Just To Freak You Out XX

The quality of Freak Out art I've become accustomed to was sorely lacking this week and that'll be clear after you get through tonight's post. It's not that nobody sent anything, it's that they were either trying too hard or not trying hard enough. I've got to have some standards, right? Perhaps not, but I'll forbear any further deliberation if for no other reason than to quite simply get on with it. Good plan?

What's wrong with this picture?

Yes, it seems like some of the colors there are a bit off. These too.

And don't even get me started on the absurdity of tropical storm flags surrounding a jersey with a Hartford Whalers logo on it. My head would explode.

Next is a Philadelphia Flyers concept logo that I think fits fairly into the "freaky" category.

At first, I liked this New York Rangers jersey. But the more I stare at it, the more it disturbs me. I don't care how old that team is. They need a new logo.

And finally, this one I just can't figure out. My brain tells me this is a nice Photoshop job, but a small part of me fears someone, somewhere actually made this jersey.

Islanders fans, I apologize. That's just horrible.

Anyway, that's all I've got for this week. Hope you got a little freaked out. And I hope you guys will keep sending in good Freak Out Friday material so we can keep this series going. Enjoy your holiday weekend!

Painted On

I think you guys know by now one thing I'm a fan of is concept designers putting the extra effort in and painting their designs onto player photos. It's the closest thing we'll get to seeing what these jerseys might look like on the ice without them actually being stitched together.

Tonight's post is all about that. I'm starting with my favorite of the bunch. Why don't the Canucks wear green? Why isn't there any green in their logo?

Here's a new idea for the Islanders. I like it better than their real jerseys, but that's just my opinion.

Imagine the Flames in a black jersey. (Not sure what's going on on the shoulder there.)

Frankly, anything with a flaming C on it disgusts me right now after the 9-6 stomping the Lightning received at the hands of the team they once defeated for a Stanley Cup championship. Or did we forget that part?

Sticking to Alberta, many Oilers fans have been praying for the day that their club returns to their original colors.

While I'm on the subject, apparently word has been floating around that the Oilers have designed a third jersey that's awaiting NHL approval and will be worn next fall. I'm sure everybody's looking forward to that. I'll be sure to post something when I have more information.

And finally, we have black for the Devils.

If you have comments, you know what to do.

Just To Freak You Out XIX

Finally, Freak Out Friday is back on Friday! And boy is this one a doozy. You won't believe some of the whacked out craziness your fellow readers have come up with this week. Let's start with an eyesore I probably never should've posted at all.

Yeah, there's no excuse for that. Speaking of inexcusable, here's a rather scary concept of a Tampa Bay Lightning logo.

Oh wait, it gets better. You know how Las Vegas has been involved in all the buzz about a possible future expansion of the NHL? Here's what they shouldn't do when it comes to naming the team and designing a uniform.

And then as always, we have our "If They Mated" blends. First, we have Pennsylvania's teams...

...and then all three New York clubs.

Plus as a special bonus, someone redesigned the Sabres' pants. But you know what I say? If the Lightning can have lightning bolts down their legs, than why can't the Sabres have swords?

Oh, and I mentioned the Penguins a second ago. I need to post this just so it's out there. I'm all for the retro blue jersey for the Winter Classic, but let's not go too far. Here's something to avoid at any cost.

And finally, I can't determine whether the designer of these hates the new Canucks jerseys, or loves them. You be the judge.

Hope you enjoyed your week — or at least your Friday. Christmas comes in just 11 days and you know what that means!

See you right here for another Freak Out post next Friday! And remember you can send in your concepts for consideration to nhllogos@gmail.com. I look forward to seeing them!

Concept Art Grab Bag

I don't really have a theme for tonight's concepts post. Mainly, I just thought these were different and interesting. Kind of curious to see what sort of feedback they get.

One of my favorite things is seeing really nice concepts painted onto game action photos. So I'll start with those. There's this one Kings design from a while back that I liked a lot.

I think it's kind of funny that Roberto Luongo is wearing it. I guess L.A. fans can dream, right?

There was also a bit of Canadiens artwork that I made part of a Freak Out post that a lot of people responded rather well too. Here you can see what it looks like on Cristobal Huet.

I wonder why both designers decided to paint fake jerseys onto goalies. Hmm.

Anyway here are a few more wacky designs that don't quite warrant being included in the Freak Out series.

