Thursday: Christmas Came Early

....at least it did for me and other fellow Pens fans. With the firing of Johnston and the trading of Scuderi it's been a pretty good week. The injuries to Fleury and Bennett plus the retiring of Dupuis isn't exactly good though...

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So we're going to move on to my weekly Top 5 now, but I feel as though my explanations for why I picked the games are getting a bit stale and repetitive, so I'm just going to list them, at least this week. You guys as readers may see things a bit differently than I do as the writer, so leave a comment if you'd rather me continue to explain them and I'll get right back to doing that next week. Also, I'm trying to add some teams that don't have bad jerseys even if they aren't the best, just so we don't see the exact same teams week after week. I also forgot to mention last week, I'm going from Tuesday to the next Wednesday now, so that way I can get any photos I need at any time on Wednesday. But for now, let's see the matchups: (as always, all photos from NHL.com)

Montréal Canadiens vs Boston Bruins

Dallas Stars vs Philadelphia Flyers

St. Louis Blues vs Philadelphia Flyers

St. Louis Blues vs Dallas Stars

Nashville Predators vs Chicago Blackhawks

Worst Matchup: Pittsburgh Penguins vs Washington Capitals

I hate to have the Flyers in the best matchups so much and the Pens in the worst, but at least you can tell I'm not being overly biased about these..but that's what I have for this week, so leave your opinions on them in the comments. Also, my weekly challenge to you is again to fix the worst matchup, Pens vs Caps this week.

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We have one vote this week, the COTW vote, and we also have the entries for the Prince George Cougars competition being submitted for the week. The voting only takes a few seconds, just a few clicks at minimum, so go vote...I'll wait...done? Good.

COTW Dec 6-12 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Prince George Cougars entries (due Friday @ 10:59pm Eastern)

Cougars Entries:

Andrew W.

Jake B.

Danny R.

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And now the concepts:

Artem S. - Barys Astana

+A double blue plus gold color scheme is a good and unique look

+Good logo choice

+Aside from the reebok vector logo on the back needing to be the word mark, good execution

-The design is just a paint bucket fill design, but you did at least at some stripes on the arms to make it a bit more unique

-More light blue should be present on the road uniform, and the gold trim on the numbers on that jersey makes the colors look "muddy"

-ADD ID TO THE CONCEPT!!! This is very important so your work doesn't get stolen

Overall: Not terrible but not great (7/10)

Artem S- Metallurg Novokuznetsk

+Good logo choice again

+Aside from the same error as the last concept, good execution 

+Good color balance on the home jersey

+While it's still a slightly templatey type of look, it's a better one at the least and works well here

-The white jersey needs more red

-Add some hem stripes and lose the piping and this concept would look a ton better

-Again, ID!!!

Overall: Not a bad look and almost a really solid one (7.5/10)

***Note for both concepts above, unless you designed the logos yourself, you need to give credit for where the logos came from. If you did design them yourself, this isn't required, but it would be a good idea to note that on the concept for clarification.***

Ben S. - UNLV

+The main set looks to be a Red Wings design combined with a Sabres-esque design, it looks good and unique

+I like the color scheme

+The white yoke on the red jersey looks great

+The card suits striping on the alternate is a bit of an old idea, but still a good one

-The gray in the home and away jerseys blends in with the white and red (mainly the red I think) way too much, I'd change the shade of it or just make it black

-Similarly, the gray on the alt is too dark to be a home alternate, since the home is white. It would work if the other team was intended to wear white though 

Overall: Good design (7.5/10)

Jake C. - Dallas Stars

+An alternate in Dallas is something almost all of us, if not all of us, want to see

+Good logo choice

-A good bit of execution errors here. The front logo looks a bit blurry, the numbers are too big and the name is a tad too small. The tv numbers should also be rotated to match the angle of the arms.

-The design is just a recolor of Tampa Bay's old alternate jersey. The underarms shouldn't be filled in the way they are as that would have a strange look. I'd also lose the victory stripes since that's known as a Tampa thing and not a Dallas thing.

Overall: A good start, just get a bit more creative with it, the rating is only so low since it's just a bucket fill job, nothing personal (4/10) 

Jay S. - Atlanta Thrashers

+I like the use of colors in this one, and great balance throughout

+Simple and good looking design

+I like the uniqueness in the alternate jersey

-Even though I like the extra color I'm not sure I like the shade of light blue used in the alternate jersey, it almost looks purple, which doesn't fit with the Thrashers.

-The alt logo is a good idea but it needs to be put together better, as the outlines are too thin and the font doesn't work.

-The away socks should be white

Overall: Home and away would look nice on the ice, but the alt needs work (8/10)

Jay S. - Milwaukee Admirals

+A gray jersey would look nice

+Good color balance and logo choice

+Simple and solid design

-I like the idea for the alt-captain patch, but I'd use the one from his hat rather than take the M out of the shoulder patch logo, it looks awkward as it is

Overall: I'd love to see this used (8.5/10)

Josiah B. - Russia

+Simple, solid design

+Wordmark and font for name/numbers look good

+I like the white yoke on the red jersey

-The outlines for the numbers are too thin and blend in with the white too much

Overall: This would be a really nice look for them (9/10) and my COTW nomination!

Josiah B. - Switzerland

+The modern design looks good for them

+Gradient striping, not an actual gradient, is something I've always thought is a cool and unique idea. Pairing that with side panels really gives this a modern look, and on the red jersey even a metallic one.

+The font fits well

-I'd lose the outlines on the tv numbers, it looks blurry/pixelated and out of place as well

Overall: Another look I'd like to see used (8/10)

Lucas D. - Ottawa Senators

+Sens need new jerseys, and with a first glance at these I can already tell it's an improvement

+Good logo choice, this one is better Han their current primary 

+I like the choice of going back to a black jersey

+Striping pattern looks solid

-Away jersey needs more red

-I'd add just a touch more white to the home jersey's striping 

Overall: Definitely an improvement on their current set (8.5/10)

That's all for this week, I hope you enjoyed the post, thanks for reading, and I'll see you guys again next week.