Monday: Two From the QC, Two From the OT

Welcome to another Monday post on HJC!

Jersey News:

In Springfield, the Thunderbirds played one of their first games as the T-birds, however we got different jersey from what we've seen, substituting the primary logo for a yellow script. These are what the team calls "pre-season jerseys" but I'd think these will become alternates.

Photo from Springfield Thunderbirds Official Facebook page 

Call me crazy, but it isn't that bad. Primary logos are always preferred imho to scripts, but if this turns out to be an alternate, I'm fine with it. The choice of yellow for the script I think saves it, and helps it at least partially stand out and hold up better than say the Charlottetown Islanders script did. Seeing as Springfield has had scripts on their primary logos as the Indians and Falcons (not the Kings though), this isn't too much of a stretch.

Rating: 6.5/10

The Leigh Valley Phantoms (whom I accidentally called the Adirondack Phantoms before remembering they moved) are wearing peculiar jerseys in the pre-season too. I will say I like them again as a pre-season jersey, but they do resemble a glorified practice jersey

Photo from Leigh Valley Phantoms Official Facebook Page

Again I have no idea where this jersey fits into their rotation, maybe an alternate but the black shoulders and upper jersey make me think otherwise. They are different from their current dark jerseys. What do you guys think?

Rating: 6.75/10

Photo from tucsonroadrunners official Facebook page

Today, at 6pm EST, the Tucson Roadrunners unveiled their new jerseys (finally) for their first season, and lemme tell you, I love these. They are simple jerseys, however the vibrant striping on both jerseys take a slightly drab colour scheme and helps these colours pop. The white jersey looks slightly better, but that's because copper & brick look good against each other compared to the white, but again they look good. The primary logo doesn't look all that bad, but the head alternate logo would look better. The one issue I have with these jerseys is the lack of outline on the yokes, which would help the colour balancing on the upper jersey. Some may not mind this but a white collar on the brick jersey would look good as well.

Rating: 8/10

Photo from stjohnsicecaps.com

In their final season in the AHL (could very well move to the LMJHQ), the St. John's Ice Caps will be unveiling a new jersey tomorrow morning (2pm NST, 12:30pm EST). The monochrome logo has me intrigued, perhaps the colours of an average Newfoundland iceberg will give us something unique...or drab...we'll see.

Alright, here goes my Western Conference predictions

Central Division

1. Nashville
2. Chicago
3. Dallas
4. WinnipegX
5. St. Louis
6. Colorado
7. Minnesota

This is still by far the best division in hockey, and ranking it would be nearly impossible, but one team has a young, experienced roster. Nashville very well could win the Presidents trophy this year. Rinne is still one of the best goalies in the NHL, but that defence only got better with the addition of Subban. Johansen remains to be an amazing pick up, and if it's one thing I've learned in my 4 years and a big on HJC, it's that Nashville doesn't make bad trades...and their last two, while fair...benefit Nashville more. Chicago & Dallas could flip flop, depending on how Dallas's goaltending and Chicago's young players do. I'd look for Dallas to make a trade for one of Winnipeg's goalies or Neuvirth. St. Louis is a fantastic team, but losing Brian Elliot means Jake Allen has to become an regular  starter, which he will, but there will be growing pains. Colorado & Minnesota could both be playoff teams, however Minnesota did not make the signings they should have, and Colorado has battled injuries the past two seasons. Devan Dubnyk & Semyon Varlamov are both great starters and Vezina candidates when they are hot, but they cannot carry a team like Price (no pun intended). Winnipeg has a ton of potential, but they still have to play in the Central division. If their young prospects play to their potential, hey a playoff run isn't out of the picture. That and if Pavelec has another 2014 then they're on their way to a wild card spot.

