Hurricanes, Stars Unveil New Looks
Wednesday · Jun 5 · 2013 | 5:23 PM PDTTo put it mildly, yesterday was a busy day. As expected, two NHL clubs launched redesigned uniforms and even a few new logos. And considering I actually attended one, there's no way I could possibly cover everything fully in a single blog post. And since I'm running on a lack of sleep, I'm just focused on nuts and bolts today.
Over the next several days, I'll be writing more in-depth posts including detailed point-by-point reviews of all the new stuff — something I've never done before but always felt I should. Stay tuned for that!
Carolina goes for simplified jersey designs
The Carolina Hurricanes were first out of the gate on Tuesday with the much-anticipated unveiling of their new home and road uniforms. The event was held at PNC Arena in Raleigh and streamed live to the world from their website.
Photos from Carolina Hurricanes
Hurricanes captain Eric Staal was present at the unveiling, where the team released some promotional photos of the new threads, as you see above. Gone are the storm flag stripes and really any silver outside the crest. Now it's all about the classic, simplified styling — even if it's not all that original. But I'll get to the editorial stuff in my review later this week.
Here's the full home set:
Graphic from Carolina Hurricanes
It is very red, much more than before. The striping — as many have pointed out — is reminscent of what Team Canada wears. But most notably, the design is much cleaner than the previous look Carolina wore for the last 16 years.
Now take a look at the full road set:
Graphic from Carolina Hurricanes
Again, it's a clean design. But the noteworthy thing here is that the two sweaters don't match. And it's not just the striping, it's the colors and collar design as well. The only black we find outside the crest on the red jersey is on the collar. And speaking of which...
Images from Carolina Hurricanes
The collar on the red home sweater has traditional ties, but the white doesn't. What the two collars share, however, is the unique design on the inside. The storm flags live on — but only when the jersey is hung up. Naturally, Reebok calls this the Hanger Effect. Clever.
Again, I'll dig into it a bit more in my review. For now, let's keep it brief and move on.
Dallas overhauls logo, colors and uniforms
On Tuesday night, the Dallas Stars gathered their season ticket holders at the AT&T Performing Arts Center to discuss some big changes to the franchise. That included a complete rebrand — new logos, new colors and new uniforms. New everything.
Image from Dallas Stars (via Facebook)
I was honored to get an invitation from the team to attend the event. I'll have a lot more of my photos in my review and a subsequent post detailing my experience watching the unveiling in person. But for now, I'll run down all the important stuff.
Like these new logos, for instance. Along with their new primary mark, the Stars introduced these secondary designs. The circular logo will be worn as shoulder patches on both jerseys while the one shaped like Texas gets featured on the pants. Both of these logos incorporate the new D-star.
Now to the uniforms. The graphics released by the Stars perhaps erroneously call the green jersey the "road uniform." Some have taken it to mean the NHL is switching back to whites at home next season after 10 years of whites on the road. But I haven't heard anything to that effect. Plus, people at the Stars' event were referring to the green as the home sweater. (And Carolina labeled their reds as home sweaters, for that matter.)
So there you have it. The new looks of the Hurricanes and Stars. I'd love to keep writing on the subject, but I'm running on a lack of sleep after the last couple days so I'm going to take a nap. While I'm snoozing, leave your thoughts on these in the comments. Your feedback will help with my upcoming reviews.
Reader Comments (52)
The Canes jerseys are ok, but very ordinary looking. That wouldn't be a huge issue by itself. The truly annoying thing is the abandonment of an element unique to our identity (the storm flags) coupled with essentially adopting the established identity of another team (Team Canada). Those two things taken together makes the jerseys a "Fail" for me. #OldStormForever #LOLNewStorm
I loved that you were at the event, but you went a little crazy on the twitter posts, I had to unfollow you....
Being a Carolina Hurricanes prospect, I can say that pretty much all the guys I have talked to are not a fan. The red ones are so plain. It would have maybe been nice to have a shoulder yoke with the name inside of it on both sets. I don't mind the white jersey, but would have liked a thin black outline on the shoulder yoke. And I hate all red pants. Our old pants with black piping were very sharp I thought.
Always followed this blog but never had anything interesting to add until now!
