Wednesday: Dylan A's Stadium Series Reviews

Hello there HJC and Happy Thanksgiving Eve my fellow Americans! I hope you're all ready for a day of food followed by a day of GREAT DEALS! Speaking of great deals, maybe you'll find some great deals on new Stadium Series jerseys on Black Friday or Cyber Monday...

That's right! I'm sure you saw yesterday, but over the last two days we finally got a look at the remaining Stadium Series jerseys that had yet to be revealed and now we know what all 6 outdoor jerseys will look like. I already spoke about the Winter Classic jerseys, so I'll tackle the Stadium Series jerseys now.

But, before I get into it, go vote now...

COTW Nov 15-21 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

First up, Detroit @ Colorado...

Technically this game is the last to be played but the teams revealed their jerseys first.

Colorado Avalanche Twitter

The Avs showed this off back in September! We've been waiting over 2 months to see the other 3 jerseys! This was our first glimpse at what would end up being a very bold and simple set of jerseys for the Stadium Series. No chrome logos, no slanty numbers.... nothing weird.... Last season's SS game saw two tone jerseys and some white pants, but the jerseys were pretty simple overall, this year saw that trend continue. The Avs will wear white at home with some pretty simple sleeves. I really like the simplified color scheme but the Avs will not let the color black go. It looks out of place on the logo and on the collar. If the circle in the logo and the collar were light blue this may end up being the best looking Stadium Series jersey, and maybe best Avs jersey.... the number 5280 (feet in a mile) is on the collar which is... whatever, you'll never see it unless you're close, but it's unnecessary. We also got to see the return of the huuuuge TV numbers that debuted in last season's game.

Rating: 7.5/10

Detroit Red Wings Twitter

Then finally, two days ago, the Red Wings show these off. The sash design had been reported and it turned out to be correct. I was very skeptical of a sash design, but then the logo leaked in some Reebok catalogs and I was on board. The new D logo is very slick, and the sash looks good. My only issue with these is that the white on the sleeves starts way too high, leaving the sleeves with a half/half design that I don't care for. I'd rather the white start more towards the cuffs, or just normal sleeve stripes. The "Red Wings" on the collar is unnecessary, so it looks like a new trend is forming with these Stadium Series jerseys... The huge numbers are also back... Overall... I wouldn't mind this jersey sticking around and becoming a new alternate or something if they made the fixes I'd want to see. It hurts to say, but this is a good looking jersey....

Rating; 8.5/10

Chicago Blackhawks

Yesterday morning the Chicago Blackhawks showed off their jersey. I'd been waiting for this one the most. This is the third new Blackhawks jersey in three years... I feel spoiled... Granted, one of those, the 2014 Stadium Series jersey, is ugly and I hated it and I never want one, but last year's Winter Classic jersey made up for it. This really surprised me, I was expecting a color swap of either Colorado's jersey or Detroit's jersey... but the Blackhawks have their own look... mostly. The big yoke remains and the foldover collar is there, but wait, what's that? The 4 Chicago Flag Stars on a white collar but it turns to black... This took a while for me to process and it's had a day to sink in... I really dig it. I really dig the sleeve striping being blown up really big. I had guessed from the early teasers that the sleeves may be candy caned... one more stripe and they would have been. I think I would have preferred that now, thinking about it, either 4 thick black stripes and have a black and white jersey as a nod to the very first Blackhawks jerseys, or go black/white/red/white/ the repeat. I think it would have worked very very well. The tomahawk C logo goes back on the arm like it did for last year's Winter Classic as a nod to the jerseys of the 50's. So that's three SS Jerseys that have a modern feel to them while acknowledging the past. Best part of this whole jersey though, is that the Blackhawk head and the C logo are stitched on with all their beautiful details like they are on the normal jerseys... no printed logos, no chrome, no gimmicks...

Rating: 9/10    I'll definitely be getting this jersey

So after three jerseys we're seeing a really good mix of past/present/future. It's a very good mix of jerseys this year, even if I see a lot of negative reception from fans online... but, as I'm sure a lot of you notice, the people who complain about some of these jerseys are the douchenozzles who will buy a counterfeit black ice jersey or something stupid like that... So a lot of them have no taste and their opinion is wrong........ 'Dylan that's mean' "Dylan are you joking?' Of course I'm joking...or am I?

