Thursday: Unpopular Opinions

HJC is a blog based almost entirely on personal opinion. All of our posts, all of our reviews, that's all our opinion. I actually made a post about this topic before, here it is if you missed it, it's from March.

So, since we all have our own opinions, here are a few of mine that a lot of you may not agree with.

1) The Canadiens' road jersey looks great, and not too plain.

nationalpost.com

If there's any of these opinions that some of you guys may actually agree with, it's this one, because I feel like this one is a bit more of a "you like it or you don't" scenario, rather than the majority disliking it.
I personally love how clean this jersey looks because the minimal amount of striping on it. The red yoke balances out the colors perfectly, and the name and numbers take up enough space for the jersey to not be too plain. Maybe it wouldn't be a great design to be unveiled in the modern day and it only gets a pass because of its history, but I still like it a lot, in fact enough to own one myself.


2) The mooterus wasn't all that bad.

Sports Illustrated

Now, when I say this, I'm mainly referring to the jersey. But honestly, I still think the logo is pretty good, aside from the uterus resemblance. I definitely like the direction they were going here, taking their name "Stars" and expanding their logo/branding from just a literal star, to applying it to constellations. Good constellation choice (again, aside from the uterus thing), because a Taurus would be a good mascot for a sports team. For the jersey, it's definitely a unique design. Modern with a touch of traditional. I've always like the curved striping at the bottom, and more recently have come to really like the stars on the arms in the striping. I actually like the addition to of red here too, as it not only gives them a unique color scheme, it also relates to the taurus (or bull), because, at least stereotypically, bulls hate the color red. Overall I think the only thing that ruins this jersey is the resemblance to a uterus, overlooking that it's pretty decent.

3) The Flying V wasn't that bad either.

playbuzz.com

Yes, maybe this jersey is really garish and out there, especially for the time period it was used in, but it is incredibly unique. Nobody else has done anything like this, and some of you may say that's for good reason, but I just think it makes them stand out. When you really think about it, the layout is quite similar to a chest stripe, just positioned differently. I think the logo would still look better on the front, though.

Now...it's also a different story when you put the whole uniform together...that's when it starts to get too busy.

I hope you guys enjoyed this little segment, and maybe I opened up your eyes to a few things. Maybe I'll do this again if I think of any more.

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Only two votes this week, and two small ones. The COTW and the unusually small competition entries. I personally really wanted to enter that and try my hand at some merchandise design, but I ended up having a much too busy week to end up creating anything. If you're a concept creator, we'd like to know why you didn't enter the competition in order to improve future competitions, so it would be appreciated if you went and filled out the survey.

COTW Voting September 9-15th ends Friday @ noon

WCH Championship Competition voting ends Friday @ noon

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Brooks F. - Las Vegas Knights

+Vegas as a primary is something new.

-The color looks a bit more like mustard here though.

+I like that font choice, something else unique yet fitting.

+I definitely have to commend you for creating your own logos, that's not an easy task.

-The primary could use a bit of refinement, it looks a bit awkward and like something for an AHL/ECHL team as it is.

+I'm a fan of all the other logos though, good job on those.

+Good color balance on the set.

Overall: 8/10

Lucas D. - New York Islanders

+Ah, the classic 4 stripes. Is it really an Islanders concept without referencing that?

+It is a nice striping pattern though.

+The blue cuffs on the road jersey look great.

-The design looks incredibly reminiscent of the Penguins' original set. For a concept it's not a bad thing since I see your actual intention, but if this were to actually be unveiled, they'd probably be labeled as copycats of the Pens.

-Seeing the rest of the equipment would be nice, because right now the color balance looks off, too much orange on the road jersey.

+But with blue pants, that problem is fixed.

-Seeing the lighthouse shoulder patch, or any shoulder patch, would be nice.

Overall: 8/10

Tyler M. - New York Islanders

+Oh look, 4 stripes. I again ask, is it really an Isles concept without referencing that?

-I understand the point of tilting the stripes, to match the logo you said the stripes are inspired by, but I think they'd look better if they were straight.

+This is also quite similar to an improvement of their new alternate jerseys, and it definitely is an improvement.

-The white uniform could use some more blue.

-I, again, understand why, but the stripes are very pixelated and rough looking. Usually that'd be fine, but when you have them slanted, it just looks too rough.

Overall: 7.5/10

+Now this one looks exactly like an improvement to their current alts.

+I almost always prefer a team to make their alternate's main color different than their home/road jerseys, and this one does so.

+Good color balance.

+The typeface really fits here.

-White name/numbers on an orange jersey may not stand out much from a distance, I'd thicken the blue outline.

Overall: 8.5/10

Steven G. - Philadelphia Flyers

New Look:

+Love the inspiration taken from the anniversary jersey. It's a good, simple look.

+The yoke pattern is just genius with incorporating Philly's namebar naturally into the jersey design.

+The typeface is a great fit here. I like how the 4's "tail" takes the shape of the end of the Flyers' logo, whether that's intentional or not.

-I think the stripes on the orange jersey look a bit odd. I'd make the yoke and cuffs black, and change the stripes that are currently black into white.

Overall: 9/10

Ideal look:

+Keeping true to their current set is a good move, because as much as I hate the team, they have some great jerseys.

+I can agree on removing the contrasting namebar on the road jersey.

-I'd slide the TV numbers down to the thicker part of that yoke, so that way they're all the way inside one color.

Overall: 9.5/10

This whole concept gets my COTW nomination, as much as I hate to give it to this team.

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That's all for today. I hope you enjoyed the post, thanks for reading, and I'll see you all again next week!