Tuesday: The Final Tank Stretch

There are nine games left in my Buffalo Sabres season. These nine are probably the most important in our teams future. Landing that 30th spot will make me one happy hockey fan. Winning the lottery is another story. My Sabres face off against Arizona twice in the final nine games. The other team in the running for 30th. I will be attending Thursday's game and will be cheering on the dear Coyotes. Losing at least one of the two in regulation is my goal. I know how bad the Coyotes are but do you all understand how bad the Sabres are? Last night we lost 4-3 against Dallas. We allowed the final two goals in the last 5 minutes. We were out corsi'd 101-44. That's 101 shot ATTEMPTS Dallas had. Our luck hasn't been the best for us this season. We trade our goalies and the goalies we start all have ridiculous games, and other teams kick the puck in their own net. Perfect. 

So all of you know. Buffalo is the worst team in the NHL in shot differential and corsi number. 
The best Corsi differential team (5v5) in the NHL is Chicago with about a +500. Pretty good for one of the best teams in the league. The Sabres on the other hand are the worst with....  -1,600. Yes, I did not add another zero. We have 1,600 less shot attempts this season than we've allowed.

Arizona is contending for 30th and they're around -100. They have about 1,000 more shot attempts than us. Our goalie situation this year and lucky bounces have killed us. Judging by these stats you'd think we should be in 30th by at least 20 points. But I'm here biting my finger nails. 

That being said, where do you want McDavid to go? Jack Eichel? Obviously you might want them for your team, but if you had to choose a different team for them to go to, who would it be? My answer is Arizona. It's in the Western Conference. It's quiet, not a huge market, maybe less pressure on him like Erie. I also cross my fingers they move to Quebec later on, so that would be cool to see that move with him on the team.

Enough with my story that no one cares about. Onto some concepts that you artists spent some time on. 

COTW Mar 15-21 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Video Game Comp vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

 Los Angeles Kings Concept - Brandon C.

We start off today with a full set for LA made by Brandon. Brandon eliminates any trace of black and gold and keeps it classy with a purple(forum blue?) and gray. Overall it looks very nice. No real execution problems. The logo is clean and the design is nice. Would this fit in the NHL? With the Devils look being roughly the exact same, I don't think so. When it comes to concepts though, realistic situations should be thrown out the window. As for the logo I would actually like to see it back. Not as a primary but on an alternate. I'm not sure how that logo runs with LA fans, I'm sure they would prefer their current one but I'm not sure. I was always a fan for this one. Good concept, clean, and nice. Classy for a king.

Rating: 8.2/10

Los Angeles Kings 3rd - Brandon C.

Brandon's alternate jersey that goes along with the set above does a nice job of unifying the look but giving it something new. Again, everything is nice and clean and classy. I just don't know if it separates itself as a concept that makes me want to drop my jaw or anything. It looks good, what can I say? For this one I think some shoulder patches could help out. Maybe just the crown by itself or maybe the 'LA' logo that they had for the SS but changes a bit to fit the font in the logo. 

Rating: 8/10 - Nothing special, but it looks good. 

Calgary Flames Concept - Christian L. 

 Christian takes a simple cookie cutter template but makes it worthy enough to be on the ice in my opinion. This design would be awesome as a full time. Make a white version! It's bright, which I like and it's flamey??? I don't know I'm just making up adjectives now because it's a very cool look. If I had to have a gripe with it I would choose the sock design. I would have it white at the very bottom and having the yellow stripes following it up. If I had to choose an execution error and nit pick I would say the TV numbers are a tad large. It's always hard to size up one number. I'm thinking if you had a double number it might be hugging the edge of the sleeve design. Honestly though, does it hurt the look of the concept? Not a chance. Lovely.

Rating: 9.2/10

San Jose Sharks Concept - J3

 J3 also takes somewhat of a cookie cutter template but adds some spice to it. In my opinion it looks good but theres just something about it that irritates me like a mosquito. Maybe it's because I hate seeing it on both Ottawa and and Pittsburgh. And also the memories of Tampa Bay using a similar look. I love the small orange outlines. The white and black work well together. It's a nice look. It stays simple but has a nice look to distinguish it from a regular traditional jersey. Execution wise the numbers seem a little low on the jersey. Maybe it's just a weird template in that regard but I'm imagining a hem design and it looks like it would almost cut the numbers off. On another note, the logo looks pretty good with the tail swooping above rather than below. It keeps it balanced. I'm a fan.

Rating: 7.9/10

Iowa Wild Concept - Jake88

 Jake continues Minnesota's classy jerseys to their farm club. The white looks marvelous. The striping is beauty. Normally I might think the wheat outlines are pointless because it's a white jersey but I think it helps with the aged look. The dark jersey is simple. It's weird because it's not your typical hockey jersey but if you think about it, it's very very simple. It looks great though. It's like taking Minnesota's home jersey and enlarging the design. Fantastic look. It keeps true to the Minnesota identity that they want to keep but it differentiates the look so they can have their own.  No complaints. 

Rating: 9.2/10

Team Canada - Phil B.

 Team Canada concepts. Adding in that gold is something they need to do. However, there are some annoyances I have with this concept that when fixed can look really good. The one big one I have is consistency. This one is difficult because it's hard to fix. The white jersey is the standout in this set. It looks good, for the most part. The striping looks great because the gold can stand out on white and the red compliments it on it's own. I would say on the yoke to match that stripes. Put a white space between the gold and red. The red jersey is where it gets difficult. You want to match the design but the gold on the red gets so lost and you almost can't see it at all from a small view. Looking on TV or in the crowd might do the same thing. Easy solution is brightening up the gold. Like using the gold that you have for the background. If you want to keep that gold though you might need outlines or not having a gap between the white stripes. Close but no cigar for me on this one. The red jersey could use the fixes. 

Rating : 7/10

Florida Panthers SS Concept - Tyler F.

I will start off in saying that Florida needs to add a yellow jersey. They need to give it a shot. I know gold jerseys are starting to be more wanted and some might be annoyed but come on, they need one. A Stadium Series game might be perfect for it. Bringing back the head logo from their old alternate is a cool idea. I would match the yellow though in the jersey. The off gold is distracting and I think unnecessary. The jersey design as a whole is really traditional. Nothing wrong with it. I think the round yoke could be worked on a bit. I think it would look really nice if it was a square yoke with either red straight ends  or just a empty blue squared off yoke. Execution problem is the hem stripe. Should be lower. The front of the jersey, where it shows the back at the bottom is blue but it wouldn't be blue when made. Also the shoulder patches look too high placed. Should lower them down more and maybe reduce the size. Make those changes and I would be a big fan. My opinion though. 

Rating: 7.1/10

The end of today's post came fast didn't it? Two concepts tied in rating today. Both very nice and would love to see them produced. In my opinion I have to give it to the design that goes out of the norm. My COTW goes to Christians Calgary Alternate.

It did a great job of being it's own design but having the classic feel to it. It's like a modern classic. Jake's concept is very deserving though, maybe some of you can help him out in the comments. Or help out the other concepts in the post. 

What are your thoughts on today's concepts? Help me out, did I miss anything? Do you completely hate my opinion? Let me know let me know. However, let me know without that Anonymous tag. No one likes a rant that is posted by Anonymous. 

Have a great Tuesday viewers! I will be going to my first ever live show tonight and will be seeing Bo Burnham. So excited!