Tuesday: Happy Playoffs Eve

Happy Playoffs Eve everyone!!! Tomorrow is the start of the best time of year, the Stanley Cup Playoffs! Don't forget to go the the left of the page before the start of the games to fill out your Playoff picks for the first round.

But also don't forget to vote for the first COTY quarter vote. I don't want to pressure you Americans, but there's a USA concept designed by a handsome young fellow. I'm not saying your country will shun you if you don't vote for it...but your country might shun you...

There's also the regular COTW vote as well as the deadline for Oilers entries...

1st Quarter Vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

COTW April 7-13 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Oilers Competition entries (due Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Speaking of Oilers entries...

David P.

Jeff H.

Leo D.

Scott M.

Stephen T.

Tom V.

And now onto the daily concepts!

St. Louis Blues Concept - Phil B.

Phil apparently likes when the Blues wear yellow. The Blue jersey doesn't look bad. Less yellow would be better though. The red trim is back too which, I didn't miss but I don't mind seeing back. The white jersey has way too much yellow and not enough blue for a team named the "Blues". Ditch the yoke on both jerseys and that would be a much better amount of yellow. All the yellow should be blue on the white jersey though.

Rating: 6/10

Colorado Rockies Modernized Concept - Christian L.

Christian modernizes the Colorado Rockies by getting rid of the yellow and giving the team the Avalanche's color scheme. So I'm not sure if this is meant to take over or the Avalanche or not. I think the new main crest is creative, but could use some refining to bring out the "C". The shoulder patches are a nice touch. I'm not sold on the hem stripe on the black jersey. It looks amateurish when it bleeds off the bottom and is so close to the edge of the hem. Just my opinion though.

Rating: 7/10


Team Canada Concept - Stephen T.

Simple fix to the Canadian jerseys from this year. Stripes on both arms and black trim. I think this works as a set better than the actual jerseys did. Add some black trim to the socks to complete the look

Rating: 7.5/10


Team USA Concept - Stephen T.

I think chest stripes would have looked good with the shield. I think there needs to be more space between the shield and the chest stripes to avoid losing the shield in the stripes. Not sold on the white stripes on the pants either. There needs to either be some red on there or no stripe at all.

Rating: 7.5/10


Team Canada Concept - Bastian

Bastian puts together a pretty good set of Canada jerseys. I like the gold trim a lot better than the black that they try to use. I normally like square yokes but they're not my favorite here. I don't think any yoke would be necessary here. On the red jersey at least, I'd get rid of the yoke, I feel like there's too much white. I'd still enjoy seeing the Canadian team taking the ice in something like these.

Rating: 8/10


Team Switzerland Concept - Bastian

I like this yoke/colored arm combo. Its a good idea to make the top of the jersey busy and interesting while the main crest is small and off to the side. I really think a "soccer style" crest could work, on at least international concepts. Outside of the crest and yoke/arms everything here is pretty basic, which isn't a bad thing in this case. It balances things out.

Rating: 8/10


Buffalo Sabres Alternate Jersey Concept - Dylan W.

Dylan proves to everyone, like almost EVERYONE has, that the Sabres new yellow alternate could have worked but they messed it up. By keeping the back yellow and the blue to the arms it keeps the jersey more traditional but with the silver cuffs and sabre-like stripes going down the arms giving it the modern touch the team clearly wanted. I personally would like to see the blue go under the collar still.  I think I had seen Dylan put this concept up somewhere and told him I didn't care for the yellow stripe on the pants, but since it's still here I'll tell him again. Hey Dylan I don't care for the yellow on the pants.

Rating: 8/10


San Jose Sharks Concept - Matt M

I'm I'm not mistaken this concept showed up on Icethetics on a Freak Out Friday. I think this could totally, absolutely work as a set IF Anaheim didn't already wear this. Even if Anaheim ditched their swoop it wouldn't look right if the Sharks "swooped" in and took it. It looks good though.

Rating: 8/10


Chicago Wolves Concept - Chris W.

Ahh the Wolves, I'm familiar with this team. Growing up about an hour from their home rink I never actually got into the AHL until my hometown Rockford Icehogs made the jump into the league. Now I see these Wolves quite a bit and a rivalry has emerged between the two teams. I'll try not to let that get in the way of my critiquing! It looks like these are alternate jersey concepts but it'd be nice to see a dark jersey to go along with these, as I'm seeing a sick white jersey and a light alternate.

I think the color balance in these jerseys is great. It's also a really nice color scheme so it's hard to mess it up. I think their current light jersey is great but I think I like this white one better. The paw print shoulder patches are nice. Straight up, nice jerseys, again, I'd like to see a dark version though, this would make a sick set.

Rating: 8.5/10

now as for the logos...

Its nice to see the stupid stick and puck gone, it ruins what could be one of the best logos in the league. Now picking these apart, Font wise, take the 1994 from 7 and put it on 6... 8 Makes a good St Pattys day alternate. I'm not sold on the font in 9 and 10. But I like the yellow roundel. On a regular set like I'm suggesting being made, maroon roundel on a white jersey, and yellow on a maroon jersey would look nice.

Rating: 8/10


Quebec Nordiques Concept - s2dio

Gotta say I'm a fan of the striping here. Especially on the blue jersey. I actually prefer this set to the fleur de lis full set of the past. And the socks go with the jerseys very well! The only thing I'd like to see differently here is the striping going all the way around the jersey. Both the hem and arms have the striping stop. At the very least the hem stripes should go all the way around. Even with that being said, I realllly like the blue jersey's striping.

Rating: 8.5 - COTW Nom - also raise the arm striping a little bit and it'd be even better...