4 Concept Jerseys for NHL Expansion Teams

The All-Star Game is upon us and hockey fans everywhere are going to watch the NHL’s best players put on atrocious uniforms to play a glorified game of shinny. Meanwhile, I’m here to cleanse the palette a bit.

Deep in the online jersey concept forum of www.sportslogos.net lies a member by the name of sparky chewbarky. No one knows much about him/her other than he/she creates some incredible concept jerseys.

With the constant talk of NHL expansion, sparkychewbarky got to work creating four potential jerseys for expansion teams. Needless to say, they didn’t disappoint. You might be shocked to see Las Vegas excluded in the four teams, but simply appreciate the ideas and development behind these jerseys.

With sparky chewbarky’s permission, I share these 4 concepts with you.

[Related: When Didn’t Forget Las Vegas, Vegas NHL Concept Art..]

Seattle Kraken

Sparky chewbarky: “Seattle has been home to many hockey teams over the years, including such franchises such as the Totems, Breakers, and Thunderbirds.

It seems though that Seattleites are most fond of their 1917 Stanley Cup Champs, The Metropolitans.

So it was a bit of a no-brainer to design a throwback alt based on the candy-striped Mets’ unis. I toned down the Christmassy look by darkening and greying the green, brickin’ up the red, and using a vintage white.

I had some good suggestions to change up the colouring a bit; add some lime green. I thought that I’d give it a go, as Lime green is just such a ‘kraken-y’ colour. While I was at it, I changed up the striping as well. The “trident-down-the-arm” was kinda cool, but awkward.

I actually went to a basic Edge cut. It seemed to suit the kraken tentacle thing.”

It was great for sparky chewbarky to incorporate the history of the team with the horizontal stripes from the Metropolitan days in the alternate jersey. It’s tough to make an NHL jersey with colors that haven’t been used together before, but with these jerseys, the little bit of neon makes it stand out. If the ‘Away’ jerseys are a bit too bland, sparky came up with this version seen on the right – which I prefer.

The Kraken isn’t a name I’ve heard thrown around for a potential team names for Seattle, but the logo is well done. The Kraken’s tentacles are in the shape of an ‘S’ (a throwback to the ‘S’ in the old Metropolitans jerseys) wrapped around a trident . I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad start to a Seattle franchise, eh?

Quebec Nordiques

Sparky chewbarky: “This concept has a lot of history behind it and a lot of people are very passionate about this team…so I want to get it right.

GotPixels did a real nice job in his exceptional NFL thread, on blending Houston Oilers and Texans looks. The Nordiques have a similar visual history, in that they started off with a light blue/red/ white palette, and ended with a darker blue shade.

In fact had they stayed, the team was proceeding with an even darker blue concept.

So, I thought that I would follow GP’s lead and go forward with double blue/red/white.

It seemed only fitting to use Joe for this presentation…”

Quebec wants their Nordiques back and sparkychewbarky delivered with these jerseys. Reminiscent of days of yore when Sakic, Forsberg, and the like were lacing their skates, Quebec suits up nice in these vintage baby blue uniforms for their home crowd.  Or if you prefer a different alternative with a white fleur-de-lis:

Their alternate jersey is on point by going a bit heavier on the dark blue and using the fleur-de-lis concept logo with the outlined “Q” on the compass gives it a true Quebec touch. Nordiques jerseys are a big seller as it is right now, but throw these on the market and they’ll sell like hot cakes.

Halifax Highlanders

Sparky chewbarky: “The Highlanders look is forged from the flags of its founding members…

The Province of Nova Scotia, The City of Halifax, and the Scottish-Canadian Community (S-CC).

For the small market of Halifax to be a realistic contender for an NHL franchise, it will have to reach outside of its geographical boundaries for support. The Highlanders would, without a doubt, sell-out every home game, at the right price point. To be able to offer the right ticket price to ensure 100% capacity, ownership would need to be able to find creative ways to fund the difference. Along with strategies like Regional Marketing, Varied Ticket Pricing (charging more for weekend and desirable games), the Highlanders would need “ownership with deep pockets”, and a sizeable amount of revenue gleaned from outside of the Halifax City Limits ( part-ownership by the S-CC (estimated at 7-10 million people)).

So the team is not only, a team for the City of Halifax, a team for the Province of Nova Scotia, a team for the Region of Atlantic Canada; but it is also a Legacy Project for the Scottish-Canadian Community.

Hence the reason for its identity.”

Halifax is a long shot to get a NHL team, but these jerseys might give you something to think about. The color scheme just works on every stitch of cloth from the navy/yellow/red/white combination of the home/away jerseys and the red/yellow alternates.

For those that may have missed it, there is a plaid on the pants that gives a little nod to the Scottish heritage in Halifax. While Las Vegas is the likely spot for expansion, you can’t tell me you wouldn’t want to see this jersey skating around the rink.

Ontario Beavers

Sparky chewbarky: “The Beavs don’t have a location as yet, but IMO the ‘Ontario’ designation would carry a little more clout than would ‘Markham’, ‘Vaughn’, ‘Kitchener-Waterloo’. (Hamilton could go with the ‘Hamilton…’ what-evers).

Even if MLS&E somehow got its smarmy mitts on the 2nd T.O.-area team and they played out of the ACC (God I hope that doesn’t happen), a designation other than “Toronto” (like Ontario) would be desirable, I would think. However, declaring yourself a Regional team should require a little more work than just naming your team accordingly, so it would be imperative that the Beavers initiate such programs as ‘The Big Dam Roadshow’. (thanks darkp).

Anyway, back to the unis, and the Beavers’ look is pretty much as it was at the end of the

‘Battle of Markham’.”

Sparky could make a killing selling these ideas to the NHL. Personally, I think the Ontario Beavers jersey is the best of the lot. It’s so simple that it’s brilliant.

The home/away/alternate jerseys are as close to perfect as you can get. With beavers as the national animal of Canada, the original logo of the Beaver with the beaver tail with a hockey stick is spot on and arguably the best concept hockey logo created.

********************************

You’ve heard my thoughts on the jerseys. What are your thoughts?

Link to the original forum can be found here.