Rbk EDGE Review: Ducks

Part 12 of 30. All 30 NHL clubs have unveiled new jerseys under the new Rbk EDGE Uniform System for the 2007-08 season. Here at the NHLToL, we're going to review every one of them. Read up and then rate the new sweaters. We'll do a full ranking after completing all of the reviews.

Rbk EDGE Uniform System

Anaheim Ducks

New Uniforms

Old Uniforms

The Unveiling
Friday, September 14. The Ducks unveiled their new jerseys to fans during their first preseason game.

Home vs. Road
Home: Black. Road: White. The two sweaters are essentially mirror images of each other.

The black home jerseys feature swooshing gold-white-black-orange stripes around the bottom. These stripes are broken up by solid side paneling. Similar stripes are found around the sleeves. The collar is orange with gold trim and the primary logo serves as the crest.

The white road jerseys feature swooshing gold-white-black-orange stripes around the bottom. Black extends down to the bottom of the jersey from the orange stripe. These stripes are broken up by solid side paneling. Similar stripes are found around the sleeves. The collar is orange with gold trim and the primary logo serves as the crest.

In The Details
Because of its proportions, the crest is the smallest on any of the new Rbk EDGE sweaters. The same numbering and lettering style has been retained.

New & Old
Little has been changed on the new sweaters as the Ducks just introduced new ones last summer. Some slight differences include the collar (as with all of the jerseys) along with the way the side paneling breaks up the striping of the jersey.

Standard FAQ
Numbers on the front? No.
Laces at the collar? No.

NHLToL Editorial by Chris
I know these jerseys now have a Stanley Cup behind them, but I cannot get over how poor the logo is. I understand the marketing team wanting to disassociate themselves with the "Mighty" name, but surely there are better ways of doing that. I should say that without the logo, I really do like these jerseys. But a uniform is more than just colors and stripes. The logo is the biggest part and I have never been a big fan of it. That and the numbers and captains' letters are oversized when compared with the crest. The lack of imagination has spurred me to award my lowest rating yet. 2/5

View the photo gallery

Buy your new Ducks jersey!

Just To Freak You Out IX

It's time for another Freak Out Friday! Let's not waste time.

I've had this Buffalo Sabres concept for some time now. I think the idea is that this text would run down the front of the jersey, just like the Rangers.

Cracks me up though. But, hey, nothing says "Buffalo" and "Sabres" more than the city on a skewer. Anybody else getting hungry?

No? Just me?

Moving right along then to one of the scariest bits of artwork ever to grace my inbox.

Aptly titled Thrash Bling, this image frightens me to my very core. What you can't say, though, is that it isn't creative. The things people come up with.

I think the Anaheim Ducks missed an opportunity.

That is one pissed off duck. I think someone splashed him.

You might have to enlarge this next one to grasp its full scope.

I get the octopus thing, but where does it stop exactly? I'm voting for the purple one. Speaking of scary Detroit Red Wings art, look at this.

I mean it's not half bad as far as that goes, but yikes! I think the wings are swallowing the wheel. Poor wheel.

Apologies for the short post this week, guys, but it was a slow week in terms of "freak out" art. Hopefully you guys will send in more for next Friday's installment. Until then...

Freak.

Out.

Fan Art For Ducks, Stars, Coyotes

I've been getting some really awesome concept art sent to me lately so let's dive right into some of it, starting in alphabetical order with the Anaheim Ducks.

If this had been sent to me sooner, it would've been part of the Ducks, Here's How You Fix It post from a week ago. That team would look so good in this jersey and I'd eat all my words.

Then I was sent another set that I'm having some difficulty with.

That was making my head spin a little. So as to save me from having to explain it, a description straight from the horse's mouth:

I really wanted to pull together the Ducks' history in the jerseys. I tossed around a lot of ideas but landed on this set of home/away and two alternates. The home and away follow the current script years in Anaheim and I took a page from baseball for having different scripts for home and away. The home jersey features the 04-06 Anaheim script with Ducks in place of Mighty Ducks. The road is basically the current road jersey with an updated name font, captain's "c" and the script/oval logo. Both home and away jerseys feature and interlocking "AD" shoulder patch in the team script as well as front laces.

