Their former affiliate, the Florida Panthers, have hooked up yet again with the San Antonio Rampage. (Didn't I just say what's old is new again?) That left the Portland Pirates and Phoenix Coyotes without partners so they just sort of looked at each other and said, hey why not?
This will all be explained again in graphic form in the Icethetics Season Preview in September.
What about the Jets' jerseys?
With the question of the logos fully answered, what now remains is this: What will the new Winnipeg Jets jerseys look like?
Details have been eking out at a slow pace, but a pace set by the franchise itself, for a change. Icethetics reader Jacob McInnis tweeted what he heard True North chairman Mark Chipman talking about on FAN 590 on Tuesday.
For one thing, Chipman said the only red on the uniforms will be in the maple leaf on the logos. Now that extra shade of blue in the alternate wordmark makes sense. He also said the secondary mark, the wings, will be the shoulder patches.
New Jets in new T-shirts / JetsAs far as when the new sweaters will be unveiled, I still haven't seen anything official, but the expectation is still early September.
One thing worth noting however, are the new Jets T-shirts which you can find in both light blue and dark blue — keeping us guessing about which color the home jersey will be. This photo (right) was tweeted by the team earlier today.
Frankly, the logo looks better on dark blue, but I would love the irony of the Jets using the same color jerseys as the Thrashers did. Though I'm sure Atlanta fans wouldn't find it nearly as funny.
Jacob also said Chipman talked about a desire to honor old Jets jersey numbers, similar to what the Toronto Maple Leafs do. This makes more sense that all out retiring numbers for players who never actually suited up for this particular franchise.
Got any other Jets nuggets I've missed? I'd love some links if these details are in print somewhere.
And there's a reason that this final link is at the end of this post. Lots of folks went nuts-o when they thought this alleged "NHL 12 leak" was the Jets new uniform. I'm not saying it again. But obviously, it isn't. It's a Capitals jersey. That is all.
By the way, I do hope my contempt for these EA video game "leaks" is coming through. I wouldn't want to downplay it at all. Just saying.
Reader Comments (21)
You complain about EA leaks, and even did a post on it last year (complaining about how EA screwed up the Wild shoulder patch) and then sure enough, EA was right. Sorry Chris, but it all sounds a little whiny.
Call it what you like. I didn't say "EA screwed up the Wild shoulder patch." What I said we wouldn't know for sure how accurate the alteration was until October when the season started. In fact, here's a link to that post.
By the way, in that same post you'll also see how they got the Maple Leafs' shoulder patch wrong. I'm not saying EA is always wrong. The world isn't black and white. It doesn't have to be one way or another. I'm saying EA is too unreliable and inconsistent this early on to warrant blog posts every time somebody seems something that looks a little different.
Cool that the Jets' new colours are those of the Canadian Air Force emblem, which is light blue, with the dark blue circle.
What's great about the Sabres and Amerks affiliation resuming is that the Sabres bought the Amerks outright this summer. The new Sabres ownership was well aware of the value of their affiliation in years past and it's sure work well again. I know we all gripe about NHL teams owning AHL teams and rebranding them in their own image, but with a Amerks' established history and image I don't think we need to worry about an Amerks' rebrand. I would love for the Sabres to affiliate with the Elmira Jackals of the ECHL and monopolize Western New York.
I'm very happy about the Titan's rebirth. The NHL Devil's tried to expand their brand and fanbase by branding all their affiliates the same as the parent club. So they bought the Lock Monsters and rebranded them the Devils even though it was Boston's backyard (dumb move). Then they bought Titans and rebranded them Devils even though it was in Philly's back yard (dumb move also). It's no wonder those experiments failed with fans since they are in other NHL teams's markets.
Also, FYI, St. John's/Newfoundland are on their own time zone.
i think they should go with the dark blue home and white road uni's. but they should make a third with the royal kind of colour on the secondary wordmard. use the word mark as your third jersey logo. however i dont like how they wont be putting any red on the jersey itself
For what it's worth, the RCAF's flag has a light blue field. I have very strong suspicions that the primary home will be the same colour as the light blue shirt in the picture above. It won't have anything to do with the Thrashers, rather it will continue the Air Force theme.
On the Shirt on the Right , The Jet in the logo is half powder blue and half dark blue ? Kinda cool At least they kept 2 of the Atlanta colors that being Navy blue and Powder blue , A little something for the Thrashers fans i guess ,
No, Jordan, I think that's just the shirt the guy is wearing underneath it. In fact, they both have a shirt underneath.
No to dark blue. It just looks black on TV. May as well be black jerseys. Please have more colour.
Meh, it's RCAF colors, not a homage to the Thrashers. Atlanta Spirit Groups has the rights to pretty much all of their memorabilia, so you can't get get a "throwback jersey" from nhl.com now. It's sad, but what can you do? What matters though, they're honoring #37 in Dan Snyder, and that was all I asked for. They could skate around being the Winnipeg Threshers and I wouldn't really care.
Ugh @ Ice Caps, though. Really? Ice Caps? I know you're minor league but... You can be better than that. Ah well.
