Friday: Back in Black With Coloured Namebars

Welcome to the Friday post!

Seeing as no one's talked about it yet, let's talk about the new Griffins jerseys!

Photo from: griffinshockey.com

This is one of the two logos unveiled through the NHL 16 Beta, funny enough the jerseys were not. What we have here is a much less Painbucket splotchy mess and more an actual jersey. The colour scheme has been simplified to three colours plus white and a striping pattern that resembles the Red Wings and Rangers Winter Classic jerseys (Thanks Jake88 for pointing that out on twitter). 

+ Again, it's an actual hockey jersey, and a pretty nice one at that. The black and grey with the hint of red has a very threatening look to them, but nothing is too dark and nothing bleeds into anything. This may be the best jersey unveiled so far out of all the new AHL jerseys 

+ With Detroit being an original 6 team, it's good that the team is now going for a more original 6 jersey, while still doing their own thing

+ Yoke understripes, those are a nice touch and the jerseys would not look as good without it 

- The logo is not very good. I looked at it for a good long time, and I couldn't find much to like about it, aside form maybe the script underneath matches the striping, but what was wrong with the Griffins logo before it? It's one of the great minor league logos. I get the team wanted an update, but they went the route of over detailed instead of subtle threatening

- The white jersey has Philly style reverse namebars, which look tacky on most teams, and while this isn't the worse, it seems like a pointless addition 

- The red pants I can live with, but the red helmet makes the team look like the Kitchener Rangers

Rating: 7.25/10

The Colorado Avalanche 20th anniversary contest is in full swing. Remember to take a look at HJC's updated logo policy and read all contest rules before you send your entry in. The contest ends on TUESDAY, not tonight!

Let's look at some entries that have come in since last post! 

RJ

Scott M.

Mike S.

Don't forget to get your COTW vote in, that still ends tonight!

COTW Aug 9-15 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Avalanche ReDesign entries (due Tue, Aug 25 @ 10pm Eastern)

On to the Concepts! 

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Winnipeg Jets Concepts (By: Mike S.)

+ As with this set, Mike doesn't change a good thing, and keeping the Jets in their current striping pattern and colour layout was a great choices

+ The red collar inlays are a nice touch

+ While I like the Jets current away jersey, I like how the striping on the arms look without the arm band cutting it off at the top 

+ The new numbers feel less "NASCAR" more Top Gun, I like them

- Without the shoulder patch, the jerseys lack gray and red outside the primary logo

- Don't forget helmet logos, every team wears them 

- The hem stripe would look better if it were larger and it would fill the bottom of the jersey nicely, along with adding more colour 

Rating- 7.75/10- Congrats on finishing this series, Mike! When an artist completes a series it's always great as it shows the artist's determination and offers a look into their designs on many teams! Good job, and looking forward to more, Mike! 

Saskatchewan Whitetails Concepts (By: Christian L.)

+ Always great when artists design their own logos, and this one is something special

+ It's a two for one deal with this logo, as it's both 2 stalks of wheat and a whitetail rolled into one

+ The details of both parts of the logo show through nicely, the antlers have the wheat detail in there, but they don't look too crowded, some with the face, no detail has to be forced 

+ Colour choices are perfect for a Saskatchewan team, taking inspiration from the RR, but not using their colours exactly

+ Christian's execution is as usual, excellent 

- One minor problem, I don't like how the ears, antlers and snout outlines all blend into the sheild shape, some separation would make the deer stand out more

Rating: 9.5/10

+ The Wheat pattern in the striping is like Ottawa's laurel pattern, it looks excellent running across the hem and arms, but doesn't take away form the actual jersey

+ I love the double green on both jerseys, but the green jersey does it perfectly

+ Shoulder patch as an old school AHL vibe to it that looks great and would almost look like it was arching over the tv numbers

+ The font choice matches the modern logo nicely 

+ Great execution 

- The white jersey needs more dark green on the logo, inverting the two green on the logowould fix that 

Rating: 9.5/10- COTW Nom from me on the whole package 

Carolina Hurricanes Concepts (By: Jack H.)

+ Chalk this up the list of what Carolina should have done when they simplified, remove the metallic silver, makes the arms and hem matching, and make the red, white and black pop, Jack has done all that

+ It's minor, but the black outline on the white jersey's primary logo looks awesome

+ The Hurricane flag striping really stands out and isn't swallowed by the striping around it

+ Good execution 

- The white jersey would look better with red cuffs instead of a yoke

- The Flag patch would look better on the shoulders and put striping on the pants 

- I may be in the minority, but I like the Canes new rounded numbers, it'd be nice to see them for comparison 

Rating: 8.25/10

Los Angeles Kings Concept (By: Daniel L.)

+ The current Kings logo is one of the few logos I can say looks good in a colour swap, and the double purple helps it stand out

+ How long before the Kings actually use that LA patch? It looks great 

+ The striping pattern is simple, but it lets the logo detail and colours pop 

+ Good execution, Daniel has improved a lot over his past few concepts, good work

- The key to shoulder patches is to either use two, or put it on both shoulders, it almost never works id you don't

- It'd be coo to see the double purple used in the striping and gear 

- The primary logo is a little too close to the collar 

Rating: 8.5/10

2016 NHL All Star Game Concept (By: Jarrett T.)

+ This would be a very interesting idea, using the popular 2012 template, with the team colours of the city the game is being played in, and Nashville would be the perfect city to test it in 

+ While the striping on the arms has a lot of details, the blue and yellow look great against each other 

+ I really like the blue jersey, the white cuffs stand out, as do the hem stars, the colour choices with the details are done well

+ Jarrett's execution is also improving a lot

- Shoulder patches are too close to the collar and too large

- How good would the white jersey look if it were yellow with blue cuffs, stars and arm stripes? Pretty solid

- The Jets numbers are okay, but why not use the Preds current numbers and play up the Music City theme? 

Rating: 7.25/10

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That's the post!

Don't forget to get your COTW votes in

Keep sending in those Avs entries, there's still plenty of time to get them in

Go Jets Go!

Have a great weekend!