Dallas Stars to Get New Logo, New Uniforms

The NHL lockout has finally ended and with that… NHL uniform news!

According to Dallas News reporter Mike Heika, the Dallas Stars have asked for and received an extension from the National Hockey League to the deadline to submit a new look for the 2013/14 season, although they may be delayed until 2014/15 if they can’t nail the right design down in time.

Heika added that the new uniforms will feature a new logo, be “drastically different from the current look”, but still (thankfully) be predominently green.

The Dallas Stars have used a version of this logo since 1992/93, their last season in Minnesota

If true, I’m very glad they’re retaining green as the main colour – earlier rumours suggested the club was considering a switch to red, white, and blue which would have been a nightmare. Nothing worse than taking a unique, good-looking colour scheme (with history of championships) and swapping it for one used by several other teams already in the league. Not to mention the fact that “stars” would be incorporated into the design making it just another Washington Capitals or NHL All-Star Game uniform.

Like the Capitals in 1995, the Stars are changing their logo – both featured a star, both were basically fancy wordmarks – neither were anything exciting in terms of their design or execution but there is a history attached to both of them. The Capitals switched to an entirely different look for 95/96 and while the new logo package was an obvious upgrade over their past set (and the team saw success they never saw before in the old look) the fans had too much of an emotional attachment to that classic red, white, and blue identity the team used for their first 20 years. The club eventually returned to a modernized version of that original look for the 2007/08 season, and they look pretty fantastic.

Ed Belfour raises the Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999

The Stars are retaining at least their main colour, green, already doing something that the Capitals didn’t. What accent colours will be used to replace the black and gold? Will they even be replaced? Too early for us to know, but it’s those decisions that could seriously effect how this new look is received by the fans of the team.

It’s a shame to be losing a logo that has been around the sport for so long, originally adopted by the then-Minnesota North Stars in 1992, it’s the only primary logo the team has used since it’s relocation to Dallas. The club has played in two Stanley Cup finals with that logo on their chest, winning their only title in 1999, and was worn for several seasons by hockey hall of famers Brett Hull, Ed Belfour, Joe Neiuwendyk, and future member Mike Modano.

Hopefully the Stars will learn from mistakes the Capitals made and just modernize their existing logo while saving all that “drastically different” business for the uniforms. Clark Rasmussen of DetroitHockey.Net made a couple of concepts that I’d be satisfied with, take a look and see what you think.

Heika suggests the new NHL deadline is set for the end of January and that the Stars are still waiting for the latest designs to come back from Reebok, naturally we’ll be giving you guys all the updates as we get them.