Thursday: Elvis has Leaf-t the Building

Happy Thursday, Ladies and Gents.

The first round of the Playoffs came to a conclusion last night with the Leafs falling in an all to familiar Game 7 loss to the Bruins. With that, and the fact that I didn't my entries for the HJC Playoff Pool submitted in time for Round one, I thought I'd share my Round 2 predictions with you all before we get started tonight.

Nashville vs. Winnipeg
The two Titans of the West clash in the second round as Winnipeg heads down to Nashville and the Predators get to experience the frigid cold in the heart of Manitoba. Winnipeg showed no signs of slowing down versus Minnesota and is backed by Vezina candidate Connor Hellebuyck. On the other hand, Nashville brought all they head to beat a surprising Colorado team in 6 games. Both teams have center depth, both teams have a solid D-core, and both teams have an arguably elite goaltender behind them. The only thing to separate this two is recent performance.
Verdict: Jets in SIX

Vegas vs. San Jose
From the clash of the Titans to the Battle of the Brooms. Expect this to be a high pace, high effort series as we see the two teams with the greatest rest between rounds one and two go head to head. Despite San Jose's success against a strong Anaheim team, I'm behind Vegas on this one. For me the Cinderella story lasts one more round, with the masterful play of Marc-Andre Fleury propelling the Vegas Golden Band of Misfits into the conference final in their first year of play. Trouble is on the horizon, however, as I expect that to be the end of the line for the boys from Vegas.
Verdict: Golden Knights in SIX

Tampa Bay vs. Boston
The Juggernauts of the East clash in the second round as well with Tampa taking on Boston after each team bared down and picked off two of the more successful young teams in the NHL. Just as in the West, we've got another battle of depth with stacked offenses and championship caliber goalies facing off. We've also got a pair of New York Rangers deadline deals coming to a head in Ryan McDonagh and Rick Nash. Despite the Bruins overcoming a tougher challenge in the first round, I've got to give the edge to Tampa and their defensive depth.
Verdict: Lightning in FIVE (Had to pick at least one short series)

Washington vs. Pittsburgh
Now where have I seen this before... The Metropolitan Division Champion Washington Capitals are set to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. As much as I want to do Caps fans a solid and give their boys the head. I'm gonna pick with my heart on this one. The only way to a Three Peat is to off the Caps in the second round yet again and I've got all the 3elief in my heart that the Pittsburgh Icemen can get it done. It's not gonna be easy, the Pens are coming off a six-game series with their in-state rivals in which they controlled play, but still manage to let a few games slip away from them, ultimately ending the series in a controversial non-call that I'm sure will define the Battle for Pennsylvania for years to come. That being said, the Caps are coming off four straight wins after dropping the first two of the series on home ice. The Caps showed that this year is different and I do believe they have as good a chance as ever to knock off the Penguins this year, provided their goal tending cooperates.
Verdict: This one's going the distance... Penguins in SEVEN

Don't forget the entry phase of out St. Andrews College Competition and the regular COTW vote, both of which end tomorrow at noon EST.

 COTW April 13-19 vote (ends Friday @ noon ET) 

 St. Andrew's College jersey entries (due Friday @ noon ET) 

Let's check on those entries...

Spencer R.

Ryan W.

REMINDERS:

 1st Quarter Vote (ends Friday @ noon ET) 

 COTW April 6-12 vote (ends Friday @ noon ET) 

 St. Andrew's College entries (due April 27 @ 6pm ET) 

On to the concepts!

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Adam G.- Edmonton Oilers

We begin the day in frigid Alberta with Adam G's entry for Edmonton in his De-Edge Series. Adam appears to draw inspiration from the Alberta Oilers of the WHA. The Away look is little more than a template change of Alberta's white jersey, but the small changes really make all the difference. The white #OB provides a better color balance than the original look and moving the TV numbers to the arms gives a more traditional hockey fell. The adjustments to the orange home look add a lot as well with the flipping of white and blue throughout the set providing a new look and once again improving color balance. My only objection to the primary looks come in the equipment, where I think taking a page from today's Oilers in the application of blue pants and helmet would serve the look better. I'm really split on the alt here, I really like the unique pattern on the chest (it plays off the logo nicely and looks like nothing else in the league), but I can't on board with the arms. Truthfully, I don't have a suggestion on how to fix that, but the one bare arm and one color-blocked arm just doesn't sit right with me.

Overall Rating: 8.0/10

A beautiful fauxback look for the Oilers held back only by some questionable equipment choices and an overly ambitious alternate.

Adam G.- Minnesota Wild

From the Wild Canadian West to the Wild, themselves, we head to Minnesota. First off, I really like the promotion of gold and red here. The gold and green combo harkens back to the North Stars of old while the red creates a look the Wild can truly claim as their own. I don't normally like an alternate that's a simple recolor of the main set, but I like it here (especially given the Wild's inability to unify even their two primary looks since the Edge system was implemented). My one complain here is the addition of the Wild's trademark cream. In my mind, the addition of gold deems this cream unnecessary as it clashes just a bit to much with the gold used. simply recolor the cream to bright white and we've got a winner here.  

  

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

A clean look for the Wild that would cream the competition through the simple removal of cream.

Lucas D.- New York Rangers

First impression, I love this look for the Rangers here from Lucas. My biggest complaint with the current look for New York is the lack of consistency between the home and road and Lucas solves that masterfully here with an identical striping pattern down to the shoulder yoke setting up unique looks against each backdrop. I love the blue cuff fill on the road set and would buy that jersey in an instant if for nothing else than the beautiful color balance. In my mind the switch to navy is a lateral move, but one I could understand should the Rangers want to refresh their look given their commitment to a rebuild. One thing I will mention is that I've always thought the Rangers should re-implement the "New York" text from the 80s on their road jerseys, but I can't fault you for sticking with what they've had since then. What I can fault you for is the inconsistency between your two mock-ups. On the 2D template, the arm stripes slant away from the body of the jersey forming a V beneath the TV numbers, whereas on the 3D view, these same stripes slant down into the body of the jersey forming a upwards point beneath the TV numbers. Neither are a bad look (though I must say I prefer the former), but such consistency is necessary to fully convey what design you are going for

   

Overall Rating: 8.25/10

A beautiful modern look for an Original 6ix team that is unfortunately hampered by a fatal execution error.

That's all for today folks. I'll send this week's COTW Nomination to Adam and his Minnesota Wild Concept.

Get ready for round two and I will see you all next week.

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