NHL Draft Logos for 2013 and 2014
Monday · Dec 10 · 2012 | 7:00 AM PST
Apparent 2013 NHL Draft logo turned up online in September
First up is this gem. It appears to be the logo for the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, which will be hosted by the New Jersey Devils this summer. I say "appears to be" because I haven't yet been able to track down and a solid source for where the logo came from.
(UPDATE: Turns out this was a concept designed by a fan that got picked up by more than a few sites since the NHL took its time releasing the real one.)
From what I've been able to find, it looks like the logo first showed up online in early September in a blog post on PuckCentralHQ. It was a post discussing preseason draft rankings. But there's no reference to where they got the logo which appears at the top of the page (and as a repeated background image).
It has also popped up on a number of other minor websites and blogs (which you can find via a quick Google search). But no official NHL sources or media outlets have posted this logo. That said, it certainly looks like it should be the real thing.
It has the same design theme we've seen on past draft logos. However, what's interesting is the typeface that identifies the city and year. It's not the NHL's standard font. This could indicate a change moving forward, or it could be that this logo isn't the real thing. You can draw your own conclusions.
Abbreviated draft logos for 2013 and 2014 seen on NHL websites
During the 2012 draft, held in Pittsburgh, the NHL announced the next two draft hosts as New Jersey and Philadelphia. Photos showing the 2013 and 2014 draft logos showed up in photo galleries on the host teams' websites shortly thereafter.
The photo on the left was posted on the Devils' website. The photo on the right can be found on the Flyers' website. The two logos seen in background of these images are the simplified versions. The current NHL draft logo standard was introduced in 2010 when Los Angeles hosted.
For each, the abbreviated versions are the same shape and design but with the host's name and color (except for Los Angeles, which was blue). The full shield versions have all been unique shapes. You can see all three previous logos below. The 2013 logo at the top of this post fits in nicely.
By the way, it's disappointing to think that if this NHL labor dispute doesn't get resolved soon, the draft may just be next NHL event that takes place.
Reader Comments (5)
The Senators were supposed to host the 2005 draft, but after the 04-05 season was cancelled, for some particular legal reason, the Senators didn't host it, but just the city of Ottawa. I wonder if we'd see the same thing with New Jersey.
There's a number of reasons why I feel like this logo isn't the real deal. 1) As you already pointed out, the font is off. But more importantly 2) At the bottom of the crest you see the backdrop of the city of NJ, but it seems to detailed. You can make out light and windows, some of the building are grey, some are black, it seems kind of choppy. Not very clean or professional, like previous logos where its a simple silhouette. Seems unlikely that they'd change their style now. On top of it all, why is there a hockey player in here? It looks choppy, the player looks like it has a thousand different lines and marks on it; again, very un-professional looking in my opinion. There also hasn't been a hockey player, on any of the past 3 logos in this "series", so why add one now. The identifying marks of the past 3 designs have all been symbolic of only the team and where there from; nothing generic like a hockey player. 3) The upward stripes on the past 3 designs, have all been smaller underneath the Draft title, than on top. On this design the stripes are the same thickness the whole way through. Seems fake to me! But i guess we will find out soon enough. Thanks for sharing!
Interesting that the NHL draft is being held inside the Atlantic division 3 years in a row (PIT 2012, NJ 2013, and PHI 2014). You would think that the NHL would want to move an event like that around the league a bit better?
Got to agree with Dylan, the detailing at the bottom indicates that someone not affiliated with the NHL has created this on their own. The player looks like something you would find on top of a trophy and the font change is also noticeable.
That concept was my creation back when it was announced NJ would host the draft. It was posted on HFBoards.com/Devils The font is not correct because I don't have a copy of the proper font and the "player" at the bottom is actually the sculpture that sits outside the Prudential center. The skyline is replicated with the same effect of the sculpture because of the jagged and reflective nature. So no, it's not real, it's not professional but was part of a discussion of what the logo may look like since there is no real distinguishing icon for the Newark area other than the skyline and arena itself. Since they had been running with a shield format it followed that theme.