Announcement Teaser

I know I promised an announcement today with regard to the future of the NHL Tournament of Logos, but something came up that prevented me from doing so. Without a doubt, you can expect that announcement to be posted early Sunday. It's nothing earth-shattering despite the hype I've been giving it, but for anyone who's been following along, I'm sure you'll be interested to know. So I'll give you a little preview.

Starting in a couple of weeks, we'll begin a process wherein you will vote for the best logo in the NHL. You shouldn't be surprised. Over 300 people have said they'd vote if I make the site interactive. So I'm going to do just that and tomorrow I'll outline just how that will work. Thanks for reading guys!

Panthers Unveil New Uniforms!

It's finally here everybody! The Florida Panthers unveiled their new Rbk EDGE jerseys tonight at the Year of the Rat Alumni Game. A generous reader pointed this image out to me so I'm posting it to share with everybody.

My initial reaction is very positive. These are sharp-looking uniforms with a great color scheme. I think I almost like the red sleeves better than a red sweater for the home duds, by the way.

These two images give us different views of the uniforms. The one to the left is a little out of focus (hey, better than nothing, right?) but you can get an idea of how they look on the players at least. Like I said, I like them. I think if anything they're an improvement on what they were wearing.

I'm still dying to see what the Lightning will be wearing this fall.

Big thanks to jrzman for pointing us to the original photos! You can find links to the original message board posts below in the comments if you're interested. When the team or the press make official photos available, I'll have them here as well to perhaps offer an even better look. What are your feelings?

UPDATE (11:49 PM): Nothing major, just got home from work and saw the Florida Panthers had a photo up on their web site of Nathan Horton and Stephen Weiss in the new Rbk EDGE jerseys.

They really do look good and that panther on the front is bigger than I've ever seen it. Now we know what dynamic meant.

New Sharks Jersey Design Concept

With San Jose Sharks having just recently unveiled a brand new logo, we've got another fan-made concept design for the uniforms. First off, I'm going to take a wild guess and say this artwork was generated prior to the official unveiling of the new series of logos since it makes no use of the actual new secondary logo but rather a recolored version of the old shoulder patch. For your viewing pleasure.

I think the overall jersey design is pretty cool. I'm curious as to how it would look on a player. The only thing I'm not wild about is the lack of orange in the design. If used right, I think it could be a great and welcome addition to the Sharks' new look.

Fans Design Canucks Concept Logos

I came across this fan-made design on a Vancouver Canucks message board. The artist put a new spin on the flying skate logo and combined it with the traditional blue and green color scheme. What do you think?

That's a skate all right. If you're curious to see what it would look like on a uniform, the designer took the liberty of putting it on the jersey template designed by John Slabyk to go with his logo redesign (which, frankly, I like a lot better).

Incidentally, with all this about the colors being altered for the Canucks logo in the coming season, another fan toyed with the idea of bringing in the green to go along with the blue. He also trades out silver for black. Have a look.

Anyway, that's all I've got for the Canucks today. Comment below if the spirit compels you. (By the way, I apologize for the late posts today. Got a late start due to prior commitments.)

Coming Tomorrow: Tournament Announcement

This post is for anybody who has been following the tournament or voted in the sidebar poll. As you can see, the number of people interested in getting involved with the voting is outstanding! Over 92% of the people who voted want their voices heard as to which logo should win the tournament. And I'm listening because I trust your judgment better than mine when it comes to these things.

So stay tuned! Tomorrow I'm going to make an announcement regarding the future of the NHL Tournament of Logos and what your involvement can be if you're interested. Expect it some time on Saturday. As a reminder, the sidebar poll closes at 3 AM Sunday morning, so if you still want to vote yes, no or maybe, this is your last chance.

New Oilers Jersey Design Concept

Thanks to another reader who came across this image of a dark jersey for the Edmonton Oilers. At first, it seems to be the real deal, but as with all jerseys yet to be publicly unveiled, you have to look at the ones that have been unveiled to compare. Take a look.

As far as changes, this one is rather different from what the Oilers have been wearing. It dumps the bronze and red altogether for a return to straight-up orange and blue like in the old days. The one thing I did hear prior to this post is that they'd be doing away with the oil man shoulder patch logo and this design does take that into account.

