My Thoughts: September Jerseys

Hello again, I'm back with another "My Thoughts" post.  This time I'm reviewing all the NHL jerseys that were unveiled in late September.

Pittsburgh Penguins Third Jersey

Images from penguins.nhl.com

For their new third jersey, the Penguins brought back a fan favourite design which they won two Stanley Cups in (1991 and 1992).  It's also their first jersey to feature athletic-gold since they switched to vegas-gold 2002.  I love this jersey, it's a classic look that immediately makes me think of Mario Lemieux, Jaromír Jágr, and those two Stanley Cups.  That being said, I wouldn't want this jersey to become the Penguins' new home jersey, I'd much rather it stay a third jersey and something like this concept by Scott be used for the primary jerseys.
Grade: A

Philadelphia Flyers Third Jersey

Images from twitter.com/NHLFlyers and instagram.com/philadelphiaflyers

The Philadelphia Flyers also brought back a previous jersey, albeit one with less history behind it.  They decided to bring back their 2012 Winter Classic jersey as they new third jersey.  I think this jersey is "just okay", I'm not a big fan of it but I don't hate it either.  The striping doesn't say Flyers to me, since it's their first jersey which uses traditional arm and hem stripes and a yolk.  Although there is a bit of history behind the striping, the arm stripes are from their 1984-2001 orange socks, and the black shoulder yoke is reminiscent of the yoke on the old Philadelphia Quakers jersey.  One thing I really don't like is the use of vintage white, I just think normal white would look much better.
Grade: C+

Washington Capitals Winter Classic Jersey

Images from monumentalnetwork.com

Unlike the Penguins and Flyers who just brought back previous jerseys, the Capitals actually introduced something new, going with a fauxback design for their Winter Classic jersey.  I'm not always a fan of fauxback jerseys, but I think the Capitals got it right.  The jersey is inspired by past hockey teams in the Washington area, and the end result really captures the feel of jerseys from the 1920's and 30's.  There is also some cool symbolism in the uniform, the middle of the W in the logo is a silhouette of the Washington Monument (same with the top of the A's), the three white stars in the logo are a nod to the DC flag, and the white and red stripes on the shoulder yoke appear to be inspired by the American flag.  There are a couple elements that I'm not yet sure if I like or not.  I kind of think the W in the logo needs a white outline, but that might make it seem less retro.  I have the same concern about the darker shade of red, part of me thinks the Capitals normal red would look better, but the other part of me thinks the darker shade of red adds to the vintage feel of the jersey.  The one change I'd definitely make would be to move the hem stripes closer together, as the gap currently looks to big when compared to the spacing on the yoke and sock stripes.  Those concerns are very minor though, overall I think this is a great jersey for a Winter Classic.  And there's no vintage white!
Grade: A

Tampa Bay Lightning Third Jersey

Images from lightning.nhl.com

The Lightning were the latest NHL team to unveil a new jersey, introducing a black third jersey with their "BOLTS" wordmark on the front.  I've never been a fan of that wordmark simply for the fact that it uses a nickname, it would be like if the Canadiens wore a jersey that said "HABS" on the front.  Besides the logo I actually think the rest of the jersey is decent, not great but decent.  I think the striping looks good, it may not be a very interesting design but I don't need to be excited by a jerseys striping pattern (for example I like the Blue Jackets home jersey and the Ducks 2006-14 home jersey, two jerseys other people call boring).  One negative many people have pointed out about the striping pattern is that it's similar to the Kings home jersey, and while I do see the similarities, there are enough differences that I'm not immediately reminded of the Kings when I look at the Lightning's new jersey.  Moving on to the equipment, I think there is to much blue on the pants and socks.  Simply switching the blue and white on those two elements would look much better in my opinion.  Looking at the uniform as a whole, I think it's a slight improvement over their previous third jersey (which I wasn't a fan of, I ranked it as the league's fifth worst jersey in 2012).
Grade:  C+

So those are my thoughts on the new NHL jerseys that were introduced in September.  If you have any thoughts on these jerseys, don't hesitate to leave a comment below.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

My Thoughts: Outdoor Jerseys

Speaking as a Canucks fan, this last week was a bit of a crazy week.  First of all I attended the Heritage Classic, then a few days later Luongo was traded, and the next day on trade deadline day the Canucks were rumoured to being making some big trades but ended up not doing much.  But for today's post I'm going to focus on the Heritage Classic, as well as all the other NHL outdoor games this year, as I'm reviewing the jerseys worn for those outdoor games.

