August 29, 2008

NYR, VAN, & CHI

Another long weekend is upon us and so is ANOTHER JERSEY CONCEPT post! Is anyone getting sick of these yet? Is anyone reading my blog? Probably not.

First up;

New York Rangers

I like this as a possible alternate for 2009-2010. The Rangers are reported not to have a third jersey this year. Quick fact, they were one of the first five teams to have a third jersey when the program started in January of 1996. The Rangers were one of the first NHL teams to feature numbers on the front of their jerseys. They did this in the 1946-47 season. Boston was the other team to feature football style numbering.

Vancouver Canucks

A bit of a stretch going with a green jersey It could work, maybe even as a special "One Night Only" St. Patrick's day jersey. I only assumed that Daniel Sedin would be captain this season, it's not a fact.

Chicago Blackhawks

I was having trouble thinking of something to do with a Hawks jersey, even going as far as styling as jersey after the Hawks team from the Mighty Ducks movies.

Hey! I didn't even realize that former Canucks goalie, Kirk McLean, was in The Mighty Ducks movie...

August 27, 2008

2008-2009 Goalie Rankings

This may be a little premature but, I'm going to go ahead and do my top 10 goalie rankings for THIS YEAR. Criteria for the rankings are as follows;

1. Impact on their team. If they were injured, would the team suffer?

2. Career stats.

3. Playoff impact. (post-lockout. We all know it's a different game since the lockout)

I gave each goalie a rating out of 10 on each of these areas. Then added up the score and thus the rankings. There was one ranking that I had to change though because It just didn't make sense.

#10. CAM WARD
After I did my rankings, I had him 8th ahead of Kiprusoff and Miller. I just don't believe that to be true. So I will include him as #10. That Stanley Cup in 2006 really helped his stats. Since then he's been solid, but not stellar.

#9. MIKKA KIPRUSOFF
Kiprusoff always has great regular season stats. Without him the Flames most likely wouldn't make the playoffs or at least they would struggle to do so. Since the lockout the Flames have not won a playoff series and Kiprusoff has looked human at times.

#8. RYAN MILLER
If Ryan Miller were on another team other than the Sabres, or if the Sabres didn't lose all of their players, he would have a Stanley Cup by now. During their 2006 run, Miller was spectacular giving Buffalo the goaltending they needed in the playoffs (if only Briere and Drury could do the same, that's another story). Miller always manages solid regular season stats. Buffalo is only going to go as far as he takes them.

#7 MARTY TURCO
Post lock-out he proved that he can play in the playoffs, including a final 4 appearance last season. He is a 3rd defenceman also, which is so invaluable to Dallas' attack. With the departure of Mike Smith to Tampa Bay, there is no proven backup in Dallas. If Turco were to go down, Dallas would still be able to produce, but the defence would be questionable. As far as career goes, he does hold the modern day record for GAA in a season.

#6 ROBERTO LUONGO
Great regular season stats for Roberto, he was tied for third in shutouts last season. The previous season he had 47 wins. In that season, he also made his only playoff appearance. He did win one round and was excellent until the next round. The series clinching goal that season, was scored while he was trying to call an offside. Lesson learned, and I know that Luongo will move up this list every year.

#5 EVGENY NABOKOV
Great regular season stats, thus allowing him into the playoffs. As we all know, the Sharks have been playoff disappointments post lock-out. No fault of Nabokov, but he hasn't been as stellar as the goalies ahead of him on this list. If he goes down, the Sharks don't have anyone solid enough. Even the Sharks knew this as they played him in 77 of 82 games last season.

#4 HENRIK LUNDQVIST
Fantastic career stats. If the Rangers didn't have him, they would not be contending for the division title each year. He has won two playoff series in his brief career and has looked good doing so, but not great.

#3 JS GIGUERE
A Stanley Cup in 2007 and a final four appearance the previous season, has proved that this guy winning the Conn Smythe in 2003 was no fluke. His performance during the regular season makes the Ducks and automatic for the post season. Previously when Giguere went down, Bryzgalov was there to hold the fort. Now with him gone we'll see how much Anahiem needs Giguere.

