All-Star Duds

With the Winter Classic and all its greatness now behind us, the next big NHL event is the All-Star Game set to take place in Atlanta in three-and-a-half weeks. Naturally, I have concept art, but before I get to that, I've got some real stuff to discuss.

I've gotten a few emails recently that called to my attention the fact that I have yet to really talk about the new all-star uniforms here on the blog. I first posted photos of the new sweaters back in November. Since then, there have been other developments.

For instance, the reason the "logo" is so high up on the jersey is that the player's number will go below it on the chest.



For a better look at the entire jersey, these images come from the NHL.com shop where you can customize and order an all-star jersey. Naturally, I used Vinny Lecavalier in my example.




You'll notice the captain's C takes its lead from the Detroit Red Wings in its right-shoulder placement. We can see that the all-star logo will go on top of the left shoulder while it would seem the player's team logo will go on the right.

As far as creative all-star jerseys go, my personal favorite was what they wore in the 2001 All-Star Game in Denver.



I may have strange taste in uniform design by most standards, but wait until you see some of the concept art that's been sent to me.

Modeled after the host team itself is a jersey set that is actually quite cool. What if the league made a habit out of this?



Here's a simple set that uses the conference logos as its primary features.



This set just has far too many stars on it.



And this final set is a callback to the 2001 uniforms I just mentioned above where the goalies where a different color from the rest of the team — in essence, matching their opposition.



These too are modeled after the Atlanta Thrashers own uniforms, but a little less on the nose — trading the ATLANTA sleeves for EASTERN and WESTERN. It's a set I'm a big fan of.



Overall, some nice designs and some strange designs. I'm curious to read your reaction to these. Comment away.

Poll: Canucks vs Capitals

	vs
Vancouver CANUCKS		Washington CAPITALS

Time now to decide on the best secondary logo in the NHL! It's come down to the 'Nucks and Caps. 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 Jan 1

Poll closing date Sat Jan 5

07SCTRN | #4A | VANvWSH

NBC, Update Your Graphics!

The second period of the Winter Classic has just begun and as a live television director, I have to take issue with some of what's been going on during the NBC telecast. For one thing, the graphics are out of date!

This site is dedicated to NHL logos so naturally my biggest nitpick has to do with said logos in broadcast graphics.



I photographed my TV screen earlier this afternoon to demonstrate my point. Of the 16 logos seen on this particular graphic, a quarter of them are WRONG! From left to right, the Sharks, Blue Jackets, Bruins and Lightning all got new logos this season. NBC apparently opted to ignore that fact and just use last year's graphics.

NBC, update your damn graphics!

The abominations only continue but for the sake of sparing you guys, I won't go on about it. But just know that I'm very disappointed in the disrespect of American network television toward an obviously huge moment in the sport of hockey.

End rant.

Winter Classic, Part II

The first period has just ended as I'm writing this with the Pens up 1-0. Pretty good game. I have some complaints about the NBC broadcast, but I'll get into that in the next post. Right now I've got a few Buffalo Sabres concepts to share to complement yesterday's Penguins art.



I'd be remiss if I didn't start with a blue/gold color scheme. This is a nice set because it actually features sabres on the front of the shirt. Weird. The yellow sweater below belongs to this set as an alternate.



This next set is from the red/black era but it features the same logo as above.



Same deal with the alternate. Though I don't think a grey jersey is a very good idea.



And finally, this one is just for fun. Rather reminiscent of a certain energy drink logo, is it not?



Enjoy the rest of the game everybody!

Winter Classic, Part I

In honor of the Winter Classic which takes place tomorrow, I've got concept art for the two clubs taking part. (Penguins today, Sabres tomorrow.)

First is a rather dramatic logo redesign. You can't help but like the throwback jerseys though.



On the right is a set that also makes use of a new logo while throwing back even further to the days of blue sweaters.



Here we have a recolored set of New York Islanders jerseys. Still not a fan of that design but the lack of piping is allowing me to warm to it only slightly.



The numbering here scares me but it shows what you can do to improve the visual look of the Pens' sweaters.



