THN.com's NHL Logo Rankings

The Chicago Blackhawks top our list as having the NHL's best logo.

Naturally, the NHL was the most contested of our ultimate logo debate, but there were certain emblems we knew would crack the top 10.

The first four, you’ll notice, are Original Six franchises, but we didn’t want to trade entirely on sentiment, which is why newer teams such as Minnesota and San Jose were rewarded for their unique design.

The most important distinction is that we are judging logos, not jerseys. This is why the New York Rangers fell out of the top 10; when you think of the Blueshirts, you think of the diagonal lettering on their jerseys before you think of the crest. Teams that have improved their looks in recent times were rewarded (ie. Phoenix), while those who took a step back in our opinion (Ottawa, Buffalo) were punished.

Click HERE to go to THN's Logo Rankings Central page and click HERE to vote for your top NHL logo.

THE HOCKEY NEWS NATIONAL LEAGUE LOGO RANKINGS

RK.	LOGO	TEAM	THE SCOOP
1		Chicago Blackhawks	Proud, traditional and iconic.
2		Detroit Red Wings	Winged wheel now synonymous with winning.
3		Montreal Canadiens	The ‘H’ in the ‘C’ is legendary.
4		Boston Bruins	The most imitated logo in all of hockey.
5		St. Louis Blues	Bluenote so classic, it stands by itself.
6		Philadelphia Flyers	Flying ‘P’ is an automatic.
7		Minnesota Wild	Leaders of the new school.
8		San Jose Sharks	Tweaked their original instant classic without losing what worked.
9		Pittsburgh Penguins	Set the standard for animals with sticks.
10		Toronto Maple Leafs	Simple, clean, known immediately throughout hockey.
11		New York Islanders	Solid all around, plus bonus points for the outline of Long Island.
12		Calgary Flames	Tough to argue with the flaming ‘C.’
13		Phoenix Coyotes	Rising from the worst logo of all-time, the new coyote is clean, simple and refreshing.
14		Nashville Predators	Those are some serious fangs. Remnants of an ancient sabertooth tiger were found in downtown Nashville a few years ago, hence the mascot.
15		Edmonton Oilers	A drop of oil is the only art, but Edmonton gets points for a nice font.
16		New York Rangers	If this was a jersey contest, the Blueshirts would be much higher, but it’s not.
17		Vancouver Canucks	Still trying to find their iconic Canadian logo, Canucks are sporting a nice compromise.
18		Florida Panthers	As far as realistic logos go, this is a pretty solid panther.
19		Colorado Avalanche	Much like New Jersey, it’s fairly right-on-the-nose; it’s an Avalanche coming down an ‘A.’
20		New Jersey Devils	This one dropped a lot in our meeting, but the stylized ‘N’ does have some good features.
21		Atlanta Thrashers	This one made a big move up in our meeting; the thrasher is the state bird.
22		Washington Capitals	Love the uniform, love the secondary eagle logo, but we need more than words for the primary.
23		Dallas Stars	It’s a big star and it says ‘Stars.’
24		Columbus Blue Jackets	A marked improvement from the original ‘cribbage board’ design.
25		Los Angeles Kings	Call us when you go back to either of your first two logos.
26		Ottawa Senators	The original senator was much better than his current 3-D cousin.
27		Tampa Bay Lightning	Bolts are great, but Tampa still hasn’t found a font that works.
28		Buffalo Sabres	When your own fans hate it, how are we supposed to disagree?
29		Carolina Hurricanes	One THN staffer said it looked like a toilet flushing. Ironically, the Canes have a great secondary logo with the flags.
30		Anaheim Ducks	It’s barely a logo; more like a font. Not that the Mighty Ducks were any better.

Over the next two months, THN.com will leave the voting on the best logos up to you, the reader. To vote for your favorite, click HERE.