Carolina's uniforms look like Canada's and Dallas's darks look like Chicago's. It's not that hard to come up with a unique striping pattern. Overall, I'd give the Hurricanes a 3/10 (bland, no originality, unmatching uniforms) and the Stars a 6.5/10 (great color scheme, ok logo, unoriginal home uniform design)
Anyone noticing the Canes logo looks more straight on the jerseys?
Like the contrasting black pants. Would not like green. Too much of one color is not a good look. Just look at the canes home set.
Carolina: A downgrade. The simple look is nice, but not original. That being said, they lost their unique identity when it comes to their uniforms. They don't pull off "simple and classic" very well, in my opinion.
Dallas: HUGE upgrade! The green jerseys are amazing, and so is their road outfit. The logo is simple and great too. Overall, it's a great change. I should note that I absolutely hated the monstrosities they've worn the last few years. So the green is refreshing and a sweet colour for the Stars.
By the way, thanks for the retweet! :)
Hate the Canes, Love the Stars. (The new jerseys, not the teams, I have no feeling about either team.) Canes went from really interesting to really boring. Also, both teams pretty much stole the designs of another team. Carolina from Canada, and Dallas from Chicago (The Green ones). Overall Carolina: 4/10 Dallas: 8/10
I actually wrote a two page letter to Jim Rutherford, President and GM of the Hurricanes regarding the new uniforms. Hopefully I get a response but I won't hold my breath. There are aspects of the new Hurricanes look that I like (only a couple.) Overall I think it is a big failure. Judging by all the comments on Instagram, Facebook, Icethetics, SportsLogos.net, and a lot of other websites, the overall reaction is a negative one. Hopefully the team listens to its fans (one of the points I brought up in my letter) and reverts back to the old uniforms. It happened with the Islanders, it can happen with us too.
I like everything about the Dallas uniforms expect the main crest. To me, it screams AHL logo for some reason. I do agree with some of the other commenters in that it is very similar to Chicago's striping patterns.
The only thing I like about the Carolina uniforms is the shrunken crest. Other than that, the fact that the jerseys don't really match, in terms of collars or striping, bothers me. As a Leafs fan and a Team Canada fan, the striping on the home uniform bothers me as well. They pretty much stole the Leafs' striping pattern.
As a fan of the Original Six uniforms, what I see with all these modern teams simplifying their jerseys and logos really bothers me. I thought the NHL was supposed to make sure any new uniform doesn't infringe on the branding of other teams. As a leafs fan, Tampa's new uniforms a couple of years ago bothered me enough, but now Carolina? I'm all for traditional looks, but I'm sure the designers could have came up with something truly original.
Is it just me or do the Dallas jerseys scream "Fighting Sioux"?
I'm 33 years old and I've been a Stars fan for 20 years. I remember every season going back to year one. I still have my first game ticket from Stars v. Blackhawks that ended in a 1 -1 tie at Reunion Arena. I, for one, love the new look. I won't miss the uniforms we've been sporting the last six years. They never really felt like our uniforms. I think most true Stars fans wish we could return to the uniforms we wore beginning in 1999. Especially the green one when we hoisted the Cup in Buffalo. We'll always miss that look. But it's mostly nostalgia. The team has completely turned over since then. It's a new day and a new era. Personally, I think it is time to turn the page and look to the future, and I think this re-brand will help with that. I will miss the old logo, and by that I mean the classic Star surmounted by the word "Dallas." Sure, it's a product of the '90s, and feels dated today. But every logo is a product of its own era. And I'm sure we'll see it again in some throw-back format. I was suspicious of the D-Star. But what they say is true. After a couple of days, it grows on you. It looks a lot better on the jersey than it does in print. And the bevel has a Texas-feel to it (Just look at the text on the Texas Rangers jerseys). Also, the Green has a Dallas feel to it (despite what the critics may tell you). Anyone who lives in Dallas knows that the most iconic building in downtown (not including Reunion Tower) is the Bank of America Building - the one with the green neon lights. Just look at any nighttime cityscape of Dallas. Green is part of this city's landscape, plain and simple. The new color is great, and the logo is great. Go Stars!!
