Los Angeles Kings Logo PNG
The Los Angeles Kings logo fully emphasizes greatness. The crown, clubs, and shield convey imperial status. The team’s name reinforces this, referencing its noble roots and aspiration to the highest level of nobility. This demonstrates the athletes’ focus on victory.
The story begins in 1967, when the NHL expanded from six to twelve teams. Canadian businessman Jack Kent Cooke, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, paid $2 million for a Los Angeles franchise. He named it the Kings and chose purple and gold, linking the club to a royal theme. The team played its first season at The Forum in Inglewood under head coach Red Kelly, who had ties to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings. The team finished second in the West Division.
The 1970s brought regular playoff appearances, but no deep runs. In 1975, the club acquired Bobby Orr from the Boston Bruins, but injuries kept him off the ice. A turning point came in 1982 with the “Miracle on Manchester,” when the Kings erased a 5–0 deficit to defeat the Edmonton Oilers.
In 1988, Wayne Gretzky arrived from the Edmonton Oilers, raising the club’s profile across the NHL. His presence pushed the team to the 1993 Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the Montreal Canadiens. After Gretzky’s departure in 1996, financial problems led to bankruptcy in 1995. Edward Roski and Philip Anschutz later bought the franchise for $113.25 million.
During the 2000s, draft picks like Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty shaped a new core. The Kings returned to the playoffs in 2009. In 2012, they won their first Stanley Cup as the eighth seed, with Jonathan Quick named playoff MVP. In 2014, they secured a second title against the New York Rangers.
Subsequent seasons included missed playoffs and management changes in 2017. The team entered another rebuild, keeping veterans while developing prospects. In 2018, they lost in the first round to the Vegas Golden Knights. By 2020, the club selected Quinton Byfield with the second overall pick, and Kopitar signed a long-term deal in 2021, showing continuity during the rebuild.
Meaning and History
The Los Angeles Kings have a standard approach to logo creation. It places the city’s full name or initials above the crown, a practice seen in nearly every version of the club’s emblem. The only exception was the 2002-2011 version, when designers removed all inscriptions.
What are the Los Angeles Kings?
The Los Angeles Kings are a Western Conference hockey team. They play in the NHL and represent the Pacific Division. The Los Angeles Kings were formed in 1967 and are one of the six teams that began play as part of the NHL’s expansion. Its home stadium is the Staples Center.
1967 – 1975
The Los Angeles Kings logo, which debuted in the 1967-1968 season, became a true symbol of that era and remains recognizable today. During those years, the team wore purple-and-gold hockey jerseys featuring this iconic logo.
The emblem is designed as a rectangular shield with a pointed base, adding a sense of majesty and formality. Inside the shield, a crown is composed of numerous small details: circles, ovals, crosses, and lines. This intricate crown symbolizes the team’s royal authority and status, highlighting its ambition and drive to win.
Above the crown, the word “KINGS” appears in a serif font that adds a touch of sophistication. The lower diagonal line of the letter “K” is particularly notable, curving smoothly to lend the font a dynamic, unique character. Directly above the “KINGS” inscription, the city name “LOS ANGELES” appears in a standard block font. This makes the visual mark concise and clear, emphasizing its connection to the city and fostering a sense of unity and pride in the team.
The official team colors are purple, gold, and white. They add richness and brightness, underscore the royal character, and make the logo stand out among other emblems of the time.
1975 – 1987
Eight seasons after a successful start, the team updated its logo for the first time. The main changes focused on the word “KINGS”: designers enlarged it, centered it, italicized the letters, and surrounded it with horizontal strokes to create a sense of motion. They also worked on the font for the phrase “Los Angeles,” reduced the crown, and thickened both the yellow (inner) and purple (outer) contours of the shield.
1987 – 1988
In the 21st season, the hockey club introduced an entirely new emblem, coinciding with Wayne Gretzky’s acquisition. Designers changed the logo’s color palette to match the color scheme of another NHL team, the “Los Angeles Raiders.” As a result, the shield darkened to a dark gray, while the inscriptions and contours turned black. The only element that didn’t modernize was the crown, which remained purple and yellow.
1988 – 1998
The purple-yellow crown didn’t last long; just a year later, it became black and white. The shield also changed: developers chose a lighter shade of gray and added a wide white line along the entire contour. They also expanded the shield in the middle, giving it a cross-like shape so the word “KINGS” didn’t hang in space.
