Wednesday: Next Wave Review

Hey There, Hi There, Ho There! 'Sup jersey folk? Hope you're all enjoying your Wednesday. Before we get to the concepts though, we've got some jersey news! But before that.......

Go Vote

COTW Aug 12-18 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Hawthorne entries (due Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Photo: San Jose Sharks Website

It seems out of nowhere within the last few days, the San Jose Sharks teased, and then unveiled their new jerseys. It's been mentioned over the summer that the Sharks were to make slight alterations to their jerseys. Which, overall, is what happened.  According to the team, the players wanted lighter jerseys, like their black alternates. So the jerseys were designed from a performance aspect instead of purely aesthetic point of view. This explains the lack of orange from the numbers, shoulder yoke, and most notably, the hem stripe!

I don't mind the black yoke getting the boot. I think the home jersey looks miles better without the black yoke. Even the white jersey looks good without its' yoke.  But the hem stripe being gone looks bad in my opinion, but it's what the players liked and wanted, so meh.

Oh also......The front numbers remain on the jersey....sigh...

Photo: San Jose Sharks Website

Go to the team's website and check out the whole section they have devoted to the new jerseys. It's pretty neat and I wish more teams had whole sections of the websites devoted to just their uniforms.

So I'll end this part of today's post with my final thoughts on the jersey.

The Good: The yoke is gone. More Teal! One outline on numbers 

The Bad: Less Orange! No Hem Stripe! THAT CHEST NUMBER

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Unfortunately, there's no new Hawthorne Contest entries today

And now........... onto the concepts!

Ottawa Senators Away Jersey Concept - (Daniel J.)

Daniel takes the Sens back to the olden days.... When our current Senators weren't around but a different Senator's team played in Ottawa. This is a pretty good design. It has that throwback feel to it while refraining from using the vintage white. I like the striping under the yoke. The number font is pretty good. I like the "O" logo but I think I'd rather see it on the shoulders, and maybe the 2D Senators logo on the chest. But hey....that's just me.

Rating: 8/10


Carolina Hurricanes Concept - (Darren H.)

I notice two things immediately, one that I like and one that I don't. The flag pattern and the secondary logo on the chest. I love seeing that flag pattern on a jersey but not so much the secondary logo on the chest. Swap the logos and this set looks a lot better, and it already looks sharp. The numbers also seem a bit too tall. The shoulder logos also look like they're placed too high up on the yoke, maybe it's just me but shouldn't they be closer to the edge of the yoke? Or is the yoke on this template really long. Also, as for the alternate, I like that Darren tried to keep the black and gray scheme, but I really would have liked to see the same striping as the home and away. 

Rating: 7.5/10

Carolina Hurricanes Concept - (HockeyConceptIdeas)

First thing I notice is that this is a recolored jersey off of the NHL Uniform Database and it's distracting. So is the extremely pixelated logo on the front of the jerseys. There are plenty of places on the internet to grab a large image of the logo to scale down instead of scaling it up and ruining the image. I wouldn't have a problem with the color scheme had Carolina adopted it immediately, but they have their own identity now so I feel it's best left that way. Also, the white jersey has two different striping patterns. I'd stick to the one shown on the back of the jersey.

Rating; 5/10


Alaska Aces Third Jersey Concept - (Jake88)

I believe this is the first of Jake's concepts we've seen that didn't feature a European team in quite some time. I like the arm stripes. Very pointy and aggressive looking, like the logo. I don't really care for the side striping. The other thing I'm not too cool with is the "Reebok" under the collar and on the sock. Sure Reebok sells their equipment like that, but it looks bad on a jersey that a team is actually wearing.

Rating: 7/10


Ottawa Senators Heritage Classic Concept - (Scott M.)

Don't let Scott fool you, the Sens and Canucks are playing in the "Heritage Classic", not the Stadium Series. But that's just me nitpicking. The jersey is a simple color swap of their "Heritage" third jersey, which looks really good. Not the most unique idea, but definitely a good idea. I'm glad Scott chose pure white instead of vintage white as that would probably look bad and be way too much vintage white. The best part of this uniform is that it keeps the subtle barberpole striping intact.

Rating: 8/10


Vancouver Canucks Heritage Classic Concept - (Scott M.)

The Pittsburgh Penguins have changed their current color scheme for an outdoor game twice now so this idea isn't far fetched. I just hope this doesn't happen. I'm sure most can agree the Canucks had one of the ugliest identities in all of sports during their yellow, red, and black days. Granted, this jersey looks way better than anything they wore back then, it just serves as an unhappy reminder of what once was. I also don't like seeing the stick in rink logo in these colors. It never existed that way. If the Canucks are going to go vintage and use an old color scheme they need to go back to their Pre-Reebok dark blue and maroon.

Rating: 7/10


Chicago Blackhawks Throwback Concept - (Stephen T.)

Stephen will end today with his take on a Blackhawks throwback. The Blackhawks didn't have a primarily red jersey until 1955 and that jersey is basically what they wear today. It looks like a mix of their 1934-37 jerseys, which their Winter Classic alternate was based on, and their 1937-55 jerseys which their 1991-92 alternate resembled. Overall, I like it. Definitely something I wouldn't mind seeing as a one off in an outdoor game or Original 6 throwback game. My favorite part is the fauxback "C" logo on the shoulder.

Rating: 8/10


See something in one of the concepts you want to talk about? Or you want to discuss the new Sharks' jerseys? Talk it out in the comments guys! We love seeing discussion happen!