My Thoughts on the Blues, and Three Guest Concepts

As you all must know by now, the St. Louis Blues unveiled new home and road jerseys on Monday.  Those new jerseys were based off of the Blues' 1998-2007 jerseys, but had a few important changes.  I personally love the new jerseys, I also liked the jerseys they were based off but I think the few changes make it even better.  Using bolder stripes, straight arm stripes, and adding a small gap in the striping pattern give the jerseys a more traditional look (compared to their 1998-2007 jerseys) that suit the Blues perfectly.

Photos from blues.nhl.com

While I think the new jerseys are basically perfect, there is one part of the uniforms I don't like and that is the socks.  I don't like the fact that the road socks have no navy blue, and the home socks don't really match the home jerseys.  Personally I'd match the socks stripes to the shoulder yoke, as you can see below.

Overall I'd give the uniforms a high A grade.  And while we're on the subject of Blues jerseys, I just want to say that I never thought the Blues' 2007-14 jerseys were that bad.  I've seen a lot of people saying they were the worst or one of the worst jerseys in the league, but I thought they okay (I'd give them a low B grade) Now moving on to some concepts...

St. Louis Blues, by Ricky:

Sticking with the Blues, Ricky made this Blues concept which features a yellow home jersey and the return of red.  He also uses their roundel logo on the front, and the swooshing striping pattern from the Ducks previous jerseys.  Honestly I'm not a fan of any of those decisions.  A yellow home jersey doesn't say Blues to me, I never liked red in their colour scheme, I don't think the roundel is a good primary logo (and the blue-note is such an iconic logo), and this striping pattern should stay with the Ducks in my opinion.

Calgary Flames, by Ricky:

Ricky also made this concept for the Flames, which I'm glad to say I like better than the previous concept.  The striping pattern on the home and road looks good, I like that the cowboy-shirt yoke from their current third jersey is used, but I think a few minor changes could really help.  First I'd make the hem stripe the same thickness as the arm stripes, I'd also remove the piping on the home jersey, and on the road jersey I'd replace the black with red as I think there is too much black right now.  Speaking of too much black, I think the numbers on the home jersey need to be another colour (or re-work the outlines) because they blend into the jersey too much right now.  I'm also not sure about using the roundel as the primary logo, I think it's a good secondary logo but it doesn't work as a primary in my opinion.  The third jersey is really cool, the striping pattern is unique and matches the logo perfectly.

Czech Republic, by Jared:

We end today's post with a Czech Republic concept by Jared that looks more like a Washington Capitals concept.  I'm sorry but I just can't get past the fact that a Capitals logo was used as the main logo for a Czech Republic concept, it ruins the whole concept in my opinion.  The socks also look bad how the panels are just filled in with colour, instead of using an actual striping pattern.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Four Guest Concepts

Dallas Stars, by Ricky:

We begin today's post with this Stars concept by Ricky which combines their current logos and colour scheme with their 1999-2006 jerseys.  I wasn't sure this striping pattern was possible on a Reebok edge jersey, but Ricky proves that it's possible and it looks just as good as it did before.  The star of this concept in my opinion is the beveled number font which works great with the logos.

Carolina Hurricanes, by Ricky:

For his second concept today, Ricky carefully balances modern elements with more traditional elements to create a nice looking Hurricanes concept.  I love seeing the hurricane-flag pattern return, and pairing it up with the side panels from the Coyotes third jersey looks really good (surprisingly good).  My only negative is that I don't like using the script underneath the logo on the third jersey, it would look much better without the script in my opinion.

2015 Stadium Series, by Jared:

We also have a couple of concepts by Jared today, both for the San Jose Stadium series game.  This first concept uses the same design for both teams and both jerseys are white, which wouldn't be good for trying to tell the two team's apart.  Execution is another big issue for this concept, the lines are sloppy and go over the edge of the jerseys, the colours are too bright, and the L on the Kings jersey looks like a Z.  This whole concept feels rushed, it gives off the impression that the creator wanted too finish it as fast as possible and didn't care about the quality of the concept.

2015 Stadium Series (hand-drawn), by Jared:

Jared also sent in this hand drawn Stadium Series concept, which is done slightly better than the previous concept but still suffers from a lot of the same errors.  Starting with the positives, I like that the striping patterns and logos are no longer identical for each team, and I also like orange is added to the Sharks jersey.  Adding yokes is also an improvement in my opinion.  Moving on to the negatives, this concept still has the problem of both teams using white jerseys, which would cause headaches for anyone trying to tell the two team's apart.  The execution for this is also just as sloppy as the previous concept, with many of the same problems.  The template is also drawn poorly, for example the right sleeve on the Sharks jersey is like triple the size of the left sleeve.  My advice to Jared would be to slow way down when making concepts, don't rush anything, and pay attention to every single detail no matter how small it is.

Have a good day!

Silver Whalers

Hartford Whalers:

This concept is kind of inspired by a t-shirt I have.  I noticed from that shirt that I liked the look of the Whalers' 1992-97 logo on a silver background, so I decided to make a silver jersey concept for them.

Thanks for visiting!

Miscellaneous Guest Concepts

Real Salt Lake, by Justin S:

We have two guest concepts today by Justin, starting off with this Real Salt Lake hockey concept.  Now I'm not a soccer fan and I really know nothing about Real Salt Lake, so I'm not the best person to review this but I'll do my best.  As you can see Justin used the 2009 NHL All-Star Game template, which seems to match the team's current road jersey pretty well.  My favourite parts of this concept are the unique elements, like the number on the pants, the logo on the socks, and the logo underneath the back of the collar.

2015 Memorial Cup (with expansion teams), by Justin S:

Justin also made this concept for a potential Memorial Cup with three expansion teams.  For the WHL expansion team he brings back the Abbotsford Heat, and gives them jerseys with a unique yoke design.  I think that design looks great on the white jersey where the shoulders are the same colour as jersey, but not quite as good on the red jersey.  Moving on to the QMJHL, Justin puts a team in Fredericton called the Lynx with a nice blue and gold colour scheme and the old St-Jean Lynx diagonal script as the logo.  The shoulder stripes for the Lynx are quite interesting, but I'm not sure I'm a fan.  It's a feature I'd have to see in real life to know if I liked it or not.  Lastly, Justin expands the OHL by bringing back the Brantford Alexanders (the team previously existed from 1978-84, according to Sportslogos.net).  The striping pattern for the Alexanders is fairly simple which in this case works really well.  I particularly like the collar treatment, which is similar to what the Oilers did back when they were winning Stanley Cups.  My only suggesting for the Alexanders would be to add black trim to the numbers on the white jersey.

Have a good day!