For the alternate I just changed the current sweaters up a bit but the new shoulder patch, front laces, a recolored Disney logo, and Anaheim, and Ducks wordmarks on the bottom of the home and road jerseys respectively. Just something a little different.

I like the jerseys independently of each other, but together they don't make a good set. I've heard of teams using different logos for their home and away sweaters, but never completely different color schemes. I think your team starts losing its identity when that happens.

I've also got a Dallas Stars concept that puts the state of Texas right on the crest. Not a bad idea, but it should be the white logo. It needs more contrast.

And finally, someone went a little nutty with the look of the Phoenix Coyotes. It's a harsh mix of the old and new.

I'm not really sure I have the words to describe it. Perhaps you do so feel free to leave a comment.

Some Unusually Familiar Concepts

I got a funny email yesterday. Check out these. See if you notice a pattern.

I don't feel a need to explain or comment on them really. They sort of speak for themselves. Pretty clever, if you ask me. What do you think of them?

We Like Concept Art

Yes, we do. And concept art loves us. First off I just want to thank everyone who sends in their cool and crazy work. I love opening my email everyday to see what surprises await me.

One such surprise was this New Jersey Devils uniform concept. If I'm to understand right, the logo seen here is one of the original designs that never made the final cut.

The Christmas colors don't work. If you want to see how to make green and red work together, see the Minnesota Wild.

Here's an interesting Nashville Predators design that was actually a little too good to be considered for the Friday Freak Outs.

I say "good," but not necessarily on the level of the NHL. If not as a Preds third jersey, I could totally see something like this passing in the AHL or ECHL. I like the white swipes across the sleeves. Need to find a different font for the wordmark, though. That one doesn't work.

And then I have this San Jose Sharks concept which I think I'm only posting because the orange seems to annoy Sharks fans to no end. And I like a little ribbing now and then.

I was going to try to say this isn't that bad of a design, but it really is. The teal works too well for the Sharks. No need to go playing up the orange when you already have the best color in hockey. I would like to see more silver come back though.

They need to bring that back. Moving right along now.

This Anaheim Ducks design is a bit of a mix between concepts I've posted here in the past. While this jersey looked great with the flying duck logo, I can't honestly say it looks horrible with this one. I know it's a Disney cartoon, but they do some of the best animation work in the world, so let's not knock them there. And despite the fact that they're similar to the Dallas Stars, I think these colors would serve the Ducks well. Maybe use the logo on a third jersey, though.

That's enough out of me. What do you guys thinks of these? Are they total duds or do they have some redeeming qualities?

Poll: Ducks Logo History

1993	2006

Since the Ducks and Kings are kicking off the new season in London this weekend, I'm opening logo history polls for Anaheim today and Los Angeles tomorrow. Man, I wish I was back in London right now.

Place your vote and then feel free to leave a comment as to how you came to your decision. Tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Poll opening date Sep 29 @ 10:40 AM

Poll closing date Oct 6 @ 11:59 PM

07BONLH | LHANA

Ducks, Here's How You Fix It

We're working our way through the less accepted jerseys that have been introduced at the hands of Reebok this offseason. Today we're addressing the Anaheim Ducks, specifically.

One of my pet peeves is wordmarks passing themselves off as logos. So you can imagine my disdain for the Ducks' new logo when it was introduced last summer. Now it's the smallest crest on any of the new Rbk EDGE uniforms (Dallas' home sweater doesn't count because that's another animal altogether). So here's a simple fix.

How hard would that have been? Really? So disappointing.

But let's just say for the sake of argument that this suggestion is too drastic. What about this?

It's very subtle, but adding that black oval behind the wordmark does wonders for it. If you ask me, it doesn't do enough, but it's definitely better.

