Predators Mulling Mustard Again?

One way or another the Nashville Predators will have new uniforms next season. And now, it sounds like they could be considering making yellow a big part of the new look.

Previous reports had the Preds dropping the orange and gold from their color scheme entirely and going with their present third jersey look full-time. Then just this week I received an email from a Nashville fan named Philip.

Predators T-shirt / PhilipHe writes:

I talked with my Preds ticket rep today and he confirmed a new jersey. The jersey is not going to be white like everyone thinks. It will be yellow and have the current logo. He was one of the testers for it and said it's really cool.

Currently in the Preds pro shop they are selling yellow T-shirts that will look like the jersey. I have been wondering why they were selling these but it all makes sense now.

Philip sent in this picture of the yellow shirt being sold in the team store. He tells me its been on the shelves about a month.

It's not uncommon to see team's make T-shirts based on the jersey — the jersey color with the crest on the front. Some you can even buy customized with a name and logo. But most notably, they all have the NHL shield just below the collar, similar to where it's placed on the sweaters.

This yellow T-shirt has that NHL shield below the collar. It's not definitive proof of anything, but paired with the report from the ticket rep, it makes things a little more interesting.

If this is the case, there are two things of note: 1) the logo wouldn't be changing, and 2) is it possible we could finally see a team without a white jersey? The Preds could certainly get away with wearing yellow on the road with all the dark home jerseys in the league. And it wouldn't be the first time either. In the Kings' early days, they never wore white.

And you may recall the Predators previously wore a mustard-colored third jersey from 2001 to 2007. It was retired when Reebok commandeered the NHL's uniforms. But it wasn't quite as bright as the T-shirt in question.

What does this mean about changing the home jersey? Couldn't say. It's all up in the air at this point as we don't have all that much to go on. Just rumors for now.

If the Wild Weren't the Wild...

If there's one thing apart from new uniforms and logos that gets Icethetics readers excited, it's what was left on the table. We love concept art, especially when it's in the form of professional designs once considered by NHL teams. We've actually had a chance to see a lot of that recently with the Lightning, Kings, Blue Jackets, Ducks, Panthers, and even the Coyotes way back in 2008.

Now the team we know today as the Minnesota Wild has revealed what might've been in a new image gallery posted on their website.

Did you know that among the names considered early on were the Blue Ox, Freeze, Northern Lights, White Bears and Voyageurs? You may have. Those names have been floating around for a while, so now as they celebrate their 10th anniversary season, the Wild have hooked up with Minneapolis creative firm called The Shinebox to give us a visual representation of how the club might have otherwise looked.

Note: The following artwork doesn't truly fit in with the other teams discussed at the beginning of this post. Those were actual concepts the team considered once they had their name selected. In this case, the Wild turned to SME Branding to create their bear head logo only after a name was settled on.

Minnesota Blue Ox / The Shinebox

Minnesota Northern Lights / The Shinebox

Minnesota Voyageurs / The Shinebox

Minnesota Freeze / The Shinebox

Minnesota White Bears / The Shinebox

All rather interesting concepts, but none beats the Wild. And just like the logo, even the name Minnesota Wild is one of the best in the NHL. (Second only to, say... the Tampa Bay Lightning?) It's kind of interesting to see some personality added to the names that were considered for the team.

The Wild name was revealed to the public on Jan. 22, 1998 and the logo still in use today was unveiled Nov. 18, 1999. I highly recommend reading the article on the Wild's website as it talks a bit about the process of choosing the name and the trepidation the higher-ups felt upon its unveiling.

Uncertainty in Nashville and Tampa

The "limited edition" jersey / Nashville PredatorsDon't bet on this jersey. (Pun.)

The Nashville Predators hosted the GnashVegas Casino Gala and Auction on Thursday night. It's one of those events teams put on to let rich fans rub elbows with players in a casual setting. And it's only noteworthy here because of what the players showed up wearing.

The jerseys they sported for the event, fully customized with their surnames and numbers (even on the sleeves), are nothing they've ever worn on the ice. Nor will they.

Last month just prior to the inaugural edition of NHL JerseyWatch 2011, we got our first look at what might've been the Preds' new road sweater next season. Only there were many indications that it wouldn't be.

GnashVegas Casino Gala / Nashville PredatorsRumors had circulated for some time that the Predators wanted to simplify their color palette and exile their present home and road uniforms in favor of their current alternate along with a white version of it.

Said white version showed on a silent auction table during a game recently. It fanned the flames, feeding rumors about jersey changes. As did the fact that every player was wearing one on GnashVegas night. But the club's Facebook folks threw a bucket of cold water on that theory.

They posted a photo album from the event and the first person to comment on it asked, "Any mention about these jerseys becoming the new away uniforms next season with the current 3rds [sic] the new home uniforms?"

The direct reply from the Predators: "These jerseys are limited edition jerseys that were auctioned off at tonight's event."

But the ensuing commenters weren't deterred, one asking, "why do I get a feeling that we will be seeing a lot more of these amazing, fantastic awesomely cool jerseys?"

The team's Facebook operator tersely reiterated, "These jerseys will not be used next season."

Of course that leaves the door open to indeed using new jerseys next season, just not these. Which we already know to be the case, thanks to Reebok. If you'd like to see more pictures of the players sporting their "limited edition" jerseys on casino night, there's an additional photo gallery on the team's website.

And the point of all of this is that we still aren't quite sure what to expect from Nashville in 2011. By the way, I must've gotten more than a dozen emails about this so thanks to all of you who sent in links.

The other bit of news has to do with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who just unveiled their rebranding plans a couple weeks ago to mixed reviews. Turns out, those plans may not necessarily be set in stone. Or they are and some don't want to believe it.

On Friday, the always reliable Uni Watch posted a note in the ticker that I have to question as more wishful thinking than actual fact. But if it's good enough for Paul, it's good enough for me.

Very interesting NHL news from Cork Gaines, who writes: “One of the Lightning radio broadcasters was on a local station in Tampa talking and mentioned that what they unveiled last week may not be exactly what they wear on the ice next season. He mentioned possibly adding a lightning bolt to the shorts and some other unspecified tweaks. This makes me think we got a mid-season unveiling just so the team could gauge reaction and make adjustments — a concept I’m surprised we don’t see more often.”

First of all, can anyone corroborate this? The Lightning have two radio guys — Dave Mishkin, the PxP dude, and Phil Esposito who provides color for home games. I don't see Mishkin stepping outside the lines on this — unless it was a clever attempt by the team to drop a hint to fans unhappy with the recently revealed changes. Either that or Espo spilled the beans. Which would not surprise me in the least.

I'm not sure I agree with Cork that the midseason unveiling was a way to gauge reaction. That's what focus groups are for. I take Leiweke at his word that the timing was all about making sure they got the new logo out there the way they wanted, rather than some crappy website (like this one) leaking it before the summer.

Management said they expected some resistance from fans as it's a pretty sweeping change. But I think they may have gotten a little more than they bargained for. And one thing they've reiterated since the beginning is their intent to listen to the fans. If tweaks are being considered, I'd chalk it up to that.

Lightning customize logo for social avatarsOne more thing. I know the last time I talked about the Bolts, I referenced the makeover of their web presence but I didn't really offer much outside of the background image from the website. They also added new social website avatars, customized versions of their new secondary logo.

On the actual logo, it reads HOCKEY CLUB between the two mini-bolts at the bottom of the circle. It's replaced by Facebook and Twitter in these versions. It's not a big deal, just kind of a cool branding thing.

And in case you haven't checked out the Lightning's website lately, here's how it looks in the new colors: