Saturday: National, Kontinental, Ontario and American!
Grumble grumble Blackhawks grumble grumble I don't want to talk about it.
*EDIT (by Ryan)*
On to the concepts.
Niagara IceDogs (by Alan)
Alan's concept today features the OHL's Niagara IceDogs. I’m not sure how I feel about this one because it’s a combination of so many different ideas. The arm stripes are semi-traditional while the vertical body stripes are extremely modern. Also, I think the gray stripes are kind of superfluous. They could probably be replaced with white or red and the quality of the jersey would not suffer. I don’t mind the primary logo but the effect mentioned about the shoulder logo doesn’t really show when the logo isn’t shown in full. I do love the color scheme though. As a Blackhawks fan, I’m contractually obligated to like red and black color schemes. Overall, I’ll give it a 7/10.
Colorado Avalanche (by Andy)
Andy’s Avalanche concept does two things that would be very good for the Avalanche: simplifying the color scheme and removing the horrible Edge template. This is so much better than what they currently wear. Burgundy and blue does not need any extra colors, and the vertical stripes template is one of the worst in the league – second only to Buffalo’s initial Edge template. At the same time, I don’t know about this redesign. The potential to restore the mountain design is there but it’s not realized. A few minor final critiques: I’d remove the outline on the name on the white jersey and the NHL logo on that jersey is also mis-colored. Overall, I’ll give it an 8/10.
Boston Bruins (by Bobby)
Here we have a Bruins concept by Bobby showing a color jersey fauxback to the white jerseys worn by the Bruins from 1926 to 1932. It’s an interesting update since back then, the Bruins wore proper white, not “vintage” white and they hadn’t moved from brown to black yet. Also, he’s chosen to use the modern Boston logo instead of the version they used back then. I do like it, though, because it’s not over-the-top and certainly looks like it would work as a fauxback. My few critiques are in the execution: the name on the back and the logo are pixelated a bit and there is some mis-coloration around the NHL logo. Overall, I’ll give it an 8.5/10.
Boston Bruins (by Dylan)
Our second Bruins concept of the day comes from Dylan, who gives them their first gold jersey since 2006. The first thing that I notice is the logo. Honestly, I never understood why Boston wore that curved B logo in the first place because it has almost no history with the team. Boston’s B logo has - with the sole exception of the 1948-49 season - always been some variation of a straight block B. That being said, since the logo isn’t made up out of thin air, it could be much worse. I like the jersey because it’s a good update of their Winter Classic sweater with some key modifications, of course. It certainly would be interesting to see this one on the ice. I’d change the sleeve striping to make them straight, though. The rough V-shape seems unnecessary. Finally, someone can correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think the jerseys have the Reebok vector on the sleeve anymore. Overall, I’ll give it an 8.5/10.
HC Slovan Bratislava (by Stephen)
Revenge of the Robopen! Oh wait, that’s not the Robopen at all. HC Slovan Bratislava is one of the few non-Russian teams in the KHL and has been in the league for one season so far. Believe it or not, I don’t actually dislike the logo despite it being a clear Robopen ripoff. The color scheme is solid and the design is very straight up. I like it. I’d definitely make the logo larger, however, and the phantom yoke needs to go. Either change the color of the yoke or get rid of the outline, because there are very few instances in which the phantom yoke looks good and this is not one of them. Overall, I’ll give it a 7.5/10.
Vancouver Canucks (by Ted)
Now this is an interesting one. Ted has taken a lot of different Vancouver elements and crams them together in a three-jersey set. Unfortunately, this one suffers from a lot of problems. Starting from the top: the wordmark has some random colors around it and the stripes on the sock are way too big. I also don’t care for the wordmark-over-number combination. The wordmark-over-anything look just isn’t good for pro hockey. Regardless of whether you’re Vancouver or Dallas, don’t do it. Leave it to college. Either pick a wordmark or a logo. No front numbers. Period. Moving on – on the colored jerseys, the sleeve numbers are too pixelated and there are some uncolored pixels on the underarms. Finally, if you’re going to include black on the white jersey, then don’t leave it out of the colored jerseys entirely. These jerseys could be good but there is a lot that needs to be fixed. Please also remember that images should be no larger than 1,200 pixels on any side. Overall, I’ll give it a 6/10.