Canes failed. They got rid of their original identity and went with bland duplicates. When they announced new looks I was hoping the stick and flag logo was going to become their primary. Their current logo looks like a second grader drew it. Home looks like the Red Wings and the away is Team Canada. Furthermore, Rutherford said they've been working on this for years. Seriously, years? Just to copy other teams? I'd be ashamed. I'm giving Dallas a marginal win only because it's better than their old set. I like that they've added color and a logo. Don't like that they're wearing Blackhawks jerseys in different colors and the logo looks like something half hearted from a minor league. Overall as someone who loves the aesthetics (or icethetics if you will) disappointing day. Here's hoping the Sabres (my team) have a cool alternate, especially since the product on ice has been rough.
Both teams have clearly gone for a timeless look, but I'll agree with most other commenters: one has succeeded, one has not quite hit the nail on the head. Dallas' unis are terrific, and get away with being a bit similar to Chicago's thanks to the colour scheme. Carolina's could be great and a bit more original with minor revisions - I like the roads - but the loss of the storm flags is a pity.
the canes are depressingly bad i like the d star and don't mind the chicago look but still sad they didn't go back to the star jerseys which were incredible
Both are pretty awful; the Hurricanes are pretty generic and they lost any sense of identity by retiring the storm flags and the Stars' new logo is outright terrible.
I am going to focus on the positive. Not counting teams going back to classic looks, ie. the Oilers, Islanders, and Flyers, the Dallas Stars' new logo and uniforms is the BEST re-branding in NHL history and one of the best re-branding in sports history. This new uniform looks like as if the Stars came into the league on their own instead of being relocated from Minnesota. Not only do I love the kelly green uniforms, I love the green yokes on the whites.
I just hope the Dallas doesn't pull a San Jose by wearing a future black 3rd jersey in the playoffs. Imagine a Sharks-Stars series: Team Teal vs Team Green.
Very disappointed in the new canes jerseys. It seems like they were made with little effort and creativity. It looks like they were made on chel...
Canes - both jerseys are reminiscent of Team Canada, same colours, striping pattern = loss of identity
Stars - Huge improvement. Definitely went from being the wosrt set in the league, to the top 15. I see the similarity with the Blackhawks, and I understand the "lack of originality" but consider this, the Stars wont be wearing green while they play the Blackhawks in red..
Canes: Really dislike the new set. Too bland, too red. It may be "classic" and "simple" but their logo certainly looks out of place on such a sweater(s). The fact they don't match is perhaps a growing trend so it isn't surprising. 2/10
Stars: I'm also a big fan of green. They will be the only team to have a green sweater as their base set which is awesome. I preferred a lot of logos and uni designs that are found on the concepts page to the ones they came up with. Still a decent effort. It will take some time to get used to the lack of gold, but the lighter green w/ black and white is a pretty unique scheme as far as pro sports goes. 8/10
I like the Stars new duds. This only thing I would change would be to switch the circle logo to the pants and the Texas logo to the shoulder.
My summary of the new uniforms: The Hurricanes sucked and the Stars improved. Carolina's new road uniform is ok but nothing great. Their home jersey is a red Leafs jersey and a Team Canada ripoff with their logo plastered on it. If anything, their new uniforms really expose their logo and make it look horrible. Before, with the Hurricane Stripes, that logo actually worked and looked good too. Now, it looks completely out of place with this new 'Traditional' design cough cough disaster they decided to go with. As for the Stars, I love the road uniform. I hate the logo but it works on the road jersey. My problem with the home jersey is that it looks too much like the Blackhawks and it appears to be a carbon copy of the New York Rangers' home jersey. Also, happy birthday Chris!
Canes suck. It's that simple. Dallas is amazing! The old gold color was horrible, but maybe would of liked to see a tiny bi of north stars gold.
Stars- I'm a big fan of the new Stars jerseys, however, I think a black outline around the numbers on both home/away would add so much more.
Canes- Why would you lose the warning flags? Weak.
LOVE THESE JERSEYS SO MUCH!!!
The more I see it, the more I dislike the new Stars logo. I hate how the D's dropshadow cuts off the star. Even if it's justifiable because without a shadow you wouldn't really see the D? To me that just means the logo doesn't work - try something else. Oh well.
Carolina's stuff is fine. Nothing exciting. When it's Team Canada it's different to me, because the red is a national identity. But maybe Canes fans will love it.
Really can't say anything positive about Carolina's new uniforms. Too bland; no identity.
While I'm glad that the Dallas Stars ditched their "DALLAS" jerseys and went to green as their primary color, there isn't too much else that I like. It's an OK logo, but sticking it on a Blackhawks St. Patty's Day jersey (http://c-product.images.fansedge.com/46-32/46-32577-Y.jpg) was a bad idea.
