Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Rbk EDGE Review: Blackhawks

Part 16 of 30. All 30 NHL clubs have unveiled new jerseys under the new Rbk EDGE Uniform System for the 2007-08 season. Here at the NHLToL, we're going to review every one of them. Read up and then rate the new sweaters. We'll do a full ranking after completing all of the reviews.

Rbk EDGE Uniform System

Chicago Blackhawks


New Uniforms

Old Uniforms

The Unveiling
Friday, September 14. The Blackhawks unveiled their new jerseys at a press conference in Chicago. Martin Havlat, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Brent Seabrook were on hand to model the uniforms.

Home vs. Road
Home: Red. Road: White. The two sweaters are essentially mirror images of each other with slight differences in striping patterns and feature secondary logo patches on the shoulders.

The red home jerseys feature white-black-white stripes around the elbows and white-black-white-black stripes around the waist with white extending down to the bottom. The collar is white with black trim on the inside and the primary logo serves as the crest.

The white road jerseys feature spaced black-red-black stripes around the elbows and the waist with black cuffs extending to the the wrist around the sleeves. The collar is red with black trim on the inside and the primary logo serves as the crest.

In The Details
The colors are different on the shoulder patch between the home and road sweaters. The same numbering and lettering style has been retained.

New & Old
There is hardly a difference at all between the two uniforms. The old design was simply adapted to the new EDGE cut. The one noticeable difference is in the collar, which now, like all new jerseys, features the NHL shield.

Standard FAQ
Numbers on the front? No.
Laces at the collar? No.

NHLToL Editorial by Chris
By now all of you must be aware of my aversion to the Blackhawks' logo and uniforms. It's just a personal preference thing. I don't see what's so special about it and why it's often been called the best uniform in all of sports. I don't think it's ugly by any means, but I don't understand it's allure. One thing is for sure, though. You always know when you're watching a Blackhawks game. But personally, I think you could do just as much better as worse with this one. It's not bad but it's not great either. Now go on, tell me how ridiculous I am for holding such an opinion. 3/5



View the photo gallery

Buy your new Blackhawks jersey!

Slowing Down

So now that hockey season is back in full swing, my site no longer seems to be necessary to give folks their offseason hockey fix. So after averaging around 70,000 to 80,000 hits a day, we're down to around 9,000 or 10,000. Nothing to sneeze at, but definitely not the traffic I had this summer. And that's to be expected.

So while I don't have the content I did during the peaks this summer, just know that I'm still working on this site as much as ever. In fact, right now, I'm taking a break from designing Center Ice graphics.

In fact, maybe some of you can help me. I'm working on the New York Islanders right now. I've got the logo and center line in place, but I can't seem to get the right font for the text around the circle. If any of you guys still reading might be able to offer me a little assistance in that regard, I'd be more than appreciative. But I envision this problem cropping up on more than one occasion.



If you think you can help, drop me a line in the comments or by email.

That reminds me, I still need photos for most teams, so if any of you have pictures or have seen pictures online, I'd love for you to send them my way if you can. This is going to be a very slow process if I'm doing it all on my own.

Anyway, I'll have today's uniform review posted shortly and then I'll be calling it a night. Enjoy yourselves and let me know if you guys think of anything else I can do to improve upon the site.

Caps, Sharks, Leafs Get Cool Concepts

Today I've got a post with some very cool artwork. Take a look.

Lots of folks have suggested using the Washington Capitals' secondary logo as a primary. Here's a sweater design with that in mind.



The only problem I have is the star beneath the wings. Other than that, it's the best design I've seen with the "Weagle" logo, as it's been dubbed. Even the stripes on the sleeves look awesome with that logo.



These San Jose Sharks sweaters are nice if not slightly reminiscent of the new Blues jerseys with the piping and the Islanders jerseys on the sleeves. I like the shield logo being used on the shoulders, but I think it needs to be bigger. For being a design I like, it sure sounds like I have a lot of complaints. But honestly, though, I am a fan.

Finally, I have a concept with the best Toronto Maple Leafs logo I've seen yet. It's the one on the right.



While I'm not loving the striping pattern, I really like that logo. It mixes the current leaf silhouette with the old Toronto Arenas logo. It kicks ass, to put it quite simply. Any Leafs fans out there that like that idea? Or is it just me?

And remember, if you have any concept art you'd like to see posted here or in the Concepts Gallery, feel free to send them along to nhllogos@gmail.com.

Poll: Canucks vs Whalers


vs
Vancouver
CANUCKS
Hartford
WHALERS


Place your vote and then feel free to leave a comment as to how you came to your decision. Tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Poll opening date
Tue Oct 9 @ 4:30 AM
Poll closing date
Sat Oct 13 @ 11:59 PM


07VNTRN | #1D | VAN70vHFD79

Result: Whalers Logo History

BEST ALL-TIME
1992

79% 3,112 votes



3,934 total votes



1979
21% 822 votes




Poll opening date
Oct 1 @ 4:23 AM
Poll closing date
Oct 8 @ 11:59 PM


07BONLH | LHHFD