Now for something completely different. Forget the Original Six. Lucas Daitchman reimagines the NHL's early days in what he's calling the Original 7. What might the league have looked like if the early part of the 20th century included teams like the Calgary Cowboys, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild, Pittsburgh Penguins and Vancouver Canucks?
Dallas Kirkpatrick has something special for us today. He writes:
I've been working on a project for a while now, recreating WHA jerseys. I decided to create 14 sets in total. My idea is that this might be what the jerseys looked like if the league were rebooted today — and I've purposely left out Quebec, Hartford, Edmonton, and Winnipeg as I've already done multiple concepts for these teams
I used all original logos (or variations thereof), and have stayed pretty close to the original color schemes in most cases. While I want to be creative, I wanted them all to be believable and based on something from the past. A few of these designs have bold or outlandish design traits that probably wouldn't be used in real life, but hey, it's the WHA.
Colin Magee picks up his three-week series today as he wonders what five more teams would look like if the WHA came back today. He's got a great touch.
What would the WHA look like if it were still around 40 years later? Nick Burton is resurrecting the league with some unique new uniform designs. What do you think of this modern redesign of the Cleveland Crusaders?
Before the Flames moved north, Calgary was home to the Cowboys. If they'd survived, where might Atlanta's former team have moved in 1980?
And finally, you knew we'd have to end up here — the New England Whalers. They did survive the WHA's merge with the NHL, but were renamed the Hartford Whalers. If the team never moved to North Carolina, imagine what they might've looked like in their original colors.
Hope you enjoyed Nick's series as much as I did!