I'm always excited by team rebrandings, but these failed to deliver.
Dallas jerseys look like North Dakota Fighting Sioux jerseys, which, as a Minnesota hockey fan, seems only fitting. Hopefully this means the Wild can reclaim rights to the north stars name/logo/uniforms.
Not going to say much as I've already talked about it extensively in the last couple days, but I don't like Carolina's set and I really like what Dallas have gone with. The Stars look great. The Canes look boring.
Very true that the Dallas green jersey looks like Chicago home jersey, but their road white Jersey is also a Canadiens road knockoff. Same pattern, just different colors
Huge fail for Carolina. They had the thing that made them unique (the storm flag) and trashed it. Idiotic move. Now they just look bland. I feel bad for Canes fans.
The more I see the new Dallas uniforms and logo, the more I love it. It's almost cocky in how bold it is; perfect Texas attitude. I also love the fact that they kept the Texas secondary logo. It really is important to the team's history. Great job by the franchise in rebranding.
Someone on one of the Hurricanes' forums did a mock up of what the home jersey would look like if it had striping that matched the away jersey. A huge improvement in my opinion.
http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/maceclipsed/media/Hurricanes2013-2014ver3_zps0a7387c7.png.html
@sabresfan - I thought the same thing. Everyone is talking about their new, great, original color scheme, but when I look at it, all I can see is the Sioux.
I'm really underwhelmed by their logo as well. It doesn't feel like Dallas or Texas to me. It feels too small and thin on the sweater. Dallas/Texas should be big, tough, heavy. This feels very AHL/college. The beveled/emboss effect is kind of dated and maritime-like with it being on a star.
Wow. Those Stars jerseys are brutal. I really don't like them. I don't like the shade of green or really anything about them. However, I do like the logo. I guess the only thing I kind of don't dislike is the fact that their previous jerseys were so terrible. This is an improvement, but only slightly.
As for the Canes, I like both of the jerseys. I like the colours and they way they are cleaner. I am a much bigger fan of the white jersey than the red one, although, the shoulder yoke is a weird shape. Reebok has done weird things with the yokes in the NLL (National Lacrosse League) and I get a similar feel here. I'm not too crazy about the sharp cut off and how it runs down the back only.
I was really looking forward to Tuesday but was pretty disappointed overall, though certainly more so with the Canes. I don't like what Carolina did at all. While generally I'm a fan of simple, clean and classic, it just does not work for the Hurricanes. It's not their identity at all. Simple for them just looks boring. Not to mention that their jerseys scream Team Canada and remind me a lot of Phoenix, Detroit and Toronto. I seem to be in the minority in that I don't mind at all that the jerseys don't match (lots of great sets, such as the Canadiens', don't either), I just don't think the look works for them. They need those storm flags and more black and grey.
As for Dallas, I appreciate their effort and there's no question that what they came up with is worlds better than what they've had for the past number of years. That said, I'm still left a bit disappointed. I think mainly it has to do with the crest. I just don't really like it. Looks hastily thrown together. I think I'll like it better in person, but the first impression isn't good. While I understand it, I also don't like the choice of silver over gold. As others have pointed out, they're also very similar to Chicago, though I think the wonderful green makes that less of an issue here. Overall, I think these ones might grow on me and are certainly decent.
Carolina though, far from.
The Stars logo is horrible. The rebrand is the "golden slug" in Dallas. Did they actually pay someone for that design?
Reading all the comments, it's again obvious you can't please everyone. Personally, I like them all except for the white Hurricanes. The red ones are a little plain but the black looks out of place on the whites. I thought their old ones were a little too busy, especially after the Reebok redesign. Maybe they'll look better on the ice.
As for the Stars, I never saw a connection to the Blackhawks uniforms until I read all the comments. But if you're going to copy another design, what's wrong with copying the best? Anything would be better than what they've been wearing. It seems to be hard to come up with anything really good given the Reebok limitations. Now if only the Bruins could design socks that match their jerseys.
Something funny: on the Stars' home uniform drawing, the player's stick forms a second black stripe on the white hem, making it look EXACTLY like a green Blackhawks uniform.
