Is this the new Florida Panthers logo?
/It looks like we may have gotten our first look at the new logo the Florida Panthers will adopt this summer.
Paul Lukas of Uni-Watch tweeted this afternoon an image he has "strong reason to believe" is the real deal. It's a low-resolution image but it lines up fully with the details shared by Miami Herald beat writer George Richards in January.
Those details were recounted and collected in the most recent edition of Icethetics' NHL JerseyWatch report in March.
The image Lukas posted appears to be from a photograph of a printed material. The logo seems to be cut out from the rest of the image. Could the full photo have been showing the jersey design as well?
A couple hours later, Lukas tweeted that Chris Creamer of SportsLogos.net got confirmation from two sources that this is, in fact, the new logo.
To my eye, it is a brilliant crest. It solves the problem of the extreme level of detail in the current mark without losing the spirit of that design. The wordmark may be overkill, but I'm sure versions without it will be used in certain instances — just as with the Lightning and several other teams.
So when will we know for sure? It's likely the official unveiling of the new logos and uniforms will come on or prior to NHL Draft day.
Until then — if this is it — what do you think?
UPDATE · Apr 30 · A few days after the logo leaked, we got an official sneak peek at the team's new jersey from Panthers CEO Doug Cifu. He tweeted the photo above yesterday.
Visible in the image is a navy blue collar, a new nameplate font, as well as the gold outline on the numbers. This will be the first time the Panthers use metallic gold on their uniforms outside of the panther crest. They've traditionally used yellow striping.
I'm looking forward to the unveiling which is likely less than 60 days away!