Wednesday - Playoff (hat) Madness!

Hey Hey Hey, welcome back to HJC. Long time no see.

So, NHL and AHL playoffs are in full swing, and every year in the playoffs we start to see some new hats being worn by the players. Sometimes that new playoff hat ends up being the next season's draft hat... And I believe when we've seen see those new playoff hats these past two weeks we've been looking at next season's draft hats. I believe this because although Lids has them up by the name "2015 Playoffs Hats" but if that was true, why would there be all 30 teams? Surely they could have stopped working on a Buffalo or Edmonton hat months ago in that case.

I personally love this year's playoffs hat. The pattern along the back of the hat is the same pattern used in the 2013 Stadium Series hats and scarves that the players used. If it hadn't been for those hats and scarves I would have died at Solider Field 

I wish the AHL had some of these, I'd love to get an Icehogs one, but I guess I'll have to hope it IS the draft hat, then maybe I'll see one with a pig on it in a few months. Anyway, I'll share my second round playoff picks with you...Keeping in mind that I have Tampa Bay winning tonight...

Now that you see a good chunk of my NHL Bracket depends on Tampa Bay winning tonight....let's talk about voting.... You should do it. We've got our usual COTW vote this week as well as voting for the Pairs Competition, so help out the entrants!

COTW April 19-25 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Pairs Competition voting (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

And now, CONCEPTS

Belfast Giants Concept (EIHL) - David P.

David ditches the current primary logo in favor of their alternate logo. Good move, this logo is miles better than the other one. David has submitted a Giants concept before and it's better this time around. That sea foam green is one of my favorite colors, but I can see why it isn't used a lot, especially the main color of a jersey. I actually really dig it here, and the navy blue and red look good paired with it. Although, I'd add more navy to the white uniform, socks included, actually, you probably don't have to add more blue, just lose the extra green stripe above the striping. The name on the back looks to be low on the jersey, and the number (And captains C) are pretty small. Lastly, I'd go with a white helmet for that uniform, but still a pretty solid set all around.

Also, the advertisement is on a good part of the jersey. The butt.
Rating: 8/10


2016 Stadium Series Concept - Avalanche vs Red Wings - Dylan T.

Ah, another Dylan. We're taking over guys. Dylan applies the 2013 SS template to the uniforms here and it's not a bad look for a Stadium Series game. I'm hoping we see something new, but I don't see too many faults with the designs here. The numbers are a million times too low on the jersey though. The logos are a bit low too. It'd be nice to see the rest of the uniform.

I think the Avs' yoke could use a colored stripe, similar to what the Penguins did with theirs.

The Red Wings 2-Color Color scheme work well here. I'm sure Red Wings traditionalists would riot but that's not what Stadium Series games are for.

Lastly, huge points for getting the striping correct on the Wings jersey... The striping starts low on the front and works its way up towards the back....But why isn't it like this on the Avalanche jersey!?!

Rating: 7/10


Colorado Avalanche Alternate Jersey Concept - Jamie R.

Jamie takes the Avs' current alternate and makes it red/maroon/whatever. He leaves out the colored pit stain, good idea. He replaced the "Colorado" wordmark with an "Avalanche" one. Lateral move. I prefer the team name but the argument for city pride can be made. My issue with their current blue jersey is that the striping looks odd to me...the contrast between the red and blue is odd, but it works better here. This is a pretty good improvement. I'm assuming we'd see a black helmet and black gloves with this.

Rating: 8.5/10


New York Islanders Concept - Ryan C.

I'm surprised with the Islanders moving we're not getting a full new set of jerseys or a new logo or something. All we get out of it is a new alternate jerseys, and from the hints we've been giving, we probably won't like them. The current blue is also replaced by navy blue, making its return to an Islanders jersey. This new set is very old school hockey. Chest stripes, roudnel logos. I just heard the button on McElroy's jeans pop off.

Ok, for the logo, the NY is a neat logo but it doesn't fit in the circle right. It makes the roundel logo very top heavy. Try centering the NY in the circle and having the hockey stick pop out.

The uniforms use a classic hockey look that's hard to screw up. The numbers on the dark jersey may end up being hard to read though.

Rating: 7.5/10

And there it is. Wednesday is complete. Hump Day.... it's over guys. It's bedtime. I don't care what time of day or night you're reading this. Tuck in and get some rest. Thursday's a-comin'.