#2 CHRIS OSGOOD
Defending Stanley Cup champion, and his playoff performance was a major factor to his team's performance. The recent Wings Cup was possibly the best team effort in NHL history. As far as his overall career, he has solid stats on a very good team. He has 2 Stanley Cups, which he was the starting goalie for. When he was with the Islanders, he was the reason they finished 5th and made the playoffs for the first time in a while.

#1 MARTIN BRODEUR
Everyone knows the credentials here. 3 Stanley Cups, he will own the career shutout record at the end of this season, and he's an ironman. In my opinion, this will be the final year at #1 for Martin Brodeur. I believe we're in the twilight years of a fantastic career. This is evident by one playoff series win post lock-out.

That's the goalies, next is the skaters. I also have plans to do the 5 most over rated goalies.
When you disagree with my decisions you can refer to my scoring system below;

August 24, 2008

Buffalo, Calgary Flames & Season Preview news

Here's another jersey that will be used as an alternate this year. No surprise here, the Sabres are going back to their retro look. Just this time the jersey and logo are a dark navy blue and all yellow is outlined by a thin silver line.


Thankfully they are making this version a navy blue so it will at least match the pants and helmet, unlike last time;


Remember that 06-07 Sabres team? The only one who was dumb enough to not leave Buffalo was Ryan Miller. I think that's only a matter of time.

Calgary Flames


Here's take take on the flaming C logo, it's now the flaming F logo. I've always liked the idea of Calgary having a black alternate jersey. Flames burn, thus a burnt black jersey.

As far as a season preview goes, I can't accurately write one up until Sundin decides what he's going to do. If he comes back, the team that takes him is going to have to clear cap space (via trades). If he doesn't come back, teams that were banking on him as a top centre are going to have to make trades to fill that role. Leaf camp starts on September 19th, so the preview will start no later than that. I'll do two teams a day. One from the East and one from the West.

Bye bye for now.

Actual Third Jerseys

This time around I have decided to post what are supposed to be actual third jerseys for the upcoming season.

I'll start with Long Island.

This season they will be going with a retro jersey. It will use the same colours and striping that was worn during the dynasty run of the 80's.

Phoenix Coyotes


I already did a Coyotes jersey with their new alternate logo, but this one also used their new shoulder patch. By all reports this is what the new third jersey will look like. In fact, all these posts are based on what I read in different reports.

Dallas Stars


I also already did a Stars jersey, but this one is the new alternate. It looks like the current white jersey that they have, except they are going to use the Dallas wordmark instead of the Stars logo. I don't know what the shoulder patch will be, in fact I haven't read any reports of there being shoulder patches. I used my discretion and used the state of Texas with the D in it.

August 23, 2008

Team Canada and Toronto Marlies

I only have a few for this post. Maybe starting to run short on ideas. Teams like Chicago and Boston are difficult to come up with alternate jerseys for without using a lot of elements that they have already used.

Anyways, I'll start with a quick Toronto Marlies jersey that I did.

The Marlies being the farm team of the Leafs, I took the opposite of the old Leafs jersey from the 30's, and added the Marlies' logo. I used the same lettering for the player's name. Then I took some old style numbering for the numbers.

Canada


Next, is Team Canada. Some people don't like to see black on any Canadian uniform. As for me, as long as I see the maple leaf on it I know it's Canada. So, I made a black Canadian alternate. The idea is a combination of the 1998 concept and the 2006 concept. The shoulder and arm piping is taken from the '98 Nagano jersey, while the thin white and red lines are the same idea as the minimalist '06 jersey from Torino.



That's it for now. Also, I know this blog has gotten a little off track from the lists I planned on doing, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. I'm sure I'll do some more lists in the future. In fact, just before the season starts I'll post my predictions such as conference standings and trophy winners.

August 21, 2008

NHL 09

NHL 09 from EA Sports comes out on September 11. I've always been a big fan of this game and have purchased every issue from NHL 94 to now. I get excited every year around this time for it's release. No different this year for NHL 09 as a lot of great new features will be in it.

