It Was Just Sitting There

As you may know from reading this blog, I'm a big fan of minor-league teams breaking away from their NHL affiliates and having their own names, logos, and branding that is unique to those teams. There is hockey history in every town, outpost, and village across this great land, and I feel that AHL and ECHL teams should be tapping into that civic factor when it comes to establishing themselves in those communities. The Utica Comets, under the watch of the Vancouver Canucks, did that as the "Comets" name has special meaning in Utica and surrounding areas, but I think the New Jersey Devils missed out on a big opportunity here.

I'm not here to fault the Devils for allowing continuity of this name to exist. It makes sense when one considers that Utica is in the Mohawk Valley area where the old Clinton Comets of the Eastern Hockey League and Mohawk Valley Comets of the North American Hockey League. This franchise produced some big-time NHL names such as Ed Giacomin who tended nets in the NHL, and Pat Kelly who would coach the Colorado Rockies and founded the East Coast Hockey League that is now just the ECHL. Needless to say, the franchise owners did right by choosing a name that has deep roots in the community.

The Canucks affiliated with the Utica Comets, and they used their colours to brand the team while the players on the ice wore modified Vancouver Canucks-style uniforms with the Comets' shield logo on their chests. It wasn't particularly creative or fun, but the uniforms worn by the Comets got the job done as far as AHL standards were concerned.

With the Canucks moving their AHL affiliate to Abbotsford, the Comets swapped NHL affiliations when the New Jersey Devils moved their affiliation from Binghamton to Utica. There was hope that they'd have a little fun and possibly bring back one of the classic minor-league logos of all-time, but the image above shows that the Devils aren't going to pursue that opportunity and, instead, just swapped the Vancouver colours out for their own. Which is a pity because they had such a glorious opportunity sitting there waiting for them, and we'll get to that in a minute.

Is it really a new era if all you do is swap out the Vancouver stuff for New Jersey stuff? As you can see, the Comets aren't doing anything special when it comes to their uniforms. All the Devils did when it came to this rebrand was swap colours and change the sweaters out for their own. I don't understand how teams can be so lazy as to not even brand the minor-league affiliate in their own way so that there's separation between the AHL and NHL clubs. Perhaps if Lou Lamoriello was still running the Devils, I'd be more willing to accept these "changes" to the Utica Comets because Lou was always against the idea of alternate uniforms and doing anything fun with his team's look, but this is supposed to be a "new era". How about attempting to live up to those words?

If they're not even going to try to be unique, then the Devils missed out on bringing back the Utica Devils in their full glory with this affiliation. That logo is a glorious sight to behold, and the history in Utica saw the Devils have their AHL affiliate play there from 1987 until 1993 before the franchise was bought by the Calgary Flames. Players like Martin Brodeur, Chris Terreri, Craig Billington, Bill Guerin, Eric Weinrich, and Paul Ysebaert all cut their teeth at the AHL level with the Utica Devils, and the history of the team there, while not as rich or storied as the Comets, still holds a place in people's hearts.

This is one of those times had the Devils opted to go back to the jersey and logo above of the Utica Devils that I wouldn't complain about the AHL and NHL affiliates have the same name or look because there's history there. While I'm still not a huge fan of it, it's far more palatable that the Abbotsford Canucks or the Bridgeport Islanders. Those are just dumb because there's zero historical value and zero reason why those teams couldn't have been so much more.

That's kind of the same feeling I have for the Utica Comets - there was a chance to do something special here, and I feel like the Devils could have done so much more, especially having the old Utica Devils logo just sitting there.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!