"The Ice Caps would obviously be affiliated with the Jets." I don't see why that is, ppl have been saying that even before the AHL Moose had a new home, I don't see why they should automatically be the Atlanta/Winnipeg franchise's new farm team. Although I think it's safe to say that that will indeed be the case, but why is that? Seems like more work to me, more work for what reason? Transferring affiliation for these teams can't be that simple can it? Seems like a headache to me. You'd think having your farm team in nearby Chicago with the wolves would be favorable to the Winnipeg franchise... It's close by and there's no transferring to be done.
I suppose this comment isn't really icethetics relevant, but I had to ask.
Chris, in regards to your tweet earlier, I for one enjoy reading your opinion on this blog, I think that's the point, it's YOUR page. Whether I agree with what youre saying or not, what's it really matter? That's your opinion versus mine. Anyone who can't be bothered to read your take on a deisgn can skip through it or look somewhere else. I enjoy reading your view on hockey design either way and think its essential to the icethetics you've built up to this point...
Im certainly enjoying the new logo now that I've gottne used to it... Now if only they could make that Jet POP a bit more and it would be perfect! As for the jerseys, Im not thrilled that red won't be used except for the maple leaf... It should AT LEAST be a trim colour or something, especially with all these other powder blue jerseys in the league, just to help distinguish it a bit.
I would only favour the navy blue if red were the primary accent colour. I don't want to see a Plain Jane look of just navy and silver. I think light blue would be the perfect primary colour for the Jets navy and silver. The crest has grown on me, even though I would have come up with some form of a stylized W inside the circle. Overall, as long as the uniform has traditional striping and block-style numbers(listening Canucks??), then I will be accepting to it.
Brad: Perhaps I should've been clearer, but the reason for the change in affiliation is that the Manitoba Moose (now the St. John's team) is owned by True North, who now also own the Winnipeg Jets. Keeping it in the family, as they say. NHL/AHL affiliations are not as clear cut as geography. It's not about which team is closest. There are ownership considerations and organizational philosophies that come into play more than anything else. You want your young players coming up with a group that shares your developmental strategies rather than having them nearby in the rare event of an emergency call-up.
One funny thing about the Canucks hooking up with the Wolves is thinking about Chicagoans cheering for up and coming Canucks players. Funny, that is, considering the playoff rivalry that's stirred up over the last few years between Vancouver and the Blackhawks.
I would be extremely happy if the Jets had the light blue as the primary colour of the jersey, possibly with the dark blue on the shoulders (like the Panthers' 3rd.) As another poster commented- the dark blue just looks black on TV anyway.
I work at a sports merchandise retailer in Winnipeg, and we have been (obviously) swamped with Jets merch since the unveiling on Friday. I can tell you that everything we're being told is that the jersey will be for sale Oct 1st. We're already taking pre-orders.
We haven't been given any details as to what colours to expect, but if you simply look at the brand guide on the Jets webpage, you'll notice that it displays all four logos on White, and then on Navy Blue, so it's probably safe to say we can expect a navy home jersey.
In addition, the light blue shirts, are selling about twice as much as the navy is.
Also, Brad, I realize that pic isn't great quality, but the jet on all the shirts is silver one half, grey the other.
Boooooooooooo.. I was really hoping St. John's would drop the "Ice" and just be the Caps (legendary team name here), or my personal favorite out of the top 5 selections, Vikings, which has yet to be taken by any major hockey team that I can think of.
Ice Caps just reminds me of Tim Hortons every time I hear it... But whatever, im just elated to have hockey back in town, the team could be called St. John's Blankety Blanks and id still go watch.
I wish the Jets would do something a little different. The dark blue/light blue color combo had already been used a lot recently (Florida, Pittsburgh, and Columbus thirds and of course Atlanta). I'm not at all suggesting the uniforms won't look nice. I was just hoping for a more unique look.
I have to admit...I know the EA sports jersey isn't a leak and its obviously a Caps jersey like you said...but it actually looks pretty damn good on a jersey, cant wait to start seeing the concepts pour in.
I mean I really do think that they hit this one right on the head and it will quickly become an iconic logo. After all it falls into all the right categories: no need for wordmarks to tell you who the team is, logo is simple and clean to the point, has a symbolic meaning while still standing on its own as the logo for the team.
Not to mention, it looks pretty sharp with the light blues. Makes the dark blue ring pop and keeps a great color in the nhl now that Atlanta is gone and the pens are dumping theirs for the dark blue winter classic jersey.
I am actually excited for this one =)
Trenton, NJ is where New York fans meet Philadelphia fans. I grew up in the area, and it was very common to be a Philly fan in one sport and a NY fan in the other. Sports fans in Mercer County have their pick of the litter when it comes to sports teams to root for. By changing the Titans to the Devils, the team isolated a lot of Flyer and Ranger fans in the area. That is why the Trenton Devils did so poorly at the gate. The last thing Flyer and Ranger fans want to do is chant "Let's Go Devils". This is a good move by changing the team name to the Titans.
To follow up what Anthony said, the Jets are Just following the trend of a "blue jersey-circle logo" combo. Not that it looks bad, but it is overused.
Columbus, Florida, St. Louis, even Pittsburgh currently have a jersey llike that. Winnipeg should have "stepped outside" and try something new like what Nashville did.