Monday: From 昆仑山 to Dallas

Welcome to another Monday post here on HJC!

Jersey News:

Incase you missed it, the KHL's newest team in the growing hockey market of China; the Kunlun Redstar (or Red Star Dragons as their logo would lead you to think) have unveiled their jerseys for the upcoming season.

Photos from Михаил Антипина on twitter

The jerseys, aside from the beautiful sublimation of the Great Wall are very basic and the white jersey reminds me of the Atlanta Flames, while the red jersey reminds me of the Quad City Flames (remember them?). The white one is one of the best KHL jerseys I've seen recently, while the red jersey is very mediocre. It would have benefitted from some white on the yoke outline and striping. There's also enough room on the jersey for ads without overcrowding the jersey on the arms and chest. I hope the wall extends to the back while continuing the design to resemble the actual wall instead of just repeating the design.

Ratings: Red: 6.5/10 White: 8/10

I'm calling this week Challenge week as Ryan mentioned on Saturday, some of the writers will be offering their challenges, I will be one of them. 

My Challenge: Design the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights or Iowa Chops a new set

Photo from mjphoto.blogspot.com

Photo by Judd Furlong posted to wikipedia 

I am a HUGE fan of these teams' logos, they was ahead of its time and the Knights were one of the few AHL teams to copy their NHL affiliate and still look decently original. However, if said Midwestern team were to come back (which when Las Vegas gets their farm teams it's possible) what would they look like? Redesign the colour scheme, the jerseys, a new shoulder patch, an updated logo. You tell me! Same thing for the Chops! Imagine the Wild took the name Chops for their farm team instead of repeating Wild? How would they look in the Wild's colours or adding yellow like they did for their LiveStrong jerseys? The choices are yours. I wanna see what you come up with for two underrated looks.

HJC OPEN ELITE 8 ENTRIES ARE DUE TOMORROW! MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THEM DONE, YOU'VE COME THIS FAR!

Also don't forget to vote for this week's COTW vote. On top of that there is also COTW June!

HJC Open Quarter Final entries (due Tuesday @ noon Eastern)

COTW June vote (ends Friday @ noon Eastern)

COTW July 1-7 vote (ends Friday @ noon Eastern)

On with today's 7 concepts!

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Dallas Stars Texans Throwback Concepts (By: Lucas D.)

The Dallas Stars recently patented the former USHL Dallas Texans logo used form 1945-49 as a throwback logo. Whether it will be used on a jersey is yet to be seen but judging these, I think it'll work. My favourite of the 3 is the black jersey and the big white D with the green stands out plenty, though I am also a fan of white alternates. The other ones would work if need be but if I had to order them I'd chose white, then black and then green. The striping is a good pattern on all 3, the black has the benefit of looking like the original Stars jerseys, and is a good update over the Texans bland single stripe. The crossstiched numbers are a nice touch, as is the vintage collar, you get a mix of 2016 and 1946 together with this concept. I would have added a white outline around the Stars script on the green jerseys for sure and maybe the black jersey too

Rating: B 9/10 COTW nom from me W 8.75/10 G 8.5/10

Brooklyn Americans Concepts (By: Phil B.)

+ Waving flag striping is a really cool idea and it works as a design throughout the jersey 

+ Colours have an obvious patriotic feel to them, but are well laid out and well balanced 

+ The custom logo, while plain, matches the idea of a modernized team form the pre-Original 6 era, and is an improvement of the A the actual Brooklyn team wore

+ Good execution

- Red stars on the white jersey would look better and add more red to the upper arm

- For such a unique jersey the numbers don't really help that uniqueness 

Rating: 8.5/10

Straubing Tigers DEL Concepts (By: Jay S.)

+ Jay's attention to local city crests in his European league concepts are always nice to see, and the checkerboard striping on the black alternate is no exception to that along with the city crest in the collar inserts, a fantastic idea!

+ Striping is simple but shows off each colour well

+ Good font choice

- Most teams either opt for hem piping or hem striping, rarely both. It looks meh on the home and road, but they'd look better with cuffs and getting rid of the yoke than just having the piping

- TV numbers are too big and numbers are too small on the back slightly

- Primary logo is too small for the template

Rating: 7.75/10

Chatham Maroons IHL Concepts (By: Jordan R.)

+ while the actual colour scheme doesn't feature any maroon (or at least a very dark shade of it). I do like the 40s look to the entire theme, not just the throwback
+ Home and road are a good pair, and the yoke stripes are a nice touch to replace arm striping
+ Both alternates do a good job of  showing off the team's two histories
+ Great execution

- Logo on the throwback doesn't need a rounded logo, but I get you wanted to differentiate from the other 3
- Yellow pants would look good on both the alternates, not just the throwback

Rating: 9/10

Wolfsburg Grizzlies DEL Concepts (By: Jay S.)

+ A nice clean striping pattern across the board. All 3 jerseys look great and while some may compare the 3rd to Anaheim's 3rd, I think it's different enough without the webbed font or the goldish brown
+ Colours are very well balanced on both jerseys even with the orange yoke on the white jersey
+ Same plus with the previous concept regarding the logo tie in on the collar inset
+ Good execution

- DEL logo on the upper chest is too close to the collar
- White NOB would be easier to read on the orange jersey
- The orange jersey needs a shoulder patch to fill out the blank collar

Rating: 8.25/10

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That's the post
Don't forget to vote for COTW and get those HJC Open entries in
Have a great week
Go Jets, Mooseheads & Moose!