Heading into the 2025/26 NHL season, there were plenty of major talking points. At the top of the list was the Florida Panthers and their date with destiny as they go on the hunt for a first three-peat since the 1980s Islanders, following their back-to-back Stanley Cup triumphs. However, another that garnered plenty of attention was the monumental rebrand underway in Salt Lake City.
Utah's Rebrand Ignites Playoff Dreams
Having been known as the Utah Hockey Club during its maiden season in the NHL, the league's newest expansion team rebranded during the offseason. As the team took to the ice for the first time this term, however, they did so as the Mammoth, complete with a crest as arresting as the snow-capped ranges on their horizon—a “U” wrought from mammoth tusks, mountain peaks cresting above, bold lines and cold steel. And it's clear the rebrand has worked wonders.
After missing the playoffs by just seven points last season, the Mammoth have hit the ground running under their new identity, posting nine wins against six losses to rise to fourth place in the Central Division. Their performances so far have certainly caught the eye of NHL oddsmakers, who have trimmed odds on Salt Lake City's finest reaching the postseason for the first time ever this term. The latest NHL lines at Bovada currently price the Mammoth at -290 to qualify for the playoffs, which basically says it would be a shocker if Utah wasn't in postseason action next spring.
A Mammoth announcement 🏒🦣 https://t.co/pFJCcwkZM8
— Bovada (@BovadaOfficial) May 7, 2025
But the monumental rebrand has got us thinking about recent NHL logo updates over the last decade, and which impressed us the most. Some were nuanced, some were monumental, but all of them left us with a lasting impression. Let's take a look at what we consider the best of them.
Los Angeles Kings
Social engagement spiked after launch, and LA’s identity—silver, regal, big-market—clicks with both kids who grew up in the Gretzky era and digital-native fans now storming Crypto.com Arena. This is heritage meeting ambition in every thread.
Toronto Maple Leafs
If one franchise bears the weight of history every season, it’s Toronto. The Leafs are the second most successful team in NHL history, with a whopping 13 Stanley Cup championships to their name. However, the 2025/26 season marks the 59th year of a scarcely believable championship drought.
A decade ago, the Maple Leafs attempted to breathe new life into a franchise desperate for any kind of jolt to their championship aspirations. The outfit traded its longtime roundel for a razor-sharp, 31-point silhouette—a leaf that felt as rich with meaning as with lineage. The new blue-and-white crest referenced six Stanley Cup eras, but was refined, precise, engineered for the digital age.
Interestingly, as that crest hit the ice, the chemistry on the roster changed in lockstep. From perpetual rebuilders and playoff absentees, the Leafs ascended—producing three 100+ point campaigns and ranking top-three in league goals from 2017 to 2022. The irony? The logo now wears the scars of further playoff disappointment, which seems to rear its head every time spring rolls around.
The Leafs have reached the playoffs every single year since they updated their logo, ending a three-year postseason drought in the years immediately preceding their rebrand. Still, though, of those nine playoff campaigns, Toronto has been eliminated in the first round in every season but one, and they may well need further updates if they are to avoid a 60th year without a Finals appearance.
Vancouver Canucks
For their 50th birthday, the Canucks chose clarity over compromise. The “C” orca breached, sidelining the stick-in-rink to legacy status. No more visual tug-of-war—the Pacific Northwest, a region tied to whales and wild coasts, had a badge worthy of its mythos.
While Vancouver’s play has whiplashed between playoff pushes and rebuild murmurs, the orca’s staying power is as real as the franchise’s feverish home crowds. According to Canadian media, Canucks merchandise featuring the updated crest outsells legacy designs nearly two-to-one, showing the depth of fan buy-in for a symbol as dynamic as it is rooted.
Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers’ 2016 pivot from a leaping big cat to a militaristic shield did precisely that. Clean lines. Gold highlights. The word “Florida” stares you down like a badge of honor. The overhaul—paired with a new wordmark—heralded a cultural reset under a new front-office vision, and it's safe to say that the rebrand had the desired effect.
After missing the playoffs four years out of five before the change, the Panthers have been reborn, rattling off five straight postseason berths, two division titles, and three straight Stanley Cup appearances over the last three seasons. The first of those ended in a heartbreaking defeat to the Vegas Golden Knights as wild cards. The two most recent? Finally, championship glory at long last, twice beating Connor McDavid's star-studded Edmonton Oilers to secure back-to-back Cups, the first two titles in franchise history.
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