Throwbacks and revamped versions of old products, movies, TV shows, and so much more have been a big part of pop culture in the last few years and sports are no exception. From teams hitting on the nostalgia of older fans by bringing back retro jerseys, to organizations looking to completely revamp their entire look. Team logos seem to be the most prominent and in hockey, some of these “new logos” look all too familiar.
The Calgary Flames entered into the NHL during the 1972 - 1973 season, becoming the 15th and 16th franchise to join the league along with the New York Islanders. For the Flames fans reading this knowing professional NHL hockey didn’t begin to play in Calgary until the 1980 - 1981 season, you have a great memory. The Flames actually originated in Atlanta and played under the name “Atlanta Flames” until their relocation to Calgary in 1980.
Atlanta Flames Primary Logo 1972 - 1980
The original Atlanta Flames logo looks as clean-cut as the most recent Calgary logo. The Flames started off with an uppercase A that looked as if the middle of the letter had a flame burning in it. Fast forward to the first iteration of the Calgary logo and nothing much changed when it came to the fundamentals of the logo. It was still an uppercase letter, this time a “C,” and the flames were burning out of the left side of the logo. Before the newest iteration of their logo, Calgary only had two logos in their entire franchise history dating back to 1980. For the 2020 season, and for the foreseeable future, a new era has been ushered in for the Flames.
Calgary Flames Primary Logo 2021 - Present
Looks a little familiar, doesn’t it? Like we said previously, there hasn’t been much change to this franchise’s logo over the past 40 years. The same uppercase "C" with flames coming out of the backside of the letter still remains as the focal point of the logo. The biggest change from the previous logo to this one is no black outline around the entirety of the logo. Calgary has opted to leave out the black outline and go for a more clean-cut look.
The organization really went for subtle differences outside of that black line. Both the red and yellow colors are seen in the current logo are a bit brighter than each of the logos that preceded it. It is very subtle but when the logos are side-by-side, you can tell this one pops just a bit more than the others.
The team is hoping that this new logo may bring them better luck for the future ahead. Since the turn of the century, Calgary has only won two division championships and has found themselves competing for just one Stanley Cup back in the 2003 - 2004 season, where they made a historic run as the 6th seed but eventually lost to the number one seeded Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in the finals.
See the Calgary Flames logo history and team history.