Thursday: An NHL Exclusive

Hello everyone, welcome back on the last day of the Conference Finals. Big game for the Pens tonight, really hoping they pull it out.

Since the playoffs are almost done, and only one matchup is left to be set, let's take a look at my top three jersey matchups through the playoffs.

3: Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers
Yeah, this may be a bit biased with the Pens, but I think it's a nice matchup nonetheless, at least in Pittsburgh. The Pens away jersey isn't all that great of a fit for the Pens, and doesn't match up too well with the Rangers' classic set. In Pittsburgh though, two nice, classic, colorful jerseys go up against each other to make a pretty good matchup.

2: St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks
This is the first of two appearances for the Blues on this list, and for good reason. Both of them, though, have a lot to do with the color matchup. This one, the classic red vs blue. Doesn't hurt that all of these are some great jerseys too.

1: St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars
This is a pretty similar matchup to the last one, both with some nice designs. So maybe it's just my bias that puts this one on top. Or maybe it's that green is almost completely unique in the NHL, at least as a primary jersey color, and Dallas' shade is completely unique in the NHL. But like I said, maybe it's just my bias.

Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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This week, we have the COTW vote like always, and the Atlanta Thrashers resurrection contest. The voting ends tomorrow at noon, so if you haven't been here in a while take note of the new time.

COTW May 13-19 vote (ends Friday @ noon Eastern)

Thrashers entries due (Friday @ noon Eastern)

Entries:

Andrew A.

Bradley D.

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Andrew W. - St. Louis Blues

+I think one of the Blues' biggest problems with their current set has to do with color balance, and not enough of their light blue color on the road jersey. This fixes the road jersey perfectly.

+I definitely like the prominence of yellow on the home jersey...

-...but I think there's too much of it. It throws off the balance with not enough yellow on the road jersey. 

-The stripes are too thin, they'd be barely visible from a distance.

+Great choice bringing back the trumpet logo though.

Overall: 8/10

Connor L. - Dallas Stars

+A Stars jersey without black works pretty well.

+The addition of gray/silver also fits with their scheme really well, and makes the design a bit more interesting than just two colors.

+Simple yet good looking design overall

-With how thick the arm stripes are, I'd just fill in the arms completely. Either that, or thin down all the stripes a bit.

-While it could work, I don't think the diagonal Dallas on the front really works.

-The TV numbers should be split down the middle and be shown on the front and back. The back numbers look a bit small too.

~The Adidas logo on the collar is either an execution error, or an interesting idea. Not sure which, so not sure where to categorize this.

Jordan R. - Chicago Blackhawks

+It's been said a few times, but I love your presentation for the concepts, especially the home/road/third/fourth style. If you didn't know, I'm the one who asked you about using it, that's how much I like it.

~For a set that's aiming to be more of an "Ideal NHL" type of idea as opposed to a concept to change things up, I'll let the lack of creativity slide. Only time I find that acceptable really. 

+One thing I definitely can't say that about is the fourth jersey. I love the idea of having a jersey in a completely different design, color scheme, etc; yet still relates to their identity. And for this one, I really like what you did.

-I understand why you did it, but the back numbers are way too small on that one and should not be confined to the chest stripe like that.

-The TV numbers look a tad big on all the jerseys.

Overall: 9/10

Josiah B. - Chicago Blackhawks

+This one on the other hand is shaking things up a bit, something harder to do for the Hawks.

+This design has more consistency than the Hawks' current jerseys, on just one of the jerseys and between the set, so that's a plus.

+I like the shoulder patch being moved down to the arm striping.

+Taking their home jersey design and playing off of that was probably the best way to go about this.

-I like the idea with the shoulder yokes, but they gotta go. They make this design way too busy, and it was already relatively busy with the amount of stripes on the jersey beforehand.

-The name looks just a tad small.

Overall: 8/10

Josiah B. - St. Louis Blues

+Sticking close to their current design isn't a bad idea by any means. 

-The first thing that popped out at me though is something I mentioned on the previous Blues concept, and it's the color balance. There's way too much navy blue on the road jersey. Switch around the two blue colors on that jersey and you're golden. Well, blue not gold, the gold is only an accent color. But you get the point.

~The squared off yoke is a lateral move in my opinion, neither this one or what they have now look bad.

+Removing the tiny spaces in between the stripes is definitely for the better here, simplifies the look.

Overall: 7.5/10

Josiah B. - Washington Capitals

+Playing off of the Winter Classic design is definitely a nice idea.

+I think using 4 stripes is an improvement, and keeps the design consistent.

+Good choice leaving them off of the arms as well, that most likely would have made it too busy.

+Solid, one color numbers definitely fits the vintage look well.

-Not the most creative concept overall, but a nice improvement on their Winter Classic jerseys.

Overall: 8.5/10 

Lucas D. - Detroit Red Wings

+Not the easiest to redesign the Wings and have it still look enough in their brand for it to work, good job with that here.

+I like the use of the Stadium Series logo, I think it opened up more opportunities to do what I mentioned above.

+Don't know if it was intentional or not, but the design gives me a bit of a Cougars vibe, while keeping with the Wings' identity.

-I think this works just fine as it is, but I'd like to see what it looks like with full arm coloring and stripes instead.

Overall: 9/10

Lucas D. - Washington Capitals

+Weagle. That is all.

+Always I nice touch when the stripes are exactly the same on both jerseys, down to the color.

-I think it looks a bit awkward on the home jersey though. If you gave the arms on the home jersey the same treatment as the hems, that would make it much better in my opinion.

+Considering that this jersey is a mix of modern and traditional, the font really fits.

Overall: 9/10 and my COTW Nomination

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