Just To Freak You Out IX

It's time for another Freak Out Friday! Let's not waste time.

I've had this Buffalo Sabres concept for some time now. I think the idea is that this text would run down the front of the jersey, just like the Rangers.

Cracks me up though. But, hey, nothing says "Buffalo" and "Sabres" more than the city on a skewer. Anybody else getting hungry?

No? Just me?

Moving right along then to one of the scariest bits of artwork ever to grace my inbox.

Aptly titled Thrash Bling, this image frightens me to my very core. What you can't say, though, is that it isn't creative. The things people come up with.

I think the Anaheim Ducks missed an opportunity.

That is one pissed off duck. I think someone splashed him.

You might have to enlarge this next one to grasp its full scope.

I get the octopus thing, but where does it stop exactly? I'm voting for the purple one. Speaking of scary Detroit Red Wings art, look at this.

I mean it's not half bad as far as that goes, but yikes! I think the wings are swallowing the wheel. Poor wheel.

Apologies for the short post this week, guys, but it was a slow week in terms of "freak out" art. Hopefully you guys will send in more for next Friday's installment. Until then...

Freak.

Out.

Predators, Here's How You Fix It

I used to believe the Nashville Predators were among the clubs with the best jerseys. With the introduction of their Rbk EDGE sweaters, I'm now less than convinced of that. Anyway, it's not horrible, but some folks thinks it needs fixing. Hence this.

Here is one solution. Flyers fans should be able to pick out the design in a heartbeat.

This jersey is in fact based on Philadelphia's. Only the colors and logo have been changed. I do like that blue.

I don't know, though. I'm not sure it's that much of an improvement on what they're wearing now. But it certainly isn't a bad alternative.

Nor is this.

I think it looks an awful lot like the Buffalo Sabres — perhaps a little too much — but there you have it. Count me as a fan though. We'd have to lose the anniversary logo off the shoulders, however, before I'd fully approve. Otherwise, I really like the idea of contrasting the sleeves and torso like that.

What do you guys think? Do either of this fix it? Did it need fixing to begin with? You be the judge.

Coming next: Buffalo Sabres.

Maple Leafs, Here's How You Fix It

The Fix It series has worked its way into the double digits today. In this episode, we explore ways of improving the Toronto Maple Leafs' brand new Rbk EDGE uniforms.

No question, the biggest complaint has been its simplicity and the fact that while wearing the home uniform, a player is nothing more than a giant blue blob. One minor change some feel might rectify this is adding the same double-stripe found around to the elbows to the waist.

If that's not entirely to your liking, however, I've got more. No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. These are the new Phoenix Coyotes jerseys recolored to blue and featuring the Leafs logo. If you look closely at the shoulders you'll see the remnants of the "PHX" patch.

But isn't that a sight to behold? Something about them just makes those jerseys look quite nice in my eyes.

And then if that still isn't your cup of tea, perhaps you enjoyed the new Vancouver Canucks sweaters. Perhaps Toronto could go that route.

Or perhaps not. That scares me a little bit. So let's pretend you never saw that one.

That's all I got. Up next: Nashville Predators.

Fan Art For Ducks, Stars, Coyotes

I've been getting some really awesome concept art sent to me lately so let's dive right into some of it, starting in alphabetical order with the Anaheim Ducks.

If this had been sent to me sooner, it would've been part of the Ducks, Here's How You Fix It post from a week ago. That team would look so good in this jersey and I'd eat all my words.

Then I was sent another set that I'm having some difficulty with.

That was making my head spin a little. So as to save me from having to explain it, a description straight from the horse's mouth:

I really wanted to pull together the Ducks' history in the jerseys. I tossed around a lot of ideas but landed on this set of home/away and two alternates. The home and away follow the current script years in Anaheim and I took a page from baseball for having different scripts for home and away. The home jersey features the 04-06 Anaheim script with Ducks in place of Mighty Ducks. The road is basically the current road jersey with an updated name font, captain's "c" and the script/oval logo. Both home and away jerseys feature and interlocking "AD" shoulder patch in the team script as well as front laces.

For the alternate I just changed the current sweaters up a bit but the new shoulder patch, front laces, a recolored Disney logo, and Anaheim, and Ducks wordmarks on the bottom of the home and road jerseys respectively. Just something a little different.

I like the jerseys independently of each other, but together they don't make a good set. I've heard of teams using different logos for their home and away sweaters, but never completely different color schemes. I think your team starts losing its identity when that happens.

I've also got a Dallas Stars concept that puts the state of Texas right on the crest. Not a bad idea, but it should be the white logo. It needs more contrast.

And finally, someone went a little nutty with the look of the Phoenix Coyotes. It's a harsh mix of the old and new.

I'm not really sure I have the words to describe it. Perhaps you do so feel free to leave a comment.

Some Unusually Familiar Concepts

I got a funny email yesterday. Check out these. See if you notice a pattern.

I don't feel a need to explain or comment on them really. They sort of speak for themselves. Pretty clever, if you ask me. What do you think of them?

Stars, Here's How You Fix It

Now that I'm posting the ninth part of this series, I think I should note that, by and large, I'm a big fan of all the new Rbk EDGE jerseys so don't let the fact that I'm posting so-called "fixes" make you think otherwise. I just think it makes for an interesting feature to ponder what might have been.

That said, let's see what we can do about the Dallas Stars. I think the home black jersey — which now features the city name as its crest — is very cool and unique. I like it if only because no one else has done it.

I think this is probably the easiest and most obvious fix — essentially the white jersey in black.

