New Logos Unveiled, More Coming?

The NHL and the Minnesota Wild unveiled the full version of the 2011 Entry Draft logo on Tuesday. It's very green.

The NHL set a new standard for draft logos with the 2010 edition, hosted by Los Angeles. The basic version of the mark features the word "draft" in big block letters above three shooting stars which identify the host and year.

The full version features elements that represent the host in some fashion. The Los Angeles logo, for example, features palm trees. The new Minnesota logo contains a wilderness scene. But my description hardly does it justice.

The best description can be found on the team's own website:

For those of you who live out of state, we here in Paul Bunyan's home state love us some trees, and some lakes. This logo has both, with pine trees surrounding a lake with what appears to be a brilliant sunrise coming up over the horizon. The primary color is the forest green seen in the Wild's third jerseys.

Another difference: While the full L.A. version was encased in a circle, the Minny one here is more of a shield. Will they stick with the shield in 2012 or keep changing up the shape? Not really a question that demands an answer. At least not until next year.

By the way, this was pointed out by a reader. For anyone who ever thought the Wild's third jersey looks like a baseball uniform. Guess what.

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The newest member of the North American Hockey League just unveiled a brand new logo. Welcome the Michigan Warriors.

Technically they're not a new member. They were the Marquette Rangers until this week. The junior club has now made the 400-mile move to Flint, Mich. for the 2010-11 season and given us a brand new logo to enjoy.

It's a little cartoony, but it is a junior team. And to be fair, it's a solid, fierce-looking mark. You could do worse with some of the stuff teams have come out with lately. (Yes, I'm talking about the Pensacola Ice Flyers. I'm always talking about the Pensacola Ice Flyers.)

Read more about the change-over at the NAHL's website. And find more details on the team at MyWarriors.net.

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One more thing. Scott K. writes in tonight to say it looks all but official that the Lowell Devils are headed to Albany — once again placing New Jersey's AHL farm club in New York's capital district.

Tom Gulitti posted the following on his blog, Fire & Ice:

It appears an agreement between the Devils and the Times Union Center in Albany to move the team’s AHL franchise back to New York’s capital will be finalized in the next two days. The Devils submitted a letter of intent last week to move the team to Albany for the next five seasons, but some details still had to be worked out about improvements to the arena that the Devils are seeking.

“Nothing is complete yet,” Lamoriello said. “Hopefully, we’ll have something by the end of the week the latest.”

So it's not full-on official, but it's looking more like they'll be the Albany Devils starting in the fall. And that means a new logo for us to drool over. Here's the thing, though. I'm betting they pull the Trenton nonsense. It's going to read ALBANY arched above the New Jersey Devils logo with devil horns on the A and Y.

Stay tuned to see what happens.

Update on Thursday · May 6 · 2010 | 10:29 AM PDT by Chris

There was one other item I accidentally left out last night. A new Twitter account named @OKC_Barons popped up on Tuesday claiming that the Oilers' revived AHL franchise will be called the Oklahoma City Barons.

Haven't been able to track down any confirmation of this, or even a second source. Verifying the legitimacy of the account is pretty much impossible at this point. But I guess it's worth keeping an eye on anyway.

There have been two tweets, both posted around 8 PM on Tuesday.

OKC_Barons YOU HEARD IT HERE 1st: The Oklahoma City Barons will be the new Edmonton #Oilers AHL affiliate starting in the 2010/11 season. #AHL #OKC

OKC_Barons The official name announcement will be in a few weeks. Until then... who's excited for the Oklahoma City Barons? #AHL #OKC #Oilers #NHL

Again, can't vouch for the validity so take it for what it's worth.

Minor League Notes, No Joke

I have a big JerseyWatch update coming tomorrow. Not posting it today for obvious reasons. No one would believe me. Instead, just a few minor minor league notes. First, a new logo was unveiled yesterday!

The AHL's Syracuse Crunch officially unveiled their new colors just a week after announcing a new affiliation agreement with the Anaheim Ducks. The Crunch's tweaked logo now matches their new parent club.

The revised logo features the club’s classic moniker depicting the face of an ice gorilla biting through a hockey stick with the word ‘CRUNCH’ emblazoned in ice block letters above him and showcases the new team colors of black, ice blue, metallic gold and burnt orange.

In addition, the Crunch will unveil a brand new uniform design that includes the new team colors in the upcoming weeks.

What the team doesn't mention in that release is the color in the gloves of the ice gorilla, which are neither metallic gold nor burnt orange. Looks to be some kind of brownish gray.

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When the ECHL's Johnstown Chiefs franchise makes the move to Greenville, S.C. this summer, the team will allow fans to pick the new name.

Team owner and GM Neil Smith said the Chiefs name will be staying in Johnstown and a name-the-team contest will be held, according to the Greenville News. The newspaper also said "the horrendous moniker Grrrowl will not be back." We can all breathe easy now.

Greenville is hopeful that hockey will be a success again as it once was. After all, they've seen the Kelly Cup in that town. And everybody likes a winner.

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Finally, Icethetics reader Chip pointed me toward Dan Krieger's Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report at OurSportsCentral. Krieger keeps tabs on all the goings-on with the often on-the-move minor league clubs. A couple of things stood out in his reports from the last couple of weeks.

With the Albany River Rats moving to Charlotte at the end of the season, it looks as if the Lowell Devils could replace them — returning the New Jersey Devils-owned affiliate to New York's capital city.

Krieger had the following in his report:

Now that the AHL's Portland Pirates have ended negotiations about a move to Albany (NY) for next season, Albany is reported to be negotiating with the Lowell (MA) Devils, the AHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils in the National Hockey League.

The Devils had their AHL affiliate in Albany operating as the River Rats for 13 seasons before moving it to Lowell and purchasing the Lock Monsters for the 2006-07 season. The Albany River Rats have been affiliated with the Carolina Hurricanes since 2006, but Carolina is moving its AHL affiliate to Charlotte next season.

If that happens, the name would likely change to Albany Devils. However, I'm not sure if they'd bother changing the logo, despite the fairly obvious L it forms. We'll have to wait and see how it all pans out.

Krieger also reported that one group was attempting to bring back the ECHL's Charlotte Checkers franchise as the San Diego Gulls for the 2010-11 season. Evidently, those plans have fallen through.

The Checkers' name and logo will be appropriated to the AHL's River Rats when they move to Charlotte next season. That means the ECHL team will likely be disbanded this summer.

The Gulls played one season in the ECHL after it merged with the West Coast Hockey League.