Monday: Reading Week in Reading

I'm not really in Reading, it's quite a ways away from Pennsylvania, but it makes for a decent title. Welcome to the Monday post!

Happy Family Day/President's Day or whatever you call it in other parts of Canada (So either Nova Scotian Heritage Day, Islander Day or Louis Riel Day).

Keeping with the best/worst series, we'll do the Flyers, because.....just because

Best: 2012 Winter Classic/Current Alternate

Photo from nhl.flyers.com

Funny enough, a team that had never worn vintage white ever, added it and made their look better. Of course I like the Flyers classic jerseys (for the most part, not so much the black one) but this jersey proved the Flyers could make a good vintage jersey that didn't rely on them using anything Quakers. I love the Keystone patch on the chest and the black yoke The colours are balanced really well, and surprisingly the vintage white helps the orange.

Honourable Mentions: 2007-10 away, 1982-2007 any jersey, 2002-2007 alternate 

Worst: 2007-10 Home

Photo from broadstreethockey.com

I will defend the away jerseys to death, they were good looking and had they went with an orange home, you'd see both jerseys in the honourable mentions section...of course they didn't. While the first black Flyers jerseys are nostalgic to me a(s that's the jerseys they wore when I watched them beat the Leafs in the 2004 playoffs and crush my young hopes and you know the rest), these jerseys were a mess. The big white shoulders did NOT work and Reebok obviously didn't do their colour balancing work. If the teams weren't good, this jersey would be more disliked

Dishonourable Mentions: Cooperalls, 1997-2007 black, 1967-1970 jerseys with numbers without outlines 

Agree? Disagree? You tell me in the comments.

Also, I'm a huge fan of Caz's lists but, I have different tastes than Caz look at my top 5 (6 counting an honourable mention) white jerseys in the NHL.

Honourable Mention: Carolina Hurricanes

Photo from: Alongtheboards.com

While this redesigned worked way better for the Charlotte Checkers, most will agree that with their most recent redesign, the 'Canes did much better on this jersey. the yoke carrying done to the name plate was a really nice touch. The logo looks a little small on the jerseys to make it to top 5, and a shoulder patch certainly would help fix things, but the cleaner striping pattern keeps this just under the list, but above the other 23 white jerseys

5: Dallas Stars

Photo from nashurban.com

It may look similar to the Blackhawks and Rangers, but the hexagonal big bold green yoke adds to the jersey so much, along with the perfect colour balancing. Call it a little early to say, but this was one of the best new jerseys of the decade

4. Arizona Coyotes 

Photo from lakingsinsider.com

I think the 'Yotes new jerseys are a lot better than when they were originally unveiled. Sometimes, it takes seeing the jersey on the ice for 55 games like a jersey. The black and brick stand out nicely on the white, and keeping the sand on the logos is pretty sweet. Also, rounded numbers. I like this jersey more than the previous, and it matches the logo 10x more. 

3. Edmonton Oilers 

Photo from: edmontonjournal.com

Honestly, considering how bad the team has been since Roloson was their starter, they've looked good in losing. The striping is so iconic and stands out so nicely. Caz hit most of my points in his vote, but notice my theme of colourful white jerseys thus far, that's what to me makes a nice white jersey, colourful, bold and clean

2. Chicago Blackhawks

Photo from blackhawkup.com

It takes a lot for your team to wear the same jersey for 50+ years, but the Hawks have done it. So much has been said about this jersey that there's nothing I can add, it is one of THE hockey jerseys.

1. Minnesota Wild 

Photo from 1390thefan.com

This jersey came out of nowhere and from the moment I saw it I thought DAMN! It's funny, for years people tried to balance all the colours on a Wild jersey and alway struggled with away, but the solution was to actually use LESS colours. Sure the logo has 5 colours but the jersey itself has 3 counting white, and is mostly green and white. The big bold red numbers add the much needed colour, but it's so simple, so crisp, so visually appealing, the Wild look better out of the Xcel Centre than in it. 

Speaking of these wonderful white jerseys, don't forget to vote in the white jersey completion, details in the banner above!

Don't forget to fulfill your duty to vote for COTW, it's in your contract....

COTW Feb 7-13 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

White Jersey Comp Top 5 vote (ends Friday @ 10:59pm Eastern)

On to the concepts!!