Pacific Division

1. Anaheim
2. San Jose
3. Calgary
4. Los AngelesX
5. Arizona
6. Edmonton
7. Vancouver

Once again I'm investing in Calgary being good, thought this year they have Brian Elliott and some of the best young players in the NHL. Anaheim & San Jose will be great this year, Martin Jones has proven himself to be a dependable starter. Anaheim has a future Vezina winner and still some of the most dominant players, though they won't quite be as dominant as the past couple season. Los Angeles has locker room drama, and an aging Jonathan Quick, though we could see Jeff Zaktoff emerge if he goes down. Quick is still amazing, and Carter/Doughty/Muzzin remain the NHL's best. Edmonton, in trading Hall, have turned over a new leaf, and invested their future in McDavid, Draisaitl and Lucic. They were finally able to unload Yakopov, upgraded to Russell (yes that is an upgrade) but they need to get some defence and experience if they wanted to finally break through...but not this year. Arizona is in the same boat but still have the fact that they still are a salary dumping ground. That being said the youth on the team, particularly in net will need to show up this year to be competitive. Vancouver will have another rough season, possibly worst in the NHL. The Canucks need to move Miller wherever they can if he cannot keep up, and focus on Markstrom or another starter develop your prospects and get a high pick. I'm not saying Vancouver can't win...but they have yet to start really rebuilding since the Torts years.

Right now under my predictions-

3 playoff Canadian Teams (Triple last year but tripling 0 is still 0...so we'll ignore the maths part)
3 California teams make the playoffs again
West playoff aside from Minnesota being replaced by Calgary (despite ranking) remains the same
4 new playoff teams in the East, including the once lowly Sabres

Playoffs

Eastern Finals

Florida v. Penguins- Florida in 7

Western Finals

Calgary v. Dallas- Dallas in 6

Stanley Cup Finals

Dallas v. Florida- Florida in 6

Let's look at today's entries to the Carolina Hurricanes redesign competition:

Noah B.

Sean-Jets96

Zeke G.

Good stuff! Entries are due this Friday at noon, so you have plenty of time to work on them until then!

Don't forget to get both your COTW and COTW monthly vote in, both again are due Friday at noon!

On with today's 4 concepts!

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Rouyn-Noranda Huskies LMJHQ Concepts (By: Brooks F.)

+ Massive improvement over what the Huskies currently wear, while still keeping the overall design the huskies have had since 2007
+ Gradient is more subtle, but placement is perfect and does a good job balancing colour
+ Nice idea keeping the H logo on its own on the shoulders
_Great execution

- Not sure how the Ducks numbers really tie into the Huskies look, they aren't bad but I'd prefer the current Oilers/Flames alternate style numbers
- For my taste at least, grey and red don't really do well together on the alternate, again not bad but not what I would want in a grey alternate

Rating: 8.75/10

Ottawa Senators Concepts (By: Danny R.)

+ Danny finished in the Sens comp tied for 3rd with Alan, and with good reason, he gives us the traditional set the Sens have missed in recent years
+ Love the amount of red and yellow on the red jersey
+ Alternate is a good take on a modern version of the barber ole jerseys, it'd be something we'd expect from the B-Sens but Using the O logo makes me think it's plausible for Ottawa to try something like this
+ Good execution

- The part of this entry that killed it for me is the boor colour balancing on the white jersey. It's the same as the red jersey with the numbers swapped for red, and if the course on the red jersey were balanced like they were on the white jersey, with black as the main colour and white stripes/yoke it could work, but as is they disconnect too much
- Captain's C on the alternate is too small and the primary logo is too high up on the jersey
The alternate desperately needs something on the hem

Rating: 8/10

Ottawa Senators Concepts (By: DT Concepts)

+ I really like the emphasis the white jersey has with the black and gold, using red as a good secondary colour
+ Good logo choices
+ Good use of the Adidas template, especially having full fledged straight hems
+ Good execution

- I wish the red jersey were black, that would make this set amazing
- Arm stripes are too thick, they should be the same thickness as the hem
- TV number are too large

Rating: 8.25/10

Shawinigan Cataractes LMJHQ Concepts (By: Brooks F.)

+ A solid variation on the Thunderbirds/Buffaslug (rip) template
+ Good colour balancing
+ Good logo choices, the ol' school variation looks fantastic in the current colours
+ Ditto can be said for the throwback as a whole
+ Good execution

- The one change I would have made on the white jersey would be to make the swoops yellow and the bolds blue
- Adding some white to the numbers and logo on the throwback would make it even better

Rating: 9/10 COTW Nom from me!