The Tampa Bay Lightning officially unveiled their new logos and uniforms today outside the St. Pete Times Forum at IceFest. Take your first look now!
My first impressions: I love them! Well done, my Bolts! I'm buying one the very second they're available. I'm so thrilled with the logos and jerseys. The black one is amazing. Looking at it, I'm so glad they didn't go with blue.
The greatest thing, in my opinion, is the continuation of the stripes found under the arms. See what I mean below.
Those stripes have been one of the major elements of the Lightning's jerseys since their inception in 1992. The way I understand it, Phil Esposito — who designed the original uniforms and logos — said the stripes would serve as a nod to fans for years to come and that every time a player raised his arms to celebrate a goal, we'd be reminded. It culminated with a Stanley Cup championship in 2004 and in every photo of a player raising the Cup, you see those unique stripes.
What do you guys think of that? As a lifelong Bolts fan, I'm thrilled over that feature being kept on these new jerseys.
As far as the logo, I'm all right with it. I'd rather the "TAMPA BAY" be gone entirely, but it's a big upgrade from what we used to have. Overall, I'm happy with what I've seen here.
UPDATE (1:59 PM): The St. Peterburg Times Bolts blog Lightning Strikes had this picture of Filip Kuba in the new jersey — our first photo of a player actually wearing it.
UPDATE (2:55 PM): Forgive me if I'm going overboard with Lightning stuff today, but we've all got our favorite teams right? Today is our day. I've come across a few more pictures worth posting here.
Above, you see Marty St. Louis walking down a red carpet amongst a sea of excited Lightning fans. Below is a group of people including Lightning players Chris Gratton, Filip Kuba, Johan Holmqvist, and St. Louis (in black). I haven't figured out who the rest of them are — except for the guy on the right in the white jersey. That's local news anchor Brendan McLaughlin I believe. He's wearing 28 because that's the channel number of his TV station — the one where I used to work, as a matter of fact.
As a side note, the Lightning's official site mentioned that the road jerseys would feature the number on the front shoulder. These photos indicate that as well. For more photos, check out my official Rbk EDGE photo gallery.
Edmonton Oilers
Columbus Blue Jackets
