NHL Draft Yields Anniversary Logos

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The 2013 NHL Draft was held this afternoon in Newark, N.J. and it treated us to a few new uniform decorations for the 2013-14 season. By that I mean it was positively lousy with special anniversary patches. I'll review those and some other items, team-by-team, in the order it all happened.

Photos from Florida Panthers

With the second overall selection, the Florida Panthers took Aleksander Barkov. They handed him a red jersey featuring the new 20th anniversary patch on the chest. This wasn't our first time seeing the logo, but it was the first time in patch form on a sweater.

Photos from Carolina Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes picked fifth, nabbing Elias Lindholm, giving us another opportunity to see the new threads. I'm still not a fan. Where's the originality of days gone by? Not to mention, the poor kid looks pregnant wearing that.

Photos from Yahoo! Sports

With a pair of first round selections, the Dallas Stars decided to get creative with their new sweaters — handing out one of each. At No. 10, Valeri Nichushkin got the green home jersey while Jason Dickinson got the white one at 29th overall. And the uniforms still look amazing.

Photos from Yahoo! Sports

Skipping ahead to the 18th selection, we find the San Jose Sharks avoiding the jersey redesign question by letting Mirco Mueller have the black alternate. Look at his face. He sees what they did there.

While we're on the third jersey subject, the Minnesota Wild also kept to their tradition of making green the first thing their greenhorns get to wear. Pictured above is Dylan Labbe, taken 107th overall. That brings us to the third and final team to hand out a third jersey today.

At No. 26 were the Anaheim Ducks, who are about to mark two decades in existence. They selected Shea Theodore of the Seattle Thunderbirds. His alternate jersey featured the Ducks' new anniversary logo, which got its official unveiling with today's festivities.

Photos from Anaheim Ducks

I won't lie. I'm disappointed. It's a rehash of the Ottawa Senators' 20th anniversary logo from two years ago. It doesn't tie in to any existing Ducks branding — apart from the D stuck on it like a game of pin the tail on the donkey. It's all set in the stale Bank Gothic font every other sports team has used at some point. And it's packed with lazy gradients. My favorite.

The Ducks unveiled the logo via Twitter this afternoon following Theodore's selection. They also posted this press release to their website, detailing plans for their 20th anniversary season. One interesting note is a "Throwback Night" set to take place "near the start of the 2013-14 regular season, paying homage to the inaugural 1993-94 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim season."

Does this foreshadow an eggplant-and-jade specialty jersey? One can dream. The release says more details will be announced at a later date.

Photo from Boston Bruins (via Instagram)

The Boston Bruins didn't get their first crack at the draft pool until the end of the second round, 60th overall to be precise. But they did have jerseys on hand for the later picks featuring their 90th anniversary patch. It was revealed via their Instagram account during the draft. (Also a couple of photos on Twitter.)

I've yet to see it in any digital art, but it looks all right. It's the standard giant number above a ribbon with the team's logo tacked on the middle. It resembles the club's 80th anniversary logo more than its 75th — which is a good thing. And while it conforms to the dull conventions of an anniversary logo, it's unique enough to be a solid logo as far as I'm concerned.

(And for the record, I think Icethetics concept artist Justin Nahhas is somewhat psychic. Compare this logo to a design he created almost two years ago.)

One final note. I did a tally of all the jerseys handed out to draftees today. Out of 30 teams, 25 used their dark home jersey, three went with a third jersey (read above) and three used white road sweaters, including Colorado, Winnipeg and double-dipping Dallas.

That's it as far as jerseys are concerned. But there's one more item. We learned at last year's draft that Philadelphia will take on hosting duties in 2014. But we didn't get the full version of the logo until today.

I love the bell shape of the shield for this one. Just outstanding execution of what can be a tired concept. The Liberty Bell is in Philly, we get it. But this is a neat logo!

What do you think of all the new stuff we got to see today? Hit or miss on the anniversary logos?