Friday: Next Week

Hello folks, welcome back to another Friday post here on HJC!  Today I was going to rank my favourite specialty jerseys worn in the NHL this season (as part of my NHL Uniform Countdown series), but I ran out of time to do that.  You can expect that to be the topic of my post next week.

In the meantime, here's a look at all the jerseys I'll be ranking...

Which jersey will come out on top?  I guess you'll have to come back next week to find out.

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The last batch of votes ended today at noon Eastern.  This upcoming week there's only the standard COTW vote, which Ryan will post the poll for later tonight.  A new competition will also likely be announced tomorrow!

COTW Mar 24-30 vote (ends next Friday @ noon Eastern)

Additionally, the HJC Jersey Portrait Sale is now live.  For $5 you get one jersey portrait (digital file) plus a free ticket into our prize draw, and for $10 you get three digital jersey portraits and three free draw tickets.  The winner of the draw will receive a $50 gift certificate to IceJerseys.com.  Click here for more information.

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Port Perry Mojacks, by Anthony C:

Our first concept today is a new set of jerseys for the Port Perry Mojacks from Anthony.  He's used the Minnesota's third jersey template, adding a yoke to the green jersey and creating a matching vintage white sweater.  It's a realistic idea, since many Junior teams use recoloured NHL templates, but recolouring existing jersey templates is a lazy way to make concepts.  Having the sleeve numbers extend outside the jersey is also lazy, as is using the same font for the majority of one's concepts.

Anthony made this third jersey as well, but it suffers from the same issues as the primary jerseys.  It's just a recolour of Ottawa's third jersey template, and the sleeve numbers still extend outside the jersey.  It's not even recoloured that cleanly, there's still some stray red pixels around the collar, as well as above the hem and chest stripes.
Rating: 4/10

Buffalo Sabres (Concept #1), by Tyler M-S:

Next up we have two Buffalo Sabres concepts from Tyler, starting with this more traditional royal blue option.  I think this striping pattern is very nice, it's traditional but it feels current as well, and I like how the yellow is kept apart from the white.  The striping also fits nicely with their logo, however that logo looks a bit too small, it should be at least 10% larger.  Also, why are the socks left blank?  If it's a design choice then I'm not a fan, but it just looks like an easily avoidable execution error.
Rating: 7/10

Buffalo Sabres (Concept #2), by Tyler M-S:

Tyler's second Sabres concept is more modern, it uses navy blue, their old "Goat Head" logo, and the striping pattern in the style of the Penguins pre-Edge jersey (sort of).  I do think this looks good, everything fits well together (the logo, fonts, striping pattern, etc.), but is a bit similar to those Penguins pre-Edge jersey.  I like the shoulder patch though, it's a nice way to incorporate that era of Sabres hockey.  However, the primary logo is once again too small, it needs to be made 20-25% bigger.
Rating: 7/10

London Knights, by TC Moore:

We also have a London Knights concept from TC Moore, and I like almost everything about it except for some small details.  The striping pattern of all three jerseys look good, the number font also works well, and I like all the logo choices.  However, the collar of the green jersey was left uncoloured, the pants paired with the primary jerseys are missing a small chunk near the top, and there are a few uncoloured pixels near the collars (front of the white jersey's collar, back of the other two jersey's collars).
Rating: 7/10

Bonus Tip:  If you're using Paint.net, when using the paint bucket tool I'd recommend having antialiasing disabled.  You can change the setting permanently by going to Settings (gear at the top right), selecting Tools (second tab on the left), and under Rasterization selecting "Antialiasing Disabled".

NHL100 Classic, by Lucas D:

Moving on we have this NHL100 Classic concept from Lucas, which like the Centennial Classic jerseys is a mix of both old and new.  The Canadiens jersey is a modernized version of their pre-NHL sash jersey, while the Senators is a red (and less retro) version of their current third.  Both jerseys also have silver added to the logos and stripes.  I really like each of these jerseys, and I think they're very realistic as well.  My only suggestion is to make the silver more noticeable, by thickening the silver stripes and adding silver to Ottawa's hem stripe.  Lastly, I love the vintage logos on the pants.
Rating: 9/10

Anaheim Ducks, by Zack H:

Zack created this third jersey concept for the Ducks, which brings back their popular Mighty Ducks logo and colour scheme.  I think that's a good direction to go for a Ducks third jersey, I wouldn't want them to return to their Mighty Duck identity full-time, but it be nice as an alternate.  This jersey does use a new striping pattern, and I'm a fan of it, it feels more timeless compared to the original Mighty Ducks jerseys.  The numbers look a bit vertically stretched though, the horizontal sections are thicker than the rest.  Also, I think using no shoulder logos would be best, instead of using their current logo in their current colours.
Rating: 8/10

Calgary Flames, by Zack H:

Our final concept today also comes from Zack, it's a white third jersey for the Calgary Flames.  I like the choice to use white for a third jersey, you don't see that very often anymore.  I also like the slightly darker shade of red that was used, and that a new striping pattern was used instead of copying the design from the Flames retro uniforms.  This new tri-colour collar also looks very nice.  My only complaints are minor, I think the numbers would look better with one outline (matching the logo instead of the stripes), and the Adidas logo should (in my opinion) be red instead of black.
Rating: 9/10 and my COTW nomination!

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That's all folks!