Strauss NHL Rebrand IX
Wednesday · Apr 21 · 2010 | 3:14 PM PDTThe NHL Rebrand series by Elliott Strauss is starting to wind down. This week he tackles the Devils, Wild and Predators. His own comments are in bold text.
 Elliott Strauss |
I thought that the old mustard alternate crest had potential to make an interesting primary logo, so I just cleaned it up. A simplified version of the current primary remains as a secondary. I came up with a custom font for the wordmark and numbers, and I'm happy with the way the numbers look on the jerseys. The color scheme keeps navy and silver but adds an icy blue-gray in the place of yellow. The home jersey color of "steel blue" would make a unique addition to the NHL. The alternate slightly modifies the home/away template. A strong entry here, to be sure. Personally, I never realized what a great logo the Predators' had on that old alternate until Elliott did some work to it. Certainly looks more like a hockey logo now. And overall, this is a really sharp uniform set. I'd by that home jersey in a heartbeat. |
 Elliott Strauss |
I dropped the two-tone gold thing they have going, the darker yellow is gone, and wheat takes its place. Other than that, the logos stay the same, this is one of my favorite primaries of all time, so I got rid of the circle thing on the primary crest to focus on the awesomeness of this logo. Pretty simple uniforms. No white in the homes, but I think the small amount of wheat really makes the red stand out. Then green has a prominent role in the roads as well. The alternate simplifies things even further. I do like how these uniforms turned out. Great to see that primary logo back on the front of a green jersey. That's where it belongs. Only thing I don't like about this set is the alternate uniform. I understand what Elliott was going for but the style of that wordmark clashes with the simplicity of the sweater. At least the team got that right for real with the new thirds this year. |
 Elliott Strauss |
I love what they wear now, but I wanted to try a modernization. I actually made the home jersey black, which is new, and then tried some devil-horn striping. I had to keep a lot of red, so the alternate brings back the red base, with a different take on a modern devil-horn stripe. The striping on these jerseys is just flat-out cool. The shift back to classic style uniforms means we probably won't get to see anything like this in the NHL for another 15 to 20 years. I also like the secondary logo, borrowed from the AHL's Lowell Devils, but disappointed it didn't make an appearance on the uniforms, not even the shoulders of the alternate. And if I'm being completely honest in my review, I'm also disappointed that we didn't get a modernization of the logo along with the updated jerseys. The Devils' logo is very clearly a product of the early '80s. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it seems out of place on the "futuristic" jersey designs. However I do like the re-coloring on the home sweater. |
One more edition of Elliott's NHL rebrands to come. And by process of elimination, I'm sure you've figured out that the Rangers, Canucks and Blue Jackets are on deck. Spoiler alert: Rangers get the best rebrand!
Reader Comments (22)
i think the black devils jersey should be switched with the red, red has been our home color since 1982, but i still love the design
chris you gave it away, lady liberty is finally back i just hope we can put her back on the thirds next season where she belongs
The devils primary home and road jerseys remind me of the red and black sabres jerseys
What someone should do is figure out a way to download these concepts into NHL 10....I'd love to play a Straussified NHL season
i love the preds new alternate both for real and strauss but the primary in strausses looks a little i dunno cartoonish?? the third jersey logo is so crisp and it feels ferocious but the new one just doesn't do it for me and i cant wait for the 'Nucks rebrand please say the spaghetti plate gets a revisite lol
all of these are great, the preds and the wild home and aways are the best, devils unis are kinda iffy. Chris, are you going to make a special section where you can view all the rebrandings? Maybe similar to the jersey section you already have?
Wild's road jersey looks a bit like Team Belarus... LOL
And the Devils' home set looks too Sabres-ish, from when they were still stuck in the black-white-red years. And the swoosh looks cool on the NJD Alt, even though it's kinda Ducks-ish.
Love the Preds jersey! One of the best; the colors are great. Put the secondary logo on the 3rd jersey for the Wild, and those are also great. Now my team, I've been waiting so long for this.....