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Flint Firebirds Concepts (By: Tyler K.)

+ Anything to keep a team out of the turdburger template is a plus, but the addition of orange on the home is pretty nice
+ The striping on the home and road is unique, as are the numbers. This would be a completely new identity for the Firebirds
+Good execution
+ The throwback is good too, based on this jersey 

- The NOB is way too small on the alternate to fill in the massive numbers, that's an easy fix
- The colour balancing isn't completely off on the white jersey, but it'd be interesting to see the jersey with orange as the secondary colour instead of blue

Rating: 8.5/10 COTW Nom from me!

Gävle GIK Concepts (By: Jesper W.)

+ Really well laid out jersey, the colours are very well balanced and the striping is very clean
+ The ads and complex logo don't over complicate of clutter the jersey, and add to the look rather than make it worse
+ Great execution (other than one thing that may or may not be an error
+ The player numbers in the logo is something I can really get behind, like when the LV Wranglers did it a few seasons ago

- I don't hate the alternate, but it isn't really doing anything for me, it's very plain and bare with that empty red hem, and on the from there's very little blue in between the yoke and jersey
- Speaking of that yoke, it doesn't continue around onto the back, was that intentional? If not that's a pretty simple error that should have been fixed before sending it in

Rating: 8.5/10

Carolina Hurricanes Concept (By: Jack S.)

+ I can get behind a black alternate for the 'Canes that matches their most recent redesign

- Most of this jersey doesn't work, the arm stripes are set way too low and are way too thing to add much needed colour to the jersey
- The red yoke would work better if it did what the yoke on the white jersey does and becomes a part of the name bar too
- Having non matching colour numbers without reason doesn't look good at all
- You've left the copyright tag on the logo, with is never on a jersey
- This concept really feels rushed without any shoulder patches and the errors, which I get that this might be a new template to work with, but Jack, you can make better than this

Rating: 4.5/10

Charlotte Checkers AHL Concepts (By: Jay S.)

+The home and road look really unique, they may not be perfect, but I appreciate that these jersey should be unique to the Checkers
+ The alternate is perfect, don't change a thing on it
+ Good execution, Jay is constantly getting better and he's doing quite well
+ I like the old hurricanes font on this jersey, while I like their current rounded font this matches the home and road better

- Minor thing, but using the current rounded font on the alternate would put it in my collection asap
- Not really digging the creme on the home and road
- NOB is too small and is hard to read on the red jersey
- Shoulder patches are too small

Rating: 8.25/10

Florida Panthers Concepts (By: BRX)

 + I like how the Panther head looks on its own with the chest stripe
+ Call me crazy, I like how the navy jersey looks and how dark it is, it's out there, but I like it
+ Decent execution, but there are some flaws that keep me from liking this concept


- The socks on the white jersey were not changed to match the white jersey, but rather are copies of the red jersey's socks with white around them
- The colour balancing on the white jersey is way off, the middle stripe should be red and the second stripe blue
- Leaving the N/A white alternate is pointless, It makes me want more
- Shoulder patches?

Rating: 6.5/10

Toronto St. Pats 100th Anniversary Concept (By: David K.)

+ This is my favourite St. Pats logo, and it'd be great to see it back
+ I really like how there's a decent amount of both white & green and the brown isn't too dark like the 2002 throwback
+ This is how to do a fauxback properly, original, but clearly based on a real tangible jersey
+ Good execution

- How's about a shamrock shoulder patch?
- I'd actually prefer a name on the back, but it's a choice thing
- The stripe on the sock is a little too large

Rating: 8.5/10

2017 All Star Game Concepts (By: Lucas D.)

+ Well this would be a much more exciting and colourful ASG compared to the last one
+ The chest stripe doesn't quite work, but I can appreciate it, the jersey that uses it the best is the white jersey
+ With it being LA's 50th anniversary, it's fitting you have 2 modern colours and 2 classic colours
+ Pretty good execution

- There's a lot of colour choices I would have changed, particularly the white numbers on the yellow and purple jerseys
- The chest stripe would look a lot better with an outline around it
- the hem stripe on the very jersey would look better purple

Rating: 8/10

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Well that's the end of the post!

Don't forget to vote in your assigned votes if you haven't already

Have a great week!

Go Jets, Moose & Mooseheads!