200th Post Extravaganza

Hello folks, this is the 200th post on this blog!

Los Angeles Kings, by Jets96:

With the Kings winning the Cup, Jets96 thought it would be a good time to send in some Kings concepts.  For this concept he brings back the colour scheme the Kings used from 1998-2011, a move I really like.  He also uses their shield logo from that era as the main logo, but he removes the wordmarks from the logo.  The shield logo is a good choice, but I'd keep the wordmarks as the blank spots in the logo look a bit awkward in my opinion.  The striping pattern looks good, but it also looks a bit too similar to the Sharks 2007-13 jerseys which wouldn't be good considering they are state rivals.
Grade:  B

Los Angeles Kings, by Jets96:

Jets96's second Kings concept goes back a bit further into the past in terms of both colour scheme and logos, back to 1967-88 to be exact.  I'm a big fan of this colour scheme because it fits the royalty theme and it's unique, and I think this logo is the best fit for the colour scheme (even though the logo is a bit dated).  The striping pattern looks good, I like how the end of the sleeves and hem are a different colour than the jersey.  My only suggestion would be to make the name on the yellow jersey purple, because it kind of gets lost the way it is now.
Grade:  B

Los Angeles Kings, by Jets96:

The final Kings concept by Jets96 today is less of a concept and more of a remake of an old jersey.  This is a Reebok Edge version of the Kings original road jersey worn from 1967-69, complete with no name on the back (the Kings will be wearing the 1969-70 version of this jersey next year).  There are a couple of things that I think should be changed to be more historically accurate, first of all the pants stripe should be yellow-white-yellow, and the bottom of the socks shouldn't be white.  I know nhluniforms.com has white at the bottom of the socks, but that part of the socks was looped under your foot inside of the skate and out of view (look at old game photos and you won't see any white).
Grade:  C+

Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers, by Jared:

Keeping with the Stanley Cup theme of this post so far, we have some St. Patrick's Day uniforms for the Kings and Rangers made by Jared.  Normally I'm not a fan of recolours, but in this case it's okay because it's recolouring their own team's jerseys and because St. Patrick's Day uniforms don't need fancy new striping patterns.  There are a few things I would change though, first of all I would make the Kings dark jersey green because St. Patrick's day is known for being green, and I would also just use one colour of pants for each team.  I think green pants would work best for the Kings, and orange pants would work best for the Rangers.
Grade:  C

Manitoba Moose:

I was a big fan of the Manitoba Moose, not only because they were the Canucks farm team but also because as a kid my family would visit Winnipeg every couple of years (so it's a bit surprising it has taking me 200 posts before I made a Moose concept).  For this concept I simplified their colour scheme to just green and tan, and simplified their logo by removing any shading.

Thanks for visiting!

My Thoughts: April's Headlines

When I first started this blog I wanted to use it as a place to post my thoughts about various things to do with hockey logos and jersey, and not just as a place to post my concepts.  I haven't really been doing that yet, but I've decided to start.  This post will be my thoughts on some of the headlines this month.

The biggest story lately is the multiple outdoor games the NHL has reportedly planned for next year.  I'm actually a fan of this decision, it will give lots of fans the chance to experience an outdoor game.  Some people are saying that the novelty of an outdoor game will wear off, but personally the latest Winter Classic's haven't been that special to me, so I guess the novelty has already worn off for me.  The first two outdoor games were amazing, they used true throwback jerseys, were in cold places, and weren't in back to back years.  Since then the NHL has turned the games into a cash-grab, which is understandable, but in the process the games have become less special.  So I guess my opinion is that since the magic of the first two outdoor games are gone, the NHL should give as may teams as possible the chance to play outdoors, and make as much money as they can.

Earlier this week we found out that the Minnesota Wild were moving their AHL affiliate to Iowa and renaming them the Wild.  Like a lot of people, I hate the fact that they have the same name as their NHL franchise.  It seems so lazy, and it makes the AHL seem so minor league (I know they are a minor league) that some of their teams are copies of NHL teams.  I don't mind AHL teams using the same colour scheme as their NHL partner, or getting branded similar (like the Flames and Heat), but they should have a different name.  They also should be able to come up with their own logos and jersey.  This whole situation with the Iowa Wild just seems lazy and rushed.

In better AHL new, it looks like the Connecticut Whale will go back to their old Hartford Wolf Pack name.  Which is great because the whole Whale brand was terrible.  Their logo sucked, their jerseys sucked, and they were trying to ride on the coattails of one the best looks in NHL history (the Hartford Whalers).  The Wolf Pack on the other hand have a unique identity, a cool history behind their name, and they still had some ties to their parent club.  Hopefully they'll look as good next year as they did before they were rebranded in 2010.

Finally in some local (to me) news, the Abbotsford Heat are staying in Abbotsford for at least one more season.  Obviously most people around here were hoping for the Canucks AHL affiliate to move to Abbotsford, but the Calgary Flames really have no reason to move the Heat.  Abbotsford is relatively close to Calgary compared to other AHL franchises, and the City of Abbotsford signed a deal (when the heat first moved here) which will cover any financial losses of the Heat.  The City of Abbotsford should never have agreed to that deal, but they did, and that is why the Canucks farm team won't be moving here next year.


Those are my thoughts on this month's top hockey logo/uniform stories.  Feel free to comment if you agree or disagree with me.  Thanks for visiting.

AHL Outdoor Classic

2014 AHL Outdoor Classic:

I tried out one of my rarely used presenations for my entry into HJC's 2014 AHL Outdoor Classic competition.  The Marlies jersey is inspired by past Leafs jerseys, while the Griffins jersey just uses a simple classic striping pattern.

Here are a look at the full jerseys for each team.

Baby Sens

Binghamton Senators:

This is my entry into HJC's latest competition.  The striping pattern is my take on a modernized barber-pole jersey.