Found this while trolling the official online Blues shop. Kinda cool as these things go. There’s a couple of different designs for both the Stockholm and Helsinki Premier games. (Shop NHL)
I lived in Minnesota for a couple of years, so I got to know the Wild and “The State of Hockey” pretty well. I loved their third jerseys back then, and thought it a wise move when they made it their official home jersey after the RBK Edge invasion a couple seasons ago.
When I first saw this new and improved third, I don’t know that I liked it a whole lot. It seemed a little too amateurish, like something a pee wee or high school team would wear.
In thinking about it a bit more though, I realize that’s probably the whole point of the design. In Minnesota, hockey is played just as much as any city in Canada. High School hockey gets almost as much airtime as College Hockey, which is always competing with Wild hockey during the weekends.
So I reserved judgement until I could see it up close or in person. With the official unveiling happening at the State Fair last weekend, new pics were put up detailing the various elements of the full outfit. I have to say my reservations quickly evaporated once I saw the crest up close.
In fact, the only thing I would change in the outfit would be the shoulder piping. I don’t think it looks good on any of the new team jerseys, and doesn’t really help here either.
Overall though, it’s one of the best looking third jerseys out there today. It’s only a matter of time before it becomes their main home jersey (joking…maybe).
We’re finally getting towards the end of the mass redesign. This batch of teams loves the crazy textures in their backgrounds:
NEW YORK ISLANDERS
I like this design overall, but without a high resolution allowing you to see more of the sidebars, you can’t really make out that it’s the Islanders crest in the background. As a result, you don’t initially recognize that the right diagonal block in the header is, in fact, the hockey stick “Y” found in the team crest.
DETROIT RED WINGS
Love the sidebars, and love how they carry over into the header. I would argue in favor of dropping the crest from the middle of the header though. It contrasts too much with the site heading and tag line. I think the site could survive without it.
CAROLINA HURRICANES
Minimal, much like the Flyers site. I like the texture and like how it fades under the main content. Nothing overly complex, but still good looking.
SAN JOSE SHARKS
I actually like the player shots and how they fade into darker texture. I would have left out the transparent wording and face-off circles though. The header is nice as well, but would have left off the solar flare and embossing on the text.
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS
Great site. Love Nash on the right and how he fades out at the bottom. I maybe would have tried darkening the center background just a bit to make the individual content boxes stand out a little more from all that texture, but overall a great redesign.
Four more teams have recently revealed their new sites. Wispy backgrounds appear to be the safe bet for many teams this season:
ANAHEIM DUCKS
Minimal, just like their jerseys. Not horrible by any means, just not a lot going on. I almost wish they would have put the full “Ducks” logo on the left instead of just the D with the generic bevel font in the middle. I do like the wispy background. It just needs a little more, or a bit of something else back there.
WASHINGTON CAPITALS
Not sure how I feel about this one. The wispy background doesn’t feel quite right here. Too much red perhaps? I like the header and cropped logo though.
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
Love this site. The Devils crest falling behind the main content is darkened just enough to be largely unobtrusive. I also really like the texture bleeding out into the sidebars. Maybe a little too much header-centric, but overall I like it.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
Very impressive. Thinking outside the box with regards to the background image. This is definitely one of my top five redesigns. I would bump the header elements up a touch to make them completely visible (screens taken via Firefox), but otherwise and excellent design and homage to hockey’s roots.
Great Photoshop variant for the cover of NHL 10. Not sure who made it, but credit where credit is due.
Sorry for the delay. I was hoping the rest of the league would have updated before now, but it looks like most are holding out a bit longer. A few additional teams have updated since my last post though:
CALGARY FLAMES
Flamey. Nothing too impressive here other than the logo being engulfed in flames. I almost feel like Kipper and Iggy should be reversed. Iggy’s legs are clipped a little too much, while Kipper is almost fully represented. I also wish they’d make the 30-year anniversary logo a bit more prominent. It’s rather lost up there next to the header ad.
DALLAS STARS
The header is too busy for my tastes, but I love the locker room side bars. They’ve dimmed it just just enough to not overpower the main content of the site.
VANCOUVER CANUCKS
Absolutely love this site. Simple sidebars and header don’t detract from the main site content. Not as minimal as Philly’s site, but not as busy as most of the others. Love the diagonal striping and texture back there as well.
LOS ANGELES KINGS
This is more along the lines of what I wish the Blues would have done. A little confusion in the header with the sidebars carrying over into the background, but otherwise another great use of both. I would have made the tag line a few points smaller in size to give the Kings word mark a little more breathing room.