Tuesday: Let the Offseason Begin!

A time of the year begins with no hockey games. Fortunately for me and other teams who need to make a lot of changes it should still be a very exciting time. The Stanley Cup goes back to Chicago for the third time in six years. If it wasn't a dynasty before then it's definitely a dynasty now. The best part for Chicago? They are still going to be a great team. Sure they have some salary cap problems nearing but losing Sharp and maybe Seabrook/Hjarmalsson is a small problem but with who they will keep I don't see it putting a dent in their team.

Along with Chicago you have LA and Boston needing to dump off some salary. So there should be a lot of moves and rumors to look forward to the next coming months. Hearing Rick Nash is on the block too. I have a feeling this offseason is going to be a big trade bait one. Whether or not trades get done is up to the teams front offices, but regardless, I love rumors. A lot of people hate them simply because it's all talk but I love discussing different options. For instance the rumor with Nash is that the Sabres could be a big landing spot. Most of us don't want him here, simply he doesn't fit the mold we are going for but it has sparked a lot of debate about how he could be used. Ryan O'Reilly on Colorado is also a big name to be moved. A lot of teams interested, as they should be. Will he be gone?

Leave a comment on this post - let me know who your favorite team is and tell us a move or two you'd like to see them make, who you'd like them to draft and any other idea you have for your team. It's called the off-season but to hockey fans it's just another type of season.

Also, to any Bruins fan thinking you can trade with Buffalo for the Eichel spot, you have a better chance at Tyler Seguin winning the cup for you. Enough babbling! Onto the post!

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

Two Colour Comp entries (due Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

-Competition Entries-

Avi Stein

Andrew W.

Jared L.

Jake88

Mike S.

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Guelph Storm Concept - Brandon C.

 We will start off our nine post day with dual concepts from Brandon. Both OHL concepts. I've never been a fan of this Guelph logo so right away there is a small hit on the rating game. As for the jerseys I'm going to have to lean towards these to be better than the ones they wear. I love adding the gray and making that a bigger part of the whole teams look. Striping is simple but looks nicely executed throughout the design. It's a good traditional design. Part of me would like to see the Storm with a more crazy design but as far as looks go, this is a very nice one.

Rating: 8.2/10

Hamilton Bulldogs Concept - Brandon C.

 The new OHL team gets a color reboot. Can't say I'm a fan of the color change to be honest. I think there could be better options. I was never a fan of the oilers color scheme and it looks like it's roughly the same here. It's just that a red, white, dark blue, copper scheme doesn't float my boat. I do like how you changed them up though. As far as design speaking it's nice. Reminds me of the old Oilers jerseys. The white jersey I think is the better of the two. Partly because of less copper. I know some people who liked the old Oilers look though so obviously the dislike of copper could just be me.

Rating: 7.5/10

Calgary Cowboys Concept - CPM

 I like the addition of text under the hat for the logo. It's a very simple design. I do have a couple complaints. The font for the player name and number doesn't work with me. While I do think it fits the Cowboys name I simply just don't like it on the back of a hockey jersey. Seems like a roller hockey jersey. Also the simple striping you have is kind of flipped when bringing in the 4 yoke stripes you added. It's like the yoke doesn't fit on the jersey. I don't know how I would go about fixing that though. You would either have to change the stripes to have 2 or 3 or only have 2 or 3 yoke stripes. Keep it, leave it, change it, I don't know it's almost to classic jersey material but could use some edits.

Rating: 7.9/10

Anaheim Ducks Concept - Danny R.

 Hmmmm.. can never go wrong with a Mighty Ducks logo. Especially on orange. I love the looks that people make with this idea. I mean, most of the time it's a recolor or a small edit of the old Ducks look and I can't complain. This looks like a mashup of all the jerseys from the Mighty Ducks era. As much as I want and love how terrible the wild wing jersey was..I don't think I'd want to see the font back unless it was on a wild wing jersey. I do like the yoke and the striping but I feel it could have been balanced more. Making the yoke majority black could have made this jersey fit better. Or vice versa making the black hem white. To be honest though I think making the yoke black is the better choice. It's a nice design, I just feel could be executed better with color placement.

Rating: 7.2/10

Colorado Avalanche Concept - Danny R.

