Monday: Sin City Up to Steel City CDN

Welcome to another Monday post-

Happy Chanukah
Christmas Countdown- 18 days
Festivus Countdown- 16 days
Kwanza Countdown-19 days
I like these countdowns because there's so many different holidays this time of year and it's fun to

Continuing with our series, our next stop on the best/worst in team history series (which is completely random), will be.....Nashville!

Best: Current Home (2011-Pres.)

Photo from: foxnews.com

Funny enough, if you had said a decade ago Nashville was going to update to a yellow look, my guess would be most people would be against it! The logo update itself was a 10/10 but the jerseys were one of the few good template jerseys. The numbers and logos really play on the Music City theme that most people were hoping for. The yellow used is the perfect shade, not to light but not too dark. The blue was also dark enough to contrast but not too dark you can't see anything against it (black-like). This is a good solid modern design!

Honourable Mentions- 2009-11 Checkered Flag Alternate, 1998-2004 Navy home 

Worst: Jersey formerly known as Away (2007-11) 

Photo from: toledoblade.com

Oh boy....You can argue whether the Preds original jerseys/pre-edge jerseys were good or bad...I'm in the middle on them, but I appreciate they were unique to the Preds. I don't think most people expected them to keep the template....but what Preds fans got were awful. Goodness these are awful. The home jersey is barely passable at best but the away had such poorly balanced colours and made the team look like a washed out yellow & silver team with a splash of navy. The logo looked out of date and the arms looked like trash bags. If you can get one cheap buy one and send it to your favourite team in NOT how to design an away jersey 

Dishonourable Mentions- 2007-11 Home, 2001-2007 Mustard Alternate 

Hey! Have you voted yet? NO, better do that! 

COTY-November vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

COTW Nov 29-Dec 5 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Barrie Colts Comp vote (ends Friday @ 10:59pm Eastern)

On to today's concepts!

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Hamilton Steelhawks Concept (By Ross T.)

+ Ross is one of the best logo designers the blog has seen, and this logo is no exception

+ The logo is based on...two former Hamilton teams, the AHL Hamilton Canucks, the OHL original Hamilton Steelhawks. Combining them and adding some original ideas, it all comes together nicely 

+ The wings are really nicely done, keeping the angles of the original logo but adding the bird wing outline makes the logo even better

+ The script is gorgeous

- While you might disagree, the head looks out of place, I would have gone for a more stylized head rather than the realistic one used here

Rating: 9.75/10- Minus one thing, this is a fantastic logo, and especially considering this is a Allen Cup team wearing a professional grade logo, that's awesome

Wanna see the logo in action: look here

The team wears semi-Bruins looking jerseys, but again, considering the level these jerseys are at, this would work in the AHL easily. The jerseys are simple and match the logo. I think the ultimate goal of any concept artist is to see their work in reality, but seeing your logo in the centre of a rink, that's something

Excellent work, Ross! I won't nominate it for COTW though since I feel it's more a display of Ross's work than a concept, however if you want to you're more than welcome and I would recommend it. That does not take away how awesome this is! Honestly, when you have as many high quality concepts as we have today, it's hard to pick just one. Frankly, any concept today would be COTW worthy!

Los Angeles Kings Concept (By: Lucas D.)

+ Despite at this point the crown logo looking slightly out of date, the silver & purple save the logo from looking so...Ziggy Palffy/Adam Deadmarsh/Jason Allison/Roman Cechmanek/2004

+ It's a colour rush jersey, there's lots of colours, but nothing extreme

+ A good chest stripe jersey

+ Good execution

- Numbers are hard to read on the back

- A Shoulder patch would thrust this jersey into my collection 

Rating: 8.75/10 

Buffalo Sabres Concepts (By: Ryan C.)

+ Remember Dylan N.'s awesomely odd Habs alternate? Well Ryan does something similar but with a team that could certainly pull it off without riots- Les Sabres

+ I love the look of the old school bison and the script above. Reminds me of the Buffalo Bison of the AHL but also original

+ Solid simple striping
+ Great Execution

- The numbers on the blue jersey are hard to read with the yellow and white right next to each other. Putting a space in-between the numbers and the outline would make it more legible

Rating: 9.5/10 COTW nom from me

Buffalo Sabres Concept (By: Ryan C.)

+ A yellow jersey that isn't the turdburger is a winner in my books
+ Again, the freed Bison looks solid
+ Nice addition of the current logo on the shoulders
+ Striping pattern is excellent
+ Again good execution

- Not sure if the Buff-a-slug numbers really work, they aren't awful but not amazing
- A tie down would not look out of place

Rating: 9.5/10 (If I can, I'd like to nominate the whole set here for COTW)

Las Vegas Black Knights logo Concepts (By: Daniel L.)

+ I like Army's new logos, though they work WAY better here, it would be the best way to do a Black Knight logo imo
+ The ace logos match the knights very well
+ Colours are solid choices, they are a little too close to Pittsburgh right now, but since Pittsburgh is most likely going back to athletic gold, Vegas gold should go back to....Vegas
+ Great execution

- Small thing, the star on the shield is a part of the Army logo and I wouldn't use it on the logo as it is. A solid Vegas gold star would do fine. Stylizing it to look like what you'd see on the Vegas/Paradise sign would be even better.

Rating: 9/10

Las Vegas Black Knights Hat Concepts (By: Daniel L.)

I'm not going to rate this concept like a regular concept because there isn't much to talk about, but it'd be a welcome turn from the less than fantastic Draft Hats we've seen lately. Also solid execution! I'm positive Dylan A. will have an in-depth analysis since he's the resident hat guru on HJC but I'd get one if I were a fan of the hypothetical BKs

Las Vegas Black Knights Jersey Concepts (By: Daniel L.)

+ As I mentioned when discussing Nashville, I like it when expansion teams wear new, progressive designs that push the envelope. this does that

+ I love the chest striping on the front

+ Solid side design, not something that works ofter

+ Great execution, minus one of two areas

- The stitching should match the angle on the arm

- The yokes, to me at least are unnecessary  and the jerseys would look better without them

- TV numbers are a wee too small and the shoulder patches are just a little to big

Rating: 9/10

Overall rating: 9/10- Excellent series, Daniel! You should do more of these!

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That's the post! Again, this is one of the best posts-worth of concepts  I've seen in a while, expect a lot of COTW nominations to all the concepts seen today! 

Don't forget to vote in all 3 votes!

Have an awesome week!

Go Jets, Mooseheads & Moose(s)!