Am I way off base here? Ducks fans, do you approve? If you have any suggestions yourself, email me and you might just see it posted here one day soon.

Coming up next: Edmonton Oilers. And Oilers fans, you aren't going to want to miss it. Man, did your club miss the boat on this one. Knowing you guys the way I do, you're going to love it.

In Response

Sometimes when I post concept art, I'll make suggestions here or there that speak merely to my own personal preferences. It's cool that every once in a while, someone listens to my suggestions and gives them a shot.

Yesterday, I posted an Anaheim Ducks design I thought was pretty cool, suggesting that instead of gold, the alternate jersey in the set might be better suited for orange. Well today in my email I find that someone gave me what I asked for.

I guess it just proves that some of you out there are actually reading what I write. And I appreciate that.

Then, just last week I posted a neat logo concept somebody came up with for the New Jersey Devils. I suggested that it needed something behind it to tie it together better. Then I was emailed this shortly after.

Looks a lot better if you ask me.

Anyway, I guess I just wanted to thank you guys for reading and show you that I do in fact read all my email. By the way, if you've ever written to me and are still awaiting for a response, chances are my feeble memory has forgotten. Just keep bugging me. You can get a hold of me at nhllogos@gmail.com.

Concepts From The Coast

My concept art posts are making their glorious return this week with all the Rbk EDGE jerseys finally released. Today we're taking a trip out West.

This one was interesting. It's a hybrid of the old logo with the new. I think it would be millions of times better if they just dropped the "ucks." How many times have I said that?

I mean consider how the wordmark logo actually looks on the jerseys. It's even got fewer letters than "capitals" yet it still seems smaller across the chest. I was really hoping for a change this year. Let them get the whole Ducks rebranding thing out of the way last season and then try something real this season.

I guess we can only ask for so much.

Here's something I don't love but thought it was an interesting idea. It's the current jersey with the old Mighty Ducks colors. Probably not a winner.

And then going all the way back we've got a simple recoloring of the old jersey and logo. Once again, it's not awful, but it just doesn't seem to fit.

Here's the winner.

I think if it were orange, that third jersey would just kill. The Ducks could be among the best-looking teams in the league if they wanted to. But the NHL doesn't hire designers like this. That would be too much to hope for.

So let's move along to Los Angeles. A while back I'd written a post suggesting using the old King head third jersey logo with some modern-day recoloring. The purple beard blended in too much on the dark jersey so I wondered what it would look like in silver. And I got my answer.

I'm sorry, but why isn't that the primary Kings logo anyway? That says "kings" to me! (Not that a crown necessarily doesn't.) Oh and as a personal aside to the designer, what's the deal with stealing the Lightning's armpit stripes?

Anyway, let's head up the coast to San Jose and check out some other Lightning-related designs. One Sharks fans created these concepts based off Tampa Bay's Reebok jersey design, replacing the blue with teal.

Actually, I'm a big fan of the one on the left. The full shark makes for a much fiercer logo if you ask me — not that you were. As for the shield logo, I don't feel it makes a very good crest. It's a little much. I think it looks great on the pants and might even look nice on the shoulder — maybe for a third jersey one day.

The other thing I like is the diamond fin logo found on the shoulders of these designs. I'm a little surprised and disappointed it was left out of the actual uniform design.

What do you guys think of these? And remember, if you've made an concepts or seen any around that I haven't already posted, feel free to send them along. You can email me at nhllogos@gmail.com.

Ducks' Stripes Stop

You know I'm bored when I write a post about something like this. In perusing photos from last night's preseason game between the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks, I noticed something odd about the new Anaheim sweaters.

It's the tiniest of details, but the curved stripe doesn't extend all the way around the bottom of the jersey. The panel down the side is solid. Like I said, it couldn't matter less, but it was just something unusual I noticed.

That reminds me, I just uploaded a ton of photos from that game to the Ducks and Kings albums in the Rbk EDGE gallery. They're different from that first preseason game because while that one was in Anaheim, this one was in L.A., so you can see the Kings in black and Ducks in white.