The Caps Unveiling Party

This evening the Washington Capitals had their big draft day party in D.C. where they unveiled the uniforms to fans. Check out all the cool smoke and stuff.

Ex-Bolt Ben Clymer is seen here modeling the brand spankin' new Caps duds. They're sharp uniforms. I still hate the logo though. I don't mind the shoulder logo with the eagle in the form of a "W." Anything but a logo made out of the team name.

I do get nostalgia and throwbacks and stuff, but come on. Put that on the shoulder or something. Anyway, it's not up to me and I'm not even a fan of the team. I'm just hoping the Lightning come up with something cool this summer.

We're all waiting on the "EDGE" of our seats. Come on! You don't like puns?

More Potential New Unis

Today is Draft Day and that means each team has to break out the "07" jersey to throw on the backs of their new draft picks. But this year every team is getting new jerseys and the only ones we've actually seen at this moment are Boston and Washington. For a refresher, these are them:

Now for what you haven't seen yet. At least not here, that is. While scouring the internet as I do I came across possible designs and mock-ups for both the Dallas Stars and New York Islanders. Let's start with the latter.

This appears to be a cell phone photo taken possibly covertly. But now the world has it via the wonderful internet. Now as with anything I post that isn't official, do take it with a grain of salt. I'm not anymore connected than you are reading this. The jerseys hanging here definitely have some color issues. I can't say I'm loving all the striping but so far I haven't really loved any of the new Rbk jerseys we've seen. That includes the Bruins and Capitals — although I did like what they wore at this year's all-star game. Am I too picky? Usually I like change, but I haven't been wowed over yet. Yet being the operative word there.

There's also this which might be better off the Hockey Fans & Photoshop series I just finished running a week or so ago. In fact the design even looks a little bit reminiscent of what I posted for the Dallas Stars during that series. Even if this is the team's actual design, it's not half bad. I don't hate it and I like the creativity with the crest on the dark jerseys. However, that in itself indicates a possible change back to the days when the home team wore white.

Don't you just love all this speculating. God knows I do. So that's that for now. Tune your sets to Versus tonight at 7 for coverage of the draft. We'll see if we get any sightings of new jerseys tonight. I'm sure we will. I'm also looking out for the possibility of new logos. I'm desperate for a new one from the Lightning and still expecting changes for Dallas, San Jose, Ottawa and Toronto.

More later tonight.

It's Official: Caps Unveil New Logo!

There it is, posted right on their official web site this morning. The official announcement and ceremony doesn't come until tonight. It's true. The Washington Capitals will actually be wearing that this fall. I'm not even sure about the shoulder logo there — except to say that its a million times better than what's on the front of the jersey.

I feel bad for Caps fans. Hey, unless they like it. And then I'm just a jerk.

Bruins Unveil New Logo!

All right, here we go. We have the first of the official new logo unveilings as the Boston Bruins unveiled this:

My first instinct was a dislike of the black outlining of the "B" in the center, but after having stared at it for about 10 minutes, it's growing on me. Anyway, the logo barely changed as you can see. It's a minor update but it was what's required at this juncture. Anything drastic would have sent Beantown fans overboard. We'd have the equivalent of another Boston Tea Party on our hands, to be sure. (Oh come on, you know I had to do that joke. It was just too obvious not to.)

And then there's these gems. For your viewing pleasure we have the home and road Rbk EDGE uniforms for the 2007-08 Boston Bruins.

Proving once and for all to all those frightened ultra-traditionalists out there that these new uniforms can in fact deal with horizontal striping. Not that losing it would really hurt anyone.

But I'm grown up enough to move on.

I also felt like it was worth posting this. It's the secondary logo — or as their calling it, the "vintage crest" — which will be worn on the shoulder. It's pretty cool. I'd even like it as a primary but we can't have everything, can we?

For those of you following along in the tournament, the Bruins have had one match already, against the Flyers in which we used what is now the old logo. Their next match is June 25 and will feature the new one. In case you were wondering.

The Way It Was?

At this point I am awfully tempted to believe that the image we saw yesterday of the new Washington Capitals uniform is the real deal. The images you see here to the left are what you find on the Caps' official web site as of today. The graphics very closely match as you can see. Having said that, still anything is possible. Once again, we get the official word from the team tomorrow evening.

For now, I leave you with this...

I'm A Little Concerned...

Why am I concerned? Folks, this very well may be the new Washington Capitals uniform and logo. And it is not looking good. Now you know me. You know I wouldn't post something I didn't believe to be the real deal where I didn't specifically say it was fan-created. I have a bad feeling this could be it.

Let's hope it's just that though. A bad feeling. And that the Capitals organization has a little more sense than this. And that there's a very Photoshop-inclined hockey fan out there who really hates the Capitals. All right then.

I nabbed this image off of a forum that seems to indicate the Caps may have intentionally leaked the new look. But like I said and will say over and over again, it could all be nothing. Still, I am inclined to post it. We'll just have to wait and see. The official word comes on Friday evening. Do stop by here for that news. You know I'll have it.