Abbotsford Heat (by Jets96)
Jets’ first of three concepts is of an AHL team that may not exist for much longer, as some reports indicate that the Heat, who are the Flames’ AHL affiliate, may be moving to Utica, New York soon. Such a move would actually make sense for the Heat because they are currently the sole western team in the AHL. They are the only team in the Pacific time zone and play two time zones away from the next-closest team. Moving to the East Coast would make things a lot easier for everyone. As for the design itself, this one is an interesting case. I’m not sure about the vertical stripes on the hem and the sleeves are definitely a modern design that wouldn’t be out of place for an AHL team. As a whole, it’s not a bad design. I’d just fix the pixelation of the logo on the red jersey. Overall, I’ll give it a 7.5/10.
Albany Devils (by Jets96)
The next one is for the Albany Devils, who are, as the name indicates, the New Jersey Devils’ AHL affiliate. This one I’m not sold on. While I realize that not every AHL team can be like the IceHogs and emulate their parent team’s uniforms, since the Devils have such a classic design I think their farm team should take some cues from that. I’d have gone with a more traditional template instead of the weird Blues/Predators “horned” template. I don’t care much for the incomplete hem stripes, though. That being said, however, the design is not bad overall. With those few minor fixes, it would be a good design. Also, as previously mentioned, the pixelation of the colored jersey logo needs to be fixed. Overall, I’ll give it an 8/10.
Binghamton Senators (by Jets96)
And so we close today with my favorite concept of the day, the Binghamton Senators. This one is just fantastic because apart from the Blackhawks, Ottawa (and by extension Binghamton) has one of my favorite color schemes. That aside, I like the use of the alternate logo as the primary on these jerseys because the Senators’ RL primary logo is far too crowded. Also, the sublimated striping in the red is absolutely killer. More jerseys could use sublimated striping. It’s a subtle design effect that goes a long way towards improving the design. Finally, good job bringing back the laurel design from the O-Sens’ 2000-07 alternate. I wish that was something they had kept when they switched to the Edge jerseys. My only critiques are minor: the pixelation of the numbers and the logo on the black jersey. Overall, I’ll give it an 8.5/10.
*EDIT (by Ryan)*
---------------------------------------
Last of the Untouchables Bruins entries
Austin
Brandon C.
Caz
Derek H.
Matt R.
Phil
Stéphane
Steve M.
---------------------------------------
On to the concepts.
Niagara IceDogs (by Alan)
Alan's concept today features the OHL's Niagara IceDogs. I’m not sure how I feel about this one because it’s a combination of so many different ideas. The arm stripes are semi-traditional while the vertical body stripes are extremely modern. Also, I think the gray stripes are kind of superfluous. They could probably be replaced with white or red and the quality of the jersey would not suffer. I don’t mind the primary logo but the effect mentioned about the shoulder logo doesn’t really show when the logo isn’t shown in full. I do love the color scheme though. As a Blackhawks fan, I’m contractually obligated to like red and black color schemes. Overall, I’ll give it a 7/10.
Colorado Avalanche (by Andy)
Andy’s Avalanche concept does two things that would be very good for the Avalanche: simplifying the color scheme and removing the horrible Edge template. This is so much better than what they currently wear. Burgundy and blue does not need any extra colors, and the vertical stripes template is one of the worst in the league – second only to Buffalo’s initial Edge template. At the same time, I don’t know about this redesign. The potential to restore the mountain design is there but it’s not realized. A few minor final critiques: I’d remove the outline on the name on the white jersey and the NHL logo on that jersey is also mis-colored. Overall, I’ll give it an 8/10.
Boston Bruins (by Bobby)
Here we have a Bruins concept by Bobby showing a color jersey fauxback to the white jerseys worn by the Bruins from 1926 to 1932. It’s an interesting update since back then, the Bruins wore proper white, not “vintage” white and they hadn’t moved from brown to black yet. Also, he’s chosen to use the modern Boston logo instead of the version they used back then. I do like it, though, because it’s not over-the-top and certainly looks like it would work as a fauxback. My few critiques are in the execution: the name on the back and the logo are pixelated a bit and there is some mis-coloration around the NHL logo. Overall, I’ll give it an 8.5/10.
Boston Bruins (by Dylan)
Our second Bruins concept of the day comes from Dylan, who gives them their first gold jersey since 2006. The first thing that I notice is the logo. Honestly, I never understood why Boston wore that curved B logo in the first place because it has almost no history with the team. Boston’s B logo has - with the sole exception of the 1948-49 season - always been some variation of a straight block B. That being said, since the logo isn’t made up out of thin air, it could be much worse. I like the jersey because it’s a good update of their Winter Classic sweater with some key modifications, of course. It certainly would be interesting to see this one on the ice. I’d change the sleeve striping to make them straight, though. The rough V-shape seems unnecessary. Finally, someone can correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think the jerseys have the Reebok vector on the sleeve anymore. Overall, I’ll give it an 8.5/10.