And this one's for the few of you that preferred the '90s penguin.

This last concept is a little far out but it's not bad thinking. Needs work but it feels like it's on the right track.



That's all I got. Should have some Sabres artwork tomorrow. Hope you enjoy the game if you were lucky enough to score tickets. Happy new year!

Concepts On The Isle

I got a couple of nice New York Islanders concepts delivered to me. I felt like sharing them tonight. The first is a really simple improvement over the new design introduced this year.



It's not much, but it makes the sleeves seem like they're actually a part of the jersey. And it does away with the pointless piping around the shoulders.

Now if you just can't live without the piping, here's how you do it the right way. Tip: Use a different color for the shoulders.



Plus, I've always liked the Islanders in an orange jersey. Just like I preferred the Stars in green — even the Wild in green as well. It's almost like there was actually a mandate requiring teams to wear black, blue or red (the Sharks with the teal the only exception). Anyway, here's to orange jerseys and Mike Comrie.



Though he appears to be disintegrating as if in one of those sci-fi films.

I'll have more stuff to post tomorrow. I hope to make a large-scale update to the Concepts Gallery as well.

Just To Freak You Out XXI

The Freak Out series hits 21 this week — old enough to get hammered. And boy, I think some of the designers this week had to have been hammered. I mean, just look at this.



It might take a moment or two to notice that this is an "If They Mated" example. It's the new Sharks secondary logo merged with the Mighty Ducks third jersey of the mid-90s. But I love it!



This Flames jersey is on fire! Someone on eBay is really selling it. For real.



Sidney Crosby recently dropped the gloves in a rare on-ice event. This picture isn't real but it cracks me up nonetheless. There's just so much about it that's so wrong. I'm curious to see if the guys over at Pensblog have anything to say about this.

And finally, we have a plethora of "matings" here to share.



To sum things up, what you see above is the Flyers and Bruins, Rangers and Islanders, Devils and Sabres, Blue Jackets and Blackhawks, Avalanche and Wild, Blues and Red Wings, Canucks and Hurricanes (weird!), Bruins and Flyers (opposite of the first one) and Stars and Coyotes.

But wait, there's more.



This one is interesting because it's all opposites of the previous image. They are the Coyotes and Stars, Blackhawks and Blue Jackets, Hurricanes and Canucks, Islanders and Rangers, Sabres and Devils, Red Wings and Blues (what the—?), and Wild and Avalanche.

Hope you enjoyed being freaked out. Have a fantastic weekend!

Poll: Capitals vs Thrashers

	vs
Washington CAPITALS		Atlanta THRASHERS

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 Thu Dec 27

Poll closing date Mon Dec 31

07SCTRN | #3B | WSHvATL

Poll: Hurricanes vs Canucks

	vs
Carolina HURRICANES		Vancouver CANUCKS

The third round has begun! 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 Wed Dec 26

Poll closing date Sat Dec 30

07SCTRN | #3A | CARvVAN

Merry Christmas, Edmonton!

Santa has delivered some Edmonton Oilers concept art for me to post this evening.

This first one keeps with the copper theme but makes a few adjustments. For one thing, there are two different secondary logos — one for each shoulder. It also continues the stripe all the way around the sleeve.



Not too bad overall, though. The letters on the nameplate might be a bit hard to read but the secondary logos are well done. I like the one on the left, personally.



These two jerseys are a couple of designs featuring the logo you guys voted as the NHL's best third jersey logo. One with silver, one with copper. I like the silver.



And these two were just fun. I think that jersey on the left looks bad with an Islanders logo on it. The Oilers logo doesn't improve it. On the right are a few concepts with some interesting striping. The orange jersey was ill-conceived, I think, but the other two have my attention.

Finally, as a bonus for those of you longing for the days of the Winnipeg Jets, enjoy this.



Those are pretty sharp. Too bad we'll never get to see jerseys like that anytime soon.

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas (if you celebrate it) and the day off (if you were lucky enough to get it). The third round of the Secondary Logo tournament kicks off tomorrow.