0372: Cleveland Carp

The Beer League Series hasn't been as big of a hit as I was hoping in its first two weeks. I'll try a couple more but if you guys aren't feeling it we'll move on to something else. Today's concept isn't so much a beer league team (though it could be!) as a custom team created by John Lovato. He writes:

The CHL team here in Denver named themselves the Cutthroats after the Eagles left, and everyone I talked to wasn't too fond of the logo. I eventually made this, and after a bit made it from a cut throat into a simple carp, and placed them in Cleveland. I included a primary, a shoulder, and two jerseys, in the hopes it might be showcased on your awesome site.

0371: Waddell's Winter Classic, Finale

Love it or hate it, this is the end of the Winter Classic series brought to you by the Waddell brothers, Chance and Jake. They created mock throwbacks for all 30 teams. And today, we wrap it all up with the Bruins and Flyers — opponents in the real NHL Winter Classic in 2010.

With this sub-series complete, we have a handful of unique and varied Winter Classic concepts to come over the next few weeks. If you have an idea for a design, send it along!

0370: More Monochromatic Isles

Some designers can't get enough of the idea of the New York Islanders switching to a black-and-white color scheme when they move to Brooklyn in a few years. They're not the Nets, but that's not stopping anyone. Here's another from Ian Black that I liked enough to include on this Freak Out Friday.

0369: Reviving the Golden Seals

We wrap up our week of team revivals with a humorous take from Liam Peacock on the California Golden Seals. Liam imagines a world where the Seals didn't leave the Bay Area in 1976. Within this alternate history, he's created a progression of uniforms the team might have gone through over the years — based on the styles and trends of the NHL.

I was amused at what happened with the team's look in the '90s — a "style" problem that plagued real NHL teams like the Sabres, Oilers, Islanders and Capitals. In the early 2000s, a simpler-is-better approach started to emerge. And by the late 2000s, a lot of those older teams made modern updates to their classic uniforms — like the Sabres, Oilers, Islanders and Capitals.

Update on Tuesday · Mar 5 · 2013 | 12:20 AM PST by Chris

Liam read your comments and made some revisions as well as an additional jersey design.

0368: Reviving the Tigers

The Hamilton Tigers played in the NHL for five season from 1920 to 1925. Lately you can't seem to avoid talk of Hamilton returning to the NHL mix, so why not as the Tigers? Ryan Haslett designed this look, which would work as a great retro third jersey.

0367: Reviving the Metropolitans

Here's a fun one. We continue our theme this week of reviving old hockey franchises. The PCHA's Seattle Metropolitans have the distinction of being the first American hockey team to win the Stanley Cup. So why has it been nearly a century and the Jet City is still without an NHL franchise? Justin Nahhas puts forth this uniform for the day pro hockey finally returns to Seattle.

By the way, fun fact: The first post of the Concepts page relaunch was Feb. 19, 2012 — and featured Ryan Haslett's Seattle Metros. Coincidence? Of course not.

Update on Wednesday · Feb 20 · 2013 | 12:48 AM PST by Chris

Justin read through your feedback and made some revisions to his Seattle jerseys — which include a new primary logo for the home and road sweaters.

0366: Reviving the Americans

As we embark on our second year of concept posts, I've got a new theme for this week. We're going to be looking at reviving old hockey franchises. Imagine we live in an alternate universe where it was the New York Americans that emerged as the Big Apple's dominant NHL franchise. Imagine the Rangers merged with the Americans and adopted their name 70 years ago. That's what Matt McElroy has done with today's concept.