For those who don't care for the sky blue, how about maroon? Doesn't look terrible either. I'm sure the asymmetry is still driving you nuts though. And how about the Ducks' logo and colors on a Sabres jersey? That's pretty weird.

I thought the colors were interesting on the Bruins jersey. That logo really did wear out its welcome, though, didn't it? And for a complete change of pace, I've got a Flyers jersey with a redesigned set of logos.

And to finish things off, as far as ironies go, I thought this was a pretty good one.

The Columbus Blue Jackets wearing red sweaters. Don't get me wrong. I think it's a really nice-looking jersey, but blue is in their name. It's one of those no-brainers.

Anyway, let me know what you guys think of those. I'll try to have more posted tomorrow.

Connected By Blue

So what do all of tonight's jersey concepts have in common? The color blue. That's it.

We'll begin with the Buffalo Sabres and a design that despite its stripes is actually rather cool.

Yeah, the striping does ruin it though, doesn't it? I like the logos and the colors (though I'd go with a white circle on the blue jersey) but I don't really understand the weird stripes. In case you can't really make it out, the logo on the shoulders appears to be the buffalo from the original '70s logo sans the swords beneath it.

These two deal with some simple modifications. The white Leafs jersey with the blue stripes leaves me wondering whether this would be a home or away jersey. It seems to have too much blue to be a road sweater yet it has too much white to be for home games. The Isles jersey, however, is a nice adjustment. Not great. But better.

Here are a couple of dark Thrashers jerseys. Your pick as to which is home and with is an alternate.

And finally, I promised a Blues fan I'd get this one posted tonight.

You know what to do now. Comment away. I'm interested in seeing what you guys have to say about these.

Rebranding The Devils

Continuing his rebranding of the NHL, our friend Matt has taken a shot at the look of the New Jersey Devils. He emailed me these images to share with the rest of you.

If you want my opinion, the logos look fantastic, but I think the current primary works too well to throw out altogether. So my suggestion (which I feel like I've made before) would be to swap the primary and secondary marks. I think the secondary here is a great update of the classic Devils logo. I'm also a fan of the wordmark.

These jerseys are another great update, but I couldn't be more impressed by the alternate uniform. That one really grabbed me first. While overall not as impressive as some of his previous work, these are some very sharp designs.

By the way, Matt went ahead and painted his home jersey onto Martin Brodeur. And while I normally wouldn't post a photo of Brodeur on my blog without a puck in the goal net behind him, I'll make an exception here.

Like I said, great logo, but it seems like it belongs more to a minor league team on the front of the jersey. Those black jerseys are my favorite.

By the way, Matt wanted me to let everyone know that if you'd like to contact him directly about his work, feel free to email him at gfb_designs@yahoo.com. Otherwise, leave your comments below for all of us to read.

UPDATE (6:34 PM): Hey guys, due to popular demand, I'm introducing a small new feature. You can now access all of the rebranding concepts by Matt (aka GhettoFarmBoy) by clicking on the link under NHLToL Series in the sidebar. Or by clicking here. I'm considering creating an album solely for his work in the Concepts Gallery.

Just To Freak You Out XVIII

It's time for another belated edition of the Freak Out series. Hopefully I'll get over this cold soon. It's making me very unreliable here at NHLToL. And it's supposed to be Freak Out Friday, right? Anyway, let's dive in.

Wow, that was awfully violent. Who's hungry for buffalo tongue?!

I got a ton of submissions this week for the "If They Mated" category. And these are all about rivalries.

I don't even know what to say about this. Except that once again, don't send me hate mail as I am excessively illiterate and wouldn't understand it anyway. Also I didn't make these.

Perhaps slightly less inflammatory are these.

Everything's gone haywire. But wait it gets better. Sure anyone can mix two teams in a blender, but it takes a special kind of talent to do three.

Presenting the Anaheim King Sharks. Let me break it down for you. You've got the Sharks logo in Kings colors on a Ducks jersey. Can't get much more to the point than that.

While we're still on the topic of ridiculous jerseys, do you remember the crazy Red Wings design I posted a while back. (It's the second one down in that post.) Were you wondering what it might look like on Dominik Hasek? Wonder no more.

Don't know what he's so happy about. Hideous if I do say so.

Here's a scary merging of the current and original Canucks logos.

Whales that play hockey. I love it.

To finish up this morning's post, I've got a couple more whacked out logos. I'm pretty sure these come from a Quebecois looking to break away from Canada. It's like if Texas decided it wanted to be its own country. I laugh. But then I am a lousy Floridian who knows nothing of the politics of Canada. Look!

