Rebranding The Sabres

As promised, today brings the unveiling of the 11th design in Matt's Rebranding The NHL series — the Buffalo Sabres.

And naturally, he's designed uniforms to go with these logos.

To me it seems like the best Sabres logo always revolves around the same basic theme — the original logo from the team's inception. Sometimes you just can't improve upon what came first. Or at least it's just difficult to come up with something entirely new.

Anyway, as soon as Matt tells me what team he's rebranding next, I'll tell you. In the meantime, let us know what you think of the new Sabres artwork. Leave a comment!

New Rebrand Coming Tomorrow!

You got your first peek at it on the day Icethetics launched. But just wait until tomorrow! Matt's Rebranding The NHL series continues with the unveiling of his new Buffalo Sabres logo and jersey designs.

Don't you hate being teased? What's that? You say you love it! All right then, you know the uniform series you guys have been enjoying from capn89? He's currently working on the Sens' new duds and put together a video to tease you.

Not to worry though, tomorrow afternoon you'll get to see the Sabres rebrand that's been almost two months in the making. Get excited!

Design Tweaks

If you've been paying any attention at all over the last few days, you've certainly notice that I've been doing a lot of tweaking to the design of the blog. I'm interested in some feedback. Let me know if you guys think I'm heading in the right direction.

I'm also introducing new logo graphics for the various polls and tournaments. I've debuted the new design with the two polls currently posted for the QMJHL Tournament of Logos. Have a look and tell me what you think.

It's been a lot of work for me this weekend but I still felt like finding the time to put together a concept post for you. We're starting with a new artist with work labeled under King Creative Design. First, check out the Islanders logo he's come up with.

Outstanding, if you ask me.

He's also got a cool new mark for the Stars and even a set of jerseys to go with it.

I'm a fan I hope to receive more from this guy to share with you all.

But moving on, here's an interesting Maple Leafs logo that turned up in my inbox.

And as you know, I've always got room for a new Blackhawks logo.

Obviously it's a tweak of the current logo. I wouldn't say it's better, but it's no worse really. Just something to look at.

I'm not sure if I do it enough, so let me take the time here to express my appreciation to all the talented artists who submit their work for me to post. You guys make this blog what it is. Anyway, that's it for today. Gotta get back to work on the site design now.

Poll: Titan vs Sea Dogs

	vs
Acadie-Bathurst TITAN		Saint John SEA DOGS

We're into the final rounds of the QMJHL Tournament of Logos as we shift everything here to Icethetics. Place your vote and leave a comment about how you came to your decision. Tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Poll opening date Sun Jul 6

Poll closing date Thu Jul 10

Getting Some Work Done

As you guys may have notice I'm finally getting some things done here at Icethetics. You can thank the weekend for that. While I'm working, I thought I'd talk about a few things briefly.

THIRD JERSEYS
I've transferred the list of confirmed third jerseys from the sidebar at NHLToL. I'll update it as I learn more. I have to say I'm really surprised at the lack of information about the new jerseys so far this summer. But at the same time I'm not. We spent a lot of time last summer just waiting for the smallest bits of news to trickle out about the Rbk EDGE jerseys.

If you want my input, don't expect to see a whole lot of unveilings until the season gets really close (meaning training camp) or actually underway. If I ran a team, I might want to wait and unveil a new third jersey at my team's season opener to the home crowd. Maybe even as one more way to sell tickets. You know, "Hey, show up and you'll get to be the first to see our new sweaters!"

Don't forget too that some of the teams on the list may not actually unveil alternate jerseys until halfway or more through the season as a way to reinvigorate a fan base. I may be full of hot air (and I often am) but these are just things to consider as the summer progresses. But just remember, any news that should surface will of course be posted right here.

FREE AGENT SIGNINGS
I got an email from a reader who had a good suggestion earlier. With so many players — big name players at that — changing teams this offseason via free agency, we might be tempted to get an early glimpse at what some of these guys might look like in their new uniforms. So if anybody wants to paint some new jerseys onto recently signed players, I'd be more than happy to post them.

One example someone made and sent in features former Pens Gary Roberts and Ryan Malone in Lightning sweaters.

As a Tampa Bay fan, I think it's pretty cool.

ToHL LOGO TOURNAMENTS
As mentioned, I'm moving all ToHL content to Icethetics as well. That means the QMJHL Tournament of Logos and the CHL Memorial Cup poll will finish up here. If you scroll down you'll see that today's poll has been posted and you can vote for the Huskies or Oceanic.

Basically, for those of you that haven't been following that site, when we finish with the QMJHLToL, the champion logos from each of the CHL leagues will go head-to-head to determine the overall champion. The Swift Current Broncos and London Knights won the WHL and OHL, respectively.

CENTER ICE TOURNAMENT
I don't have a start date set for this tournament yet but I anticipate getting it going before the end of the month. It'll probably happen after or at the same time as the final CHL poll.

That's all for today. Gotta get back to work now.