Before I get to the jerseys I'll briefly talk about the experience of the Heritage Classic.  I went to the game with my dad, and while it was snowing at our house, it was raining in Vancouver which as you know meant the roof was closed at BC Place.  That was a bit disappointing, but I wasn't really expecting the roof to be open.  The result of the game was also disappointing, but the rest of the day was great.  Watching a hockey game with over 50,000 people is a really cool experience, we were doing the wave and chanting "WE WANT LUO!", it was a lot of fun.  We had decent seats about halfway up the lower bowl, and while the sight lines obviously aren't the best for hockey, BC Place has a giant big screen you could look at if the puck disappeared behind the boards.  Overall it was really fun, I'd recommend going to one of these games if you ever get the chance.

Heritage Classic:

(Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images)

Enough about the game though, what really matters are the jerseys.  If you've been reading this blog for a while (and you have a good memory) you might remember that this wasn't the first time I attended a Canucks game when they were wearing their Millionaire jerseys.  After that first game I said that the jerseys looked great, and my opinion hasn't changed since then.  The colours look so good, and I love how historically accurate the jerseys are.  It would have been easy to go with a lace-up collar and maroon pants, but the Canucks did the right thing by keeping it accurate.  Ottawa went in a different direction by not using a direct throwback, but I also think that was the right thing for them to do.  I don't think they would be allowed to use a full barber-pole jersey against the dark Millionaires jersey anyways.  What they ended up using still honoured history nicely, while creating something that people nowadays would like.  I heard a few complaints that it was hard to distinguish the two teams with them both using a lot of vintage white, personally I didn't have that problem when I was at the game but I noticed it later when I was watching highlights on TV.

Winter Classic:

(Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)

Moving on to the other Classic game, which was much more classic weather wise than the Heritage Classic.  I've already briefly touched on my thoughts of these two jerseys back when I did a "fix it" concept for the Winter Classic, so I'll just quickly reiterate my thoughts here.  I'm a big fan of Toronto's jersey, there are just a few minor things I would have done differently to be more historically accurate (three sets of stripes on the socks, tan/brown pants and gloves, and no laces).  I wasn't really a fan of the Detroit's jersey, it was too much of a faux-back jersey, and it really didn't look like Red Wings to me.  I also wasn't a fan of the vintage white.  I did love that the game was colour vs colour (although I don't want colour vs colour to become a regular thing).

Stadium Series:

 (Photo by Gregory Shamus/NHLI via Getty Images)

Lastly we get to the Stadium Series games, and the NHL went in another direction by going with modern jerseys for these games.  I think that's a good move, it keeps the two Classics more special.  I was a fan of the jerseys in general, including the chrome crests and funky numbers, but only as one-off jerseys.  I kind of thought of these jerseys like All-Star game jerseys, they're for a special event and you only see them once so you might as well try some new things.  Now we all know there was one team, the Devils, who didn't want to do anything new.  Part of me wishes they would have gone with modern jersey to fit in with the rest of the teams, but the other part of me likes how traditional they are with their jerseys.  In the end I like the Devils decision, they haven't had a new jersey since 1992, and I would hate to have seen that streak ended by the Stadium Series.

Now you know my thoughts on the NHL's outdoor game jerseys, feel free to leave your own thoughts in the comments.  Thanks for visiting!

Metropolitan Division De-Edge Vintage Jerseys

The Metropolitan Division part of the vintage jersey program for my De-Edge is here!

Carolina Hurricanes Vintage Set:

The Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup in these jerseys in 2006.

Columbus Blue Jackets Vintage Set:

This is the Blue Jackets original jersey set.

New Jersey Devils Vintage Set:

I also went with the Devils original jersey set, which they wore from 1982-92.

New York Islanders Vintage Set:

The Islanders won four cups in a row (from 1980-83) wearing these jerseys.

New York Rangers Vintage Set:

The Rangers wore this set from 1951-63.

Philadelphia Flyers Vintage Set:

Two Cups were won by the Flyers (1974, 1975) while wearing this set.

Pittsburgh Penguins Vintage Set:

The Penguins also won two Stanley Cups (1991, 1992) wearing this set.