Minnesota Wild Twitter

Lastly, the Wild. Dark jersey, wheat colored yoke, simple stripes... hot damn, this is a solid jersey. Nothing fancy about it. Plus they showed it off in full uniform, which is how it should be. We get to see the socks and pants with it, and look at that big M on the pants. I dig it. I wouldn't mind the Wild basing a whole set off of this jersey. It suits them. I think the logo has to be moved down so it isn't so close to the captain's C though. The State of Hockey patch is a nice touch, they've never used it on a jersey. Now, at first glance, there's no nod to the past like the other jerseys, but doesn't the jersey kind of look familiar to anyone? HINT: CLICK HERE. I don't know if the resemblance is intentional because it fits the look that the Avalanche first showed off, but I like to think it is.

Rating: 9/10

There you have it, the best looking year for the Stadium Series yet. Hopefully, from this point on, there is no need for chrome gimmicks and dumb stuff. Do what was done this year. Mix a team's past, present, and future. Clearly it works.

And now some concepts!

Music Themed Goalie Mask - Jay S.

Good ol' Blink. Basically a mask for fans of Blink as the other bands consisted of Blink members. The references to album covers are nice. I wish the background wasn't white though but it'd be a nice fan item. Don't really know how to rate it but I will say it's nice to shake things up here.


Super Bowl XLIX Concept - Jay S.

Jay Hockey-fies last season's Super Bowl. The jerseys follow a template I'm not really a fan of.  The blues on the Seattle jersey don't match. The team currently uses navy blue and a neon green. The colors here match the team's old look. The name on the back could also be hard to read. Now, for the Patriots, I kind of like the yoke design. It'd be nice to see that used in a more traditional looking jersey. The sock design, in both uniforms, would be covered by pants. Only the 1 in the number fades from red to blue, so that's weird. Seems like a lot of different ideas were thrown into this one but I'd try to step back and only go with one or two of them. Less is more sometimes.

Overall, I'm not liking the looks here at all, but they could be saved with more traditional logo placement and correct colors. As for the hand drawn style, these look very well done and congrats on that.

Rating: 5/10


Buffalo Sabres Concept - Jimmy T.

Basically what we've got here is the current Buffalo jerseys without the silver or piping and the addition of pants striping. It shows how much cleaner their look could be but other than that there's nothing going on for it. I'm sure we've seen this concept around here before.

Rating: 6/10


Anaheim Ducks Concept - Lucas D.

Lucas cleans the Ducks up. Like the last concept, we've probably seen this done before, but it does go to show that the Ducks could look pretty good if they decided to go with some 'normal' hockey stripes... Now Lucas, perhaps you could help me out, do these jerseys include a very dark green or is it just my screen and that's black?

I think my opinion on these jerseys is a little higher if a dark green was used. It's different. I know quite a few people would like to see green in the Ducks' scheme.

Rating: 7/10


Alaska Aces Concept - Mollie G.

New color scheme for the Aces and to me it reminds me of the aurora borealis. I dig it... Now for the home and road, I think the tree pattern in the sleeves is a bit much combined with this new trippy color scheme. Especially since the plain chest stripe looks really good without the trees. I think the name and numbers will be difficult to see on the white jersey, so go with black or a darker green. Not a big fan of the alternate unfortunately, and I really want to be. Not a fan of the font used, and I think it'd look better as a black jersey with a lot of darker green and the lighter greens as a slightly used trim.

Rating: 7/10


New York Islanders Concept - Brooks F.

Brooks brings back the fisherman and the teal. It's a look I wish would have worked. The team would have had the most unique color scheme for sure. Brooks finds a way for the wavy look to work without making it too gaudy. I think it would have worked better if the teal went across the front of the jersey and went under the collar, similar to the back of the jersey. Although, I'm having an issue with the namebars, I don't hate it, but I don't think it works well. Perhaps have all the teal just stop at the sleeve stitching.

Rating: 8/10


Fallout 4 Concept - Diamond City Vault Boys - Ryan H.

Before last week I had never played a Fallout game. I bought Fallout 4 and it's taken over my life. I actually get the references to one of these jerseys for once and it feels great. First off, the color scheme, I get it, but make sure when you use the logos on a dark background, same goes for beige text. It's very very hard to read the team name at the top of the image, and the logos are kind of getting lost too. Some of your text is cut off too, make sure you're making sure everything fits in the image.

Now the logo is clever. Ryan explains it all in the image, the game takes place in Boston. I personally think that "Vault Dwellers" would have been a better name, even with Vault Boy as a mascot, but it still works. The number font is ok but I don't care for it as the name font, but I understand why it's there and it would work on a fan jersey. Good work Ryan.

Rating: 8/10


There you have it! Wednesday is over! What do you guys think of the new Stadium jerseys?