Thursday: Giving Thanks

To our American readers, Happy Thanksgiving. To our Canadian readers, welcome to another regular Thursday post here at HJC.

We at the blog are very thankful for our readers this week. Last week, we reached a new low here in my experience as an HJC writer. Due to lack of contribution, we only had 2 concepts to review per day. However, after our pleading all week, our readers really responded, giving us each the opportunity to review 6 concepts as you'll see below. So sit down and get crackin'.

Seeing as there is no NHL action tonight due to American Thanksgiving, use your nightly allotment of hockey time to peruse the site a little deeper. A lot has changed since we updated at the start of the season, so take the opportunity to quaint yourself with the new layout. Check out our recent news stories on the WC jerseys, explore the HJC shop and pick up a Jersey Casual t-shirt and an HJC sticker, design an Islanders jersey if you've got the time.

Oh, and be sure to use your newfound time to participate in our November 10-16 COTW vote.

COTW NOV 10-16 Vote (Ends Friday @ noon EST)

NYI ReDesign Comp Entries (due Friday @ noon EST) 

On to the Concepts!

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Cole W.- Prince Albert Raiders

  

The Good: 

• Striping pattern is fairly traditional, but unique enough to give the Raiders their wn look
• Raiders' logo looks best against a black backdrop, so I'm happy to see the away take that route here
• Collars look nice on both sets, which is harder than you'd think with adidas templates

The Bad:

• Bit of YOWS on the away look, but the gold is almost distinct enough to stand out
• With the away jersey using black as its main focus, there's a bit to much green on the home set, making the NOB or #OB black could allay this issue
• Speaking of the #OB, the outlines need to be thicker if they're going to hold their own on the ice surface
• Green cuffs are a nice idea, but would be swallowed up by the gloves and rendered useless

The Ugly (Execution Issues):

• Pants stripe need to be scaled down to be effective. Pretty darn thick as is
• Leave some spacing between the TV numbers and the edge of the template. With the current placement, there'd in reality be no gap between them 
• You use two different blacks between the logo and the jersey. Logo can be recolored to match the jersey in one simple step and improve consistency across the board.

Overall Rating: 7.0/10

Solid look for the Raiders, but a few design decisions and execution errors hold it back

Jets 96.- Nashville Predators 

The Good: 

• Jet's makes some changes to bring the Preds closer to an ideal look. First thing that jumps out is the yoke addition, bringing the home more in line with the road set and keeping the jersey from its current mustard bottle appearance
• Never been a fan of their move to a gold helmet, so I like the switch to a blue dome here.
• Switching the socks to a matching stripe rather than a paint-dipped look is a good move as well.

The Bad:

• With this much blue added to the set, it'd be nice to see the yellow pant stripe carried over here.
• While it's nice to see how easily a team's look could be fixed, these concepts don't really leave a lot to review considering a lot of the designing has been done by the team already.

The Ugly (Execution Issues):

• Helmet logo should be tilted back to match the angle of the helmet

Overall Rating: 6.75/10

A good look for the Preds, but one's that already exists for the most part.

NIck B.- Dallas Stars

The Good: 

• As a star's fan, I've been begging for a black alternate since their victory green jerseys were unveiled.
• Striping pattern is similar enough to the Stars' 90s uniforms to fit their identity, but the priority of green over white works with their identity of a victory green team
• The half-collar is perhaps my favorite application of the adidas collar and that's no different here
• #OB and NOB look great and show how nice the Stars could look with a simple outline

The Bad:

• Wish the pants stripe would match what's on the rest of the uniform, but keeping it consistent with the main set would help Equipment Managers a ton
• Would really like to see the Stars promote the Texas State logo to the chest of an alternate look, but the Primary still looks good here.

Overall Rating: 9.5/10

A competition ready set for the Stars rooted in their past, yet still fitting their future. 

Nick B.- Pittsburgh Penguins

  

The Good: 

• Nice Pittsburgh Pirates inspiration on this one
• Pittsburgh script logo works really well with the retro feel
• Wouldn't be surprised to see Pittsburgh go with a yellow alt given the resurgence of Pittsburgh Gold

The Bad:

• Numbers would benefit from a drop shadow effect to match the treatment of the front script
• Simple pants fit well with the era, but I would like to see the penguins logo on there to give it at least some identity 

Overall Rating: 9.0/10

A nice retro alt for the Penguins that fits their reasserted color pallet.

Noah K.- Swan Lake Diamondbacks 

The Good: 

• Really like the unique inspiration for this series
• Pulling the maroon and gold color pallet from the coaster itself was a good idea

The Bad:

• Vintage white is too close a shade to the gold to work with this set
• Logo needs an added S to really fit the team
• Reason for the sock and arm striping to not match. Socks are outlined in gold, arms are unoutlined
• Not sure why the home socks match the away look rather than the home
• Too little gold in the jerseys for a gold helmet to be effective

Overall Rating: 6.0/10

All the basics are there, but there's rally nothing about this design that leaves a lasting impact.

Ryan H.- 2018 Stadium Series

The Good: 

• Color swap of the Leafs' Centennial Classic jersey works well
• Caps striping pattern (and white shoulder yoke) are something I'd like to see their full-time set based around

The Bad:

• Arenas' T made sense on the backwards-looking Centennial set, but seems out of placed for the forward-focused SS
• White pants have yet to look good in my opinion and this Caps look is no different
• Not sure why the Caps socks aren't simply based off the arms of the set, could bring the look some nice consistency
• Caps overall look seems too traditional to fit in with the Stadium Series identity

The Ugly (Execution Issues):

• This template begs for some back view of the jerseys, especially to see how the Leafs would manage the chest stripe with the #OB

Overall Rating: 7.25/10

Not a bad look for either team, but each has elements that remove it from the established Stadium Series identity

This week, my COTW Nomination to Nick's Stars Concept. That's all I've got folks. Go grab some Turkey.

Got Questions? Send 'em our way by stuffing the HJC Mailbag.