My Thoughts: Devils' Logo

Hello!  How are you today?  Me, I'm good, thanks for asking.  Enough chit-chat though, lets get to the rest of the post.  Today I'm going to talk about the New Jersey Devils' logo, which is one of my favourites in the NHL.

The Devils, who are named after a legendary creature called the Jersey Devil, were previously the Colorado Rockies before moving to New Jersey in 1982.  Their logo has been the same the whole time they have been in New Jersey, besides switching green to black in 1992.  The Devils have been quite successful with this logo, winning the Stanley Cup three times (1995, 2000, and 2003), and appearing in two other Stanley Cup finals (2001 and 2012).

Why is the Devils logo one of my favourite logos you ask?  Well, I like how it combines an N, a J, devil-horns, and a devil-tail (I've highlighted those parts of the logo in the above image).  With those elements the entire team name is symbolized in one logo, the N and J obviously represent the location part of their name, while the devil horns and tail represent their nickname.  Besides that, I like the overall look of the logo.  It's a simple yet effective symbol that easily fits in with the best logos in the NHL.  But there is one more reason I like the Devils logo...

And that reason has to do with the highlighted areas on the image directly above.  Whenever I look at the Devils logo, I also see the letter D and a hockey stick (I've isolated the alleged hockey stick in a separate image below).  Now I know what you thinking, those areas don't really look like a D or a hockey stick.  I'll admit both the D and hockey stick are far from the perfect shape, and I don't think either of them were intentional, but I still notice them when I look at the logo and that's part of the reason I like this logo so much.

Hockey Stick?

So what do you think of the Devils logo?  Do you see the D and hockey stick I was talking about, or do you think I'm completely crazy?  Feel free to let me know in the comment section below.

Have a good day!

My Thoughts: Outdoor Jerseys

Speaking as a Canucks fan, this last week was a bit of a crazy week.  First of all I attended the Heritage Classic, then a few days later Luongo was traded, and the next day on trade deadline day the Canucks were rumoured to being making some big trades but ended up not doing much.  But for today's post I'm going to focus on the Heritage Classic, as well as all the other NHL outdoor games this year, as I'm reviewing the jerseys worn for those outdoor games.

Before I get to the jerseys I'll briefly talk about the experience of the Heritage Classic.  I went to the game with my dad, and while it was snowing at our house, it was raining in Vancouver which as you know meant the roof was closed at BC Place.  That was a bit disappointing, but I wasn't really expecting the roof to be open.  The result of the game was also disappointing, but the rest of the day was great.  Watching a hockey game with over 50,000 people is a really cool experience, we were doing the wave and chanting "WE WANT LUO!", it was a lot of fun.  We had decent seats about halfway up the lower bowl, and while the sight lines obviously aren't the best for hockey, BC Place has a giant big screen you could look at if the puck disappeared behind the boards.  Overall it was really fun, I'd recommend going to one of these games if you ever get the chance.

Heritage Classic:

(Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images)

Enough about the game though, what really matters are the jerseys.  If you've been reading this blog for a while (and you have a good memory) you might remember that this wasn't the first time I attended a Canucks game when they were wearing their Millionaire jerseys.  After that first game I said that the jerseys looked great, and my opinion hasn't changed since then.  The colours look so good, and I love how historically accurate the jerseys are.  It would have been easy to go with a lace-up collar and maroon pants, but the Canucks did the right thing by keeping it accurate.  Ottawa went in a different direction by not using a direct throwback, but I also think that was the right thing for them to do.  I don't think they would be allowed to use a full barber-pole jersey against the dark Millionaires jersey anyways.  What they ended up using still honoured history nicely, while creating something that people nowadays would like.  I heard a few complaints that it was hard to distinguish the two teams with them both using a lot of vintage white, personally I didn't have that problem when I was at the game but I noticed it later when I was watching highlights on TV.

Winter Classic:

(Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)

Moving on to the other Classic game, which was much more classic weather wise than the Heritage Classic.  I've already briefly touched on my thoughts of these two jerseys back when I did a "fix it" concept for the Winter Classic, so I'll just quickly reiterate my thoughts here.  I'm a big fan of Toronto's jersey, there are just a few minor things I would have done differently to be more historically accurate (three sets of stripes on the socks, tan/brown pants and gloves, and no laces).  I wasn't really a fan of the Detroit's jersey, it was too much of a faux-back jersey, and it really didn't look like Red Wings to me.  I also wasn't a fan of the vintage white.  I did love that the game was colour vs colour (although I don't want colour vs colour to become a regular thing).

