Friday: Canada Day

Hello folks, it's Friday July 1st, and today's post comes to you in five parts.  I was planning on doing a couple more parts, but I wasted most of my morning watching TSN, which brings me to...

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Part 1)  Free Agent Frenzy

The frenzy started early this week, with the resigning of Steven Stamkos and the two blockbuster trades on Wednesday, but there was still a lot of action today.

The biggest name on the market was Milan Lucic, and he signed with the Oilers to play with Connor McDavid (that should help Oilers fan deal with the loss of Taylor Hall).  My hometown team, the Vancouver Canucks, were also targeting Lucic but they ending up getting Loui Eriksson instead.

Other notable deals include Andrew Ladd going to Brooklyn to play with the Islanders, Frans Nielsen signing in Detroit, David Backes moving to Boston, Kyle Okposo becoming a Sabre, and Alexander Radulov returning to the NHL in Montreal.  The biggest contract of the day actually went to Victor Hedman (who wouldn't have been a free agent until next year), as the Lighting locked him up to an eight year $63 million contract extension.

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Part 2)  Canada Day

Happy Canada Day everyone!  The best country in the world turns 149 today, and I've found the perfect video for the occasion.  Here is retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield and his brother Dave singing about how great Canada is.

My plans for Canada Day are pretty simple.  I watch Free Agent Frenzy on TSN in the morning and in the evening I watch the fireworks from my living room.  Actually from my living room I can see the fireworks from three different towns, or at least I could until last year when some stupid trees got too tall and blocked one of the fireworks.  But I wasn't going to let those trees ruin my Canada Day, so I climbed up on my roof and watched the fireworks from up there.  I don't know if I'll do that again this year.

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Part 3)  Voting Reminders

The HJC Open round robin voting ended today at noon Eastern.  There were many great entries, but only 16 could move onto the next round.  The COTW voting for June 17-23 also ended at noon, the new COTW poll will be up sometime today.

COTW June 24-30 vote (ends Friday, July 8 @ noon Eastern

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Part 4)  Concepts

We have nine concepts today, but somehow none of them are for current NHL teams.  Instead we have a concept for a future NHL team (Las Vegas), a past NHL team, as well as concepts for past countries, and various minor league teams.

Acadie-Bathurst Titan, by Brooks F:

Brooks starts us off with something a bit different for the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.  I really like the oversized yokes on the home and road jersey.  I'd like the them even more if the corner on the yoke (where the arms meet the torso) was more rounded, and if the player's name was either in the yoke or below it.  I like the choice to use gold as the base colour for the third jersey, you don't see many jerseys that colour.  And the colour isn't even the most unique thing about that jersey, those arm stripes are very interesting.  I'm having a hard time picturing what they would look like on an actual jersey, but they look very good how they are on this concept.
Rating:  8/10

Las Vegas Vipers, by Connor L:

The last time the NHL expanded, one of the teams (the Blue Jackets) used neon green as an accent colour.  Connor proposes the NHL's next expansion team should use it as their main colour, and he makes a strong case for it with this concept.  In addition to the neon green, I also like the half-and-half striping pattern, especially since the sleeves don't use a half-and-half design (that sets it apart from other half-and-half concepts).  The logo is very well done, although it does feel more like a minor league logo due to the prominent use of a wordmark.  I like how the back name and numbers have an outline, I think the sleeve numbers should as well.  Also the area inside of the collar should be green, since we'd be seeing the green from the back of the jersey.
Rating:  8/10

Kansas City Scouts, by Lucas D:

Lucas continues redesigning defunct NHL franchises with this take on the Kansas City Scouts.  The striping pattern looks good, it's simple and classy.  Also using just the partial "KC" logo was a good choice, since their primary logo didn't age well.  This is also very well executed and presented, however it's not my favourite concept from Lucas.  I don't like how there's no red in the logo on the white jersey, and the white collar and cuffs on the blue jersey look out of place look to me.  Additionally, I think yellow numbers would work better on the blue jersey, and I'd prefer the sleeve numbers to match the back numbers.  I'd also like to know if the pants would be red or blue.
Rating:  8/10

Allen Americans, by Jay S:

I've been critical of Jay in the past for concepts that I thought were too generic, but this concept is much better.  The arm design based off of the logo is great, I love when striping patterns tie into the team's brand (for example the Hurricanes' hurricane-flag pattern, or the Avalanches' mountain stripes).  Although, for that reason I'd prefer if the sleeve stripes were red and blue on the white jersey as well, it would better match the logo.  Another unique element I like are the assistant captain patches using the A from the logo, they also help tie the jerseys into the team's brand.  The third jersey looks good too, I like how the arm stripes are higher than normal.
Rating:  8/10

Springfield Thunderbirds, by Ryan C:

Shortly after the Thunderbirds unveiled their new logo, I starting wondering what colours their jerseys would use, I doubt it will be all four.  I like Ryan's choice to exclude red, the double blue and yellow colour scheme looks very nice.  The striping pattern looks good too, you can't go wrong with a traditional pattern like this.  I'm also a fan of the light blue numbers on the white jersey, they help balance the colours and they match the falcon in the logo as well.  I wish the dark jersey had more light blue though, maybe you could swap the yellow and light blue in the striping of that jersey.
Rating:  8/10

Bloomington Thunder, by Ryan C:

Ryan also sent in a concept for the USHL's Bloomington Thunder.  The bright green is a great choice for the main colour of the dark jersey, there are lots of navy blue teams in the world but not many teams using this shade of green.  I also like the striping pattern on that green jersey, but on the white jersey the silver and green blend together too much, I think those colours need to be kept apart.  The execution and presentation is very good, I'm a big fan of this template.
Rating:  8/10

Russian Empire, by Jordan R:

Our last three concepts combine hockey jerseys and history, as Jordan continues his "1816 Countries with 2016 Players" series.  I like the use of black and gold for the logo and numbers, it makes the jerseys feel more old-timey, and helps separate this from a modern day Russia concept.  However I'm unsure about the striping pattern, I like the idea of a half-and-half design based off of the flag, but I'm worried the jerseys might cause confusing match-ups.  I think both jersey have too much white to be a dark jersey, and too much red to work as a light jersey.
Rating:  8/10

United Kingdom, by Jordan R:

Next up is the United Kingdom, which I'm guessing would consist entirely of Canadian players.  The chest stripe looks great, and I also like the use of gold throughout the jersey (because we all know the Canadian players would lead this team to victory in this hypothetical tournament).  However it's hard to make out the details of the logo against the chest stripe, I think a thicker outline would solve that problem.  Lastly, I really like this number font.
Rating:  8/10

Kingdom of Prussia, by Jordan R:

Jordan's final concept today is a menacing design for the Kingdom of Prussia.  Call me crazy but I love the colour scheme, I think black and white (on their own without any grey) look really sharp together.  The colour scheme is perfectly complemented by the extra bold stripes, both of those elements are very intimidating.  The logos also look great, and I love the number font.  The execution is excellent for all of Jordan's concepts today and the presentation is also good, I like that the map was including but I wish the jerseys took up a bit more of the image.
Rating:  9/10 and a COTW nomination from me!

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Part 5)  Conclusion

That's all folks!