I like the Stars colors and jerseys, even with the similarity to the hawks; if you're going to copy, copy the best, right? However, I do not like the main logo at all. The state-shape logo on the pants would be a better main logo, if they have to keep the D-star (better to not keep it).
The Canes new look is awful. Their logo was never great, but their jerseys were okay; they kept the not great logo (getting rid of the flags on a stick, which they should have made their main logo) and made the jerseys way worse. Like everyone says, they are copies, and the home ones look very unbalanced top to bottom; I think it needs black around the white stripes or something. I hope the Canes are keeping their black thirds with the flag on a stick logo, and wearing them a lot.
I'm gonna have to echo the sentiments of those who like the Dallas set more than the Canes' set. On a side note, these contrasting shoulder yokes leads me to believe that if the rumors are true about the Sharks getting new homes and roads, that they'll be abandoning theirs. Something that'll be more unfortunate in the case of their roads than their homes.
I love the away sets of both clubs, but both of the homes leave a lot to be desired. The Stars have become the Blaackhawks in green (this wouldn't be so bad if they didn't use black and white), and the Hurricanes homes are just so visually uninteresting. A couple suggestions: for the Canes, make the home pants black and choose a different color for the shoulder; for Dallas, introduce a North Stars-esque color palate for the bottom stripes. White, black, and gold were gorgeous for Minnesota all those years ago, and the same applies today.
I have to reiterate that the D on the logo would feel better to me if the vertical (well, slanted) line of the "D" was flush with the star points. I know that would give it more of a unified "R" effect, but it bugs me. As previously said, the solution would be to make the D black, which eliminates the "black hole" people pointed out, and the "R".
Other than that, I have to say I am fairly ok with the uniform sets. However, for the time supposedly invested in design, it's quite a bit underwhelming to see Team Canada and St Pat's Hawks as official NHL sweaters.
A tip of the cap to some of the posters and concept artists on Icethetics, for even the lower rated designs appeared to have been crafted with more thought and care than the actual designs.
I love the Stars new look! They have not had their own idenity since they came to Dallas back in 93. I was there opening night when we beat the Redwings. There was a another team in Dallas the wore green as their main color and that was the Dallas Sidekicks of the MISL, they won the title in 86-87'. Thanks for all the tweets from the unveiling.
Can't wait till opening night to see these on the ice. Go Stars!!
I think Dallas did a great job and even though it is completely new, you immediately know it is the Stars. And now clearly Dallas' team. Solid IMO.
For the Canes, I think people are being too negative. Compare pictures of the old and the new, and the old looks too 'cutesy' with the storm flags, weird shoulder piping and shiny silver. My small fixes would be to add the lace up collar to the whites, and then to add a black stripe between the two white ones on the red jersey. This would make the black not look like an afterthought. My one big fix would be to change to black pants with the red jersey. Solid red looks brutal. At the very least, put the logo back on the thigh and and some stripes up the side to break it up a bit.
that texas state shaped logo is perfect for a 3rd jersey to me!! perhaps a silver / grey jersey with black / green striping??
Keep dreaming Brett XD
With Carolina, I think this is a case where less is in fact less. They should never have eliminated the shoulder patch, nor the flags across the bottom. Those features were what gave the uniform it's unique character! I think the mods to the numbers and Fonts work well, and for the most part the uniform works... it's just not done very well.
For Dallas, I really think its getting worse. While I like the colors, the rebranded logos look far too juvenile. Seriously, it's something right out of the ECHL, the Florida Everblades look more professional. This new Dallas logo doesn't deserve to be in the NHL, frankly. Unfortunately, we'll be stuck with it for at least a few years.
the canes are pretty bland (definitely like the whites more though) for me but I really like the new stars jerseys... until I see that the font really looks like someone got a local shop to embroider them on. Couldn't they get a thin black outline on them? That would have really improved it for me. But overall I really like the yokes on both away jerseys.
i'm going to actually disagree with most of the people here and say that while I DO like the canes new ones, i think the stars new ones are atrocious....complete rip-off of North Dakota, and a very amateurish logo....i really hate that logo, just awful
Solid red looks brutal? Is there something wrong with the Red Wings' home uniforms?
I forgot to mention my dislike of laced collars. What's the point? They stopped making them back in the '70s for some reason, didn't they? The new ones don't even tie up, nor does the collar open up underneath them. I don't get the attraction.