Friday: Adidas Ad Nauseam

By now, most of y'all have either listened to the podcast or read some of the other writers' views on the new Adidas Adizero uniform unveiling, so I'm not going to bore you with another team by team analysis of the changes.  Quick recap of the winners: Minnesota, Colorado, and Carolina; and the losers: Nashville, New Jersey, and Ottawa.  That's all I'm going to say, if you want more detailed opinions from me, listen to the podcast from last weekend here.  We had a lot of fun recording it, and I think y'all will really enjoy listening to it.

*** Edit by Ryan ***

Here are the brackets for the 2017 HJC Open. Good luck!

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In voting this week, we have the regular COTW vote from June 23-29 running until next Friday at noon.  We also are in the opening rounds of the HJC Open!  If you have made it past the round robin opener, entries for the next round are due by Tuesday at noon.  Voting starts that night and runs until Friday at noon.

COTW June 23-29 vote (ends Friday @ noon ET)

HJC Open Round of 16 entries (due Tuesday @ noon ET)

Now on to today's concepts!

Adam G.- Vegas Golden Knights

Our first concept of the day is Adam G.'s design for the Vegas Golden Knights.  Right off the bat, I'm amazed at how similar this design is to what Vegas actually went with, so kudos for that.  I mean swap out the black body for grey, and you've got an exact copy of the home set minus a hem stripe.  The away set is very similar as well, if you just swapped the cuff and upper arm coloring and eliminated the black stripe.  I will say that the lack of a hem stripe does leave it kind of blank, especially with such a simplistic striping pattern on the arms.  Execution is done well, a lot of people miss the TV numbers on the left rear, so well done there.  Final verdict: a good concept, but it's missing some things that I think would greatly help, and the actual set is just so great that it's kind of ruined Vegas concepts for me.  7.5/10

Anthony C.- Kalamazoo Wings

Next up we have Anthony C. with a design for the Kalamazoo Wings.  The color balance on both sets works really well, the red as the main secondary color on the light jersey complements the red as the primary in the dark jersey.  I also like that the striping is a consistent pattern across both jerseys and the pants, although I would have liked to see something a little more adventurous.  The shoulder patches on the light jersey are a bad call, they just blend into the jersey completely.  The main crest works better because of the blue text, but I wouldn't mind seeing a recolored version just to shake things up a bit.  The contrasting cuffs are unnecessary, as they would be covered up by the gloves anyway.  Same execution errors as usual, no socks and no helmet logos.  Final verdict: not a bad design, but execution errors hold it back, especially since you've shown that you can do so much better.  7/10

Anthony C.- Wheeling Nailers

Anthony's second concept of the day is a design for the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers.  It appears that Anthony took the hem stripe from the parent club Penguins' home jerseys and put it on both home and away stripes and hem.  To be completely honest, it's kind of just boring.  There's very little going on in the jersey, and the Nailers logo, not exactly exciting itself, doesn't really help.  The most redeeming part about this jersey is the nails in the stripes, and that doesn't even work on the light set.  But you did include helmet logos!  Still would have liked to have seen socks.  Final verdict: Kind of a boring design with some design flaws.  6.5/10

Denny J.- Buffalo Sabres

Our next concept of the day is Denny J.'s design for the Buffalo Sabres.  This design reminds me of what I was most afraid of in the move to Adidas, that they would keep the three stripes on the side panels that they used for the World Cup of Hockey uniforms.  Thankfully, they avoided that in the actual uniforms.  Other than that, this is not a bad set.  I like the use of royal blue rather than navy, as well as the elimination of grey from the color scheme.  I really like the striping on the away jersey, it's a nice improvement on the more basic pattern that they have used in the past and present.  The elimination of the front numbers is fantastic, for the life of me I have no idea why they insist upon sticking to it, other than they fact that maybe they like being the only ones who do.  I'm not a fan of the two-tone collar on the away, especially when the front part just blends into the yoke.  Final verdict: a pretty good concept, but the Adidas stripes kill it for me.  7.5/10

Dylan N.- Vancouver Canucks

Wow. This is truly a thing of beauty.  This template is fantastic, and the uniform is even better.  I love the departure from the orca logo, and the subtle V striping is a great idea.  The side panel design reflects the arm striping without matching it exactly, and it works much better than a hem stripe would here.  The color balance is fantastic, and I love the Johnny Canuck V as a secondary logo.  Hands down the best concept I've reviewed in my short tenure here.  Final verdict: Words fail me.  This is a magnificent concept.  10/10 and my COTW NOMINATION!!!!!

