What's Up With The Rangers?

A reader noted in the comments on an earlier post something interesting with regard to the New York Rangers new Rbk EDGE uniforms.

I was noting that the New York Rangers were the only team in the league which doesn't have images of its new uniforms available online in the NHL.com Shop or any other site that is selling the new Reebok jerseys. Then this official Reebok site came out and it had the first official photos.

Suddenly, as Gabe pointed out, those phoos disappeared from the site and were replaced by a "coming soon" graphic.

What's stranger is that way back when the Rangers first began taking orders back in July, photos were posted on their web site. Within hours, the photos were removed. Now this.

Luckily, I was able to grab both images before they mysteriously went away, so we've all been able to see them. But I'm just curious as to the reasoning behind these decisions. As Gabe mentioned, are the Rangers planning some big unveiling ceremony they have yet to announce? And if so, for what reason? The jerseys, much like Detroit's remain entirely unchanged — merely adapted to the new EDGE cut.

Regardless, we'll find out for certain what the deal is no later than Friday, as that is the night of the Rangers' first preseason game and they'll surely be wearing them. I'll keep on top of this if anybody is interested. And if you hear or read anything, do let me know, either by email or in the comments of this post.

Concepts For Oilers, Blues, Coyotes

I've got a few concept designs for you to check out this afternoon. We'll start way up north in Alberta and work our way south to Arizona.

Here's what one designer had in mind for reconfiguring the Edmonton Oilers' logo and uniforms.

It's an "E" merged with an "O" that, quite frankly, might work better as a secondary logo. That isn't to say that the logo found on the shoulder of this jersey wouldn't work just as well. The one big thing that struck me with the Oilers' new Rbk EDGE jerseys is the plainness. I know a lot of people have been commenting on how some of the new sweaters look like practice jerseys, but for the Oilers, that couldn't be more true. The fact that the elbow stripes don't even go completely around the arm just adds to that.

But anyway, we're talking about this concept. And overall, I like it. The logo could use a splash of creativity, I've seen worse. And the oil drop might be a nice addition to the plain uniforms they have now.

We're moving along to St. Louis now where one fan is mixing the old with the semi-old with the new. Usually when you throw to much stuff in a pot and cook it, the end result is less than delicious. That isn't necessarily the case here, but I don't think the red ever really worked for the Blues.

I think those would be solid designs if the red was removed entirely. Now, here's what you don't want to do — with a third jersey or otherwise.

That'll give a person nightmares. It doesn't go the horrifying length as the alternate Blues sweater Mike Keenan vetoed in the '90s, but it sure is trying. Look at those blue notes across the waist.

I like the idea of a trumpet for a secondary logo, but this really isn't the way to go. And how can a team called the Blues have a dark jersey that's anything but blue?

But I say we move on. A Phoenix Coyotes fan recommends reintroducing green into the color scheme. Here's how.

First off, I'm not sure you can put a team logo above the nameplate and have it look good. Secondly, I'm not sure it's even allowed. However, I think it would look just fine on the shoulder. I still like the PHX patch more, but the moon isn't terrible for the other side.

That's all I've got for now. I plan to have more later. Plus, don't forget to check out the Concepts Gallery where you'll find all the work I've posted plus some I haven't.

In Response

Sometimes when I post concept art, I'll make suggestions here or there that speak merely to my own personal preferences. It's cool that every once in a while, someone listens to my suggestions and gives them a shot.

Yesterday, I posted an Anaheim Ducks design I thought was pretty cool, suggesting that instead of gold, the alternate jersey in the set might be better suited for orange. Well today in my email I find that someone gave me what I asked for.

I guess it just proves that some of you out there are actually reading what I write. And I appreciate that.

Then, just last week I posted a neat logo concept somebody came up with for the New Jersey Devils. I suggested that it needed something behind it to tie it together better. Then I was emailed this shortly after.

Looks a lot better if you ask me.

