Some Unconfirmed Third Jersey News

I got an email earlier in the week that I was unable to post until now. It was from a reader who wrote in that a Reebok representative has apparently confirmed which teams will be wearing third jerseys next season. I'll say right off that neither I nor this reader can completely vouch for the veracity of this information, but having said that, I see no reason not to put it out there anyway as mere speculation.

The list includes the Sabres, Oilers, Flyers and Blues, which we've already heard rumors about. However, it doesn't include the Penguins who are apparently looking to don the retro jerseys they wore at the Winter Classic.

The rest of the list shapes up like this, in alphabetical order:

• Atlanta Thrashers


• Boston Bruins


• Carolina Hurricanes


• Chicago Blackhawks


• Dallas Stars


• Los Angeles Kings


• Minnesota Wild


• New York Islanders


• Ottawa Senators


• Phoenix Coyotes


• San Jose Sharks


• Tampa Bay Lightning


• Toronto Maple Leafs


• Vancouver Canucks

From that list, all but four had third jerseys last season. One would assume most of them would stay the same.

Boston, Toronto and Vancouver wore retro threads. An obvious choice to keep. Vancouver switched back to their original colors this season. However, the introduction of a new Johnny Canuck logo leads me to wonder whether they might head in that direction for an eventual discontinuation of the whale altogether. But that may just be wishful thinking.

Chicago, San Jose and Ottawa simply wore black versions of their standard jerseys. Seems to me they'd probably do something similar with new thirds. Also, Carolina has never had a third but black seems like a smart option. And since introducing their new colors and logo, the Coyotes have yet to try out a third. But if they do, you might see it in black as well.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Kings and Islanders stick with last year's thirds. They utilized different colors, and a different logo in Los Angeles' case. Minnesota made their red third into their regular home sweater this year but the green may well make a comeback if they go with an alternate.

Dallas' most recent attempt at a third left a lot to be desired so we might see something completely different for them. Or we might just see a green jersey with "STARS" written across it in white. Also, Atlanta recently converted its original third to the current home jersey, so I'm not sure what to expect from them. Perhaps something in dark blue reminiscent of their early days?

And finally, there's my Lightning. Very few people liked Tampa Bay's blue third with rain drops, waves and lightning bolts on the arms from the late '90s. I was one of them. But I wouldn't expect to see anything like that if we do end up with an alternate next year. I would expect to see a nice blue sweater though.

Enjoy the speculation. As hard facts become available, you can count on me to have them posted right here at NHLToL.

So if you guys want to start coming up with concepts of what you think next year's crop of third jerseys might look like, go for it! Email them to me and they may well find their way onto the blog.

Poll: Hurricanes vs Whalers

	vs
Carolina HURRICANES		Hartford WHALERS

REMEMBER: You're choosing the WORST logo!

Place your vote and then feel free to leave a comment as to how you came to your decision. Tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Poll opening date Tue Jan 29

Poll closing date Sat Feb 2

Concepts In Photos

It's my favorite thing. Concept renderings in pseudo-photographic form.

The most commonly used player for these jersey redesigns has overwhelmingly been Roberto Luongo. And it hasn't just been Canucks concepts for him, either. But tonight, yes, they are both Canucks concepts. Here's one.

Seriously, I would buy that. That green looks phenomenal. I don't know why his teammate isn't also wearing green over there on the left, but that team would still look a million times better if only Luongo wore a good sweater. While I'm thinking of it, are there still people left who liked the old '80s logo and colors?

Don't be fooled, though. It's not the jersey. Luongo can make anything look good.

Next we're moving on to the Philadelphia Flyers.

It's a simple redesign that incorporates orange and a bit of silver. But if you want to see the goalie wearing it, well you'll have to look at the image on the right (not the left).

Back to the days of black-and-white Kings here.

And hurricane flags that are actually hurricane flags.

Now we see why the team didn't do that in the first place. The shoulder thing is cool because it incorporates both of the Carolina-named states. I don't think a dividing line at the border would be too much to ask for clarification's sake.

Lastly, if you hated those mustard-colored jerseys once worn on special nights by the Nashville Predators, then you're absolutely going to adore this.

And one final note (which may or may not explain the late hour of this particular post) if you are into things that are funny but not necessarily hockey-related. First, go see Juno. Great film. (In one scene there's a guy wearing a Minnesota Wild jersey. The green one you all like.) And buy a copy of Stephen Colbert's "I Am America (And So Can You!)". (I'm pretty sure he's all about the OHL's Saginaw Spirit.) These two things will complete your life. If they don't, you have no soul.

Just To Freak You Out XXI

The Freak Out series hits 21 this week — old enough to get hammered. And boy, I think some of the designers this week had to have been hammered. I mean, just look at this.

