The Hockey News Ranks the NHL Logos

[Screamin'Weasel]

Ranking List

 

1 Chicago Blackhawks

Proud, traditional and iconic.

2 Detroit Red Wings

Winged wheel now synonymous with winning.

3 Montreal Canadiens

The ?H? in the ?C? is legendary.

4 Boston Bruins

The most imitated logo in all of hockey.

5 St. Louis Blues

Bluenote so classic, it stands by itself.

6 Philadelphia Flyers

Flying ?P? is an automatic.

7 Minnesota Wild

Leaders of the new school.

8 San Jose Sharks

Tweaked their original instant classic without losing what worked.

9 Pittsburgh Penguins

Set the standard for animals with sticks.

10 Toronto Maple Leafs

Simple, clean, known immediately throughout hockey.

11 New York Islanders

Solid all around, plus bonus points for the outline of Long Island.

12 Calgary Flames

Tough to argue with the flaming ?C.?

13 Phoenix Coyotes

Rising from the worst logo of all-time, the new coyote is clean, simple and refreshing.

14 Nashville Predators

Those are some serious fangs. Remnants of an ancient sabertooth tiger were found in downtown Nashville a few years ago, hence the mascot.

15 Edmonton Oilers

A drop of oil is the only art, but Edmonton gets points for a nice font.

16 New York Rangers

If this was a jersey contest, the Blueshirts would be much higher, but it?s not.

17 Vancouver Canucks

Still trying to find their iconic Canadian logo, Canucks are sporting a nice compromise.

18 Florida Panthers

As far as realistic logos go, this is a pretty solid panther.

19 Colorado Avalanche

Much like New Jersey, it?s fairly right-on-the-nose; it?s an Avalanche coming down an ?A.?

20 New Jersey Devils

This one dropped a lot in our meeting, but the stylized ?N? does have some good features.

21 Atlanta Thrashers

This one made a big move up in our meeting; the thrasher is the state bird.

22 Washington Capitals

Love the uniform, love the secondary eagle logo, but we need more than words for the primary.

23 Dallas Stars

It?s a big star and it says ?Stars.?

24 Columbus Blue Jackets

A marked improvement from the original ?cribbage board? design.

25 Los Angeles Kings

Call us when you go back to either of your first two logos.

26 Ottawa Senators

The original senator was much better than his current 3-D cousin.

27 Tampa Bay Lightning

Bolts are great, but Tampa still hasn?t found a font that works.

28 Buffalo Sabres

When your own fans hate it, how are we supposed to disagree?

29 Carolina Hurricanes

One THN staffer said it looked like a toilet flushing. Ironically, the Canes have a great secondary logo with the flags.

30 Anaheim Ducks

It?s barely a logo; more like a font. Not that the Mighty Ducks were any better.

 

My opinions:

7. Wild: I think it should be higher on the list. One of the best logos in the NHL, imo.

8. Sharks: I love the improvements they made to the cartoony/2-D looking logo they had prior to this year.

10. Maple Leafs: If the contest were for iconic logos, I could understand this being high on the list, but going by some of the comments they made about other logos, this should be much lower.

11. Islanders: This horrendous logo belongs very near the bottom.

15. Oilers get points for a "nice font?" That font is so horribly dated. Logo belongs near the bottom with the Islanders.

20. Devils: Stylized "N"? It's an "NJ," idiots. Belongs much higher on the list.

22. Capitals: I like the return to the classic looking logo, but I agree with the comments on the secondary logo and jerseys and the primary being just ok. (and I cannot stand that it is "Capitals" instead of "Capitols")

25. Kings: I love thier "crest" logo, but the crown is kinda blah.

26 - 30. Fully agree with them on all thier comments.

 

Your opinions?

[Bmwolf21]

Hmmm..the two teams that first rolled out the redesigned unis are ranked in the bottom three. Coincidence?

[Screamin'Weasel]

Hmmm..the two teams that first rolled out the redesigned unis are ranked in the bottom three. Coincidence?

You cannot help but notice that. Personally, I think the Ducks and Sabres let RBK have a free hand in thier logo redesigns. After the other teams got a look at them, I am pretty sure the other teams decided they wanted more input in the process and less from RBK. I have no proof of that but, I really believe RBK was responsible for the slug logo more than the Sabres organization. From design to test groups (in Arizona, if I recall correctly) both of those logos have large corporate modernization written all over them. They just don't realize how much "tradition" and local taste is involved with hockey.

[frisky]

Man, they get paid to sit around on their butts to talk about this? Mine isn't anywhere near as fun and only slightly more productive.

 

But, when you work at a place called "The Hockey News" I guess it goes with the territory. Lucky SOBs. :P

[Bmwolf21]

You cannot help but notice that. Personally, I think the Ducks and Sabres let RBK have a free hand in thier logo redesigns. After the other teams got a look at them, I am pretty sure the other teams decided they wanted more input in the process and less from RBK. I have no proof of that but, I really believe RBK was responsible for the slug logo more than the Sabres organization. From design to test groups (in Arizona, if I recall correctly) both of those logos have large corporate modernization written all over them. They just don't realize how much "tradition" and local taste is involved with hockey.