Washington Capitals Vintage Set:

These are the basically the jerseys the Capitals entered the league wearing, but this exact set was worn from 1987-90.

Do you like my choices of jerseys?  Do you hate my choices of jerseys?  Feel free to let me know.

Have a good day!

Penguins De-Edge Third

You may have noticed there has been a longer wait between these last few posts.  That's just because I'm running out of ideas for new concepts.  Inspiration seems to come in waves though, so hopefully this lull in ideas won't last to long.  Also I do plan on doing a third jersey for the Coyotes, but I haven't been able to come up with anything good, so I've skipped them for now.

Pittsburgh Penguins Third:

I made a gold third jersey for the Penguins (which would be used against dark jerseys to fit in with the rest of this series), with a script/logo combo similar to the Flames new third jersey.  That logo below the script is the penguin from their primary logo, but without a triangle behind it.  I ditched the triangle from the logo because (like with the primary jerseys) this jersey has triangles on each sleeve.  The striping pattern is kind of inspired by the jerseys the Penguins wore from 1977-92.  Also the number font is the same as what Pittsburgh currently uses, but without any outlines.

Sleeve Design:

This is a side-view of the sleeve design.

Full Set:

And here is a look at the full-set.

Thanks for visiting.

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Update 1 (Nov. 9):
Here is a version with the sleeve numbers in the triangle, based off of Justin's comment.

When I first read Justin's comment I thought it was a great idea, but now actually seeing it I think the numbers look a bit too squished-in and off-centered, so for now I'm keeping the first version as the official version.

Let me know if you think I'm wrong.

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Update 2 (Nov. 21):

Yesterday on HJC Dylan Wonka suggested I add white to the numbers, and looking at it again now I agree with him, the numbers need white.

He also suggested that I move the TV numbers to the triangle like Justin suggested earlier.  I still wasn't convinced, but it was two against one, so I thought I'd test it out again but this time using the overhead view (because that would be the best view of the TV numbers).  Once I saw how it looked using that view, my mind was changed, it didn't look awkward like I was picturing looking at my normal template.  So this version is now the official version.

Here is that overhead view.

Thank you to both Justin and Dylan for the advice, and I also want to apologize to Justin for being a bit stubborn at first.

Pittsburgh Penguins De-Edge

Pittsburgh Penguins:

Pittsburgh has a famous golden triangle (featured in their logo), so I decided to use that as inspiration for the sleeve stripes.  These jerseys also are somewhat similar to their current and pre-edge jerseys, which was actually unintentional.

As always, feel free to leave any thoughts you have.  Thanks for visiting.

Penguins and Pirates

Last week on HJC there was a Pittsburgh Penguins concept by David K, which included a third jersey inspired by the Pittsburgh Pirates.  I thought it was a cool idea, so I decided to do something similar.

Pittsburgh Penguins:

The striping is from the Pirates 1925-28 jerseys, but it has the Penguins normal logo instead of the Pirates logo.

My Least Favourite jerseys

For my phase 2 post on HJC I talked about my top five favourite jerseys in the NHL right now.  I thought I'd post here on SG-94 about my least favourite jerseys in the NHL right now.  This time though I'm posting a Top Ten list (I have lots to complain about).  I also have one rule, that I can only have one least favourite jersey per-team.  Remember that these are just my opinions, so feel free to disagree with me.  Also, all the images in this post are from Icethetics, and the titles of each jersey are links to their page on The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database.

10: Boston Bruins Third

(Image from Icethetics)

I dislike the Bruins third jersey for a few reasons.  First of all, they used black socks for the first in franchise history.  Not only does it ruin tradition, I also think it just looks bad.  The sleeve striping appears lazy to me (just copied from their home jersey), and the lack of hem-stripes look bad on this jersey.  My final complaint is the logo, which I think looks much better as shoulder-patch.  The bruins colour-scheme still looks great though, which helps this jersey a bit.

9: Anaheim Ducks Third

(Image from Icethetics)

Most people are a fan the Ducks third jersey, but I think it's an eyesore.  The large orange area at the top of the socks are my least favourite part, it stands out way too much.  I also think all the orange piping is unnecessary and just clutters up the jersey up.  I am a fan of the logos though, which saves this jersey from being lower down on this list.

