Friday: A Strange Post None the Less

TGIF!

It's been news for a while but the yellow Sabres alternate is done at the end of the year. I have one question: Why did they scrap the amazing faux-back from 2010? Sure, it was a 40th anniversary jersey and one that was meant to be temporary, but after looking at the jersey again, it's one of my favourites in recent memory. The Turd-burger is a jersey I like simply because it existed. Something as awful as it made it through not only preliminary design process, but test groups & the players! Same thing goes for Tampa Bay's black jersey. Good design scrapped for another one that sucks!

Since when is this...

Photo from diebytheblade.com

...more beautiful than this?

Photo from usatoday.net 

#AllSabresjerseysarebeautiful # Staydeadtrudburger

Just a little bit of satire before we get to the actually jersey news.

Last week, we knew very little about what the remaining California AHL teams were going to do logo wise. Sure, the Condors were keeping their name, but they unveiled this on April Fools... so anything was possible. As for San Jose...No one had any idea, I was pushing for Seals but that was unlikely. Today, we now know the remaining logos.

First stop, Bakersfield, where the Condors have adapted the Oilers's colour scheme.

Photo from Bakersfield Condors official Facebook page

The condor itself does remain the same, though he's now blue, silver and orange instead of black, tan and maroon, a lateral move, but it still keeps the Condor's iconic logo intact, The font changes slightly, and this is my only problem with the logo. It remains the same shape and such, but with a second outline. How awesome would it have been if the font looked like this! Something more professional and less...ECHL/minor league would have looked better.

Still I like it!

Here's hoping they don't just wear Oilers copies! 

Rating: 7.5/10

Next, the San Jose....BARRACUDA (Insert obvious Heart joke here). The name sounds okay, it's better than another Sharks team, also nice there's another team in professional hockey without an S in there name (The ultimate hockey trivia questions...Avalanche, Wild, Lightning)

Let's look at the logo & jerseys, yes we got the jerseys too.

Photo from sharks.nhl.com

Um....is this for outside the arena....or advertising. It's not really a logo meant for jersey, and obviously this logo isn't what's on the jersey. The fish itself look good, a neat take on the Sharks theme. The font looks good too. Now... on to what most people have a problem with, the waves in the background. They're supposed to resemble the waves of Barracuda Networks, the team's sponsor. Am I against sponsored logos?...Not really, the Mooseheads have a pretty good logo and they're logo is a beer company's logo (a decent beer at that). The Peterborough Petes used to be sponsored by the Toronto Peterborough Transit company, the Oshawa Generals were sponsored by GM, it's not that uncommon. As long as it looks good, it's fine by me, this looks good, good by me.

Rating: 8.5/10

Photo from sharks.nhl.com

And....well...yeah, they're just wearing Sharks jerseys, aside from the alternate. I understand why AHL teams wear NHL templates to cut costs, but, something a little more unique always looks better. That being said the logo looks good on the jersey, and we get a nice SJ shoulder patch, which is centre stage on the orange jersey. The orange jersey is the stand out jersey to me, looks great. The font is also different, resembling the waves more than the blocky Sharks font, nice touch.  Wish there was more silver like on the logo. 

Rating: 8/10

and that's the way the AHL is. 

COTW voting ends tonight! Do it, takes 5 seconds!

COTW Mar 22-28 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

We got 6 wonderful concepts today, let's check them out!

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Colorado Avalanche Concepts (By: Mike S.)

+ I'm really warming up to the idea of the Avs wearing blue as a primary colour
+ Keeping the arm stripping from the current alternate while adding the mountain stripe from the 90's are a nice combination
+ Great execution, as expected from Mike
+ Officially in favour of the Avs wearing tie-down
+ Anything is better than what the Avs wear now (minus the alternate)

- The colours on the white jersey make it look like the burgundy is going to be the main colour of the blue jersey,  more blue would fix that
- Pixely outline on the logo on the white jersey
- Pants are blank, and could use anything to make them more exciting, even a logo

Rating: 8.5/10

Dallas Stars Concept (By: Brian B.)

+ Eventually, the Stars will unveil a black alternate eventually, and there are a lot of good aspects to this type of alternate
+ The Mooterus arm steps with the star look great without the red
+ The sides may look like the Ducks but it matches the arms

- The jersey and gear are really plain, no helmet logo, no pants anything, no shoulder patch
- The collar horns need some green to balance the colours
- The primary logo is much too small
- The NOB is too small and the numbers are too high

Rating: 6/10

Toronto St. Pats Concept (By: Dallas K.)

+ Totally in favour of the Leafs doing something like this on St. Paddy's day
+ Like the vintage cues, like no NOB, T shoulder patch
+ As much as I like the the St. Pats jerseys, a green Leafs jersey is really intriguing

- That being said this jersey would wear thin after a few seasons
- The font of the logo is super tiny, I can barely read it
-The curvy 90's C doesn't match the numbers

Rating: 7/10

Minnesota Wild Concepts (By: Brandon C.)

+ Thanks for IDing your concepts, Brandon!
+ Minnesota really pulls off the vintage look really well, they may be the only team in the NHL that can work without white
+ Those yokes stripes look amazing
+ Striping simple enough and it works

- I would have not used the cuffs/yoke and put the vintage white/green around the stripes
- Not a huge fan of the font, thinner outline works better
- Red font on white jersey, after seeing how good it looks on their current away, is a must now

Rating: 9/10 - COTW Nom from me!

Colorado Avalanche Concept (By: Dallas K.)

+ The C from the Colorado flag would make an excellent alternate logo
+ Vintage white could also work for the Avs, especially in a design like this without their primary
+ Striping looks great
+ I'm in favour of a coloured name back

- That being said, a blue one would look much better
- Numbers need an outline
- The silver, while if there was some separation between the other colours, would look amazing, bleeds into the burgundy and blue

Rating: 8.5-10, would go well with Mike's set above

Nashville Predators Concept (By: Christian L.)

+ The side panels look amazing! Seriously, it would be a great way to get a fang/claw design into the Preds
+ Solid colour balancing
+ Like the font, like a modernization of the racing numbers from a dozen or so years ago
+ Excellent execution

- Where's the guitar pick logo? Those pants are looking an awful bit blank, maybe it could go there
- Arm stripes would look better if they were angled

Rating: 8.75/10

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That's the post!
Remember to vote for COTW!
Go Jets Go!
Have a great long weekend, if you do the Easter thing, hope you find the chocolate eggs now and not at Christmas when it's become a mess of brown melt and fun smells.