The one I want to focus on right now, is a feature that was reported on MontrealCanadiens.com
Celebrating the 100th year, Habs legends will be in the game and not just scattered throughout, but as a all time great Canadiens team.

Check out these photos of Ken Dryden and Guy Lefleur.


The Wikipedia entry says it best;

"Commemorating the Montreal Canadiens 100th "birthday" NHL 09 will feature a team of all-time Canadien greats, such as Maurice "Rocket" Richard, Jean Beliveau, Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe, Bernard "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, Toe Blake, Dickie Moore, Bob Gainey, Yvan Cournoyer, Steve Shutt, Henri Richard, Howie Morenz, Jacques Lapperiere, Doug Harvey, and Emile "Butch" Bouchard. Also lacing them up for the Centennial "Habs" in net will be Patrick Roy, Jacques Plante, and Ken Dryden. In addition to gamers being able to play as the team, they are also able to enter "The Centennial Tournament", in which they will have to go through an eight-team bracket for a chance to play against these all time greats."

That's it for now.

August 19, 2008

Toronto Maple Leafs Concepts

So far, I have 4 concepts for Leaf jerseys. There's nothing wrong with their current jerseys at all. One of the best in the league. (I'll get into that later) But here are some ideas that might be good if the Leafs strayed away from tradition...

#1

This is obviously not my concept. This is the alternate for the upcoming season. The classic 1960's vintage with the RBK Edge styling. Not much more to say here, I think we've all seen this already.

#2


This is the blue vintage from the 40's and 50's with some of the styles from the current Leafs' RBK jersey. First, I took the striped off the bottom. Next, I used the current numbering that is used on the Leafs' home jersey. Then, I gave it RBK Edge styling.

#3


This is the first jersey I created so it's not very good. I still like the idea behind it. 67 logo with classic numbering. I used the arm striped from 1967 and added the shoulder piping from the alternate jersey. No stripes on the bottom of the jersey. I like some jerseys like that when the RBK Edge is used.

#4


I took the jersey from the 80's and altered it a little bit. The full sleeve is now blue and the vintage Leaf is the shoulder patch. Of course, RBK Edge styling. Big thick stripe on the bottom of this jersey, such as it was in the 70's and 80's.

LA and Detroit

Just a quick one here...

Detroit Red Wings

This is taken from their home red's. Changed to black, sleeves changed to Red Wing red and outlined in white. The numbers are different, just standard sports numbering. I'd say a pretty good idea for a Wings alternate jersey (if they didn't go the vintage route). The Wings have the same idea as the Devils, being that they believe alternates are gimmicky (true) and they are proud not to have one.

Los Angeles Kings


From what I've read, this is going to be the actual Kings' alternate jersey this season. Very little purple except for outlining the numbers and in the crown in the logo. Speaking of the logo, here is a closer look at it in black and white.

Next will be a major post of the Toronto Maple Leaf concepts I have so far.

August 17, 2008

Minnesota & Buffalo

Minnesota Wild


No plans for the Wild to have an alternate this season. So I took the liberty of creating one. Basic green with the vintage wool look (like they used at the 2004 All Star Game in Minnesota). Logo is in the arm bands such as the Habs did back in the day.

Buffalo Sabres

I know many people in Buffalo hate the current logo that the Sabres wear right now, but really aren't there better things to complain about...like having to LIVE IN BUFFALO. They think the current logo looks like a slug. There's even a website. So I created a jersey using the new forth-coming alternate logo. I kept the current jersey design. It seems that Buffalonians (hahahahahahahahaha!) have no porblem with the jersey design.Mayne now they can stop complaining. Then again, whatever distracts you from the fact that you live in Buffalo!

Forgotten Jerseys

I had forgotten about these jerseys. I did them when I first started making the jerseys about a week or so ago.

Atlanta Thrashers

This will be the actual Thrashers' alternate logo this season. The alternate jersey will also be Thrasher red. It's not like anyone in Atlanta will care though. The new jersey will feature the numbers on the front, football style. I'll try to get another post up as to what the actual jersey might look like.

Los Angeles Kings


This is using the old Kings alternate logo from 1996. Pretty simple. The Kings will go with a black jersey this year. Simple white stripes and the letters LA on the front. Pretty much a copy of Dallas' home jersey just replace green with purple.

