Tonight, Nevada’s hockey footprint officially expanded with the unveiling of the identity for its new AHL franchise—the Henderson Silver Knights.

The new name and logo build on a clear brand synergy with the Vegas Golden Knights, who purchased the San Antonio Rampage franchise in February. It works a couple of ways. Silver, as we know, is a level below gold in sports awards just as the Henderson club plays a level below Vegas. Plus, Nevada’s nickname is the Silver State.

To be honest, I half-expected them to be called the Nevada Silver Knights as the city of Henderson isn’t well known outside the region. But there was some discord among residents with regard to the financing and location of the new 6,000-seat arena being built to house the new team. Perhaps the ownership felt naming the team for the city would help ease some of that tension.

The new logo is also a tip of the cap to the NHL parent club. It retains the familiar underlying shield shape while replacing the medieval knight’s armor with that of the knight’s trusty steed—what the organization has dubbed the “armored warhorse.” The helmet also forms the shape of an “H” as a reference to Henderson—just as the Golden Knights’ helmet forms a “V” for Vegas.

The new branding was revealed during a one-hour event live streamed tonight across the Golden Knights’ various social media platforms in lieu of a public event, made impossible by the social distancing measures widely in place to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

So let’s dig into the logo a bit. Golden Knights art director Brady Hackmeister provided Icethetics with a closer look at the full identity package.

The Silver Knights leaned heavily on the metallic version of their mark during the unveiling. It features a textured silver that brings a dynamic element to the design and prevents it from feeling flat. That being said, even the non-metallic version doesn’t exactly look flat as it employs three distinct shades of gray to give the logo a three-dimensional quality.

The horse’s golden eyes signify the Silver Knights’ constant focus on advancing to the level of the Golden Knights, according to the press release. Another subtle design element that slipped by me was the significance of the number of chainmail links and rivets on the horse’s armor.

There are 20 links of chainmail and 21 rivets on the horse’s armor, which represent the team’s inaugural 20-21 season.

It’s clear the design team left no stone unturned.

Here’s a look at the wordmark.

On first glance it seems like a pretty straightforward adaptation of the Vegas wordmark. But it does have its own unique flavor. In place of the gold stars that punctuate the Golden Knights’ logo are a pair of spurs—filling out the equine motif.

While it may not stand alone in the Silver Knights’ identity package, I wanted to share an up-close look at the icon.

At this level of detail, you could even see it as a reference to the scorching desert sun. Maybe it’s a little bit of both.

From here, I’ll leave it to you. What do you think of the new Henderson Silver Knights?