Hockey Logo Design: The Evolution of NHL Logos

Symbolism

Even the smallest of details can carry significant meaning. Many logos in the NHL display subtle details hinting at the city’s heritage and national pride. For example, the San Jose Sharks’ logo includes a triangle in the background, which refers to the "Red Triangle," an area off the coast of Northern California known for its high population of great white sharks and the highest recorded number of shark attacks on humans. The Pittsburgh Penguins also feature their own triangle—in yellow behind the penguin—which represents the downtown region of the city also known as the “Golden Triangle.”

Similarly, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ current logo is laden with symbolism. The 31 points on the leaf pay homage to the opening of Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931, while the 17 veins represent the team’s founding year in 1917. Every detail, down to the 13 veins on the top half of the leaf that represent the team's 13 Stanley Cup victories, pays tribute to the team’s extensive history.

Typography

By typography, we don’t mean the stencilized font that sometimes comes with sports branding, but the lettering decisions that may come with certain logos. Different font styles may evoke different feelings, and many NHL teams have used typography to reflect their team's character where it fits. Many teams like the Boston Bruins and Seattle Kraken  have built their logos around the lettering, and that group would also include our own Vancouver Canucks.

At the same time, typography has also been an indicator of the times—some older teams, such as the Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings, once used some gothic lettering in their older designs, and in some cases, the text may have even been hand-drawn.

Meanwhile, teams like the Edmonton Oilers and Washington Capitals incorporate personalized fonts unique to their logos. The Oilers' design in particular has one of the more unique looks in the league, with the letters dripping down like oil. Choosing the right font can help the logo look good and authentic to the team’s essence.

Colour Schemes

Colour can help define the team’s personality and connection to the theme and city. The Vancouver Canucks' colour scheme is a good example; their current colours draw inspiration from the natural beauty of British Columbia, with the deep blue representing the Pacific Ocean, while the green symbolizes the forests that surround Vancouver. Although blue/green wasn’t always their colours, it has been a recurring theme that they often return to.

Toronto made similar decisions when transitioning from being the St. Pats to the Maple Leafs. Their now-iconic blue and white reflect Canada’s blue skies and snow respectively. Some inspiration had also been drawn from Conn Smythe’s gravel and sand company, which used blue and white trucks.

More recently, the Anaheim Ducks just revealed their jerseys for the 2024 season, which they describe as “not just a new image; [but] the embodiment of the team’s evolution.” 

We talk about the Ducks’ change and their evolution in more detail in the Recent Designs and Changes section of this article.

Scalability

One of the biggest challenges in logo design is ensuring the logo works across multiple platforms and sizes. A great logo needs to look as sharp on a small phone screen as it does on a billboard or jersey. Part of making a logo to fit this standard is having a balance of simplicity and complexity; logos that are too complex can lose their clarity when scaled down. On the other hand, overly simple designs may not stand out when enlarged. Go back to the triangle designs—although the triangles themselves in the Penguins' and Sharks' logos represent major parts of their region's history, they would not really work as logos by themselves because they are just a bit too simple.

As a relatively newer franchise, the Vegas Golden Knights had the advantage of designing a logo with modern digital platforms at their disposal right from the get-go. The shield-and-helmet design is bold but clean, making use of simple shapes to still show depth in the design without making it too intricate.

An example of a more detailed logo that still works is the Chicago Blackhawks. Their logo is one of the most detailed in the NHL, but despite the design, the decisions made with line thickness and where to keep it heavy or light, as well as colour choices, help the logo stand out on multiple platforms without losing its identity.

Eras of Change

Hockey logos in general have undergone significant changes over the years, with each era reflecting broader design trends based on the technology and media available. The different shifts—like when the 1940s preferred more minimalist logos and the 1970s focused on colour—enabled teams to experiment with different ways to display symbolism in their logos.

In the earlier days of hockey, font choices in logos included more hand-drawn designs and writing, as computers would not have been used for logo creation at the time. Teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs used various hand-drawn maple leaf designs and text in their early days, eventually transitioning to more modernized and straight-cut (and properly centred) maple leaf designs.

On the other hand, younger teams, such as the Nashville Predators (founded in 1998), started with the benefit of digital tools, which allowed them to design their logos with more deliberate detail right from the beginning. As a result, the Preds have had very few reasons to change their logo over the years, beyond some colour touch ups and one redesign.

Recent Designs and Changes

Teams are always looking at ways to update or revamp their looks, which will include logos and colours. New teams also need to look at how they want to present themselves to the league. Two recent examples of design entry and redesign come from the Utah Hockey Club and the Anaheim Ducks, both taking different approaches to branding their identities.

Utah Hockey Club: Since the team name has yet to be finalized, the franchise is using temporary logos and colour schemes for the 2024-25 season. Their placeholder design includes a colour palette of rock black, salt white, and mountain blue, the latter intended to complement the sky blue of the Utah Jazz, the NBA team owned by the same group.

For some teams, relocation stemmed from a mix of ownership change and the need for a more supportive market. Atlanta is a prime example, having once been home to two NHL teams: the Atlanta Flames and the Atlanta Thrashers. The Flames struggled to build a strong fanbase in an area where hockey was still developing as a sport, and attendance steadily dropped to reflect this issue. They were sold in 1980 and moved to Calgary, where the team found greater success in its publicity. The Thrashers faced similar challenges. Despite some initial excitement, the poor marketing, lack of ownership interest, and consistently low attendance were still major issues. With no substantial effort to grow the fanbase, the Thrashers were sold in 2011 and relocated to Winnipeg, where they became the revived Winnipeg Jets.