I'm starting to lean toward this argument as well.

 

It would be nice if the Sabres were required to keep the Rbk designs for a certain period of time and then were free to re-design the logo and away jerseys...

[Goodfella25]

I still truly believe that the slug will eventually become our 3rd jersey though. If the new 3rd jersey this season is really just the classic blue and gold with some silver outlines added, it will be the more popular jersey. Funny thing is, the slug still doesn't look good even as a shoulder or third jersey logo!

 

Back on topic--I think the list was pretty good. Definitely got #1 right. IMO whether you're ranking on tradition or truly just on design no matter the year, the Blackhawks logo still wins in both categories.

[wonderbread]

I find the Blackhawk logo offensive to my peoples culture and furthermore will never like any team associated with American Indians ever again.

 

 

Seriously I think the Habs, Leafs, Bruins, and The Rags Classic sweaters are the best. Logos? thats not really as good as the Jersey arguement.

 

Everything always seem to revert back to the Jersey/Sweater post

 

BTW when is Max getting traded. Old storyboy has him outta here.

[jwcolour]

Yeah the Wild logo is pretty neat... I hate to admit it but it took me a long while before I realized what it actually was, I wasn't looking at the outline of the logo whatsoever.

[LabattBlue]

"When your own fans hate it, how are we supposed to disagree?" :worthy: :worthy:

 

 

Put that in your pipe and smoke it Quinny! :D :D

[Bmwolf21]

"When your own fans hate it, how are we supposed to disagree?" :worthy: :worthy:

Put that in your pipe and smoke it Quinny! :D :D

Didn't he say something about waiting until we saw the whole thing, then if we hated it we could blame him? :thumbsup:

[Hawerchuk]

I hate Nashville's Logo. Plus the puke mustard color scheme.

 

Buff-a-slug has grown on me, but I prefer the swords. Wish they could tweak the old logo and modernize it.

[Bmwolf21]

I hate Nashville's Logo. Plus the puke mustard color scheme.

 

Buff-a-slug has grown on me, but I prefer the swords. Wish they could tweak the old logo and modernize it.

The Preds newer (forward-facing) logo is not too bad, IMO. I like it a lot more than the profile picture of what appears to be the bionic cat from Tom & Jerry.

 

Don't know WTF they were thinking with that mustard-yellow jersey, though.

[Eleven]

Ranking List

My opinions:

7. Wild: I think it should be higher on the list. One of the best logos in the NHL, imo.

8. Sharks: I love the improvements they made to the cartoony/2-D looking logo they had prior to this year.

10. Maple Leafs: If the contest were for iconic logos, I could understand this being high on the list, but going by some of the comments they made about other logos, this should be much lower.

11. Islanders: This horrendous logo belongs very near the bottom.

15. Oilers get points for a "nice font?" That font is so horribly dated. Logo belongs near the bottom with the Islanders.

20. Devils: Stylized "N"? It's an "NJ," idiots. Belongs much higher on the list.

22. Capitals: I like the return to the classic looking logo, but I agree with the comments on the secondary logo and jerseys and the primary being just ok. (and I cannot stand that it is "Capitals" instead of "Capitols")

25. Kings: I love thier "crest" logo, but the crown is kinda blah.

26 - 30. Fully agree with them on all thier comments.

 

Your opinions?

 

Hey Weasel...

 

Capitals is the right one, not Capitols, for DC. A "Capitol" is a specific building, not a city (the Capitol is located in the US capital), and "capital" has several other meanings, among them, "large" (think "giants" in a couple of other sports), while "Capitol," always capitAlized, does not.

 

More important to your post... my vote for dumbest logo: the Sens. What does a Roman soldier have to do with a senate? Yes, I know, ancient Rome had both soldiers and a senate. So have a lot of countries/civilizations. But what has one to do with the other?

[ExiledInIllinois]

Hey Weasel...

 

Capitals is the right one, not Capitols, for DC. A "Capitol" is a specific building, not a city (the Capitol is located in the US capital), and "capital" has several other meanings, among them, "large" (think "giants" in a couple of other sports), while "Capitol," always capitAlized, does not.

 

More important to your post... my vote for dumbest logo: the Sens. What does a Roman soldier have to do with a senate? Yes, I know, ancient Rome had both soldiers and a senate. So have a lot of countries/civilizations. But what has one to do with the other?

 

You are right... :thumbsup: :thumbsup: The Senators should look like this: :lol:

[deluca67]

Another jersey thread? :doh: I can't wait till the season starts.

[Eleven]

You are right... :thumbsup: :thumbsup: The Senators should look like this: :lol:

 

That is just completely freaking hilarious.

[carpandean]

More important to your post... my vote for dumbest logo: the Sens. What does a Roman soldier have to do with a senate?

Yeah, like what does a leaping buffalo have to do with swords? ;)

[elcrusho]

I find the Blackhawk logo offensive to my peoples culture and furthermore will never like any team associated with American Indians ever again.