HC Slovan Bratislava (by Stephen)
Revenge of the Robopen! Oh wait, that’s not the Robopen at all. HC Slovan Bratislava is one of the few non-Russian teams in the KHL and has been in the league for one season so far. Believe it or not, I don’t actually dislike the logo despite it being a clear Robopen ripoff. The color scheme is solid and the design is very straight up. I like it. I’d definitely make the logo larger, however, and the phantom yoke needs to go. Either change the color of the yoke or get rid of the outline, because there are very few instances in which the phantom yoke looks good and this is not one of them. Overall, I’ll give it a 7.5/10.
Vancouver Canucks (by Ted)
Now this is an interesting one. Ted has taken a lot of different Vancouver elements and crams them together in a three-jersey set. Unfortunately, this one suffers from a lot of problems. Starting from the top: the wordmark has some random colors around it and the stripes on the sock are way too big. I also don’t care for the wordmark-over-number combination. The wordmark-over-anything look just isn’t good for pro hockey. Regardless of whether you’re Vancouver or Dallas, don’t do it. Leave it to college. Either pick a wordmark or a logo. No front numbers. Period. Moving on – on the colored jerseys, the sleeve numbers are too pixelated and there are some uncolored pixels on the underarms. Finally, if you’re going to include black on the white jersey, then don’t leave it out of the colored jerseys entirely. These jerseys could be good but there is a lot that needs to be fixed. Please also remember that images should be no larger than 1,200 pixels on any side. Overall, I’ll give it a 6/10.
Abbotsford Heat (by Jets96)
Jets’ first of three concepts is of an AHL team that may not exist for much longer, as some reports indicate that the Heat, who are the Flames’ AHL affiliate, may be moving to Utica, New York soon. Such a move would actually make sense for the Heat because they are currently the sole western team in the AHL. They are the only team in the Pacific time zone and play two time zones away from the next-closest team. Moving to the East Coast would make things a lot easier for everyone. As for the design itself, this one is an interesting case. I’m not sure about the vertical stripes on the hem and the sleeves are definitely a modern design that wouldn’t be out of place for an AHL team. As a whole, it’s not a bad design. I’d just fix the pixelation of the logo on the red jersey. Overall, I’ll give it a 7.5/10.
Albany Devils (by Jets96)
The next one is for the Albany Devils, who are, as the name indicates, the New Jersey Devils’ AHL affiliate. This one I’m not sold on. While I realize that not every AHL team can be like the IceHogs and emulate their parent team’s uniforms, since the Devils have such a classic design I think their farm team should take some cues from that. I’d have gone with a more traditional template instead of the weird Blues/Predators “horned” template. I don’t care much for the incomplete hem stripes, though. That being said, however, the design is not bad overall. With those few minor fixes, it would be a good design. Also, as previously mentioned, the pixelation of the colored jersey logo needs to be fixed. Overall, I’ll give it an 8/10.
Binghamton Senators (by Jets96)
And so we close today with my favorite concept of the day, the Binghamton Senators. This one is just fantastic because apart from the Blackhawks, Ottawa (and by extension Binghamton) has one of my favorite color schemes. That aside, I like the use of the alternate logo as the primary on these jerseys because the Senators’ RL primary logo is far too crowded. Also, the sublimated striping in the red is absolutely killer. More jerseys could use sublimated striping. It’s a subtle design effect that goes a long way towards improving the design. Finally, good job bringing back the laurel design from the O-Sens’ 2000-07 alternate. I wish that was something they had kept when they switched to the Edge jerseys. My only critiques are minor: the pixelation of the numbers and the logo on the black jersey. Overall, I’ll give it an 8.5/10.
Saturday: National, Kontinental, Ontario and American!
Reviewed by Kevin W.
on
May 25, 2013
Rating:
2 comments:
As for the Reebok logo on the bottom of jersey sleeves; it's only ever been on the replica jerseys. Damn you Reebok goons!
Kevin, according to NHLuniforms.com, the Bruins' spoked "B" was curved when it first introduced. It only stayed that way for one season, though, in 1948. http://www.nhluniforms.com/Bruins/Bruins11.html
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