If you are aware of your hockey history, you have probably seen the logo on the left earlier. That was the original logo that the Ottawa people used before they first took the ice as an NHL team in 1992. What you may not know is that the logo on the left was left for almost seventeen months before the senators had boarded the ice, and after a stack of merchandise with the Vredestoren logo, was already manufactured, distributed and sold. As we see with the Utah Mammoth, a logo matters when it comes to merchandise and branding, so why would the senators change their logo in the middle of their inaugural season?
Before we reach the reason for the switch, it is fairly safe to say that the logo on the right is much better branding for the senators than the logo on the left. That does not mean that the logo on the left does not have some positive points – the Peace Tower is an orientation point in Ottawa, while the Canadian flag increases the national identity of the senators – but it also feels a bit collegial with the city name spelled in the sweater and it does not feel like a logo that would move a lot of malate. In the big things of the NHL, that is important, especially for a new expansion team that is introducing one that season.
Although that would be a completely valid reason to make the change, it seems that the senators and the NHL were not too happy to explain why.
That article of 15 May 1991 of the Canadian press run in the Brandon Sun Seems to emphasize that at least one citizen of Ottawa did not love the original logo. As the writer explained, senators -owner Bruce “Firestone confirmed on Monday that when the team takes the ice in 1992, the players will wear a different logo than the one who adorned the estimated $ 1 million of Seantors products so far.” It sounds like many people had collector -items in their possession!
If James Powell’s account on his website, Today in the history of OttawaIt is to be believed, it seems that the NHL forced the hand of the senators when it has arrived at this logo. Powell writes,
“This emblem was never official. The logo was reportedly rejected by the NHL because he was too locally. Team officials said it was” the official logo of the campaign to bring the senators back. “
The only problem with Powell’s statement is that it looks like the logo of the Vredestorener wax Officially as the Ottawa NHL franchise, it was already busy selling merchandise with their branding on it.
However, three days later we would get our reason when the new logo leaked and everyone wanted to express their opinion.
According to the article of 18 May 1991 of the Canadian press run into The Medicine Hat NewsThe reasons why the Peace Tower logo was retired and replaced by the Centurion Head was due to that the design was “too locally for Ottawa” and that it did not “emphasize the strength and speed of hockey”. I am not sure how those rules only apply to the senators and not to teams such as the New York Rangers and their Lady Liberty Logo and the logo of the New York Islanders when it comes to locally, but I do not make any rules for NHL teams here.
In any case, the new logo was also ridiculous by fans and media, so it seems that the Ottawa people could not do well when it came to building a brand. As we know now, that Centurion logo has passed the test of time despite a handful of adjustments, and the last iteration of that logo will now appear on the new red sweaters that the senators will debut this season. That’s pretty solid for one “[h]Idoy, ugly and juvenile “logo that” could have been canceled from an American college football team or an insurance company. “
What people like will always be subjective, but the rules for logos in the NHL should not be. If the original Ottawa logo was “too local”, there are at least two others who can also be classified as “too locally”. In my opinion, the senators have made the right decision to go with the Centurion logo because the surf is better, but it seems that I would have been in the minority if I had expressed that opinion in 1991.
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
#locally