Freak Out Friday XLII

Freak Out Friday is finally back! After taking six weeks off, everybody's favorite series is making its' big return today. For those of you who just joined us in the last six weeks, take a look at some past Fridays. Some of the best ones were on the old blog. Basically, I take the opportunity every couple of weeks to showcase some of the weirdest and craziest concept art that turns up in my inbox.

Now, we're starting back up with an easy one. What did we last make fun on Freak Out Friday and what do we make fun of the most? Could it have been the Mighty Ducks' mid-90s third jerseys? What if they mated with the Kings?

Sticking with California for a moment, imagine if the Sharks went in an entirely different direction with their logo design.

That's not even the best one, and you'll notice that the majority of today's Freak Outs come by way of David Delisle who, while doing excellent work, sure ends up with some odd stuff.

Last month I featured a blog that was holding a competition to design the best Hurricanes/Whalers hybrid jersey for the franchise's 30th anniversary.

That's so scary it's actually good. And to all of you who think the Hurricanes' logo looks like a toilet flushing... this logo brings back memories of when my first goldfish died.

The Flames will be our next topic of discussion.

Check out that logo in the middle. The more astute among you will notice some things hiding in plain sight. The less astute will just be amused by this.

The Blue Jackets are next on our hit list. All this time and no one's ever made a concept showing jerseys that look like blue jackets. Until now.

How would that not get your team laughed off the ice?

Finally, a combination of odd designs by our new buddy Dave.

Yes, we get it. There are a lot of cabs in New York. By the way, the record needle on the end of a hockey stick is pretty funny.

One more thing, which isn't related to hockey but still funny. Kurt Snibbe of ESPN.com's Page 2 had some fun messing with NFL logos last week. I highly recommend a look even if you don't like football.

And that's all there is for this 42nd edition of the Freak Out Friday. I hope to be back in two weeks with a new crop of the ridiculous so make sure you guys keep them coming.

Freak Out Friday XXXIX

Today marks the debut of the Freak Out Friday on Icethetics. The series carries over from my old blog — NHL Tournament of Logos. If you're new to this, you might want to have a look at some of the ridiculous items that have been submitted to me over the past year.

Along with this comes a new name. The series was formerly called "Just To Freak You Out" — but it is more commonly known now as Freak Out Friday. And as you can see, this is the 39th edition since August of last year. Yeah, we've had a lot of weird and crazy artwork to post in that time. Remember, too, that is a biweekly feature so you'll only see it every other Friday.

With that out of the way, let's dive in because there's quite a lot to get to. I'm beginning with Buffalo. The unveiling of Matt's rebrand of the Sabres this week was met with a rather mixed reaction — that spawned a lot of attempts to fix it. Now, there were some good ones (which I'm saving to post over the weekend) and there were some bad ones (which you will see now).

You may have to stare at that for quite a while to figure out what it is. Kudos to anyone who can figure it out without me explaining it. Naturally, there's a jersey concept to go with it.

Thing about the Sabres, though, is while there are a number of very vocal fans opposed to the "slug" logo, it just so happens that plenty of folks like it. So the trick because how to make it less about the buffalo and more about the sabres.

All from the same artist. Comments?

Let's move on now to the Atlantic Division where we have a number of Combo Concepts, as I think I'll start calling them. First is a current Penguins logo mixed with an old one.

There are some things we should just never have to look at.

I'm sure you can figure out the relevance here. One more...

And now we move way out west for a simple concept based on the old Mighty Ducks secondary mark.

It has wings!

Speaking of Anaheim, if you remember back to the last Freak Out post, you might remember the series of logos based on the Mighty Ducks' old third jersey with the giant duck bursting through the ice. I'm presenting them one division at a time. This time it's the Atlantic.

You'll get another division next time but that's all for this week. Express your disbelief and hysteria in the comments area below if you're so inclined and get ready for No. 40 in two weeks!

Red, White & Blue

I don't plan on blowing anything up tonight. It's not really my thing. Instead, you guessed it... concept art. And what NHL team is quintessentially red, white and blue? If you're Canadian, you might say Montreal, but then they're actually bleu, blanc et rouge, aren't they?

No, I'm speaking of the New York Rangers. And one reader has submitted some rather unconventional designs.

Doesn't really scream New York Rangers to me, but I see where he was going.

Another red, white and blue team is the Washington Capitals but that's a recent development after they spent more than a decade in navy and bronze (which I always loved, by the way).

That's a rather simple design and, if I do say so, not entirely worthy of this club. I've also been sent a peculiar design for a blue third jersey.

I'm not sure where they eagle came from, but it just feels unoriginal. It's a simple design but not in the good way.

And finally, I hate to leave out our Canadian friends, so with the next all-star weekend being held in Montreal, enjoy this set of concept jerseys for the big game.

American folk: Enjoy the fireworks tonight. Try not to blow off any appendages and we'll consider it a success. Canadian folk: Carry on as usual with your Friday night.