Chris you are spot on about the jersey's. They just don't mesh well with the classic logo. I do love the logo, but I was also disappointed to not see a more modern one with the type of striping he did on the jerseys. I do love the new striping too, the "horns" on the arm just makes sense. To make this look less "Sabres," keep the home red and don't re-color the primary. Also, scratch a 3rd jersey, you should know as long as a Lamoriello is in the organization, no 3rd is happening.
As for the Rangers and the liberty logo coming up...Liberty Island is technically on NJ's side of the border..just saying..haha
The Devils logo with the dvil thorugh the D is awesome. I feel he wasted the logo by not putting it on the thirds.
The preds a great, I hate the yellow they are using now. And the Devils going to a black home is pretty nice. But out of those three, the Wild is the best. Both home and away are sharp, and the third is even better. the green one they wear now is ugly in my eyes. And going to that one would be a great move for them.
The stripes on the Devils home/road jerseys are strangley reminiscent of Brodeur's old mask.
That just wouldn't be right for a team in Nashville to have what would be one of the best jeresey sets in the league!
As for the Devils' rebrand...I totally agree with other commentors that it looks like the 90s Sabres' set.
Changes to NJ are pretty cool, and as a Flames fan I appreciate the switch in colours..
But that primary just looks so...late90s Buffalo....
The Devils road jersey has to be hands down the best re-brand I've seen in a long, long time, and by far the best use of the Reebok jersey design I've seen - those swashes are well thought-out.
I'd swap the red and white in the black home uni, best high marks!
First i hate Minnesota's current set and i think eliot's take is super. The Devils re brand is one of the best i've seen. I always find hard to imagine what they would like in black, and that look is gold. Finally the Predators. That look is killer, it is just plain awesome. P.S. don't change the Canucks colors
First thing's first, I would absolutely buy that Preds jersey. I don't like the team themselves, but thats one AWESOME looking jersey set. It makes the 3rd jersey look more natural and not just some money grab.
While it would be awesome to see the Wild go with a more uniform look, I'm not a fan of the home jersey's. Perhaps the red rather than the green would be better. Plus the 3rd jersey they have now is more of a classic, and simple one. I like it. I find this one more like the Lightning and the Senators current 3rds, and we all know how cheap and horrible those look.
Love the Devils rebrand is very much Buffalo Sabres 2000-2006. Save for the inverted logo on the home jersey, it works. Plus, I think any Devils 3rd should be their 1982-92 era jersey's.
Love the Preds concepts. If the nameplate on the away jersey was switched to dark blue it would be easier to read. All round amazing work!
overall, i love the rebrands... as a sabres fan, those devils unis immediately reminded me of the dom hasek years and they'd have to be switched up a little... though i must say, the crest on the home jersey in white looks awesome.
another thing that occurred to me, i love the preds rebrand (probably a combination of me really liking it and absolutely hating what they wear now... leave the blue and gold to the sabres and blues)...
but how awesome would that color scheme be if you added a little bit of a darker shade of red and sold it off to Colorado (along the lines of the old Houston Oilers NFL team in a way)... in my opinion, Colorado is one of the teams in the most dire need for a rebrand. the A logo is cool, but the jersey scheme just needs to go. for some reason, with the addition of a little bit of red, replacing the preds logo with Colorado's current home crest, i think would be great. it would look cool and the color scheme would, for whatever reason, go with "Colorado Avalanche" really well.
I see the Freak-out Fridays are back with the Devils-Sabres ('00-'06) hybrid. As others have noted, that black jersey is just way too close to the Sabres old black jerseys. Swap the red and black, and it might look a little more unique, but even then, it would still be very close.
I also don't know about Minnesota going backward. The had green and white jerseys with that logo for their first seven years before replacing the homes with their first alternate.
I generally like your ideas, but in these two cases, I'm not feeling them.
I really liked these concepts! It's always nice to see new concepts for a team that fears... er, shuns change. (Go Devils!)
Oh, I also really liked what you did with Nashville.