8: Ottawa Senators Road

(Image from Icethetics)

I'm not a fan of over-used templates, and this jersey template is one of the worst.  It's used by the Senators and Penguins (and formerly the Lightning).  I think the Penguins use this template slightly better, which is why I chose the Senators for this list.  Another thing I don't like about this jersey is the ugly font used for the numbers.  The side-profile logo would also be nice to see on a Senators jersey, instead of the front-facing logo on this jersey.

7: Calgary Flames Road

(Image from Icethetics)

During the Reebok Edge takeover in 2007, the flames went from having one of my favourite jersey sets to one of my least favourite.  I don't mind the side-panels, but I don't like the piping, the flag shoulder-patches, or the trim at the hem.  The jersey is just too busy, if it were simplified it might not be on this list.  Also the side panels on the home jersey match the pants better, which is why the road jersey makes this list instead of the home.

6: Florida Panthers Home

(Image from Icethetics)

I was very excited when I heard that the Panthers were returning to red for the colour of their home jersey.  But when it was revealed I was very disappointed.  The jersey has major contrast problems, due to the lack of white.  Also the striping is kind of boring, since it was just copied from their previous jersey.  The logos are still nice though, and the use of more red is good.

5: Tampa Bay Lightning Third

(Image from Icethetics)

The Lightning have three of my least favourite jerseys right now.  I had to pick just one, and the "Bolts" word-mark is what causes this jersey to make the list.  In my opinion, using a nickname as a logo is very amateurish and should never happen in the NHL.  The piping also makes this jersey look bad.  The actual striping is good though, which is why this jersey isn't even lower down on this list.

4: Pittsburgh Penguins Third

(Image from Icethetics)

One trend I really hate is the use of vintage white, including on the Penguins third jersey here at number four on the list.  I also don't like the trend of faux-back jerseys for the Winter Classic, which I think this jersey helped become a trend.  One other thing, the stripes on this jersey seem a bit too large, in my opinion.  This jersey also replaced a nice throwback jersey, which is another reason I might dislike it.

3: Columbus Blue Jackets Third

(Image from Icethetics)

This jersey would be so much better with normal white.  As it is, the modern elements used on this jersey (unique number font, use of silver), and the vintage white just don't mix.  Speaking of the number font, I don't think the super-boxy numbers work.  They're just too square.  The use of their regular logo on the helmet is also an odd choice.

2: Colorado Avalanche Home

(Image from Icethetics)

Another team that went from having great jerseys to terrible jerseys during the Reebok Edge takeover.  Now they are wearing a basic "colour by numbers" template.  The shoulder-yoke, similar to the Panthers jersey, has major contrast problems.  I also dislike the use of black equipment, since black is used so little anywhere else.

1: New York Islanders Third

(Image from Icethetics)

In my opinion, this is not only the worst jersey right now, but also hands-down the worst jersey of all-time.  First of all, the Black-For-Black-Sack (or BFBS) is stupid and looks ugly.  Then replacing white with grey makes the jersey look dark and muddy.  On top of that, the Islanders just stole the striping from the Ducks third jersey.  And then what did they use for a logo?  That's right, a boring script on top of the player's number.  They also thought it would be a good idea to use lace-up collars with such a modern jersey template.  Another thing, they just used the blue helmets from their home jersey, which looks out of place and weird.  Finally, the diamond pattern formed with the pants (which I'll admit is creative), looks kind of odd.  All those things are why this jersey is at number one on this list, and also why I would consider it the worst jersey off all time.

What do you think?  Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.

Some Animals (Coyotes, Penguins, and Sharks)

This post has lots of animals.  Speaking of animals, my dog literally predicted all the series in round 2 correct.  Isn't that amazing?  (He predicted the Kings and Devils to advance to the final).

Phoenix Coyotes:  This is a mix of my favourite elements from their two eras.  The third jersey features the dessert scene from their 1998-2003 third jersey, but now it's sublimated. 

Pittsburgh Penguins:  I'm actually a fan of their vegas gold, so I kept it.  I did borrow elements from the Lemieux era with the coloured arm-tops, but I used different striping.  I also kept their recent tradition of blue third jerseys, with a 1977-80 throwback jersey.

San Jose Sharks:  I changed up the striping on the home and road, and also made orange a bit more prominent.  The third jersey has more traditional striping and is black.

Only two more NHL Redesign posts left.  Afterwards I have a post about the Quebec Nordiques, but I don't know what I'll do after that.