Phoenix Coyotes


Phoenix will go with a black jersey this year as their alternate. They will also use the jumping coyote logo this season that I have displayed in my jersey. Again Phoenix will use a design nearly identical to Dallas' home jersey.

Buffalo Sabres


Buffalo will go retro again this year as they will bring back their blue jersey from the 70's and 80's. I decided to use the white one here and give it the new numbering. The Buffalo logo will be touched up a bit for the new season with some silver lining. Buffalo will unveil their new alternates on September 20th.

Pittsburgh Penguins


The Pens will use the jersey used at last year's Winter Classic as an alternate this season. I think that was expected. So I went ahead and made an alternate to the alternate. Expect this from the Penguins.

St. Louis Blues

From what I have been reading, the Blues will have an alternate jersey that looks like this. I could be very wrong, but I haven't read anything about the yellow being on the jersey except in the logo. Also, from what I read this will be the logo on the Blues' alternate. The jersey will be a dark navy colour.

That's it for this post. I hope to have some more later today or tomorrow and then sometime soon put up all my concepts for the Leafs.

Colorado & Washington

Here's a couple alternate jerseys I've come up with late this evening...

Colorado Avalanche


I know this one is pretty bad, but I think the one that they were using as an alternate was pretty bad also. I wanted to do and Av's black jersey, but this is all I came up with. Maybe I'll try again later. The main crest is just their regular wordmark and the shoulder patches are the big foot logo they have.

Washington Capitals

I really like this one as an actual alternate for the Caps this year. I don't think I've read anything that says they will have an alternate this year, but if they do this is an obvious choice. It's just their home jersey with the red and blue switching places.


More to come tomorrow...I hope.

August 14, 2008

Wow, more jerseys

I can't get enough of this jersey making stuff.

Detroit Red Wings

The jersey is a copy of the white jersey the Wings wore in the 40's and 50's. The logo is the modern day logo. While the numbering is from Team Canada's 2006 Olympic jerseys.

Dallas Stars

It seems like Dallas is trying to get away from the North Star green and go with a black and gold scheme. I'm not a big fan of their current home jersey with the football style numbering on the front. Thus, I came up with this alternative which doesn't contain any of the green colour.

Vancouver Canucks



The logos used for this jersey were created prior to last season with the intention of putting them on an alternate jersey. When the third jersey program was scrapped last year, so was the idea to use these logos. Maybe we'll see them on the Canucks' alternate jersey this season, doubtful. The main crest is Johnny Cancuck...that is all I know about him.

2009 All Star Game

With the game being in Montreal this season, I thought back to '93 (the last time the game was in Montreal) and remembered the classic All Star jerseys that were used for the last time that year. I also chose those jerseys as my favourite all star jerseys of all time on a previous post.
Here I take that idea and use the new NHL logo and colour scheme to create these. The Montreal All Star Game logo is the patch on the chest.

August 13, 2008

Carolina Concept


The Canes are supposed to have their first ever alternate jersey this season. It's supposed to be black with the swirl logo and a white triangle behind it. Here's my idea without the white triangle in the background.

August 12, 2008

More Jersey Concepts

Here's some more jerseys I've come up with, but first...

Boston Bruins

This has actually been confirmed as Boston's alternate jersey for the upcoming season.
http://icethetics.blogspot.com/2008/07/bruins-confirm-alternates.html

New Jersey Devils


The logo comes from a US high school football team (Great Falls Devils). The Devils take pride in the fact that they don't have an alternate jersey. So much so, that they probably will never have a third jersey.

Edmonton Oilers


The Oilers will use an alternate jersey this season. Obviously it won't be this one. They plan on using a retro jersey. That will most likely be the blue retro jersey thus, making it easier to wear for home games.

Tampa Bay Lightning


This is the logo that will be used on Tampa's alternate jersey this year. So I came up with what I thought would be a good alternate. Tampa has a history of bad alternates (anyone remember the blue lightning jersey from the 90's?) The new alternate will be blue.

More to come later

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