2007-08 NHL Team Logo Changes

All right, so we know all 30 clubs are getting brand spanking new uniforms this fall with the league converting everyone to the new Rbk EDGE jerseys. The question is who will be getting new logos to match? It's difficult to keep track. Here's what I know or have heard through solid or weak sources divided into three categories.

"Definite" means the team has either announced publicly or to retailers a logo change is coming. In most cases, they've also released an announcement date. "Probable" means that according to multiple sources, a change is coming but nothing is set in stone and no announcement date has been released. "Maybe But Maybe Not" indicates a logo change has been mentioned by people mouthing off about things they don't know. The thing is though, some of them do know what they're talking about and I want to have all my ducks in a row. That was all rather self-explanatory.

DEFINITE
• Vancouver Canucks (Aug 01)
• Washington Capitals (Jun 22)

PROBABLE
• Boston Bruins
• Ottawa Senators
• San Jose Sharks
• Tampa Bay Lightning

MAYBE BUT MAYBE NOT
• Dallas Stars
• Toronto Maple Leafs

Now I'm creating one more category. It's the teams I think should consider a logo change this season.

CHANGE, PLEASE
• Anaheim Ducks
• Buffalo Sabres
• Chicago Blackhawks
• Edmonton Oilers
• New York Rangers

Follow-up On The B's

Yeah, so not all that surprisingly there's been no announcement of a new logo for the Boston Bruins today. Although I have since rather conveniently read that there will be an announcement at the draft, a la the Washington Capitals. So whatever, I've heard there will be a new logo this year but until we get official word from the league or team, they're not going in the sidebar countdown.

If they decide to surprise us, then so be it. I'll have coverage here.

Rumor: New Bruins Logo Coming Friday

I don't care much for rumors since anyone can create one and no one has to take responsibility for it so I generally tend to shy away from them. Still, I've heard from several places and have referenced before in this blog that the Boston Bruins will be getting a new logo and uniforms this summer.

Now I'm getting rumblings of an unveiling date set for June 1. Well, that's this Friday so the good news is we don't have to wait long to see if the rumor is true.

That being said, I'm not adding it to the sidebar countdown but I did feel like making everyone aware of the possibility. Keep an eye on the B's web site along with NHL.com this week to see what happens.

I don't have any particulars on the new look — just that the spoked B is out and a new, fierce-looking bear is in. I'm assuming they're keeping the colors. If this does pan out, the Bruins will become the first Original Six team to make a major logo change in the last 50 years.

Flashback: Sabres & Ducks

Okay, people, we're down to just a few weeks before the tournament begins but that doesn't mean this site is useless until then — as has been made obvious with the Hockey Fans & Photoshop series. But getting away from that briefly I wanted to take a trip down memory lane. Last year, all of us hockey fans waited and wondered about what we might see in terms of new logos and uniforms for the coming season.

Both the Buffalo Sabres and Anaheim Ducks — switching to a new moniker — got complete design makeovers. Brand new logos, even brand new colors! Some loved them and some hated them. Personally, I didn't like either new logo very much, but that's what we got. (That might give away a little bit about how the Tournament may go.)

Anyway, this relic here seen to the right is that lovely "leaked" image we were all treated to while waiting to see what the new Sabres logo might look like. The team had previously announced a return to its traditional blue and gold colors and even promised to wear the old '70s uniform for a handful of games in the new season. But as for the primary logo — fans hated it! They called it the Buffaslug, mocking the creature's lack of legs.

The whole "Confidential Until Sept. 2006" made for a pretty interesting sell as well. Still, most people were sure it was a fake. The NHL would never go for such a lame logo. But wait, this is the NHL we're talking about.

Which brings us to our other topic of discussion. No longer a minion of the Disney Corporation, the team wanted to lose that last link going from Mighty Ducks of Anaheim to — quite simply — the Anaheim Ducks. And I liked the name change. What I didn't like was the new logo put forth.

The fuzzy cell phone camera image you see to the left was apparently taken by someone who wants us to think there were better options available to the Ducks. Of the two, I prefer the top logo, so naturally the one on the bottom is what the team chose. I know it would've led to endless tirades about the "Anaheim Mallards" and yes it does look a little like a baseball logo (for some reason) but still — what have they got now? It's not even a real logo. And at least the top one features a better color scheme — not that I really have anything against the orange and gold. It works too.

As far as options go, these two also surfaced. The one on the right is the Atlanta Thrashers logo, so even though I like it, let's move on. The one on the left is nice but also prominently features a mallard along with a rather dull color scheme. So I don't know what to say. I guess they just didn't have any really good graphic design firms on the case. Which reminds me — somebody from the NHL really really needs to listen to this guy. The Sabres especially would be much better off.

All right, that's all the ranting I have for you tonight. It was a brief look back at last year as we await the massive slew of new designs expected for the 2007-08 season. Stay with us. More Hockey Fans & Photoshop tomorrow!