Thursday: Last Week of the Preseason

Hey y'all, welcome to another Thursday guest spot by me, TC.  I hope y'all are as excited as I am about the upcoming season, and it's now officially less than a week away.  With this new season come new rules, which are summarized in a handy video made by the NHL, which can be seen here.

While some have remarked the frequency of the calls on faceoff violations, this is due to a crackdown rather than an actual rule change, so there's no real reason to delve into that.  That being said, there are three rules changes which will be instituted for the upcoming season.  RULE ONE: a minor penalty for delay of game will now be imposed on failed offside challenges on goal scoring plays, in addition to the forfeiture of a time out.  This rule was enacted to try to discourage coaches from challenging goals on the basis of offsides, as losing a timeout was essentially nullified by the fact that the review process took way longer than 30 seconds, essentially making it a no-lose situation.  The league instituted this rule to add a heftier punishment to the challenge, hoping that coaches will think twice now and be less cavalier with their challenges.  RULE TWO: no timeouts after icing.  This is a simple enough rule, enacted to keep teams from taking an extended rest after icing the puck.  Commissioner Bettman has been quoted as saying that this is a direct way to punish teams for icing, leaving them with players who aren't rested.  This rule has been in effect for the AHL since last season, and has proven to work well enough in that league that it has been adopted by the NHL.  RULE THREE:  this rule deals with the placement of the puck after a high sticking situation.  In previous seasons, if a team on the power play was called for a high stick, the faceoff would be placed in the offending team's defensive zone.  With the rule change, the faceoff will now take place in the neutral zone location closest to the location of the high stick.

I'm not a rules expert, nor do I pretend to be, so I can't really say how these rules will affect gameplay, but I figured that y'all would like to know what's changed so you aren't left scratching your heads come the start of the season.

In terms of voting news, we have the regular COTW vote for September 15-21, as well as the voting for the Arena Logo Competition, both of which end tomorrow at noon EST.  Additionally, we are looking for a new writer!  If you have an interest in joining our lovable group of hockey misfits, download the concepts, write a mock post, and send it in to us by 6PM EST tomorrow.  We will review the entries as a team and then make our decision based on who we think will be the best addition to the team.  We're looking for writers with a unique eye and writing style who can add a different perspective than the rest of us, so don't just mirror our style or try to write what you think we want to read.  We can see through that.  Make it your own, be honest about the concepts, and try to have fun with it.  The pay's not great, but having fun is what makes it worth working here.

 COTW Sept 15-21 vote (ends Friday @ noon ET) 

 Arena Logo Comp vote (ends Friday @ noon ET) 

 Writer Applications (due Friday @ 6pm ET) 

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Now on to today's concepts!

Jets96- San Francisco Bulls

Our first concept of the day is a design for the San Francisco Bulls, formerly of the ECHL, brought to us by our very own Jets96!  The Bulls' identity always confused me, as they were a Sharks affiliate with the Ducks' color scheme (which is probably my least favorite in the NHL).  Jets does a decent job here of keeping the gold to a minimum and separate from the orange, avoiding a clash between the two.  I like the shoulder patches, but I'm unsure if the Bulls would be able to acquire the rights to wear the MLB's Giants' logo.  I like the choice of side panel striping instead of a hem stripe, it works much better with the striping pattern.  I'm not a huge fan of the number font used, and the gold is unrecognizable in it, I had to zoom in to see it.  I know it's because of the Nike template, but I don't like how the side striping stops so abruptly, and I hate that collar style.  Final verdict: a decent design, but I'm still not a fan of that color scheme.  7.5/10

Alan H.- San Jose Sharks

We now move up the coast to San Jose to view a Sharks concept from Alan H.  I love the return to the original color scheme, eliminating the orange and reintroducing the grey.  I also love the return of the original striping pattern, with a little twist that I'll touch on later.  While I love the Tiburones logo, and wish the Sharks would make the switch, I would rather they went with this design rather than the full body.  The shark fin shoulder patches are nice, but i'm not sure that they would work with such a modern logo for a main crest, and the choice to make all of them grey except for the one on the black helmet is perplexing.  While i like the idea of the shark fin arm striping, it pretty much only works when on a template like this, as on a player it would just look bare on the outer arms.  Additionally, it looks awkward on the light jersey, as it doesn't have a distinct outline like on the teal jersey, where it works much better.  Finally, I think the striping on the breezers is a tad too busy, I would eliminate one of the sets of stripes.  Final verdict: a nice idea for a concept, but the more you think about how it would look on the ice, the more problems come up.  7/10

Alan H.- Ottawa Senators

Alan's second concept of the day is a design for the Ottawa Senators.  Great logo choices, I love the Peace Tower logo as a shoulder patch, and the profile centurion looks so much better than the current head-on view.  While it's not the first time I've seen it, I'm still a fan of the laurel pattern from the shield in the striping.  I really like the collars on this set, it's a great way to adapt to the horrible adizero collar design.  I also like the decision to not use the laurel pattern in the striping on the socks and breezers, it would have been a little bit of overkill.  In terms of execution, your logos and laurel pattern are a little pixelated on the outside and it makes the concept look kind of choppy.  Final verdict: a good design for the Sens, and a definite improvement on their current set.  8.5/10 and my COTW NOMINEE!!!!!

Noah B.- Montreal Canadiens

Our final concept of the day is Noah B.'s design for the Montreal Canadiens.  I really like the adaptation of the traditional hem stripe on the away set into a colored upper arm design across the set.  The striping looks different on the home set, but is actually the same design which only looks different with the change in upper arm coloring.  The design works better on the light jersey, as the dark ends up looking a little too basic.  While there's nothing exactly wrong with this design, it's just not terribly exciting, and the Habs have such an iconic look that you really need to go all out to pull it off.  If you're going to take a swing at the king, you better kill him.  Final verdict: not a bad design, but the Habs without a chest stripe on the home just looks wrong.  8/10

That's all for me today, see y'all next week!