Nas160

Yep, it was a big rumour in early '95, and it was the beginning of 20+ years of boos for Gary Bettman, haha. And I remember those Penguins rumors too. If it weren't for Crosby, the team might've been on the move to Hamilton, Kansas City, or Vegas.

And as much as I like the current Preds jersey (still think they should bring back a tweaked version of their recent blue alternate to complete the set), I miss the early uniforms they wore, too. Their original alternate is one of my favorite so-bad-it's-good jerseys from the early 2000s, along with the Bruins and Coyotes. As great as the return to traditional style jerseys many teams are making is, it was fun to see some of those wacky designs, as hit and miss as they were.

Yeah, I can't imagine what it was like being a Nordiques fan seeing their team relocate right before winning a cup (the same thing nearly happened to the Devils in 95, but winning the cup probably saved them from going to Nashville). And as far as I remember, the Jets were allowed to use their old logos if they wanted to, but they went with something different for marketing purposes. I wouldn't be surprised if a Quebec franchise did the same thing, though their jerseys are some of my favorite, even if I was too young to appreciate them before they moved to Colorado.

I'm on the fence with the Vegas team right now. I'm excited for the name (probably the Knights/Black Knights), logos, uniforms, and the expansion draft, but I still would've liked to see the Nordiques back first. But, there's a good chance I'll be going to Vegas in late 2017, so hopefully I can catch a game while I'm down there!

And yeah, I saw both the Panthers and Leafs new gear. While the Panthers stuff is growing on me, the Leafs uniforms remind me of what the Senators wore in the early 90s. The logo's great though, so I do have to give them that.

Don't worry about it- I've been crazy with real life stuff too (just transferred at work, so my days are even longer now :( ). Hopefully you enjoy your summer though!

So, what do you think about Las Vegas finally getting an NHL team?

Happy Birthday!!! ^^

Your Christmas Latias avatar is so cute <3

I think my favorite thing that came from the Oilers during that time was their gear drop jersey. But their current set is perfect with their new third. And yours looks great- hope you enjoy it!

And yeah, I've always preferred traditional designs when I do jersey concepts. It's funny you should mention my Sens and Canucks concepts, as they're two of my favorite that I've done. I do most of my concepts on a newer style template now, but they're 2 of the 3 that I was planning on updating sometime soon.

I've got the navy Oilers jersey that they wore right before they switched to their current ones. I'm not the biggest fan of it, but I got it brand new for $20, so I wasn't about to pass that up.

And it's awesome to hear that you're a concept artist, too (love the TB freakout jersey, btw). I've got a lot of my older stuff up on Icethetics here, though I haven't done any NHL concepts in a while. Almost everything I do now is for the IceHL project, even though I've gone like 0 for 53 in their jersey competitions, haha.

23?! Wow, I thought I was crazy with having 8, haha. But I agree, those orange Oilers jerseys are a thing of beauty. If I didn't already have one of their older style ones, they'd be near the top of my list for my next pick-up.

Just curious- if you're such a big hockey jersey fan, do you follow Icethetics at all?

I have no earthly idea either, but I did end up buying a Blues hat because of it! I'm just thankful jerseys are so expensive, or I'd probably have bought one of those too :p

Never had a chance to go to the east coast, but like I said, I've always wanted to go, and hopefully in the next year or two I'll actually be in a position to do it.

The Blues, huh? I've gotta say, your assistant GM is a pretty cool guy :P

And yeah, I definitely do hate the Rangers (well, except for Henrik Lundqvist). I'd still love to catch some games on the east coast one day, and maybe make a round to see Devils, Rangers, and Islanders home games. I live near Vancouver, so I've seen a couple of Canucks games, and I went to the outdoor game between Calgary and Montreal a few years back. But I agree, nothing beats being in an arena full of passionate hockey fans, even if you are rooting for the other team :P

I'm obsessed with hockey, haha. I'm a big Devils fan actually, how about you?