Friday: NHL Uniform Countdown - Part 4

Hello folks, welcome back to another Friday here on HJC!  Today we've finally reached the end of my NHL Uniform Countdown.  In case you missed it, I began to rank the home and road uniforms of every NHL team a few weeks ago, unveiling a quarter of the league each week.  Here's what my list looks like so far...

Part 1
30.  Colorado Avalanche
29.  Calgary Flames
28.  Ottawa Senators
27.  Buffalo Sabres
26.  Anaheim Ducks
25.  San Jose Sharks
24.  Los Angeles Kings
23.  Nashville Predators

Part 2
22.  Carolina Hurricanes
21.  Vancouver Canucks
20.  Tampa Bay Lightning
19.  Columbus Blue Jackets
18.  Arizona Coyotes
17.  Winnipeg Jets
16.  New York Islanders
15.  Dallas Stars

Part 3
14.  Florida Panthers
13.  Minnesota Wild
12.  Washington Capitals
11.  Pittsburgh Penguins
10.  Boston Bruins
9.  New Jersey Devils
8.  Toronto Maple Leafs

And now it's time to unveil the top seven.  As you might expect there's a lot of classic looks represent here, four of the remaining teams are members of the original six, two others were part of the expansion six back in 1967, while the newest team joined the NHL in 1979.

7.  Edmonton Oilers

Would I like the Oilers jerseys as much if they hadn't been worn by great players like Wayne Gretzky?  It's hard to say for sure, but I think so.  I like the blue and orange colour scheme, and the striping pattern is very nice.

6.  New York Rangers

The New York Rangers have been quite traditional jersey wise, which has worked out well for them.  Their uniforms not only look great, but their traditional attitude has also preserved some unique old features like the diagonal wordmark, the use of drop-shadows, the arched player's name, and the vintage pant stripes.

5.  Detroit Red Wings

I love a good one-colour-and-white colour scheme, and no one does it better in the NHL than the Detroit Red Wings.  They also pull off the contrasting sleeve design better than anyone else, especially since the red sleeves represent their name the "Red Wings".

4.  St. Louis Blues

In my opinion, the Blues current jerseys are their best yet, and that's saying a lot because they've also had some good jerseys in the past.   I think these are proof that throwback jerseys aren't always the best option, sometimes it's better to continue to evolve and introduce something new.

3.  Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers' jerseys are successful not only because they're good looking, but also because they're unique.  They're the only team in the league with an orange home jersey, and their sleeve design has become a Flyers trademark.  I also love their logo.

2.  Montreal Canadiens

The Canadiens home jersey is my favourite jersey in the NHL.  It's a classic and I love the chest stripe.  I'm a fan of their road jersey as well (I prefer it over the 1944-47 version with a chest stripe), but it's just not on the same level as the red jersey.

1.  Chicago Blackhawks

Like many other people, I believe the Chicago Blackhawks are the NHL's best dressed team.  Their red sweater is my second favourite jersey in the league behind the Canadiens' home, but I like their road jersey better than the Canadiens' road, which is why they rank number one.

Do you think the Blackhawks deserve the top spot, and if not, who would you have in first place instead?  Let me know in the comments.

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By now you probably all know Friday's voting routine, last week's polls ended today at noon Eastern, and the new poll won't go up until later tonight (or tomorrow at the latest).

COTW Oct 28 - Nov 3 vote (ends Friday, Nov 11 @ noon Eastern)

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Chicago Cubs, by Ben S:

The World Series champions Chicago Cubs are the focus of our first concept, which comes from Ben.  This concept provides us a rare opportunity to see pinstripes on a hockey jersey, and I have to say I'm a big fan, but I think the pinstripes should continue all the way to the bottom of the jersey.  I like the minimal striping pattern on the blue jersey as well, although I think their C/cub logo would be better on the front, since it's on the front of their blue baseball jerseys and most hockey jerseys use logos instead of wordmarks.

Rating: 8/10

Cleveland Indians, by Ben S:

Ben also sent in a concept for the losers of the World Series, the Cleveland Indians.  I think the wordmark/logo combo works well in this case because it combines the aesthetics of both baseball (wordmarks most common) and hockey (logos most common).  The striping pattern is solid as well, and I've liked the inclusion of arched player names on both these concepts.  My one suggestion would be to use red for the name, numbers, and wordmark on the blue jersey, to tie in better with their real life blue jersey.
Rating: 8/10

North Carolina Tar Heels, by Steven M:

Next up we have a North Carolina Tar Heels concept from Steven (not me, the other Steven).  The Tar Heels' argyle pattern looks so good on the arms, almost too good because the the plain hem stripes look disappointing in comparison.  I think hem trim might look better, but in my opinion adding the argyle pattern to the hem would be best.  I like the font and the choice of logos, but I think wordmark should be a tad bigger.  Lastly, are the dots on the jersey supposed to indicate mesh?  If so I'd make the pattern much smaller and use a more subtle colour than black.
Rating: 8/10

Los Angeles Kings, by Lucas D:

Lucas returns Kings to their 1998-2011 colour scheme and logo, and I think that's a good decision, I like the colour purple and this is my favourite Kings logo.  The design of the sweaters is good too, the white jersey is a nice modernization of their pre-Edge white jersey, and I like this purple jersey much better than their pre-Edge purple jersey due to the addition of white.  Also, I'm a fan of those crossed sticks on the sleeve stripes.  The Gretzky-era throwback would make a great alternate jersey, but since the rest of the jersey is historically accurate I'd stick with the white and silver collar (even though the all black collar does look good).
Rating: 9/10

Tri-City Americans, by Taylor R:

Last but not least we have a Tri-City Americans concept from Taylor.  These jerseys are clearly modern but they also use a lot of stripes, which is a combination you don't see very often.  I think it works well on both jerseys, but I especially like how the design looks on the blue jersey, the stripes are just more pleasing on a blue background.  I'm also a fan of the angled pant stripes, and I like the choice of font.
Rating: 9/10 and my COTW nomination!

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That's all folks!