 

I've seriously typed like 6 things in here and erased all of them, in fear of upsetting some peoples

[Guest Sloth]

I find the Blackhawk logo offensive to my peoples culture and furthermore will never like any team associated with American Indians ever again.

 

I support you 110%. A number of people w/ in your culture are offended by things like this. Recently, the NCCA said schools aren't supposed to have either an Indian name and/or Indian mascot. I can't remember if it was both or not. There are some schools that are allowed to keep the name and mascot if they receive permission. Florida State would've lost their name and mascot, but the Seminole Indians said they are proud of how their name is used by Florida State and they would like it continue. I'm not sure if Florida State has to pay the Seminole Indians to be allowed to use their name, though.

Again, I do understand how you feel.

[shrader]

The NCAA will allow certain schools to use those names though as long as they're big time money making schools. If you bring in enough money for the NCAA, you're ok.

[Eleven]

Yeah, like what does a leaping buffalo have to do with swords? ;)

 

I know, I know. At least it relates to one of the two words in the team's name.

[JujuFish]

I find the Blackhawk logo offensive to my peoples culture and furthermore will never like any team associated with American Indians ever again.

I hope my sarcasm meter is simply broken here. Although I have very little in me (~1/8 Cherokee), none of my family nor any of my Native American (we're not in India, are we?) friends are offended by even Chief Wahoo.

[Bmwolf21]

The NCAA will allow certain schools to use those names though as long as they're big time money making schools. If you bring in enough money for the NCAA, you're ok.

Has nothing to do with Florida State's position at all.

 

I hope my sarcasm meter is simply broken here. Although I have very little in me (~1/8 Cherokee), none of my family nor any of my Native American (we're not in India, are we?) friends are offended by even Chief Wahoo.

I'm white and I'm offended by Chief Wahoo -- I think he's a crappy mascot.

[Guest Sloth]

The NCAA will allow certain schools to use those names though as long as they're big time money making schools. If you bring in enough money for the NCAA, you're ok.

 

It wouldn't matter if you were able to bring in an unthinkable amount of money. If you don't receive permission from whatever group you're using, you can't use their name. The NCAA will not allow money to play a role in this particular matter.

[Screamin'Weasel]

It wouldn't matter if you were able to bring in an unthinkable amount of money. If you don't receive permission from whatever group you're using, you can't use their name. The NCAA will not allow money to play a role in this particular matter.

So is Utah still the Utes or not? As far as I know most NCAA teams respect thier Native American mascot/images they use by their portrayal of Native Americans as warriors.

 

As far as Chief Wahoo, he is a cartoony characiture but I agree he could be found offensive by some. But you cannot get more offensive than the name "Redskins."

 

EDIT: Just came across the following:

 

SALT LAKE CITY -- The NCAA on Friday gave Utah permission to continue using its Utes nickname, just hours before the school's nationally televised football game against Arizona.

 

The university sent a seven-page appeal to the college sports governing body Wednesday, asking that it be removed from a list of 18 schools subject to restrictions because they have American Indian nicknames, mascots or images.

 

On Friday, the NCAA approved the removal of Utah and also the Central Michigan University Chippewas from the list.

 

"The NCAA Executive Committee continues to believe the stereotyping of Native Americans is wrong," the organization said in a statement. "In its review of the particular circumstances regarding Central Michigan University and the University of Utah, the NCAA staff review committee noted the relationship between the universities and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan and the Northern Ute Indian Tribe, respectively, as a significant factor."

 

In its appeal, Utah included two letters in support of the university, one from Maxine Natchees, chairwoman of the Uintah and Ouray Tribal Business Committee, and one from Craig Thompson, commissioner of the Mountain West Conference.

 

"It's a great day to be a Ute," Chris Hill, Utah athletic director, said Friday after learning of the decision.

 

Utah's mascot dresses as a red-tailed hawk and has nothing to do with the state's Indian heritage. Other than the name, the only Indian reference the school uses is two feathers on the "U" emblem.

 

"I think it's just something we heard clearly from our fans, that we were very respectful of the Ute tribe and we decided to appeal," Hill said. "The university has always been close to the Ute tribe. I think it's standard operating procedure to be in touch with the Ute tribe to do the right thing."

 

On Aug. 4, the NCAA said it would ban American Indian images and nicknames by school representatives at postseason tournaments starting in February. Mascots will not be allowed to perform at tournament games, and band members and cheerleaders will be barred from using Indian images on their uniforms beginning in 2008.

 

The decision also prohibits schools with American Indian mascots from hosting future NCAA postseason events. Schools that have already been awarded postseason tournaments would have to cover any Indian depictions in their sports venues.

 

The NCAA also has granted an exception to the Florida State Seminoles.

 

"The NCAA position on the use of Native American mascots, names and imagery has not changed, and the NCAA remains committed to ensuring an atmosphere of respect and sensitivity for all who participate in and attend our championships," the NCAA said.

 

"The NCAA recognizes the many different points of view on this matter, particularly within the Native American community. The decision of a namesake sovereign tribe, regarding when and how its name and imagery can be used, must be respected even when others may not agree."

 

So are the Utes and Seminoles may be the only remaining Native American Mascots in the NCAA?