Thursday: Back 2 Back

They did it. Despite seemingly everything against them, the Pittsburgh Penguins are the 2017 Stanley Cup Champions. I'm not going to talk about it too much as you've already heard a lot about it, but I was at the parade yesterday and I will say, that was a blast. It's been even funnier going through Twitter afterwards, hearing everything the players did that I didn't get to see where I was, including a drunken Olli Maatta, but I think my favorite is this Justin Schultz picture that's been photoshopped into just about everything at this point. Maybe it's more humorous when you're a fan of the team, but it's kept me laughing all day.

I was also going to talk about the Adidas jersey teasers on the post today, but then I realized I'll be going on the podcast to talk about just that. So in turn I'll save my Adidas jersey talk until they're unveiled next Tuesday, and for my thoughts and predictions when it comes to the teasers, go ahead and listen to the podcast once that's up in a few days!

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This week is a bit of a busier week in voting, with both the normal and monthly COTW votes taking place, along with the vote for the HJC Open logo. While there is no deadline this week, you should also begin to get your HJC Open entries ready if you plan on entering the Open, as you won't have much time to complete them and they must be something previously not seen on HJC.

COTW-May vote (ends Friday @ noon ET)

COTW June 2-8 vote (ends Friday @ noon ET)

HJC Open Logo Top 3 vote (ends Friday @ noon ET)

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Anthony C. - Quebec Remparts

+I like the mix of modern and traditional design on this concept.
+Definitely more unique than the mostly Bruins copies they wear now.
+Good color balance and logo choice.
+The font you used fits well on this design.
+Good consistency everywhere on this set.
-I'm left wondering what the jerseys would look like with hem striping too.
-The name looks pretty cramped between the shoulder yoke and number, space them out a bit more.
Overall: 8/10


Anthony C. - Red Deer Rebels

+It could just be the extra color, but I already like this more than what the Rebels currently wear.

-The color balance is a bit off on this one, mainly on the dark jersey. Switch around the white and black in just the striping (leave the yoke and cuffs) to fix that.

+I do really like the striping pattern you chose though.

+The font is again a good fit.

-The name looks a tad small this time, though.

-This could just be my opinion, but I like the Rebels' logo better as just the head, without the extra roundel and sticks behind it.

Overall: 8/10

Brooks F. - New York Islanders

+It's so bad it's good.

+If the Islanders were to go all out 90's (more than they already did at least), this is how they should have done it.

+I actually really like that wave striping, you execute it very well, and it translates well to the pants too.

+That font actually fits perfectly here.

-Name looks just a tad small, though.

Overall: 8.5/10

Brooks F. - New York Rangers

+Just like last concept, if the Rangers were going to go all out 90's, this is the way to do it.

+You do a great job at making sure the striping all flows together and doesn't cut off for no reason. In this instance I like the pointed stripes on the front of the jersey.

+That number font, despite being Edmonton's old alternate font, works really well on this design.

-I think you missed a huge opportunity to make this concept a little more 90's by not using this logo anywhere. It also gets a bit repetitive with the Lady Liberty logo everywhere.

Overall: 8.5/10

Christian L. - Carolina Hurricanes

+First off, I love the striping, and the return of the warning flag striping. It's just that unique touch that only Carolina could have.

-I know that many people don't like Carolina's logo and have tried to improve it, and out of many logo concepts I haven't really seen one that I've loved. This attempt just doesn't do it for me either. I'll admit the more I look at it it's beginning to grow on me, but something just looks off.

+That red jersey is insanely red, but I like it. Good color balance in general as well.

+I like the shoulder yoke pattern.

-I'd like to see the back of the jersey, though, in order to see what the shoulder yoke does on the back as well (i.e. does it go down to encase the name or not).

Overall: 9/10 and my COTW Nomination

F.C. Macbeth - Liverpool F.C.

+A lot of Liverpool's jerseys seem to be very plain and this lives up to that expectation.

-That doesn't make it a great hockey design, though.

-As with many others, I'm not a fan of the piping. One of the worst things to come from Reebok Edge in my opinion.

-Using the Adidas stripes as a primary striping pattern on the set is really not a great look, but I will admit that Liverpool's plain jerseys don't give you much else to work with.

+It's still better than no striping I guess.

-The logo looks a tad too large, and the TV numbers on the jersey read 99 on one arm and 66 on the other, instead of 96.

Overall: 5.5/10

Jets96 - Evansville Icemen

+I like the striping on this one, and I really like the way the white pops on the black jersey.

-If you swapped the blue and gray striping on that jersey though the blue would also pop really well, it blends into the black a bit too much at this point.

-I'm not a big fan of the diagonal wordmark on the white jersey. The letters are just way too small. Not a big fan of the front number that comes with it either.

-The TV numbers are placed off-center. Since the 1 is thinner than the 0, the 0 should get partially cut off on one side and be added to the other side.

+I like the logo choice for the shoulder patch and the black's primary logo.

-I know your name is again the name on the back, but add some more ID to the concept.

Overall: 7/10

Phil B. - Long Island Ducks

+Man do I love that D/duck logo. it works pretty well on a hockey jersey too.

-I think it would look great on the front of the white jersey, too, and move the LI to the shoulders like it is on the orange jersey.

+The simple striping is a good fit.

-Maybe it's cause I'm just personally not a big fan of the font, but I don't really like it here. It does fit on this concept, though.

-I'm not a fan of the buffaslug-esque alternate jersey, or at least not the arm pattern.

+I do like the hem pattern and the script logo for the front, though, so if you just used the hem pattern on the arms you might have a winner.

Overall: 7.5/10

Phil B. - Norfolk Admirals

+First of all I really like that logo design, whether it was yours or not.

-If it wasn't, you need to give credit to the designer.

+The design and color scheme of this concept look pretty good...

-but they only make sense with Norfolk as Anaheim's affiliate. I'm not really detracting for that, though, since this was made with that intention.

-I'm not a fan of the phantom yoke piping on the black jersey, and I'd lose the yoke entirely on the white jersey.

+The font fits better on this concept, though I think it could still be improved.

Overall: 7.5/10

Ryan C. - 2018 Winter Classic

+First things first, I like both of the designs if you ignore their purpose.

-On the other hand, I think they both look a bit too modern to make sense for a Winter Classic. The Rangers' jersey looks much more vintage than the Sabres', though.

+I like just about everything on the Rangers jersey actually, from the font, striping pattern, and logo choices.

-There are two things I don't like, though. One of them is that I think the logo would look better if it was curved text, rather than warped text, like these old Rangers jerseys.

-The other thing is that the lack of hem stripes looks much more modern than it does vintage. I know some old teams have gone without hem striping before, but most older jerseys do have hem stripes.

-Unfortunately, I'm not sure I can tell you exactly what on Buffalo's jersey looks too modern to me. Maybe it's the striping in general, or it might be the navy blue instead of royal blue. I may get a different impression if I saw it on the ice, though.

Overall: 8/10

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And that's all for today's post! I hope you enjoyed the post, thanks for reading, and I'll see you all again next week with between 31 and 62 new NHL jerseys to lay into.