The Winnipeg Jets

NHL - Winnipeg Jets new logo (NHL.com article)

For those of you who don't really follow the NHL then I will explain briefly about what is going on. Years ago Winnipeg used to have a hockey team called the Jets who were in financial trouble and ended up selling the team to what is now known as the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996. This last year an NHL team has finally come back to the city and are going to be known by the original name. The team the former Atlanta Thrashers (the only city to have two NHL teams sold out of it, the first time being the Atlanta Flames that were sold to the modern Calgary team), which made for a lot of news a buzz around forums, especially when it came to the draft and free agency.

Yesterday (Friday: July 22, 2011) the team had released their new logo that will represent their club (attached image). After reading the explanation for the logo and some of the reactions from people (probably more negative than positive), I felt that I needed to share my opinion. I like the new logo. There...it's out in the open. I think that it's basic enough so it's not overly stimulating, but unique enough that it get the point across. I like the fact that they incorporate the maple leaf into each design to clearly identify that this is a team from Canada for all of those who are geographically-inclined. The colors go well together (USA?) with out making the symbols or words clash or seem overly flamboyant. The lines that are created in the images are clean and simple.

I think that a lot of this hostility is coming from the fact that people in Manitoba are expecting the return of the "old" Jets. Well, guess what? It's been 15 years since the team held it's roots there; it's times to discard the old and embrace the new. Obviously there was an issue with the old organization financially, hence being sold to Phoenix; people need to disassociate themselves with the issues that organization had and start fresh, which is what management is trying to get across. I love the concept. It's similar to a restaurant going out of business, and then years later opening back up with the same name in the same location. It would be stupid to try and associate yourselves with a chain that closed because of problems in the first place. So what do you do? Change the menu, create a theme, revamp what didn't work and get away from the reputation you had, and begin anew.

The team has also stated that they are not going to release what the jerseys look like as well until their pre-season games start in September. I think that is great because it will give the chance for the fans to warm up to the idea of the new logo, and maybe by that time, they will see it enough that they won't feel the need to critique their jerseys as much.

I am interested to see this team play because they made some good acquisitions during the off-season, and they have Big Buff (Dustin Byfuglien), enough said there.