It uses the primary logo on the crest and the secondary logos on the shoulders along with a bit of piping at the bottom of the sweater. The current black jersey has the word "DALLAS" arched above the jersey number on the front and the primary logo on the shoulders. It's also solid black all the way to the bottom.

Personally, I like the real one better.

Moving along, we have a completely different design. Imagine more green and more apparent striping.

Obviously that's not a home-and-away set as neither is white, but it would make a good home-and-alternate set. While I do like the new black jerseys, I was always a fan of the Stars wearing green. Seems like teams aren't liking that much these days as the Wild also recently ditched their green sweaters.

So if green's not your thing, what about gold?

While it's a decent concept, I don't think it would translate well to a uniform. I can't imagine that looking very good on the ice.

How do you feel about it? Do the Stars need to rethink their new duds? Or will keeping the jerseys make them look like studs? Har.

Coming up: Toronto Maple Leafs.

What A Wild Work Of Art!

You know, surprisingly, it has been a lot of work getting the new site up and running in the last few days. If you haven't seen it yet, check out the Tournament of Hockey Logos blog, the spinoff to NHLToL. If you're a minor league hockey fan, head over there and vote for which league will get the first tournament — AHL or ECHL.

Now onto today's news — or something like that. Two months ago I posted a really cool secondary logo someone designed for the Minnesota Wild using the outline of the state itself. Well another one was sent to me and I think it's even better!

I can't get over how many talented people read and contribute to this blog. It's really a great thing. That logo matches so well with the primary while at the same time maintaining its own identity. That is very impressive work and I'd like to be the first to say so.

On a separate yet Wild-related note, several fans have suggested the team return to green home jerseys and keep the red for an alternate sweater. So here's what the current home jersey would look like in green.

It certainly is unique and not all that bad, if you ask me. Yet for some reason this one conjures up Christmas for me — unlike the red one. So I'm posing the question to you all. What do you think?

Beyond that, what do you think of that logo? Impressive work isn't it? I look forward to reading your comments as always.

Flyers, Here's How You Fix It

I think many Philadelphia Flyers fans would argue specifically that if it needed changing, the only thing that would be necessary is an orange jersey instead of a black one. Having said that, the Flyers have already announced plans to introduce an orange third jersey next season.

Still, one fan emailed me this suggestion that extends the sleeve panel down past the elbow and shrinks the stripe around it. Have a look for yourself.

It's a minor tweak that, in my eyes doesn't really look that much different.

On a totally separate note, another fan emailed in an interesting concept that looks at altering the captains' letters.

Any thoughts? I'd love to hear them. Comment below.

By the way, apologies for the limited posts today. I've been a bit under the weather and I'm going to be needing to get to bed soon. Coming shortly will be the uniform review for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Next up: Dallas Stars.

Sharks, Here's How You Fix It

Speaking personally, I'm a fan of the San Jose Sharks' new logo and uniforms. So I don't see a need for "fixing" it necessarily. But others have complained that the modern logo design clashes with the more traditional jersey design.

One alternative to the stripes they currently wear would be something more along the lines of what the Florida Panthers do. I guess those designs match a little better. But for my money, I'd go with white piping over the orange on the home sweater.

Other complaints deal with not being able to move past orange gaining more prominence on the jerseys. Here's a solution.

I like this one because it looks like there are shark fins under wavy water on the sleeves. I think it works a little better on the white. But here's hoping the Sharks consider something of the like for a future third jersey. Speaking of the whole "fin" element, here are a bunch of ideas, seen with orange versus silver.

What I really like is the black jersey. Perhaps that would serve as a better third jersey as it has the last few years for the Sharks. But what do we think of it with the current striping pattern?

I know I said I like how the San Jose sweaters are now, but I'd be lying if I didn't say these were pretty awesome too. I guess it's hard to go wrong with the Sharks. So if they need fixing, there are plenty of ways of doing it.

Next up: Philadelphia Flyers.

We Like Concept Art

Yes, we do. And concept art loves us. First off I just want to thank everyone who sends in their cool and crazy work. I love opening my email everyday to see what surprises await me.

One such surprise was this New Jersey Devils uniform concept. If I'm to understand right, the logo seen here is one of the original designs that never made the final cut.

The Christmas colors don't work. If you want to see how to make green and red work together, see the Minnesota Wild.

Here's an interesting Nashville Predators design that was actually a little too good to be considered for the Friday Freak Outs.

I say "good," but not necessarily on the level of the NHL. If not as a Preds third jersey, I could totally see something like this passing in the AHL or ECHL. I like the white swipes across the sleeves. Need to find a different font for the wordmark, though. That one doesn't work.

And then I have this San Jose Sharks concept which I think I'm only posting because the orange seems to annoy Sharks fans to no end. And I like a little ribbing now and then.

I was going to try to say this isn't that bad of a design, but it really is. The teal works too well for the Sharks. No need to go playing up the orange when you already have the best color in hockey. I would like to see more silver come back though.

They need to bring that back. Moving right along now.

This Anaheim Ducks design is a bit of a mix between concepts I've posted here in the past. While this jersey looked great with the flying duck logo, I can't honestly say it looks horrible with this one. I know it's a Disney cartoon, but they do some of the best animation work in the world, so let's not knock them there. And despite the fact that they're similar to the Dallas Stars, I think these colors would serve the Ducks well. Maybe use the logo on a third jersey, though.

That's enough out of me. What do you guys thinks of these? Are they total duds or do they have some redeeming qualities?