Wednesday: It's Not Goodbye, It's See You Later

So it all comes to this. My final weekly post here at HJC. I am retiring from concept reviewing. Again. But it isn't a full on departure from HJC. I'll still be around for news items and the occasional story, like the 2018 Stabley Cap story I'm working on, where one of the team captains designed all of the uniforms.

But while I am leaving, HJC is staying as is, with the Utah Grizzlies Redesign Competition! A classic HJC redesign featuring the 1994-98 New York Islanders AHL affiliate (It's my last day, I have to sneak an Islanders mention in here somewhere). The Grizzlies history is split into two, since technically there were two different franchises, one in the IHL and AHL, and another (present day) in the ECHL. I look forward to seeing the entries.

REMINDERS:

COTW Vote Aug 31-Sep 6 (ends Friday @ noon EDT)

COTW August Vote (ends Friday @ noon EDT)

Utah Grizzlies ReDesign entries (due September 21 @ noon ET)

New Jersey Nerds Podcast every Monday on Google Play, iTunes, Stitcher and Spotify!

ON TO THE CONCEPTS ONE FINAL TIME!

Ben S: Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL) Concept

Of course on my last day I get concepts from two teams I loathe. This is one of them (Go Sound Tigers). Here Ben decides to give the Wolf Pack a look better than the Rangers 2014 Stadium Series copies they had last year, while bringing them closer to their parent club, yet giving them their own identity. Gone are the red pants. Gone is the misplaced navy blue. Gone is the Wolf Pack wordmark with the shadow, a trademark of any Rangers branding. In come blue pants. In comes classic but complex striping on the main set. In comes a wordmark that has a different shadow direction and no serifs. In comes a matching number font. And in comes a logo on the front of their alternate, as well as an off colored name plate, the latter of which I can't get behind. Plus numbers on the sides of the helmet? This isn't Alabama Football. This is AHL hockey. I can't say that works. Ideally the Wolfpack recreate their original Lady Liberty style jerseys, but this would still be a step up from what they currently wear. I wonder how the CCM template change will affect the Wolf Pack...

AWOOOOO: 78%

Brooks F: Atlanta Thrashers (Press F to Pay Respects) Concept

Double blue looks good. Light blue is a color extremely underutilized at the NHL level. Even when the Thrashers wore the light blues at home, the away jerseys had navy blue as the primary trim color to compliment the white. I think that white jersey is balanced very well between the two. Having the overhead bird logo as the primary is the best logo for that set, while relegating the normal primary logo to the alternate, which looks great in it of itself. Now while the bird beak pattern, as I like to call it, is a staple of the Thrashers branding, I feel that it would be best abandoned completely on this set, rather than placed awkwardly on the hem, especially on the alternate where you have curved striping converging at the hem.

Double Blue = Double Love: 93%

Lucas D: Boston Red Sox (MLB) Concept

Now as we head into a baseball crossover series, I must preface this with the fact that I am a Yankee fan. Therefore I hate the Red Sox even more than I hate the Rangers, DC United, NYCFC, Liverpool FC, the Patriots, or the Knicks.

Bias aside, the Red Sox color scheme is odd, because while they have "Red" in their name, they sure do love navy blue. It seems to be more of a historical thing, but it's still odd. Like how the Yankees primary logo is mostly red, yet you never see it anywhere in their uniform set. Here I think that having a red jersey with blue pants would be a better option than blue, but keeping blue pants and helmets, so that you can actually have red socks. If anything, the white jersey is where you can go all out on using red, as to help with the color balance issue you currently have. Using the Sox' roundel logo also would be a good idea for the shoulders. As for the striping, I have no idea why it's got white vertical stripes within a red stripe. The name and number font are awkwardly small.

Struck out swinging: 60%

The WINNER of my Concept of the Week Nomination is

BROOKS F

ATLANTA THRASHERS CONCEPT

I want to thank Ryan for giving me a second opportunity to write here on a weekly basis. I want to congratulate every writer HJC has ever had for evolving the blog to what it is now, compared to when I started my first time around. And lastly I want to thank you, the readers. Without you, there is no blog. Also thanks for tolerating my garbage as necessary. I will still be around, but I look forward to getting my Stabley Cap story up soon.

So long and thanks for all the fish.