Thursday: Great Day to be a Boiler

Back to a normal Thursday here at HJC, that being said Christmas is looming around the corner so check out the HJC shop and pickup a HJC Sticker or a Jersey Casual T-shirt for the jersey design fanatic in your life (or treat yourself to some holiday joy).

Oh, and be sure to use your newfound time to participate in our November 10-16 COTW vote as well as the Islanders ReDesign competition before they end tomorrow.

COTW NOV 17-23 Vote (Ends Friday @ noon EST)

NYI ReDesign Top 3 Vote (due Friday @ noon EST) 

On to the Concepts!

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Adam G.- Edmonton Oilers

  

The Good: 

• Striping pattern is certainly unique for Edmonton, and looks good overall
• Like the return of the shoulder patch from the bronze days

The Bad:

• While I like the striping pattern, its a bit too close to the Flyers current look to work in today's NHL
• Grey really serves no purpose in this set. Its too thin to be noticeable, especially when it blends into the white on 2/3 sets
• I'd go with white numbers on the Alt, but that's just personal preference

Overall Rating: 6.0/10

Adam gives us a look that departs a bit from the Oilers history and one that doesn't do a lot for me if I'm being honest.

Avi S.- Boston Bruins 

 

The Good: 

• I'm always a sucker for logo-based striping, so Avi gives me a treat with the next installment of his Wednesday Night Rivalry series pulling its pattern from the outer rim of the spoaked-B
• Hem is done really well to play off the arms without cluttering the front of the jersey
• #OB are a treat from the logo matching perspective as well
• Blank Pants compliment the look nicely
• Nice to see the Bruins yellow socks return after Adidas did away with them

The Bad:

• Only drawback of this set is that the Bs could only wear it one day a wee

Overall Rating: 9.75/10

Masterful work, Avi. But there's always room for improvement, whether I can find it or not

Nick B.- Boston Bruins

The Good: 

• Pretty similar look to Avi's look and essentially the Bruins original WC look minus a shoulder yoke and plus an updated logo so I'm gonna keep this short. Good retro look and blank pants match nicely, but I wish we'd see at least a Bs logo on there (alternate logo from the Edge era would work nicely) 

The Bad:

• Like I said really similar to the original WC look for Boston
• Really similar to your Pen's look from last week. In fact, its just a logo swap and some white on the arms and hem and presto change-o, we've arrived

Overall Rating: 3.0/10

A look we've pretty much all seen before, both from the Bruins and yourself. Not a bad look, but one that begs for some creativity.

Nick B.- Edmonton Oilers

  

The Good: 

• Creativity prayers answered, thanks Nick.
• After our podcast two weeks ago, I've been wondering how the Oil-drop coup be adjusted to fit in today's NHL and this may be the way to do it
• Simple hem works well and its nice to see the original font return
• Recolored oilers logo on the bucket is a nice touch

The Bad:

• I'm normally a fan of blank pants when it fits a set, but I'm getting a bit tired of their abundance on your concepts.

The Ugly (Execution Issues):

• Its been mentioned by a few writers this week, but I'm going to echo it here. This is a really nice template for most designs, but it hides the shoulder-to-arm interaction that can make or break these upper-arm patterns and show distinction between similar looks (a la Pittsburgh, Vegas, Arizona)

Overall Rating: 7.5/10

Creativity brings some modernity to the controversial Oil-drop, but I believe you've still got more to offer.

Noah B.- Hawthorn Hawks

The Good: 

• In addition to our two Bruins concepts today, we good one that fits into the Bruins retro look, and I mean that in the best way possible
• Unique outline of the shield of the logo works to keep it distinct on both sets and give it a slightly different look on each
• I like the fact that you went all-in with the no white look. Something the Penguins SS set came close to, but didn't fully commit to for some reason
• Interlocking HFC logo looks great on the shoulders and the brown yoke keeps the yellow from the Preds current yellow-overload issue

The Bad:

• Never been a fan of the off-colored namebar. Its something only acceptable in the contents of a particular rink in Philadelphia, PA and the 30 other NHL arenas
• Single thick stripe on the pants is starting to get stale. Wouldn't mind seeing a triple thin stipe look to match the rest of the look

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

The right way to throw white to the wayside. Take notes, Pittsburgh.

On a day chock full of Bruins and Oilers (B-oilers) concepts, Avi separates himelf from the pack with his Bruins look and earns my COTW nomination this week. Who gets yours? Let us know in the comments.

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