International Canada Day

Well, normally I would maybe talk a bit about the new jerseys and jersey tweaks that were introduced over the past week, but everyone else has basically done that, so I'll do the quick version.

Anaheim Jersey Update - K
Arizona Jerseys - Meh - 5/10
Arizona Secondary Logo - Hmm... - 7/10
Colorado Logo - Meh - 5/10
Columbus Secondary Logo - Nice! - 8/10
Edmonton Alternate Jersey - Neat! - 9/10
Montreal Jersey Updates - Nice Update!!! - 10/10
Washington Alternate Jersey - Neat and Not Surprised! - 8/10

Ok cool, glad that's out of the way. Also, Free Agency starts today. I'm not even going to start to touch that one since there's been so much done today. The big deal of the day so far is the Kessel trade. If you want more on the deals of the day. Here's Twitter...

In other news, My favorite, Antti Raanta got traded the other day so I am going to go crawl up and just die... but no wait, what's that Blackhawks? You're going to make it better by signing Saad? NO WAIT NOOOO...dead...

Go vote while I'm dead.

HJC Open Round Robin Voting (Ends Friday July 3 @ 11:59pm Eastern)

COTW June 21-27 poll (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Texas Stars Alternate Jersey Concept - Daryl D.

Dallas' AHL counterpart recently rebranded, killing off the gold in the Stars' color scheme. Good riddance. They badly needed the rebrand. Daryl doesn't want to see it go though. I just have to say it. This looks like one big sloppy mish mash of past and present. We have the new logos on the chest and shoulders, but the wordmark is slanted. Even if the slant is on purpose, it just looks sloppy. If the logo had been designed with a slant in it that would be a different story. Now the biggest issue I have with this concept is the gold and silver trying to coexist on the jersey. The silver and gold just doesn't look good together. The gold is dead. Either let it die, or kill off the silver and replace it with gold. The star pattern seems out of place on the green and gold pants which are also way out of place. There's really no easy way to save this one. It's gotta go back to the drawing board. Sorry Daryl.

Rating: 3/10


Langley Rivermen (BCHL) Concept  - Vaughn R.

I like the color scheme, and I like the primary logo. The diagonal wordmark is unnecessary. It's on the alternate jersey which is fine, but it doesn't belong on the shoulders. You can't see it. I think the thin stripes on the hem and sleeves needs to be thickened up a bit. The color of the name and numbers on the home jersey are fine, but you can't read the name, TV numbers, or Captain's C on the away jersey.

Rating: 5/10

The Rangers-Langley script finds its way onto the front of the jersey where it should be. Too bad the jersey is basically a solid blue jersey. The cream colored stripes are so thin they might as well not even be there. The thickness between the arm/hem stripes on phantom yoke aren't even consistent. Beef those bad boys up Vaughn! If you want to keep the numbers dark blue, they need an outline. Although, personally, I'd keep them cream like everything else on the jersey.

Rating: 4/10


Arizona Coyotes Concept - If Nike Took Over Series - Ben M.

If recent reports are true, these 'Yotes may be relocated to Las Vegas soon... But before that, let's look at Ben's Nike 'Yotes. Patterns return to the striping, but the pattern here doesn't pop out enough, from further away it would just look like a red stripe with some dots in it. I don't like the font selection either. The font says "1800's baseball" or "Wild Wild West" and neither of those really fit with the Kachina style you're aiming for here. The alternate is interesting, but why darken the colors? Maybe it's a good idea, since that sunburst paired with the striping patterns would be kind of gaudy, brighten and simplify that baby up.

Rating: 4/10


Team Young Stars Concept - Lucas D.

Lucas has an idea for the young stars team in the World Cup next year. I would think Seguin makes Canada's national team, but that's not what I'm here to discuss. The color scheme combines the U.S. and Canada color schemes, but perhaps something more neutral to set them apart from the two national teams would be better. Lucas calls for a national team patch to designate where the player is from to be located on the shoulder, but as a coach I wouldn't want that. I would want to preach that they're not really playing for their country, but rather for all the young stars. I like the striping on the hem/pants/socks. The sleeve striping seems out of place. Add an outline to at least the numbers, and add some numbers onto the sleeve. The logo needs a lot of work as well. I think the jersey itself is close to being a decent jersey, but the identity of the team could use some work.

Rating: 5/10


Slovan Bratislava HC Concept - Max R.

Kind of fitting for a team that kind of jacked the Penguins' old logo to wear a jersey that takes some characteristics of an old Penguins' jersey. I think the Penguins did it better, since the logo itself didn't wrap around the jersey. Make the logo its own thing like that, and have the design that wraps around the jersey its own thing. Also, the left side of the jersey just looks bare and boring now. The jersey is unbalanced. It's an interesting idea, that could make a decent alternative, but it needs some refining.

Rating: 6/10


Washington Wizards Concept - NBA-NHL Series - Taylor R.

This may be the first concept in Taylor's NBA series that I'm not on board with. I really love the Wizards' actual uniforms, and I've always thought that they'd carry over to a hockey jersey well. I still think they could, but not the way Taylor's done it. The roundel logo already has striping in it, and it is clashing with the chest striping on the jersey. I think the wordmarks found on their basketball uniforms is the best bet if you want to keep the chest striping. The striping on the arms, socks, and pants seems to come out of nowhere. I'd try to keep the striping pattern consistent with either the logo or the chest stripes. The shoulder logo outside of the yoke bugs me as well. The one thing I'm a fan of is the star on the pants' striping, except or the white box under the star. If you make the star either white or blue you wouldn't need that box. I'm confident this could be saved, but I'm kind of disappointed because Taylor's NBA series has been immaculate and I had high hopes for the Wizards.

Rating: 6/10


And that's your hump-day everybody. I apologize if any of my critiques came across as harsh, but I just wasn't super impressed with today's batch of concepts, plus Saad and Raanta got traded over the past few days, so maybe I'm just taking it out on you guys... maybe... I'm not crying you're crying.