The past meets the present.
Introducing the #NHLBruins Centennial crest. pic.twitter.com/F1dclRLjby
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) June 27, 2023
The Bruins, via the tweet shown above, today announced a change to their jersey crest. With the team celebrating its centennial throughout the 2023-24 season, the “spoked-B” logo on the front of the jersey has been simplified to give it more of a retro feel. Here’s a comparison of their standard primary logo with the one they’ll be wearing this season:
This is the latest in a series of adjustments that the spoked-B mark has undergone since its introduction in 1948, as summed up nicely in this timeline graphic that the team has put together:
Wondering how the new crest will look on the team’s jerseys? Here are some quick mock-ups I did:
Not bad at all, although many fans probably won’t even notice the difference. The centennial crest will be used only for 2023-24, with the team going back to the modern version the following season. Additional info here.
The team previously released this commemorative mark back in January, although it’s not yet clear whether it will be worn as part of the uniform (seems like it would make a good shoulder patch):
My only gripe about any of this is that the Bruins’ first season was 1924-25, so I wish they’d had the patience to wait until 2024-25 to mark the centennial. But that’s just me.
Despite it being a minor refinement on a past design, somehow it feels like something I’ve been noticing in logos more and more in recent years – minimalism to a fault.
Very nice update. On an almost completely unrelated note, drummer Bill Bruford (Yes, King Crimson) was known for wearing a tank top with the Bruins logo on it in the early 70s. It was the plain yellow spoke version listed as 1949-1995:
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He was also amazing in the original version of UK and on the two solo albums he did with Allan Holdsworth, Dave Stewart, and Jeff Berlin. I had the great good fortune to interview him for a radio station I was working at during the UK years. One of the nicest most unassuming people you’d ever meet. And one incredible musician!
Reminds me of when Mickey Hart would wear the Celtics jerseys all the time classic music classic style
I have a feeling that the white sweater is gonna have the black circle and B with the yellow spokes, they showed that version in the video for a reason
I would agree, it sure looks like there is a black b/spoke version of it. Which would look nicer than the yellow version on the whites.
Like it used to be into the early 1990s. I really like this.
Definitely possible. No mention of it in the team announcement, though:
link
The animation in teh announcement flashed to a Black version before it ends. Assuming that means a black version on the white sweaters, and a gold version on the black sweaters, like they did through the 70s-80s-90s. I for one welcome it back and would love to see them keep it permanently.
Update: The B’s just posted these wallpapers to Twitter which makes me believe that this is true link
Historically the bear patch read “Bruins” at home, and “Boston” on the road. Wonder if they’re making the same distinction with the centennial bear patch?
So the main jersey crest is gonna be a one-year special? Almost too bad. I prefer the new version! All the double-outlines feel dark and heavy, so I like a bright gold B. And I love that the B still has those angled serifs with the spokes. If this were a permanent change going forward, I would say it’s an upgrade! Be FWIW I’m a Habs fan so you know I like it when I’m saying the Bruins look good
I don’t understand the point of the logo change for one season only… It’s too minimal of a change. It feels like it is strictly to sell new merch.
This is nice, but let’s talk about that rounded B on the ’48-49 logo. That’s really cool.
Right? Bold, fun, distinctive. That’s by far my favorite B-spoke logo, followed by the new centennial version. The current regular logo is dead last for me. It’s almost ugly enough to make me suspect that a Rangers fan sabotaged the logo design process.
The gold socks need to come back in tandem with the gold B. The change to the Pittsburgh-style black socks with the switch from Reebok to Adidas was not good-looking one.
So they went for 100th season, not 100th anniversary, which I can’t really argue with.
The bespoke spoke-B
As a (usually heart broken) Bruins fan for the past 54 years, I’m thrilled to see the return of the gold B. I’ve been wishing for this for a long time.
My hope is that they use the colors reversed for the white sweater, as they did in the 80s/90s, and also that this is more than a 1 year change.
The reaction I’ve seen from Bruins fans is so overwhelmingly positive so far, I feel like they’ll at least keep it as an alternate beyond next season if not making the full 23-24 set permanent but with a traditional shoulder patch.
One curiosity I do have, will the actual sweaters look like your renders, or will they be closer to the 80s/90s sweaters, without the gold shoulders? My hope is full 80s/90s throwback but just with the new this font for the B.
The original rounded B from 48-49 should have been brought back. That letter is beautiful.
The Bruins are my favorite team – I really like this new logo and actually wish they were keeping it on a more permanent basis.
Their rebrand back after the lockout was a home run and probably the best as every team shifted to the RBK Edge template. I do think it’s getting slightly stale and this will be a welcome change.
Excited to see the new uniforms that will accompany this logo.
Your sentiment about this one being better seems to be just about universally shared by Bruins fans from what I’ve seen. Myself included. We’ve got a whole season, perhaps we organize a petition or something to make these changes permanent. I think of all the comments I’ve seen across the internet which for me basically means here, SB Nation and Reddit, I’ve seen 1 comment opposed to this new logo and hundreds in favor. Sure the sentiment to keep it is there, just a matter of ownership listening.
Jerseys look great. But what about the socks? Will they go back to the classic yellow or leave them black?