But wait, there's more!

So what do you guys think?

Oh and I'm just warning you now that any comments with discussion of politics will be promptly removed. Go elsewhere for that.

In the meantime, I hope I managed to freak you out a little. Until next time.

Talking Teal

Tonight's post is all about the San Jose Sharks. No reason in particular. We'll start out with one of my favorite new concept designs. Remember this? And remember how I said that black jersey was my favorite?

It looks even more spectacular on the ice. Seriously, who disagrees? Is that not what a hockey jersey is meant to look like?

I probably should've finished with that image because what could possibly follow it? These two are just designs I thought had interesting aspects to them — not the least of which being the crazy logo on the right which almost won it a spot in Friday's Freak Out post.

The white sweater is a recoloring of the Lightning's road jersey with an odd addition to the shoulders.

This set is really nice because of the striping. Yet for some reason, it makes me think of a spider more than a shark. Still, I do like it.

Lastly, there's this one which only warrants posting for its comical shark's-tooth zig zags around the waist.

Please don't eat me.

Philly Concept Designs

In going through hordes of concept art I have on my computer at the moment, it occurred to me that I have a ton of Philadelphia Flyers stuff. So I thought I'd dump it all here in one shot — while at the same time noting that the team itself seems to be back from the dumpster it had been rotting in all of last season.

I really don't know where to begin. But I figure you can't go wrong with a concept jersey that has blood on it.

What ever happened to colored nameplates? Sure they look horrible, but it always makes me think of the 1980 Olympic team. Love that collar blood.

This one is pretty sharp. Nice mix of black and orange. However, it's a design that makes me question how its white counterpart would be colored. Or is this a better third jersey? We all know how Flyers fans love their orange jerseys.

While we're on the topic, the striping pattern on this concept is similar to the uniform of more recent years.

While I like the black home jersey, I tend to lean more toward the orange because the logo stands out more. A primarily black logo on a black jersey just hides things.

Here's another orange one with the third jersey logo. Not sure how I feel about the numbering and lettering. Might look awkward with the silver outline.

Speaking of awkward, here's how you don't design a jersey.

It's like Ron couldn't decide which side of the fence to sit on? Orange or black? Instead, he's just got a fence post up his ass.

And this last concept is kind of cool except for the fact that it looks like a hooded sweatshirt to me. I'm not sure why, that's just all I see when I look at it.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Flyers fix for the day. I'll be back tomorrow with more. And yes, I am working on the next logo tournament. These things take time and I'm a busy television director in real life. (Ignore my nonsensical ramblings.) Patience.

Just To Freak You Out XVII

Welcome to the belated 17th installment of the Freak Out series. Time's been getting away from me the last few days so I apologize for the delay. Anyway, this week's art has a very specific theme. I asked for you guys to send me stuff of the "If They Mated" variety and some of you actually responded.

We'll start with a couple of logos I thought were "special."

If you're staring at that and just can't place it, look no further than the Ottawa Senators. You'll recognize his cap from the Columbus Blue Jackets' shoulder patch. That one just cracks me up every time I look at it. It's like the guy took the day off to go to a baseball game but he still can't seem to wipe that constipated look off his face.

The next one goes out to all my Connecticut readers.

It's a combination of the Hartford Whalers and Hartford Wolf Pack. And the more astute among you might notice the nod to the New England Whalers. That's three leagues covered in one logo. Impressive.

So going back to Ontario now, try to imagine what would happen if the Leafs and Sens (perish the very thought) were to swap uniforms and colors?

Don't send me hate mail. I'm illiterate anyway.

And now for a rivalry absolutely no one could care less about.

Personally, I'm disgusted by this but it does make me laugh a little. What's with the black tongue on the panther? Someone should tell him to stop chewing on his pen.

This here is more of a fusion of past Coyotes jerseys. We've got the old colors on the new uniform. How many of you like me would prefer to gouge out your own eyes before watching a team wear a jersey with two different color shoulder yokes? That's got to be breaking some sort of law.

Speaking of law-breaking, remember the scary Blackhawks logo I used to kick off last week's Freak Out post?

Somebody glued it on a jersey. D'oh!

And then I thought this was mildly amusing if nothing else.

But this is what happens when you guys stop sending in the really good stuff. Hope you enjoyed another week's worth of Freak Out art. Hopefully I'll be back with more on Friday. Enjoy what's left of your weekend!