Designing the ’90s NHL, Part 3: Epilogue

Before you dig in, first catch up on Part 1 and Part 2.

What began as a feature on an unused Flyers third jersey design took me in unexpected directions. Exchanging emails with Ken Loh over the weekend got me thinking a lot about the jerseys and logos the NHL introduced in the 1990s.

PUT SOME TEAL ON IT

The decade welcomed nine expansion teams, including a pair in 1993 — one of which was the Florida Panthers. To my surprise Ken and The Mednick Group also worked on proposals for them. These logos have never been seen outside that circle before today.

These designs reminded me of a Miami Herald article from 2010 by George Richards.

Bill Torrey said he had to fight with then-owner Marti Huizenga regarding the team's colors and uniforms back in 1993. Said she preferred the Marlins black-and-teal color scheme, which then, was all the rage.

That quote is finally validated visually with this work which demonstrates exactly how black and teal might have been used. But Ken admits he was not particularly proud of it. 

I’m actually really glad that never saw the light of day since I felt it was too cartoony. I much preferred the simpler, more emblematic approach which, [in my honest opinion], had better potential for a longer lifespan.

However, I was a lowly designer, pretty fresh out of school at the time and, despite my credentials of having come to the agency with the New England Patriots work under my belt, I didn’t really have much pull back then.

Ken opposed incorporating a hockey stick into the design. Above you can see an unfinished sketch he shared — a version of the panther without the stick.

Other concepts from the Panthers' logo design process can be found on display these days in the team's arena in Sunrise, Fla. On the wall are framed drawings of early sketches.

My thanks go to Drew Goldfarb and David Silverstone for providing the original photos.

SURVIVING THE ’90s

The Panthers aside, I starting thinking about how many new logos were introduced during that most design-challenged of decades. How many are still around? The period was notorious for trendy designs that lacked staying power. Is that a fair judgment?

So I went back. Back to black. When many of us think back hockey design trends of the '90s, we conjure a simple but derisive acronym: BFBS — black for black's sake. In 1989, four NHL teams wore black jerseys. A decade later that number had tripled — 12 out of 28 teams had a black sweater in their arsenal. Let's begin there.

After decades of gorgeous green uniforms, the Minnesota North Stars abruptly switched to black in 1991 — taking it with them to Dallas in the 1993 move. The logo and colors were replaced in 2013.

The Penguins began wearing black in 1980 but when the "RoboPenguin" logo was implemented in 1992, it was widely despised. It was replaced in 2002 and fully eradicated in 2007.

The NHL added two new expansion teams in 1992 and two new black jerseys. And despite the legendary name, the Senators' logo lasted only 15 years, being retired in 2007.

Phil Esposito drew this logo on a cocktail napkin in 1991. It seems no graphic designers bothered to follow up before it appeared on a jersey in 1992. It was finally scrapped in 2007.

Shockingly, the Sabres ditched 26 years of blue and gold for the "Goathead" in 1996. In 2006, it was replaced by a logo that was inexplicably worse. By 2010, Buffalo fans had their original logo back.

The Coyotes' original logo from 1996 is one of the more unique designs in NHL history. But its strangeness left it open to ridicule and it disappeared in 2003. (Though it returns on a retro jersey in 2014.)

Before the decade was out, the Kings added another future failure to the NHL logo pool in 1998. In 2002, they switched to their secondary logo. In 2011, that entire era was erased.

Be sure to click through the logos and read the captions as they offer insight into the designs as well as the years they were introduced and subsequently jettisoned.

Teams like Coyotes, Kings and Sabres suffered through some unfortunate designs at that time. Others like the Lightning and Stars were just plain boring and lacking in any sense of style — good or bad. But don't start thinking the non-black jerseys were immune.

The Sharks joined the NHL in 1991 with this logo. Many fans still consider it a classic, but so many highly detailed lines are just overkill. A modernized design replaced it in 2007.

When the Mighty Ducks introduced this logo in 1993, many fans thought it was too childish. But that's what the NHL was going for. Two decades later, some of those kids are nostalgic adults campaigning for it to come back.

The madness peaked in 1995 as the Islanders did the unthinkable, trashing a beloved logo that was the backdrop for four Stanley Cups in favor of a kid-friendly cartoon character. And is that teal? It didn't even last two full seasons before fans forced them back to the old logo.

Unlike the Isles, the Capitals improved upon their previous logo in 1995, but bafflingly lost the red, white and blue color scheme that defines the American capital city. In 2007, the colors were corrected and the logo redesigned with a nod to that 1974 crest.

The Atlanta Thrashers were established in 1999. Their logo, often described as a bird stirring itself into a bowl of soup, might still be around had the franchise not moved to Winnipeg in 2011.

In fact, these were some of the worst offenders of the '90s. Look at them all. What do they have in common? Ken Loh said it. The hockey sticks. Only someone who isn't a hockey fan would do that to a team logo.

And while the Caps logo above may not have a stick — though the secondary mark sure did (a lousy puck, too) — I'd bet money those open claws once held a stick at some point during the design process. Kudos to whoever forced that eagle to release it.

I'm certainly making the '90s out to be like the Dark Ages of hockey logo design. But truthfully, it wasn't all bad. Some logos are still around — after a bit of nip and tuck.

In 1998, the Predators entered the world with this on their chest. It had too many colors and too many intricate details. In 2011, both failures were rectified.

Ending almost 20 years of the "spaghetti skate," the Canucks moved in a new direction with a logo inspired by the Pacific Northwest. As for the colors? That's anyone's guess. They were changed in 2007.

Perhaps more fascinating were two of the last logos to come out of this decade. The Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets didn't play their first games until 2000, but their logos were absolutely products of the '90s — though they couldn't have been more different.

The Wild are considered by many to have one of the most brilliant and clever logos in all of sports. We look upon the abundant symbolism in awe to this day.

In Part 2, we saw how this logo came about. But in utter contrast to the Wild, the design the client demanded could not endure. It was replaced in 2007 by a third jersey logo designed in 2003.

Have I warmed you enough yet to the idea that not everything produced in the 1990s was bad? Because it wasn't. There are a handful of '90s NHL logos I haven't mentioned here. You know what they are. I held them to the end for the catharsis.

Let's bring it full circle. Back to the Sunshine State.

Florida Panthers, 1993—

Colorado Avalanche, 1995—

Carolina Hurricanes, 1997—

St. Louis Blues, 1998—

See? There were some gems. Granted, the majority were flops. Of the 20 logos that debuted in the 1990s, 15 did not live to see drinking age (21, I mean). But the ones that did deserved to. Survival of the fittest, you might say.

But didn't I just berate the Sharks and Predators for being too intricate? Why do I suddenly love the Panthers logo? Look closely. The difference is in the details. For Florida, it adds to the animal ferocity. It adds to the design — rather than detracting from it.

The Hurricanes logo was designed by a copy writer and hides a hockey puck at its core. Cardinal sins? Maybe, but you try to do better. No one else has yet. And there's been ample opportunity. So I'm happy to see it entering its 18th year. Stick tap to Peter.

As for the Avs and Blues, well there's simply no way to improve upon perfection. Period.

I grew up in the '90s and it's sometimes hard for me to fathom that it was two decades ago. I still feel like a kid most days. Time flies. But here's the thing. I was the target audience for those trendy designs back then. And now I do this. So was it successful marketing after all?

You be the judge.