Anyway, I guess I just wanted to thank you guys for reading and show you that I do in fact read all my email. By the way, if you've ever written to me and are still awaiting for a response, chances are my feeble memory has forgotten. Just keep bugging me. You can get a hold of me at nhllogos@gmail.com.

EDGE Hindering Players?

Interesting story from Tom Gulitti writing about a recent New Jersey Devils game where new Rbk EDGE jerseys torn in fights may have led to player injuries. I'll let you make your own judgments. You can find his post here.

September 17, 2007

Janssen injures shoulder

Enforcer Cam Janssen might have injured his shoulder tonight because of the league’s new Reebok Edge sweaters. His sweater ripped during his two first period fights with Philadelphia’s Jesse Boulerice. That might have helped Boulerice pull Janssen’s jersey over his head in both altercations and win both decisively. Arron Asham also had his sweater tear during his fight with Riley Cote.

"These new jerseys are supposed to make you faster, but what good are they if they tear that easily,” Mike Rupp said.

"The Devils did not say tonight which shoulder Janssen injured. He missed 12 games last season after dislocating his right shoulder in a fight with Anaheim’s George Parros.
David Clarkson (win over Jason Smith), Asham (loss to Cote) and Rupp (draw with Ben Eager) also fought for the Devils in the first period.

Odds and ends: No one wore the captain’s C or the alternates A’s for the Devils. Patrik Elias, who was captain last season, remained home with Dainius Zubrus, Brian Gionta, Paul Martin and Martin Brodeur…Although Vitaly Vishnevski had been practicing with Colin White, he was paired with Karel Rachunek tonight. White played with Johnny Oduya. The Devils’ AHL team lost, 3-2, to the Flyers’ AHLers Monday afternoon in Trenton.

No New Poll Today

I don't want anyone to wonder where today's poll is so I'm just letting you know now that we won't be having one today. That's just the way the schedule worked out. So for the first time in almost six weeks, you won't have anything new to vote on, unfortunately.

However, there are still several open polls, including the Canadiens versus Flyers for Eastern champion and Oilers versus Blues for Western champion in the tournament. Click on VOTE NOW! above to place your votes on any polls where you haven't done so yet.

Plus, there's an open poll in the sidebar. Cast your vote for the next tournament to be held here at NHLToL. You can choose from Vintage Logos (where we'll use a pool of 16 logos that are no longer used, chosen at random), Secondary Logos (where we'll use a pool of all the current secondary marks), and Third Jersey Logos (the pool will consist of all third jerseys since the program was introduced in 1995). Later this week or early next week I'll post all of the logos for each pool so you all can get a visual idea of what each tournament would look like.

And tomorrow we'll be voting on the best logo in the history of the San Jose Sharks! Later today we'll have some more concept art and starting Monday we'll have reviews of each new Rbk EDGE uniform.

Official Rangers EDGE Photos

One other thing I meant to mention with regard to Reebok's new EDGE uniform web site that I wrote about earlier is that it's offering us our first official photos of the new sweaters for the New York Rangers.

Not even the NHL.com Shop has photos of the jerseys. In fact, the Rangers are the only team without official photos on that site. But regardless, I just wanted to make mention of that.

That's all I've got for today. Expect loads more stuff tomorrow!

Concepts From The Coast

My concept art posts are making their glorious return this week with all the Rbk EDGE jerseys finally released. Today we're taking a trip out West.

This one was interesting. It's a hybrid of the old logo with the new. I think it would be millions of times better if they just dropped the "ucks." How many times have I said that?

I mean consider how the wordmark logo actually looks on the jerseys. It's even got fewer letters than "capitals" yet it still seems smaller across the chest. I was really hoping for a change this year. Let them get the whole Ducks rebranding thing out of the way last season and then try something real this season.

I guess we can only ask for so much.

Here's something I don't love but thought it was an interesting idea. It's the current jersey with the old Mighty Ducks colors. Probably not a winner.

