Not only do we dislike team names ending without an 's' (Lightning is an un-countable noun), the actual logo itself is uninspired. Notice the circular frame in the background posing as a crest. It is entirely unnecessary as it adds nothing but "negative space" to the logo. The colour scheme is bland and in need of some brighter colour notes, perhaps a yellowy hue for the bolt itself (though we generally like simple logos in terms of colour, weak ones can be improved with appropriate touch-ups). Lightning bolts may have resonance to deinzens of the area, but the symbol itself is so ubiquitous in corporate culture that has it is being handicapped as a brand. Overall, this logo is not so much repugnant as it is easily forgettable.
4. Buffalo Sabres.
Here is an example of a logo that wants to be modern and stylistic in the depiction of its "mascot"; to make it both fierce and swift. The effect, however, makes it look comically ambiguous. The buffalo has been described as resembling a horned slug and a blond hair-piece. The colour scheme uses hues that are in vogue in sports, so watch for that to change soon after the next fashion wave hits. Remember the logo it used just prior to this one? Well, at least the team has improved and gone back to a colour scheme that more closes harks back to the one it used ten years earlier. This "retro-fitting" brings about the question: What was so wrong with the logo used for the past twenty years or so? It wasn't the best, but at least it was settling on people, and had a colour scheme that was more easily recognisable amongst NHL teams.
Editor's note: We have learned the team is using its old symbol for this year's NHL season, as well as the one seen above. A step in the right direction!
3. Atlanta Thrashers.
We guess this is a bird... yes, a thrasher is a bird, we checked it. And what a cute bird it is! Nothing as menacing as the logo supposes. Notwithstanding the Pittsburgh Penguins, logos can help show a team's fierceness and swiftness on the ice, but though the name Thrashers itself meets that criteria, the logo doesn't. It looks more like peanut butter being smeared on a slice of bread. The colour scheme uses brownish hues which is good for autumn camouflage, but bad for logo awareness. Logos are supposed to stand-out. Finally, the hockey stick is simply an insult. Having to let the public know in so blatantly a way that this logo represents a hockey team and not spark plugs or some other product, is slightly desperate.
2. Nashville Predators.
So many NHL teams are using logos with fierce animals these days. The Minnesota Wild, Florida Panthers, and Phoenix Coyotes are good examples. The Nashville Predators seem to have outdone them all by accentuating the fierceness of the animal by use of its fangs and metallic, skeletal profile. The orange outline tries to embolden the logo. But, adding it to the colour scheme is only useful for jersey designers to have something more to work with and doesn't add anything to the logo itself. Going back to the fangs, one wonders what would happen to the poor beast's throat if it ever tried to close its mouth... what an over-bite!
1. San Jose Sharks.
This team is the first of the post-WHA expansion teams to have come into the NHL and its logo has been almost the same since the beginning. Twenty years of commitment to a logo is rare for a league that has so much quantity in output come from its team's marketing departments. But, the fact remains that this is a logo that represents so many logo crimes in pro sports. One could say that the use of teal set a trend for other sports teams to borrow in the 1990s, so in that sense it is wholly responsible for the promotion of such a toxic looking hue. It may also have started the usage of the "fierce creature" motif in team logos, which is basically cover for designers who are not confident enough in their abilities to create a more original design. Finally, the shark biting the hockey stick is another example of a lack of confidence in design and lack of faith in the public's ability to recognize a corporate logo. Please redo this mess!
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