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.

Just To Freak You Out XXVII

It's Friday and despite the fact that I'm waist-deep in boxes and half-dead from packing them, I have Freak Out art. And lots of it. So much so that I'm saving some of it for next week. But let's get to the good stuff.

Please don't ask me what that's supposed to be. I think I get the buffalo and the swords. But I'm not sure I understand the raccoon reference found around the eyes there. Perhaps it's just me, though.

But while we're on the topic of indignities...

No, the guy wearing the crown isn't Mark Messier. But good guess. And to the right there, the ultimate Vancouver Canucks jersey. How do you improve upon perfection like that?

Couple more oddities.

I like those colors on the Islanders jersey. And I know how you guys love the asymmetry on that thing — the original coming from the actual Thrashers jersey, not to be confused with the one on the right which is a recoloring of the Hurricanes sweater. The striping is weird. Yeah.

Sticking to the irony tack, here's an idea no one ever considered for the Anaheim Ducks.

And now you know why no one ever considered it.

We're developing of list of things the Flames need.

Also on that list: trading Jarome Iginla.

And finally, with the recent introduction of the new Stanley Cup playoffs logo, one reader got to work on new East and West logos — only what if they reverted back to the old conference names?

Despite the creativity, and I have to give a lot of credit for that, they're just messing with my brain so bad. Nice work, but über freaky!

Hope you enjoyed your Freak Out Friday. If I'm unable to update the site tomorrow, just know that's it's because I'm moving to a new apartment this weekend, not that I'm lazy. Not that I'm not lazy. It's just that's not the reason. Did you follow all that?

Sens Logo For Your Cap

Back in August I first posted images of the Ottawa Senators' new logos. And everybody was hoping they'd be making the new 2D logo the primary. But the team went the other way and said the 2D logo would only make appearances on fan memorabilia.

But I had yet to see any of it until I got an email this afternoon.

Check out this hat.

No one can deny this is the superior logo. Much more balanced than the "3D" version currently donning the Sens' sweaters.

Now you want to laugh? Seems they've also put together a special edition St. Patrick's Day cap. I'm not making this up.

Plaid accents?! Sign me up!

Anyway, sometimes I find real items make for a better post than concept art, you know? You can't make this stuff up. So I'd like to hear from actual Ottawa fans. How do you guys feel about the new logos? Have you got a beef? Or nothing really to complain about here? Comment!

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

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!

The Finer Art

A lot of the concept artwork I feature here on a daily basis is created by amateurs. It's fairly obvious and I think even the designers themselves wouldn't take offense to my saying that. But every so often, I come across work that could only have been created by a professional. It's the reason I have a blog like this.

The template used for these concept designs is probably as close to perfect as we're going to get, visually speaking. I don't know the identity of the artist, but the work is stunning. I'll kick things off with my team — which I haven't really talked much about lately.

Personally, I love this idea. A new logo like this would certainly take some getting used to but the light blue on black accented by silver looks great! I'm also a big fan of the throwback numbers on the blue third jersey and the lightning bolts around the shoulders. Anyone feel like painting one of these onto a photo of a Lightning player?

Next here we see an interesting take on the Dallas Stars' logo. I like it but proportionately it seems a bit... off. I think the city name above the logo needs to be in a smaller, wider type. Otherwise, I think the jersey striping looks fantastic and that gold third jersey would definitely get my vote.

I love the striping on these Rangers jerseys, but the New York across the front isn't working for me. Swap it out with the Lady Liberty logo and I'm pretty sure nothing could compete with that look. I'm a little confused by the Maple Leafs lettering on the back of the jersey, however. Speaking of the Leafs...

The accent striping isn't much but it adds a lot to what are otherwise rather plain jerseys. Will it happen? No. But I think all of these are interesting to consider.

Lastly, we have an Ottawa Senators concept with a complete overhaul.

I think the logo would be better if the cape were either smaller or gone. It creates bad negative space. But once again I think the striping is excellent. Overall though, not a bad direction. By the way, I added Anton Volchenkov to my fantasy team. He hasn't really done anything for me yet.

Anyway, that's all for right now. I'll have some more rather brilliant work tomorrow as we stick to the more professional-looking designs this weekend. Hint: GhettoFarmBoy is back at it again.

Poll: Oilers vs Senators

	vs
Edmonton OILERS		Ottawa SENATORS

Yesterday brought the Battle of New York and today brings the Battle of Canada. Either way, the final here in the Third Jersey Logo Tournament will see a New York logo facing a Canadian 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 Thu Nov 22

Poll closing date Mon Nov 26

07TJTRN | #3B | EDMvOTT

Poll: Senators vs Panthers

	vs
Ottawa SENATORS		Florida PANTHERS

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 Nov 17

Poll closing date Wed Nov 21

07TJTRN | #2D | OTTvFLA

Poll: Senators vs Coyotes

	vs
Ottawa SENATORS		Phoenix COYOTES

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 Nov 10

Poll closing date Wed Nov 14

07TJTRN | #1F | OTTvPHX

Mailbag: Sens Replace Sweaters

Things just keep getting more and more interesting with these Rbk EDGE jerseys. I posted some info last week about the possibility Reebok would be replacing the new "hi-tech" fabric with the old stuff. Here's an email I received earlier.

Hey Chris,

Just thought I’d pass this on. Today in the Ottawa Citizen, it had a brief clipping about the Senators-Thrashers game last night. The Sens wore ‘modified’ versions of the new jerseys and are the first to do so. They look the same, but they did look baggier, or looser when I watched the game last evening.

I still wished they had put horizontal stripes on the bottom of the sleeves and jersey. I loved the contrasting number they had on the white jersey of last year (white jersey had white numbers on the sleeves, red jersey had red numbers on sleeves against white material) That’s just me. But these new ones are starting to grow on me.

I agree with you, the Sens are a black team first, the red was adopted later. I think its time for BACK IN BLACK!

Nevill

First of all, partly I just wanted to show that someone actually agreed with me on the black thing. Seriously, the Sens were black from the beginning. "Be Red" is a new-fangled thing — like the Rbk EDGE jerseys.

Here's a pullquote from that article in the Citizen.

November 2, 2007

Sweat Surrender

Ken Warren
The Ottawa Citizen

The Senators last night wore modified Reebok game sweaters, becoming the first NHL team to wear the new models. Countless NHL players have complained that the overly hyped Reebok re-design, which included a moisture-repelling substance, was a disaster.

Turns out that players' sweat was dripping off the sweaters into the players' gloves, socks and skates, making them heavier than before — the polar opposite of what was intended. Egg is now dripping off the faces of the sweater designers, and all the NHL and Reebok officials who promoted the "uniform systems" in the first place.

Raise your hand if you saw all this coming.

This failure by Reebok has caused me to realize something depressing. More and more I'm losing faith in the things that I love. First, the hockey players get locked out and lose an entire season in 2005. Now, as a lover of scripted television — my shows are Lost, 24, The Office, and now Pushing Daisies — the writers in Hollywood are striking. Hopefully they get their issues resolved quicker than the hockey folks did.

Anyway, in the meantime I have my Wii and Super Mario Galaxy will arrive at my door in 10 days. All is well.