 Danny comes back with a great jersey. The design I think it's almost flawless. There could be some argument with a rounded yoke and sharp stripes. In fact I've said that multiple times before. For some reason though I'm a fan of the whole idea. The color balance is great and I love the Colorado blue. I know a lot of Avalanche fans prefer the burgundy but I'd rather see blue as the main primary soon. I know this is probably supposed to be a third jersey but I'd put the primary logo on it anyways. I think the script is getting a little close to the striping, and to put it simply I think it would look so much better. This is nomination worthy, have to wait until the end of the post to see if it does get nominated by me!

Rating: 8.8/10

Calgary Flames Concept - Nick B.

 The Man Who Never Disappoints. As I like to call him, Nick Burton now will give us his two jerseys for the day. Calgary needs to get a black jersey in their arsenal. This could be a very nice filler. I really like the whole direction. It's almost a modern vintage look. I really do like a lot of the look you gave I just question the white used for the numbers and logo. I just don't know if it fits the rest of the look you provided. It throws me off compared to the rest of the jersey. I'd like to see the white be replaced by yellow. Just to see. Maybe the name can stay white because it's a black jersey. Theres a lot of ways you can go with this though. I'd like to see a touch up, but it's still nice the way you have it.

Rating: 8.3/10

Nashville Predators Concept - Nick B.

 When will Nashville introduce a third jersey to match their home and road? Who knows if and when they will but when they do is there any question it will be blue? This could be a very good start if they choose to do so. It's simple, modern and gives a little character in the arm striping. The collar brings in the Nike collars that used to be worn in the Swift set. I like this. I have no real complaint. It looks nice, I would be a fan of purchasing one if it hit the market. Do I think it's amazing? Do I think it's gorgeous, well, that might be taking it overboard. However, for what it's going for Nick did a great job.

Rating: 8.8/10

Chicago Wolves Concept - Ryan C.

 Chicago Wolves are a weird team. Few teams that have a color scheme that's almost non existent in their logo. Ryan changes that notion and gives them a very different look than what they have. For the most part, I am a small fan to what you gave. I think the red accent you gave the stripes could be used more throughout the jersey. Yoke, collar, numbers. Just making it a small accent everywhere could give this look more character. I think the striping with the red is nice but it gets to bland up near the shoulders without it. Adding the red to be full accent color could make this look even better.

Rating: 7.9/10

Ottawa Senators Concept - Taylor S.

Not sure if I've ever rated a concept by Taylor, so from me, welcome to HJC. This alternate jersey gives Ottawa almost a recolor to their alternate. Sorry Taylor, I'm going to be real nit picky but it's just to make you a better designer in my opinion. Again, it's my opinion so you could totally disagree with me, and that's fine. First things first. I like that logo you picked but I like it even better with the roundel it comes with. Taking that off makes it just look like a decapitated head. It seems incomplete in the bottom left. It just looks like an off balanced logo without the roundel. Next is the back stripe. I'm okay with a chest stripe on the front not going onto the back, but when it's only on the back I think it's a bad design element. You want that design to be part of the main forward facing look. The back is something you should add design pieces on. For instance if someone got a blank jersey there would just be a random stripe there. However, if you bring it onto the front to then it's not just random, it fits their. Onto the color choices, I do like the gold, bronze Ottawa has but I'd be more of a fan if it was just an accent color. It think when it meshes with the red it kind of gets a puke vibe to it. I'd say this concept would benefit from adding white. You have it on the number and name but it's nowhere to be found anywhere else. If you do keep the colors though I think adding red to the yoke would make that fit the concept better. 

Last execution notice is to make sure there are TV numbers. Name and Captain patch should be larger, and on NHL jerseys the CCM logo does not appear on the front. Nice start to what you have, just working towards making small steps to improve will go a long way. 

Rating: 6.3/10

The end of the post has arrived. I know some of you are probably a fan of that, right? My nomination, while it was tough to choose, I pick Nick's Nashville Concept. To me the big difference is that Danny's Colorado script was in place of a logo. Logo is a huge part of a concept and I just felt that without the primary, or another type of logo in place of the script it was just a tad weaker. 

What did you guys think of the concepts? Agree with me? Disagree? Let me hear it in the comments along with your off-season plans! See you next week Tuesday!