1998 – 2002
Ten years later, the team introduced a new logo featuring a triangular shield to symbolize renewal and a new chapter in the club’s history. In the upper left corner of the emblem, a new crown appears, representing the team’s royal status and drive for leadership. The crown continues the theme of grandeur and ambition established in previous emblems.
In the upper-right corner of the shield, a sun is depicted as a circle with rays of varying lengths. This adds dynamism to the emblem and symbolizes the light, warmth, and energy necessary for victories and new achievements on the ice.
The lower part of the shield features a lion holding a hockey stick, underscoring the team’s power and strength. Like the crown, the lion symbolizes royal authority and might, but now embodies readiness for battle and persistence on the hockey rink.
Two crossed hockey sticks on the shield symbolize the team’s hockey identity and readiness to compete, highlighting the players’ unity and fighting spirit.
Above and below the shield, inside two inverted trapezoids, are the inscriptions “LA” and “KINGS.” Set in a clean, strong font, these words add confidence to the mark and reinforce the team’s status.
This logo uses less gray and more black and blue than previous years. Black symbolizes strength and stability, while blue represents confidence and determination.
2002 – 2011
In 2002, the Los Angeles Kings’ logo underwent a radical transformation, reflecting a new era in the team’s history. Instead of the traditional shield, inscriptions, and numerous details, the logo became more streamlined and powerful. The main, and only, element is a large crown with two crossed hockey sticks at its pointed top.
As a symbol of royal authority, the crown emphasizes the team’s leadership ambitions and drive to be at the top. It looks massive and imposing, giving the emblem a serious, significant feel. At the center of the crown, several circular elements and geometric shapes add detail and make the design more recognizable.
The crossed sticks at the top of the crown symbolize the team’s hockey identity and readiness for competition. This element underscores the visual mark’s athletic nature and its strong connection to hockey.
The team’s color palette has changed but remains true to its traditions. The combination of silver, blue, and black conveys strength, confidence, and stability. Silver highlights elegance and high standards, while blue adds dynamism and energy.
The shift away from unnecessary details toward a simpler, more powerful image reflects the team’s changes at the time. The new logo symbolized a new era, highlighting their readiness for new challenges and victories.
2011 – 2019
In 2011, the club returned to its traditional shield. Designers split it into two parts: the upper part showed the city’s abbreviated name, and the lower part featured the crown. This time, they abandoned blue for black, gray, and white.
2019 – 2024
In the latest version of the emblem, the colors have changed slightly: black has become more saturated, and an additional silver border has appeared around the shield’s perimeter. As a result of the border expansion, the elements decreased slightly in size.
2024 – today
The logo resembles the one used from 1988 to 1998 but has undergone several significant changes, making it more modern and expressive. The new version changes the typography of the word “Kings” and adds a small white shadow for depth and dynamism.
House Industries developed the font used in the logo. This typography masterfully recreates the logo, incorporating elements from the hockey team’s entire history. The primary colors remain the same: black, silver, and white continue to symbolize strength, elegance, and purity, reflecting the team’s spirit.
The logo’s overall shape has been expanded by increasing the vertical section. This allowed for larger “LOS ANGELES” text and made the crown more noticeable. In the new emblem, the crown is more prominent, emphasizing the team’s royal status and drive for leadership.
The horizontal part of the logo has been raised, creating space for the “KINGS” text, which is rendered in a bolder font with added speed lines. Although the number of lines has decreased, they are thicker, and their shapes and lengths now vary, enhancing the sense of movement and speed.
The fonts for “LOS ANGELES” and “KINGS” have changed to improve readability, and the white shadow on “KINGS” now falls from the left, creating a left-to-right sense of movement. This element adds dynamism to the logo and underscores the team’s energy and power.
Font and Colors
Over the past half-century, the Los Angeles Kings’ logo has changed significantly, while designers have tried to adhere to the classic concept. They retained the quadrangular shield with a sharp base and crown, albeit in a modernized form. They also considered the arrangement of elements: the inscription is traditionally located in the upper part, and the symbol of royal power occupies the lower half of the emblem.
In the modern logo, only the abbreviation “LA” remains from the phrase “Los Angeles Kings.” Set in an unusual font, it was introduced as early as the 1998-1999 season, making it distinctive and self-contained. The letters feature an original design: the absence of serifs is offset by pointed, flared edges.
The original palette includes gold and purple colors. In 1987, black and gray were added, and in 1988, they were completely replaced. However, the chosen combination of shades became associated with gangster culture, so in 1998, it was supplemented with dark blue. However, the 2011 redesign returned to the familiar silver-black palette.