Wednesday: All Star

No the title isn't referring to me, it's referring to the All-Star jerseys the NHL unveiled today.  I'll discuss those below, but first let's talk about me.  I'm former HJC writer Steven Grant.  I'm sure most of you are thinking who is that?  I wrote for this blog a long, long, long time ago, between August 2012 and June 2013.  When I saw there were a couple of writer positions opening up I decided to apply once again, and Ryan was nice enough to choose me.  Thank you Ryan!

Since it's been so long, I better introduce myself.  I'm a tall, skinny, 21 year old, who lives in British Columbia, and the Canucks are my favourite NHL team.  I started reading HJC sometime in 2010, submitted my first concept in May 2011, and was part of the first group of writers selected back in 2012 (previously Ryan wrote every post).  Another interest of mine besides hockey jerseys is astronomy (really science in general), I just think the universe is fascinating.  It can be beautiful too, check out this photo of the south pole of Mars (which is currently my desktop background).

Copyright ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, from esa.int

By the way, do you know how intimidating it is taking over for Dylan Alexander?  He's a great writer (both Dylans are) and he's been around forever.  Plus I'm a bit rusty not haven written one of these posts in a few years, I'm probably going to be making lots of mistakes (I already nearly messed up the scheduling of this post, stupid time zones).  So if you're expecting me to be as good of a writer as him, you're going to be disappointed.

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Image from nhl.com

The NHL didn't want my first post to be an easier one, as they decided to unveil this year's All-Star jerseys this morning.  I'm not a fan of these, which are in my opinion the most boring All-Star jerseys of all time.  The only real striping pattern are the big blocks on the arm (the top block does continue onto the back behind the players name).  I much prefer All-Star jerseys to be wild and wacky, as I like to see new ideas tried out, and the All-Star game is the perfect place for that.  Aesthetically these jerseys don't look that bad, but honestly I'd prefer ugly yet exciting jerseys over boring decent looking jerseys.

These jerseys do have some good qualities though.  I like the tie in to Nashville with the yellow added to the NHL logo, and the tri-star mark in the neck gusset (which pretty much guarantees we'll be seeing something new next year).  The jerseys will also apparently feature "numbers and letters designed as modern interpretations of traditional country music poster lettering", which sounds interesting.

Rating:  6/10

You can read the NHL Press release here, and the NHL also unveiled the full All-Star rosters today which you can find here.  Leave your thoughts on these jerseys (or the rosters) in the comments.

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Before we get to the concepts, Ryan wants me to bug you about voting.  It's actually much easier to vote now than when I used to write, so there's no reason not to do it.  In the olden days we actually had to walk uphill in the snow to the post office, mail in our votes, and then walk back home which somehow was also uphill.  True story!

COTW Dec 27 - Jan 2 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Gatineau Olympiques Top 3 vote (ends Friday @ 10:59pm Eastern)

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ERC Ingolstadt, by Jay S:

Today's first concept is for ERC Ingolstadt, a team in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.  The part of this concept that stand out are the cuffs, as each jersey has a cool striping pattern along the bottom of the arms.  I think those cuffs look great, it's a unique area for a design, and with modern gloves being so short they won't get covered up much.  The rest of the striping pattern looks good too.  I don't have any criticism of the uniforms, but there are a couple of things I think could be improved with the presentation.  First of all the Hockeyville logo should probably be credited to Kraft Hockeyville, and secondly I think the empty space surrounding the jerseys could be shrunk so the jerseys take up more of the image (the social media links at the bottom could be shrunk a bit too).
Rating:  8/10

Toronto Maple Leafs, by Nolan O'B:

We're going to see lots of Maple Leafs concepts on this blog in the coming months, because of their rumored new logo next year, and today Nolan takes a stab at them.  Starting with the logo, I like the idea of just a T inside of the leaf, however I'm not a fan of this particular leaf.  Something about the shape of the leaf just makes it feel like a weak logo to me.  The jersey striping is interesting, it's like a combination of their current jerseys and their Ballard-era 1970-92 set.  I still prefer their current jersey stripes (which I think are the perfect Leafs jerseys), but it's fun to see something new tried for concepts.
Rating:  7/10

Augsburger Panther, by Jay S:

Jay's second concept of the day is a also for a DEL team, but this time he tackles the Augsburger Panther (tackling a Panther sounds dangerous).  Augsburger's current jersey are covered in so many ads it's hard to see the design.  These jerseys are an instant improvement design wise just because of the lack of ads (although I don't think the team owner would appreciate no ads).  All three jerseys look good, yet nothing excites me about them, especially the third jersey which is just a recoloured Canadiens jersey.
Rating:  7/10

Augsburger Panther Christmas Jersey, by Jay S:

Jay also sent in this Christmas jersey for Augsburger, and I can't say this jersey isn't exciting.  This concept has it all, from the Christmas tree side panels, to bows as arm and sock stripes, even the panther in the logo is wearing a Santa hat.  The Christmas elements are used so well that this jersey still feels like a hockey jersey.  If I was feeling more Christmas-y I might end the review here, but I thought I should point out the execution errors I noticed.  First the snowflakes on the shoulder yoke have some red pixels between the branches, it looks like they were moved to the yoke from the main part of the jersey.  Also the way the side panels are placed, the tree would have two balls on top, one from the front and one from the back.  Those are just minor issues though, this is still a great concept.
Rating:  8/10

Before we get to the next concept, I want to mention the blue helmets on these Augsburger concepts.  The team actually wears these helmets in real life, my best guess is that they're some sort of advertisement.

Calgary Hitmen, by Ryan C:

We'll end today's post back in North America with a concept for the Calgary Hitmen.  Ryan C gives them a mighty fine looking chest-stripe (I wonder if chest-stripes are going to be the next "in" thing, the Florida Panthers are rumored to be getting a chest stripe next year, and I could see some minor league teams following suit).  He also creates a new logo using a silhouette of Hit Man.  I actually think the logo looks quite good, it works well with the chest stripe.  I still prefer their current logo, but once again it's nice to see something new on a concept.
Rating 8/10

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That's it from me today.  Now it's time for you to have your say, let us know what you thought of these concepts in the comment section below.

See you next week!