Wednesday: Montreal Madness

Howdy Howdy HJC! Sorry for being tardy to the party with today's post, I'll try not to waste too much time in the intro...

It's nice to see the concept numbers getting back up to where they should be. Some of these writer challenges I've been seeing have been turning out pretty nice. I've seen the concepts that have been sent in for this week, and I've seen some of the best hand drawn concepts I've ever seen.

It's also nice to see higher concept numbers since this is considered a slow week around these parts now, at least when it comes to voting or competitions.

You've only got one vote this week and that's for the normal COTW, and you've also got another 5 days or so to get your Griffins entries in. So plenty of time to do both of those things, no excuses!

COTW Nov 8-14 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

GR Griffins Comp (Nov. 23rd @ 11:59 pm Eastern)

Now how about we get to the concepts... I wonder if you guys will notice a theme with today's concepts....

St. Johns IceCaps Concept - Ryan C.

Very basic look for the IceCaps here. I feel that if they hadn't gone with the Canadiens' jersey design they would have done something like this. Nothing fancy, but it's serviceable. It kind of fits within the Canadiens brand too, it would make sense for their farm team to have classic looking jerseys.

Rating: 7/10


Montreal Canadiens Alternate Jersey Concept - Lucas D.

Lucas drew some inspiration from these old beauties the Habs brought back a few seasons ago. I personally love those jerseys and they're pretty high on my wishlist, so it's nice to see someone attempt to modernize them.

I like the solid red Habs logo, probably the best look to go with this jersey, especially since it matches the striping, but perhaps you could make it white with a red outline, like the numbers. My only real gripe with the design is that the striping is very angular, while the striping from the original followed along the cut of the jersey.

I like where this is headed, it's just not there yet. Make the striping a little less blocky and you're golden.

Rating: 7.75/10


Montreal Canadiens Concept - Ryan C.

Ryan redesigns the Habs. Something some people see as a sin. He keeps the chest stripe on the red jersey and applies it to the white jersey to keep a tie to their current branding, but adds some sleeve length yokes. I've never had an issue with the arm yokes, but I know some people don't care for them, and they definitely look better on some teams than they do on others. These jerseys look like a mix between the Canadiens and the Panthers. I think this look would be better suited on Montreal's AHL team honestly, no need to touch the Habs.

Rating: 8/10


2016 Winter Classic Concept - Montreal Canadiens VS. Boston Bruins - Jay S.

Now we know what both Winter Classic teams will be wearing and it won't be these. Which is a bit of a shame. I really dig this color vs color matchup.

Montreal looks good in blue, and the vintage white swapping out the regular white in this blue version of their away jersey is pretty nifty. The shoulder patches are a very nice touch as well. Only thing that makes it better is a tie up collar, or even the crew neck sweater both teams will actually be wearing.

Boston's already worn a yellow jersey in an outdoor game so it was unlikely we'd see it again, which sucks because this is the direction I was hoping they'd go. Look at that brown babyyyyy. The double outline on the numbers is unnecessary, the numbers would look better just flat brown, no outlines. Again... tie up collar or crew neck would look great.

Rating: 9/10


Montreal Canadiens Alternate Jersey Concept - Dylan N.

Good ol' other Dylan... Been awhile since I've seen a concept from him. Dylan's ideas are sometimes a little out there, but the execution and presentation of his concepts is always so good I think he could take a terrible looking jersey and make it look good. Dylan's idea here was to give the Habs a jersey design that's borrowed from their CFL counterpart, the Montreal Alouettes. I think the jersey design works really well on a hockey jersey, obviously we wouldn't want to see this being worn by the Canadiens though....Although.... say the Canadiens got to host a Stadium Series game... this would be a pretty nifty nod to the Alouettes... Or maybe give the design to the St. Johns IceCaps.

It's a weird Habs jersey, but I can't stop looking at it and I dig it... so COTW Nom....
Damn, it's been so long since I gave out a nomination... feels good, maybe I should do it more.

Rating: 9/10


There it is... did you catch onto the theme? You got it!!! All hockey teams! Enjoy your week everyone!