Stadium Series:

 (Photo by Gregory Shamus/NHLI via Getty Images)

Lastly we get to the Stadium Series games, and the NHL went in another direction by going with modern jerseys for these games.  I think that's a good move, it keeps the two Classics more special.  I was a fan of the jerseys in general, including the chrome crests and funky numbers, but only as one-off jerseys.  I kind of thought of these jerseys like All-Star game jerseys, they're for a special event and you only see them once so you might as well try some new things.  Now we all know there was one team, the Devils, who didn't want to do anything new.  Part of me wishes they would have gone with modern jersey to fit in with the rest of the teams, but the other part of me likes how traditional they are with their jerseys.  In the end I like the Devils decision, they haven't had a new jersey since 1992, and I would hate to have seen that streak ended by the Stadium Series.

Now you know my thoughts on the NHL's outdoor game jerseys, feel free to leave your own thoughts in the comments.  Thanks for visiting!

Metropolitan Division De-Edge Vintage Jerseys

The Metropolitan Division part of the vintage jersey program for my De-Edge is here!

Carolina Hurricanes Vintage Set:

The Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup in these jerseys in 2006.

Columbus Blue Jackets Vintage Set:

This is the Blue Jackets original jersey set.

New Jersey Devils Vintage Set:

I also went with the Devils original jersey set, which they wore from 1982-92.

New York Islanders Vintage Set:

The Islanders won four cups in a row (from 1980-83) wearing these jerseys.

New York Rangers Vintage Set:

The Rangers wore this set from 1951-63.

Philadelphia Flyers Vintage Set:

Two Cups were won by the Flyers (1974, 1975) while wearing this set.

Pittsburgh Penguins Vintage Set:

The Penguins also won two Stanley Cups (1991, 1992) wearing this set.

Washington Capitals Vintage Set:

These are the basically the jerseys the Capitals entered the league wearing, but this exact set was worn from 1987-90.

Do you like my choices of jerseys?  Do you hate my choices of jerseys?  Feel free to let me know.

Have a good day!

New Jersey Devils De-Edge

While, at this point of the series there are still a lot of upcoming teams I still need to make concepts for.  I have a few done, but there mostly later in the alphabet.  So don't be surprised if there are longer waits between concepts.  Anyways, on to today's concept.

New Jersey Devils:

I had no idea what I was going to do for the Devils, because I couldn't imagine them changing their jerseys and they also don't have a lot of jerseys to draw inspiration from.  Then I had this idea, which is kind of a mix of their two different jersey designs (1982-92 and 1992-Present), but with the sleeve stripes moved up to where the TV numbers usually go, and the shoulder yoke extended to those sleeve stripes.

Thanks for visiting.

Bonus NHL Redesign Concepts

I have posted a home, road, and third jersey far all 30 teams.  Here are a few more concepts.

New Jersey Devils (St. Patricks Day):  For the last few years the Devils wore a rerto red jersey.  To change it up a bit, and also because I like the white version of that jersey better, I would have them wearing their retro white jersey.

Toronto Maple Leafs (St. Patricks Day):  As I said in my "We Need More Green!!!" post, I think Toronto should wear St. Pats throwback jerseys on St. Patricks day.  Here is a 1919-22 throwback jersey.

All Star Game:  I liked the red and blue jerseys that have been used the last few years, but I also think it is time for a new design.  I kept the current colour scheme, and used striping inspired by 1947-59 Jerseys.

Winter Classic:  I liked Winter Classic jerseys best when they were true throwbacks, so that's what I did.  Detroit's Jersey is from 1932-37, and Toronto's is from 1934-37.

Stanley Cup Finals:  Also, here is what this years final would look like with jerseys from my NHL Redesign.

New Teams (New York and New Jersey)

I'm almost done this series!!!  I only have to make concepts for Tampa Bay and Washington. If you have any ideas for those teams, leave a comment.

New Jersey Devils:  I didn't make any changes to the home and road because I really like those jerseys.  The third jersey is black, with arm and waist stripes inspired by 1982-92 white jersey.

New York Islanders:  I hope you like stripes, because the home and road have lots.  The four arm stripes are meant to represent their four Stanley Cup victories.  I also changed up the colours a bit to give it a more marine-like look.  The third jersey is orange and uses the word-mark from their current third jersey as the crest.

New York Rangers:  Only slight changes to the primary jerseys.  The biggest difference is that the road jersey now says "NEW YORK".  I brought back the Lady-Liberty jersey, but I curved the arm stripes and added hem stripes, along with a few other changes.

The next teams are Ohio (renamed from Columbus), Ottawa, and Philadelphia.