However, now that you've had a minute to look at that design, compare it to the Bruins jersey here to the left — a jersey which has already been unveiled to the public. See any similarities? How about the fact that the entire layout is verbatim, the stripes and everything — the only alterations being the colors and logo. But the designer did one thing cleverly to try and throw us off the path. The strings hanging from the collar have been slightly modified. Compare the strings hanging on the right side.

Anyway, take this image for what it's worth, but it seems clear to me that this is the work of one of our friendly Photoshop artists.

For the record, the Oilers have yet to make an official announcement regarding uniforms. I'll let you know if I hear anything. In the meantime, what do we think of all this?

New Panthers Jersey Design Concepts

Big thanks to a reader who pointed me the way of the following images. Seems one Florida Panthers fan has designed a rendering of his team's new uniforms based on the teaser picture found on the Panthers' web site. Now I can't tell up from down in that picture, but kudos to this guy for the effort.

The stripes on the arms are large. Probably a bit too large. But we have heard that the Panthers will be going with something rather new and different for the new jerseys. One way or another, we'll know by tomorrow night. The Cats will unveil their new uniforms at the Year of the Rat Alumni Game. I'll have photos up as soon as they're available.

New Sharks Jersey Design Concept

First thing: I don't want to go ten rounds with anybody over the fact that this is merely a recolored all-star jersey, so if that's all you were going to say, you can refrain. It's been said.

Now then. Today I have a fan-designed rendering of a jersey with the San Jose Sharks new logo. The purpose of this image to is to illustrate what the color scheme might look like now that they've dropped the gray in place of orange.

I really like this color scheme. Thoughts?

Possible New Flames Uniform?

While perusing a Calgary Flames fan message board, I caught a glimpse of what could be the Flames' new Rbk EDGE jersey. I apologize in advance for the crummy quality of the image below.

The story is that a friend of the person who posted it supposedly works in the arena and got a chance to see one of the mock-ups for the Flames. He snapped it quickly with his cell phone and here we are. If it does turn out to be real, I'd have to say the design elements on the sleeves are an interesting choice.

But as of now, we don't really know anything official from Calgary. So take this for what it's worth. What do you think of it?

UPDATE (1:31 PM): A helpful reader just pointed me to this image to the left. It's certainly not as scary as the black one, but I'm not wild about the vertical black stripes up the side. Other than that, it seems to be in keeping with the current Calgary uniforms.

But wait, there's more!

UPDATE (5:18 PM): As a follow-up to one reader's comment regarding the Quad City Flames jerseys. I knew I'd seen them earlier and I just found them again so I figured I'd post them so we're all on the same page with regard to that.

Forgive the crappy image quality but they appear to be photos taken covertly probably with a cell phone or the like. If the Calgary Flames jerseys end up looking like this, I don't think anyone will be able to complain. They look pretty sharp.

For what it's worth, I really don't think the black looks very good with a white flaming "C." The red jerseys look a lot better with the black "C."

UPDATE (6:51 PM): This just in: It was a Flames fake-out! In one of the best Photoshop examples I've seen to date, it turns out the red Flames jersey I posted in the 1:31 update is not a photo of an actual jersey at all! A message board post — to which you can find a link below in the comments — all but proves that this jersey was made using a photo of the blue Rangers jersey unveiled yesterday as a template — only flipped over. It's a good example of what the artistically inclined among us can do with our spare time. Color me impressed.

As a reader also pointed out, though, this jersey appears to be based on the Quad City Flames jersey I posted photos of earlier this evening, so it may not be out of the realm of possibility that something like this graces the Saddledome ice come the fall. It's all a game of wait and see. I'll let you know when anything becomes official. In the meantime, thanks for reading.

And hopefully that will be the last update to this post. It has gotten very long.

New Flyers Jersey Design Concept

One artistically-inclined fan recently undertook the task of coming up with a concept design for the new uniform of the Philadelphia Flyers. But before you get excited, it looks nothing like the jersey hanging behind Gagne in Wednesday's post. It's just one fan having a little fun with Photoshop.

For further proof that this isn't an actual jersey design but rather a Photoshop rendering, see the example below. Yeah, that Flyers uniform is just a Sabres uniform with the logo and colors changed.

If I come across the real deal, trust me when I tell you I plan to post it. Unless it leaks, though, we'll have to wait until September 16.