It might take a moment or two to notice that this is an "If They Mated" example. It's the new Sharks secondary logo merged with the Mighty Ducks third jersey of the mid-90s. But I love it!

This Flames jersey is on fire! Someone on eBay is really selling it. For real.

Sidney Crosby recently dropped the gloves in a rare on-ice event. This picture isn't real but it cracks me up nonetheless. There's just so much about it that's so wrong. I'm curious to see if the guys over at Pensblog have anything to say about this.

And finally, we have a plethora of "matings" here to share.

To sum things up, what you see above is the Flyers and Bruins, Rangers and Islanders, Devils and Sabres, Blue Jackets and Blackhawks, Avalanche and Wild, Blues and Red Wings, Canucks and Hurricanes (weird!), Bruins and Flyers (opposite of the first one) and Stars and Coyotes.

But wait, there's more.

This one is interesting because it's all opposites of the previous image. They are the Coyotes and Stars, Blackhawks and Blue Jackets, Hurricanes and Canucks, Islanders and Rangers, Sabres and Devils, Red Wings and Blues (what the—?), and Wild and Avalanche.

Hope you enjoyed being freaked out. Have a fantastic weekend!

Poll: Hurricanes vs Canucks

	vs
Carolina HURRICANES		Vancouver CANUCKS

The third round has begun! Place your vote and then feel free to leave a comment as to how you came to your decision. Tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Poll opening date Wed Dec 26

Poll closing date Sat Dec 30

07SCTRN | #3A | CARvVAN

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!

Poll: Hurricanes vs Coyotes

	vs
Carolina HURRICANES		Phoenix COYOTES

Can you believe we're already starting the second round of the Secondary Logo Tournament? These things are really starting to fly by! Place your vote and then feel free to leave a comment as to how you came to your decision. Tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Poll opening date Mon Dec 17

Poll closing date Fri Dec 21

07SCTRN | #2A | CARvPHX

Poll: Senators vs Hurricanes

	vs
Ottawa SENATORS		Carolina HURRICANES

Place your vote and then feel free to leave a comment as to how you came to your decision. Tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Poll opening date Sat Dec 8

Poll closing date Wed Dec 12

07SCTRN | #1A | OTTvCAR

Hurricane Of Concept Art

There's no new poll today so it'll just be this post all by itself. I've had a bunch of Carolina Hurricanes concept art sent to me over the last couple of weeks so I thought I'd gather it all up to share.

We'll start with a pretty cool rebranding that involves a lighthouse as the Canes' primary logo as well as some slight changes to actual primary.

I don't know, for me, a lighthouse will always say Islanders. I don't know if I'll ever be able to shake that. I do like this logo and uniform set, though. Very nice quality.

While we're on the topic of redesigned logos, here's an interesting re-imagining of the current secondary mark. I know the team is based out of North Carolina, but does South Carolina also consider the Hurricanes their team since they go by just the Carolina name? Am I thinking about this too much?

It's a nice logo, but it needs some tightening up where the outline of the state is concerned. Way too much tiny detail in their. This would be like a six-inch patch. No need for all that detail. But even if it were the crest, it should still be cleaned up.

Here are a couple of third jersey designs.

And we'll finish things off tonight with another third jersey concept I found quite interesting.

Classic and what have you. Definitely a Colorado knock-off, but nice on its own merits. You be the judge. Let us know what you think about these in the comments.

By the way, I made wholesale updates to the Concepts Gallery this weekend so be sure to check that out. Added about 50 new images.

Third Jersey Concepts

In honor of the new Third Jersey Logo Tournament, I've got a fitting theme for today's concept art post. Check it out.

One cool suggestion for a Hurricanes alternate sweater could be achieved by going all black. I say change the black sweater cuffs to red and you've got yourself a winner. As for the Habs, this may not be perfect, but it's pretty damn close. I'm a big fan of this design. I'm curious to see what it would look like on the ice.

But back to black third jerseys, consider these.

I actually like this. But I was a big fan of the black and red days of the Sabres. They never looked better — especially in those red third jerseys.

And what about the Predators? Obviously, this design was created entirely based off of the Bruins' new sweaters, but it's not bad. I sort of like the 3D sabre-toothed tiger head, myself. But my preferences have never really been on par with most people. And I'm okay with that.

Finally, based off the idea of teams going with a retro look for alternate jerseys, how about something like this for Phoenix?

It's not like I hate the current look of the Coyotes, but I always thought they looked awesome in brick red and green. You have to admit, though, this jersey is pretty sharp looking.

But you probably disagree with me about something. Tell me about it below in the comments.

UPDATE (6:36 PM): Well our lovely designer Michaela got right on it with my suggestion to add red to her Canes concept above. Check it out.

I think it looks great with that small touch. Thoughts on that?