Friday: Bring These Back

Hello folks!  So there's sure been a lot of NHL jersey news since my post last Friday.  First we learned there won't be any alternate jerseys next year, which led to the report that the Oilers' orange jersey will become their new home jersey.  It also looks like the Devils will have a new look next season, and most recently the NHL unveiled the 2017 All-Star jerseys.

At least three of those stories have some connection to the past, the new All-Stars jerseys take inspiration from the All-Star jerseys of the late 80's and early 90's, the Oilers' orange jersey was originally used full-time back in the early 1970's, and having no alternates is an unintentional callback to a time when teams only had two jerseys.

Those connections to the past got me thinking about three other uniform related ideas I'd like to see make a comeback.

Home and Road Pants

Photos from DenverPost.com

For a brief amount of time a few NHL teams experimented with different pants for at home and on the road, starting with the Kings in 1970 and concluding when the Colorado Rockies moved to New Jersey in 1982.  I'd like to see this practice come back, I think the two pants, when used right, can make a team's uniforms better and more interesting.  As a specific example, I'd like to see the Arizona Coyotes use a maroon set of pants with their road jersey.

Yellow as a Light Colour

Photo from TheProvince.com

Another idea from around the same era that I think should return, is yellow as a light jersey colour.  The 1989 Vancouver Canucks were the last team to wear yellow as their light jersey, since then every team has had a white jersey as part of their rotation.  Using yellow as a light jersey would provide some nice colour vs colour match-ups, without any issues arising due to lack of contrast (specifically for colour blind people).  However, I'm not sure the Nashville Predators would be happy with this idea, I think they like wearing their gold jerseys at home.

Shiny Fabric

Photo from NHL.com/Predators

A more recent example of an idea I'd like to see revived is the use of shiny fabric.  Back when I was a young boy a few teams used a shiny material for some of their stripes, most noticeably the Nashville Predators.  That shiny material disappeared when the Reebok Edge jerseys were introduced in 2007, I'm guessing it was either too heavy or didn't handle moisture all that well.  If that's the case, its return would only make sense if it were used in small amounts, but I'd be okay with that.  This shiny fabric was unique and it really helped stripes stand out.

Are there any past ideas you'd like to see return?  Possibly white jerseys worn at home, or maybe fourth jerseys like the 1997-99 Mighty Ducks?  Let us know in the comments.

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The votes here on HJC are getting more and more important, as we get closer to naming the best concept of 2016.  The poll for the Concept-of-the-Month December ended earlier today, and now the 4th Quarter vote is next up.  There's also the weekly COTW vote.  Expect the polls to be up sometime tonight.

4th Quarter vote (ends next Friday @ noon Eastern)

COTW Jan 6-12 vote (ends next Friday @ noon Eastern)

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Nashville Predators, by Kristo L:

Kristo starts us off with a new set of jerseys for the Nashville Predators.  In my opinion the yellow jersey is the better of the two, the bold stripes without any white look very nice.  The design of road jersey isn't bad, but I think the sleeves and socks would benefit from some yellow, and the yoke and helmet stripe could use some blue.  I do like the idea of the helmet stripe, as it would be unique among NHL teams.  Execution wise, the sleeve numbers are missing, and the logos are a bit oversized.  Also, I'd recommend either raising the hem stripe up or lowering it right to the bottom.
Rating: 7/10

Ottawa Senators (Concept #1), by Lucas D:

Next up we have an Ottawa Senators concept from "The Season" (first of two today), which happened to be made by Lucas.  I like the design of this jersey, it's nice to see their laurel-leaf pattern return, and pairing it with a simple red stripe looks very good.  I also like the use of their updated side-profile logo, as well as the switch to a block font.  However the execution is kind of sloppy, the stripes are too flat for a 3D template, the logo is too far left, the laurel leaf pattern is too pixelated (and also too far left), there's a bit of sleeve not filled in on the left side, and the helmet logo is facing directly at us instead of being skewed to match the angle of the helmet.
Rating: 7/10

Ottawa Senators (Concept #2), by Lucas D:

For the most part my last review applies to this concept as well, so I'm only going to review what's different.  The lighter shade of gold is the biggest change, it looks good to me, I probably like each shade of gold equally.  I'd say the sublimated laurel-leaf pattern in the stripes is an improvement, I like the subtle-ness, but I'd keep the pattern black in the logo.  Lastly, I prefer the block font from the previous concept, but that's just a personal preference.
Rating: 7/10

Washington Capitals, by Lucas D:

Lucas also sent in a concept for the NHL's other capital-city-of-a-country located franchise, the Washington Capitals.  I'm a big fan of this striping pattern, it's slightly similar to some of the NHL's best jerseys (the Blackhawks', Rangers', and Stars' home jerseys), but the differences make it unique and more modern compared to those jerseys.  The logo, while not a favourite of mine, goes great with the striping pattern.  The only change I'd make would be to move the sleeve numbers to the shoulders, they get lost in and clutter the stripes too much.
Rating: 8/10

San Jose Sharks, by Chris W:

For our fifth concept, Chris redesigns the Sharks using the new logos they unveiled back in August.  I like the shield added behind the full-body shark logo, it helps the logo feel more like an evolution of their current brand. The new jerseys are nice as well, especially the number font.  Although, in the striping I'd try to keep the grey and teal apart as much as possible, I don't think they look good next to each other.  As for the third jersey, overall I'm a fan and I like that it's based off of the Seals, but I feel like there should be a bigger gap between the stripes.
Rating: 8/10

Los Angeles Kings, by Taylor R:

To end our post, Taylor sent in this Kings concept which actually makes their infamous "Burger King" logo look good.  The logo wasn't the first thing to catch my attention though, I was initially most impressed by the colour scheme.  The more blue-ish purple with the mettalic gold and black looks very sharp.  The striping pattern, which is similar to their 1998-2007 white jersey, is nice too.  I like that their current font was used as well, although I think the names and numbers would look better without the purple outline.  Also, the secondary logo gets a bit lost on the shoulder and pants.
Rating: 9/10 and my COTW nomination!

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That's all folks!