And then going all the way back we've got a simple recoloring of the old jersey and logo. Once again, it's not awful, but it just doesn't seem to fit.

Here's the winner.

I think if it were orange, that third jersey would just kill. The Ducks could be among the best-looking teams in the league if they wanted to. But the NHL doesn't hire designers like this. That would be too much to hope for.

So let's move along to Los Angeles. A while back I'd written a post suggesting using the old King head third jersey logo with some modern-day recoloring. The purple beard blended in too much on the dark jersey so I wondered what it would look like in silver. And I got my answer.

I'm sorry, but why isn't that the primary Kings logo anyway? That says "kings" to me! (Not that a crown necessarily doesn't.) Oh and as a personal aside to the designer, what's the deal with stealing the Lightning's armpit stripes?

Anyway, let's head up the coast to San Jose and check out some other Lightning-related designs. One Sharks fans created these concepts based off Tampa Bay's Reebok jersey design, replacing the blue with teal.

Actually, I'm a big fan of the one on the left. The full shark makes for a much fiercer logo if you ask me — not that you were. As for the shield logo, I don't feel it makes a very good crest. It's a little much. I think it looks great on the pants and might even look nice on the shoulder — maybe for a third jersey one day.

The other thing I like is the diamond fin logo found on the shoulders of these designs. I'm a little surprised and disappointed it was left out of the actual uniform design.

What do you guys think of these? And remember, if you've made an concepts or seen any around that I haven't already posted, feel free to send them along. You can email me at nhllogos@gmail.com.

Comparing The Old With The New

I got an interesting email a couple days ago from a reader who just bought a new Toronto Maple Leafs Rbk EDGE jersey. Matt compared the old sweater with the new one the old-fashioned way — laying one on top of the other. His pictures offer a great look at the differences between the two uniforms.

This shot shows the overall difference in the cut of the sweater itself. The biggest differences are shapes of the sleeves and the hem line across the waist.

Both are authentic jerseys. More photos can be found in the Rbk EDGE gallery.

EDGE Unis Get Official Web Site

Reebok has relaunched their Rbk EDGE Uniform System web site to now feature photos of all 60 new NHL sweaters alongside renderings from EA Sports' NHL 08.

You can visit the site by going to www.rbkedgeuniform.com. And that spells the official end of the Rbk EDGE releases. I hope you all will continue to visit the site for the logo tournaments as well as the concept art which is returning in full force this week.

That reminds me. Remember the "Just To Freak You Out" series I ran for a short time that you all seemed to enjoy so much. It's coming back as a weekly feature starting this Friday — assuming we have enough content to warrant it every week.

Anyway, enjoy that site and keep checking my Rbk EDGE photo gallery for new pictures of these uniforms in action during the preseason.

Sharks Unveil New Uniforms!

The San Jose Sharks have become the final NHL team to unveil their new Rbk EDGE uniforms today.

How about those! To echo some other folks, we're definitely looking at a fancy new logo on a very retro sweater. What surprised me was the shoulder logo.

I was expecting a fin logo so I was a little shocked to see the full shark logo. And I'm pretty sure the shield logo will make its way onto the pants, leaving the fin logo homeless. The logos I'm referencing can be found here if you're interested.

That teal looks really great on these uniforms, by the way. What totally sells it for me is the orange. I know a lot of fans aren't too keen on it, but I think it brings a great new dimension to a look that in recent years had been kind of monochromatic.

The cool thing is that the stripes around the elbows and waist are reminiscent of the original uniforms from 1991 which had grey in place of orange. And who here doesn't love retro? You know you guys do.

And then here's your close up of the collar. That teal looks really, really great.

Overall, I'm a fan. I think they could've gone with some more curvy lines and vertical piping to match, but they chose something a bit daring as far as these new Reebok sweaters. I'm impressed. I still prefer my Lightning jersey... which is coming in just a few days!