Time for the big finale. Here is the final installment in Elliott Strauss' NHL rebrand series. His descriptions appear in bold text.
Elliott Strauss
I think this is one of the more interesting concepts of the series because it gives a fairly drastic change to an untouchable team. I updated the familiar shield and brought back the Lady Liberty logo. The diagonal stripe on the uniforms has the same angle as the wordmark and is meant to match the diagonal sash on the primary logo.
The wordmark/numbers contrast the sleeve stripe order on the home and away jersey. The alternate is almost an exact replica of the pre edge alts, but the silver is dropped in favor of royal blue.
Definitely a shock at first glance — in a good way. All the key elements are still there. They just don't look the way we're accustomed to seeing them. This is one of my favorites of the entire series.
Elliott Strauss
Originally I had left some gray in here, but considering the nickname represents the Union army, I found the color gray pointless, as this is what the Confederates wore. I think these uniforms are inspired by the original jerseys for the franchise.
The red pants stay and a blue insert with star on the pants match up with the panel that you can see on the road jersey. I created no alternate because a red jersey would go against the nickname and another blue jersey would be redundant.
Straight after one my favorites is my least favorite of Elliott's series. I'm not here to put down anyone's work but this set feels lazy. Gray was never one of Columbus' colors. It's always been silver. It's an important distinction. Without the silver, the star in the logo looks out of place. And the Blue Jackets made a second blue jersey work in 2003. Just a little creativity is required.
Now with that out of the way, I love the jersey design! The sleeves are cool and so are the stars under the arms. It's a little like the stripes on the armpits of the Lightning's jerseys. Adds an interesting visual element when the players raise their arms to celebrate a goal.
Elliott Strauss
I feel that the Johnny Canuck V logo is the best they have, so it becomes the main crest in my design. The orca stays, just modified, and has a much less prominent role. Green and blue also stay, as I like this unique scheme. I've always wondered what a green alternate would look like, I think this simple striping pattern would make the blue stand out on the green.
Here I applaud Elliott's use of an existing logo because the Canucks have never had a more uniquely identifiable logo in their arsenal. It's just a shame they haven't put it to good use yet. And for what it's worth, the whale doesn't look half bad on green.
There it is. All 30 teams as envisioned by Icethetics concept artist Elliott Strauss. Do you think you have what it takes to rebrand the NHL? Send in your concepts and show us you can think outside the box when it comes to branding pro hockey!