Friday: Double Toronto Day

TGIF! Welcome to the Friday post!

Welp I'm back in the GTA for this post and not writing it 6 days in advance so things should be recent. I did not expect this free agency period to have to much activity, especially with Saad & Oshie. I knew Saad had to move as Blackhawks wanted to keep their core, however, the Blue Jackets took that opportunity to gain such a great player for long term and add to what is still a young core that given the circumstances that made them so poor this year, will be a division contender next year with New York's teams. Washington also picked up a solid player in Oshie, but I thought the Blues would not want to give him up. The Blues have lost their core that got them back to being so great (I'm by no means saying they are bad, but now with Oshie, Perron, E. Johnson, Sobotka, Jansen gone and possibly Shattenkirk too the team has gone a totally different direction from when they first became good again).

Jersey wise...nothing new until St. John's unveils their jerseys later this month but I'm disappointed in the Condors...but they did unveil their awesome shoulder patch, which makes them better than Ontario, San Jose and whatever team just slaps their logo on their NHL team's jersey without even a new shoulder patch (I think Rockford is in this category until we see the Pig Butt again, sorry D.Bro).

Hey, you know what you should do? Vote for the HJC open!!!! It's the 2nd biggest thing in HJC's year and biggest contest, so why not vote in it? You only have 3 days and what do ya know? Today's the last day to vote?  Imagine that eh? Probably should um...get on that...if you haven't already...


COTW & COTY June voting are also important and I mean if you haven't voted already with the new voting system, it's high time you did so, it's right in front of you as you read this!

HJC Open Quarter Semi-Final entries (due Tuesday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

COTY-June vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

COTW June 28-July 4 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

On to the concepts!

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Anaheim Ducks Concepts (By: Matt G.)

+ Since the Ducks swept the Jets in the playoffs and are big stupid heads, I really think they need to go to more likeable colours, and teal, purple & orange are brighter , and better than the drab black, gold and orange

+ Love the simple layered striping pattern, the orange stripe on top is a nice addition and brings more colour that would otherwise just be in the logo

+ The original ducks logo with minor alterations makes a nice shoulder patch

+ The numbers are a solid update 

+ Great execution 

- The NOB is hard to read and would look better squared 

- The gloves would look better with a more interesting design 

Rating: 9.25/10 COTW Nom from Me!

Toronto Maple Leafs Concepts (By: Matt G.)

+ I've slowly grown to like the 60's Leafs striping, and while it's hard to say whether the current pattern or this is better, it still looks great

+ The filled Leafs/70's shoulder patch has a less is more feel on the concept, and matches the numbers 

+ It'd be great to see a white version of the Winter Classic jersey

- I'm not sure if the 40's-mid 60's logo looks good with the 30's striping

- It's very minor, but the alternate would look much better with a white collar and blue laces 

Rating: 9/10

San Diego Gulls IHL Concepts (By: Ryan C.)

+ I've always been a fan of the IHL Gulls logo, and it looks sharp in both versions

+ The numbers look solid with the logo, the little tuft on the end match the bill 

- These jersey are really plain! This team played in the mid 90's, an era where the most exciting and out there designs came out, and the logo, despite being simple would look much better with a non traditional jersey, and would make this concept a lot more interesting.

- Without shoulder patches, the jersey is very plain without changing the whole design 

Rating- 5.5/10

Toronto Marlies AHL Concept (By: Phil B.)

+ It's a best of both worlds, with the double blue of the modern Marlies meeting the classic Marlies logo and jersey

+ The logo looks fantastic with double blue

+ The simple striping also plays well with the logo, and doesn't crowd the details in the crown and such

- When the Marlies unveiled their throwback alternate, they didn't use this template, since, even with the outline, it is a Flyers jersey, and I get that the light blue cuffs make the design more unique, but using something like what the Kings with this pattern would look much more unique

- The pants need double blue 

Rating: 7/10

Captain Phasma Star Wars Concept (By: Ryan G.)

+ I dig all the grey, and the black and dark red come together nicely

+ The piping actually matches the logo

+ One thing I've always liked on Ryan's Star Wars concepts are the numbers and effort to match them work on a hockey jersey

- The reason why teams very rarely wear the same colour all the way across their jerseys is because i makes them look like they're wearing a Onsie. Black pants would solve that

- The details in the logo are hard to see with the colours 

- The yoke is red but the largest part of the striping is black, it doesn't match

Rating: 6.25/10

Tampa Bay Lightning Concept (By: Chase C.)

+ I really dig how good the modern Lightning logo looks with something similar to what the 90's Lightning wore, the blue and black really pop off of each other 

+ The striping is like an inverted version of the original Lightning jersey

+ It's another best of both worlds concept, minus something things missing from the current look 

- It's pretty obvious this is a recolouring of a jersey from Sportslogos.net, with the Player 97, stitching box the way the striping stops on the blue stripe but then continues through. Granted the jersey is original, but using a more open template leaves you with more room to wiggle. If this is a from scratch template, then using original numbers like a player, a tag or your name make it easier to tell it is such a way

- Primary logo and NOB are much too small and shoulder patches are almost needed on the shoulders to keep Tampa's jerseys interesting 

- The Lightning on the pants is very scratchy and would look better if it were a bolt like they currently wear

Rating: 6/10

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That;s the post! 

Don't forget to get all your votes in for COTW, COTY & HJC OPEN 2nd Round 

Go Jets Go! 

Have an awesome weekend!