Pleasing Vintage NHL Logos

This is somewhat of a subjective list of logos, but so is most everything else on this site.

I find myself occasionally perusing Chris Creamer's Sportslogos.net site for older logos that are pleasing. This gives me a creating boost in an odd, tangential way: I like watching a logo's progression from utilitarian to pleasing to garish and (hopefully) back to pleasing. It helps me conceptualize timing in a manifested and branded way.

Examples of this idea (mentioned without logos) from baseball and basketball, respectively, could be the Blue Jays and Warriors.

Anyway, the following logos are the middle ones, the ones I find quite nice, in no particular order. Let's reminisce:

This is the original negative-space-using Hartford Whalers logo. Whaling as an industry was important for the growth of many a maritime nation, but today has become a lawless and gruesome practice, with many whaling vessels being attacked by vigilantes funded by the late Sam Simon.

For those reasons I appreciate the use of this logo to make fun of the Piper Maru, a notorious Japanese Cetacean Research Institute vessel (the CRI is a mostly state sanctioned whaling operation).

Anyway, this logo is quite fetching. I always found it interesting that this franchise represented the only major league team in any of the four major North American sports that resided in Connecticut. The team has since moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, a city of roughly the same metropolitan area population size, and taken the name Carolina Hurricanes.

Now in Dallas and called simply the Stars, this Minnesota North Stars logo has yet to be updated for the '90s. It retains the simple charm that many logos from that era had before the '90s came along and italicized and metallicized nearly all known logos.

Like the Whalers before, the 90s version of the North Stars (pre-move) was metallicized and italicized.

This team never got the metallic or italic makeover. This is a slightly updated version of the Quebec Nordiques logo. I'm not sure why the igloo-and-hockey-stick logo speaks to me as strongly as it does. Like the two teams before, the Nordiques moved from the riverside Quebec City (and the furthest north major league franchise on the continent) to Denver and became the Avalanche.

I always liked this logo. I don't know why. Oddly enough based on the previous three logos, Edmonton still has their team and beyond tweaking the colors, hasn't changed the logo since the team's inception in the WHA during the 70s. They've even changed the name (from "Alberta Oilers" to "Edmonton Oilers") while leaving this logo intact. Maybe I'm not the only one it speaks to...

This is that rare find: the vintage logo that is still in active duty.