FC Macbeth- Scotland vs. England

Our next concept of the day is FC Macbeth's design for a game between Scotland and England.  I'll start with Scotland.  I like the idea of the flag across the yoke, and while I'm not usually a fan of the phantom yoke, I think it works here.  I also really like the flag design on the gloves, that's a great look.  While I appreciate the idea of the tartan in the striping, I think it's just a little too busy and would look kind of murky when seen in action.  I'm not a big fan of the font choice, and I think the shade of blue used is a little too light for Scotland.  Finally, the logo on the helmet and breezers looks like a square instead of a rectangle for the flag.  Now on to England.  I really like the flag design in the body, and the crest in the middle of the cross works really well.  I know I said last week not to use white gloves, but given that it matches the body and flag design, I'm not completely against it here.  I also like the simplistic striping on the arms, it keeps it from being too busy when combined with the striping on the rest of the jersey.  I'm not a fan of the secondary logo since there's no gold anywhere on the rest of the uniform.  It's way too small and high up on the shoulders, and it's really unnecessary on the socks.  Given that it's a semi-traditional looking jersey, I'm not sure that I would have gone with the angled striping on the breezers.  Also, the red numbers on the back blend into the striping design a little too much.  As for execution, the name and numbers on the back of both are way too big, and the numbers are too close together.  Also, there are parts of the breezers (left bottom Scotland, waist England) that weren't colored in, and that's just lazy design work.  Final verdict: You're definitely improving, but your execution still needs work.  6/10

Noah B.- Florida Panthers/ Miami Heat

We end the day with two entries from Noah B.'s city mashup series, this one for the city of Miami. Noah does a good job here of combining the identities of both the Heat and the Panthers, and it actually works pretty well.  I like the use of the Heat's striping patterns used in the same style as the Panthers', it actually looks pretty good.  I also like that you stuck with the numbers on the shoulders and the patches on the sleeves like the Panthers do, and I'm glad you started recoloring the shoulder patches to match the rest of the uniform.  The continuation of the striping on the pants is great, as well as the attention to detail in stopping it at the inner thigh.  While I do like that you changed the basketball in the Heat's logo to a puck, it's still falling through a hoop, and that kind of bothers me.  While I know the heat use italicized numbers, I really hate them in general and wish you would have stuck with the Panthers' font.  As for execution, there's a patch of grey below the hem on each jersey that shouldn't be there.  Final verdict: a good combination of the Heat and the Panthers.  8/10

Noah B.- Los Angeles Dodgers/ Kings

We wrap up today's concepts with Nah B.'s mashup for the city of Los Angeles, featuring the Dodgers and the Kings.  Once again, Noah does a great job of combining the two teams' identities.  The Kings' template actually works really well in blue and white, and the minimal striping matches the Dodgers' identity as well.  The white tab at the front of the collar works on both jerseys, as it complements the striping on the home set and breaks up the collar and piping on the away.  Again, I'm happy that you started recoloring the shoulder patches to match the rest of the uniform.  I think the TV Numbers should be red on the blue jersey, both to better match the Dodgers and to help with the color balance.  While I do like the interlocking L and A logo, I think it's better suited to the helmet and breezers, and would have liked to seen the Dodgers' script logo with the ball turned into a puck (similar to what you did above).  Not only do I think it's a better main logo, but it would help bring more red into the design to help with color balance.  Once again, that grey area below the hem detracts from an otherwise well executed design.  Final verdict: a good combination of two identities, but some execution errors hold it back.  8/10

That's all for me today! See y'all next Friday!