Thursday: Green Leafs

Hello everyone, welcome back!

Nothing new to report on today, but as you've probably seen, the Maple Leafs unveiled their St. Pats throwback design the other day.

Photo via nhl.com

I almost always love throwbacks, and this one is no exception. I don't like the logo as a general design, but it fits perfectly on this jersey, and really throws it over the top as vintage. But the one thing I want to talk about is the numbers, which Chase mentioned, but here's a mockup of how it may look (via sportslogos.net).

The numbers on the back of the jersey will have a box around them to combat the chest stripe, as opposed to a white outline. This really does add a vintage look, but I have one concern with it, as I'm unaware how it will look on the ice. Many other displays of the jersey have the number boxes slightly spaced apart, showing some stripe in between. It's hard to tell how it'll turn out from so close up. I think it'll either look really awkward, or help the vintage look. I guess we'll find out on March 18.

I also think I'd prefer the chest striping to be broken up in this manner on a modern jersey too (except without any stripe showing between the numbers), as opposed to the chest stripe cutting off on the back, like Florida, for example.

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This week, for most readers, you just have the standard COTW vote to worry about. For those participating, the pairs comp. deadline is approaching, so be sure to get those done and submitted by noon on March 3.

 COTW Feb 10-16 vote (ends Friday @ noon Eastern)

Pairs Comp Presentations (due March 3rd @ noon Eastern)

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Brendan K. - Anaheim Ducks

+Sidenote: Nice name.

+This design is sure out there, if nothing else you get points for creativity.

+I like the fact that the striping is exactly the same, down to the colors. It actually creates a pretty nice color balance.

+I see what you're doing with the striping to fit the shape of the logo, and I like the idea.

-I'm not sure it works though...the design is incredibly busy.

-It would be better without orange piping outlining every block of color.

+The plain pants are a good choice though, considering how busy the jersey is.

+I like the alt's color scheme of eggplant and orange better than the eggplant/jade, honestly.

-I'm not sure a sash design would work for Anaheim...your execution of the sash design is good but I'm not sure it works.

-That logo looks too cartoonish as well. Maybe it worked in the 90s but not anymore.

Overall: 6.5/10

DT Concepts - Laval Rocket

+Keeping with Montréal's look while changing it up a bit is the best way to go for the Rocket.

-Personally, this is too close to Montréal's look for my liking. Agree to disagree it appears.

+I like the rocket burst under the arm stripe. Good placement of it.

+This design cleans up the insane clutter of their actual jerseys.

+The font for the number is an improvement...

-...but it doesn't tie into the logo as well as the other one did. A rounded font may work well for them.

-The chest stripe and logo on this jersey look to be facing straight towards us, yet the template is angled away. A bit of a perspective issue here.

Overall: 8/10

Lucas D. - Calgary Flames

+I would love for Calgary to drop the black and go back to their classic color scheme, so that's instantly a positive.

-I'm not a fan of how little yellow you have, though. If you made that middle stripe solid yellow, instead of the 2 colors you have now, it would look much better and look less monochrome.

-There are so many stripes here that the design begins to look too busy. Make that middle stripe solid and it'll actually really help the issue.

+Bringing back the yoke and font from their old alternate is a great choice. 

-I think the collars would look better as a solid color.

Overall: 7.5/10

Mike F. - Hungary

+As opposed to most of these concepts, this design would look pretty good on the ice in real life. Most of them make more sense for NHL17 than they do for actual usage, but this one covers both.

+Red and green is a tough color scheme to pull off without looking like Christmas themed, and this one doesn't avoid that completely, but it does a pretty good job.

+The chest stripe/Canadiens design fits Hungary well.

-As is the problem with the Habs' white chest stripe jersey, the color balance is off. There's not enough red on the jersey, too much green.

+Glad to see the green utilized on the alternate jersey.

+The vintage design looks..well..vintage. It reminds me of the Millionaires jerseys, which I love.

-The numbers don't contrast that well on any of the jerseys...even the vintage. The vintage would be the easiest fix: just make them white. The rest may take some more work.

Overall: 7.5/10

Tyler M-S. - Nashville Predators

+Nice, simple design that ties into the triangle in the logo.

-Despite that, I personally don't see a reason to put the triangle in the logo aside from a historical callback, and it makes the pred-head much smaller than it needs to be. I think the whole logo here can be a tad larger, though.

+-This design reminds me a lot of the pre-edge Penguins...though I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

-I think the biggest issue I have with this one is the inconsistency. Why not just have a white stripe separate the blue and yellow stripes on the side panels, too, or get rid of the white stripe on the arms? I don't understand the purpose of the inconsistency.

+The name/number font works well, as does the blue equipment.

Overall:8/10

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