Thursday: Bandwagon

Hello, welcome back everyone!

So as is the trend here, I'm jumping on the bandwagon and naming what I believe would be each remaining playoff team's ideal look. However, I'm gonna switch it up a bit, and pick what I think would be the best combination of jersey design, and logo for the teams. If you don't understand what I mean, hopefully you'll catch on.

All jersey and logo images courtesy of sportslogos.net.

First, the Blues:

While I wouldn't say the blues have perfect jerseys or anything, I'd say they're currently using the best they've ever worn. The double blue scheme along with yellow looks great, and the logo is one of the best in the league in my opinion. My only gripe really is that I think the navy and regular blue should be switched on the cuffs and hem on the white jersey, it would look much better if they had that blue shown more prominently.

Sharks:

I really have no idea why the Sharks ever decided to switch out of this set. They really nailed it right from the beginning. My only issue with it now is that the logos look dated, which is where my choice for the logo comes in. The Sharks adopting this look with the new logos would be the ideal option for me.

Lightning:

I think it's definitely arguable that the current jerseys could take this spot as well, but these ones take the cake for me because they're much more unique. I mean, they aren't the most unique and creative thing in the world, but they do have a unique color scheme, more than just a single stripe, and of course, the victory stripes. The logo, however, is a complete mess, especially typography wise. Their new logo is probably the best they've had in their history, not perfect, but much cleaner than any other look. Just update the logos on here and you'd have a solid set.

Penguins:

Saving the best for last (totally not biased here), we have the Pens and what is rumored to be and highly likely to be their new uniforms for next year. While these jerseys are incredibly inconsistent, with no striping pattern the same on either the hems, arms, and socks on one uniform, and especially the socks (I mean really, who thought these made sense with this design?), this design still displays the Pittsburgh gold proudly. The legacy behind these jerseys doesn't hurt it either. Their current alternate is already the perfect throwback to it, and fixes what's wrong with this version of the white one: the logo, which is incredibly dated. Ironically, I see people using that logo all the time to go with any Pittsburgh gold promotional material, most notably NBC has been using the old logo in their graphics throughout the entirety of the playoffs. Step up your game NBC. The only other issue is the issue with the 4 as I mentioned in last week's post.

Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment! Or, fellow writers, jump on the bandwagon as well!

-----------------

This week we have nothing too crazy voting wise, with the usual COTW vote, along with the Tucson competition vote. Although, since it's only week two, take note of the voting deadlines here. They've been moved back about 12 hours, so today turns into the last day for concepts to be nominated for the week. 

COTW May 8-12 vote (ends Friday @ 12pm Eastern)

Falcons to Tucson Top 5 vote (ends Friday @ 12pm Eastern) 

-----------------

Ben S. - Penn State

+The design keeps with Penn State's identity while adding something new.

+I really like the contrasting white arms on the blue jersey.

-The white jersey is basically a carbon copy of their current jerseys though, so I'd use that same contrasting arms design on the white jersey.

+That sure is an interesting helmet design, and something they appear to currently use. It doesn't look too bad surprisingly.

-The name looks just a tad small and a bit close to the yoke as well.

-The sock stripes are too high, and they should have blue socks with the blue jersey.

Overall: 7.5/10

Ben S. - Michigan

+Just like last concept, the design keeps with their identity while adding something new.

+The yoke stripes look great

-Unlike last concept, I'm not a fan of the helmet design on this one. I suppose I'll give you a bit of leeway though, since you're just sticking with their current design.

-Sock stripes are too high again.

+Really like that font, works well here.

Overall: 8/10

Jake M. - HC Sparta Praha

+Might I just say I love this presentation style, and it fits the template you used very well.

+A very simple and classy design that fits the logo and the color scheme.

+As Phil mentioned yesterday, the striping on these jerseys are exactly the same on both jerseys. That's always a nice touch.

-The logo on the white jersey looks much better if you swap the colors around on it, I actually did a quick photoshop mockup of it myself out of curiosity, so I'm not just guessing here.

Overall: 9.5/10 and my COTW Nomination

Josiah B. - Calgary Flames

+Love the removal of black. I don't think the black is necessarily bad on their jerseys, but I think it adds a bit of unneeded clutter.

+Sticking to the basis of their original design was a smart idea.

+The numbers look much better as one solid color in my opinion.

+The yellow logo on the red jersey looks great.

-Not really the most creative concept, but assuming it's mainly supposed to be an improvement on their originals, it serves its purpose well.

Overall: 9/10

Ryan C. - Lehigh Valley Phantoms

+Compared to what the Phantoms currently wear, this set at least has a sense of unity.

+Removing the light blue from the color scheme was a good decision.

+The font looks great on these.

+The design almost gives me a slight Quakers vibe, which would fit since their parent club is the Flyers.

-The name on the orange jersey would stand out better if it was white.

Overall: 8.5/10

Tyler M. - Heritage Classic

+I wouldn't be surprised to see something in this vicinity for the Heritage Classic.

+I like the choice of going with the color swapped logo for the jets.

+I think the balance of orange and blue on the Oilers uniform (including the pants) is just about perfect.

-A little bit more blue on the jersey wouldn't hurt though, making the blue stripes bolder could fix it easily.

-The number looks too big.

-The sock stripes are way too high.

-There should be some of the inside hem showing on the front of the template. Go check out this template on the templates page to see what I mean.

-This concept mostly is something that we all could have imagined since they're basically direct throwbacks. However it does usually help me to visualize it better seeing it laid out on a modern template.

Overall: 7/10

William B. & Vaughn R. - All Star Challenge

I'm oing to do this review slightly differently, and touch on individually all of the features that they pointed out on the image. Also, for those who aren't aware, this base design was applied to every NHL team for this Pairs Comp. concept set. You can see the whole thing here.

Mono-Color: This will work well for some teams, others not so much. The choice of color probably would factor into that. It also wouldn't have been a horrible idea to use different colors on each jersey, for example if it was Pittsburgh, have a black and gold dark jersey, but white and black white jersey, as opposed to just one color and white.

Color-on-Color Matchups: YES. I really wish the NHL would do that more often.

Adspace: NOOOOOO. WHYYYY. THE HORROR. Sadly, it's realistic though.

Classic, Bold Stripes: It's a pretty solid design. The middle stripe on the arms looks bigger than the one on the hem though, I'd fix that.

Stars: I like the idea, but I think having it anywhere other than the three on the chest is a bit overkill.

Adidas Triple Yoke Stripes: Ew

Other: I'd also remove the front number, and move the event logo patch to the shoulder. That would clear up room on the front for both the stars and the team logo, as they're pretty cramped on some of them.

Overall:

Design wise - 7/10

Accounting for realism - 8/10

Now this isn't really a concept in itself, just an add on to the previous concept, so I really don't know how to review this, or if it really even does need one. I will say it appears to be well thought out, and something like this shows dedication to the concept for sure.

-----------------

And that's all for today! I hope you enjoyed the post, thanks for reading, and I'll see you again next week.