Collection 18: To the Northeast

Today's batch of concept art brings us to the Northeast Division.

Last month, I re-posted some early sketches from the Sabres' 2006 rebranding on the blog. Here, Ross decided to spruce up one of the sketches and put it on the current uniforms. I get the feeling something like this would've gone over a lot better with fans than the "Buffaslug."

We've gotten Jets and Nordiques concepts on this page recently, and I didn't want to leave the Whalers out. They were part of the Northeast Division back in their day.

Benoit brings a unique set to the table. A bold choice with the red-free, two-tone blue jerseys for the Habs, but that's why it's interesting to look at.

New concepts are rolling in all the time. If you'd like to submit yours, just send a JPG or PNG file by email.

Concept Collection 3

The newly reformatted concept art has been quite a popular feature lately. I can't remember the last time these posts have had so much feedback on a consistent basis. So let's keep it rolling. I've got another mish-mash to share this morning.

Paul had a similar idea to Mike Ivall's concept from the last post. Once again, there's just something about that color combination for me. The Cats can keep the light blue as a trim color so long as they keep the red. That's my decree.

Coming up this week: Mike Ivall has sent in enough new artwork fill another post. He's been working hard lately. He's covering the Preds, Isles and Thrashers among others.

Third Jersey Theories

Today's batch of concept art deals with a handful of teams with new sweater designs on the way. While we wait for official unveilings, our concept artists get to work on some predictions of their own.

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Alex Valvo	The Sabres will unveil their new third jersey on Sept. 18. All right, technically these aren't third jersey concepts, but the expectation is that the Sabres will promote their current third jersey to home status — while adding a white version for the road. That's the concept Alex is offering up today.
Jekabs Elerts	We keep hoping for the Lady Liberty logo to return when the Rangers unveil their new third jersey in November. That's what Jekabs has for us — though he likes to work with the Nike Swift jersey template, as opposed to the Reebok Edge standard. Regardless, it's a solid sweater design.
Jekabs Elerts	The Penguins will use the 2011 Winter Classic to launch their new third jersey. Jekabs's guess is that they're going with this 1967 replica. But since they're the home team, it probably won't be a white jersey — but you never know. The Sabres wore white when they hosted in 2008.
Ryan Haslett	I'm a big fan of this one. Ryan, a prolific concept artist, has put a unique spin the much-maligned Islanders jersey from the mid-90s. Not a bad treatment if you ask me. Perhaps if the Isles had done something a little less radical and a little more like this, fans wouldn't have rioted so much. I like that font, by the way!
Connor Hanley	The Whaler talk these days has been intense. More on that in an upcoming blog post. In the meantime, Connor joins Howard Baldwin in hoping for the NHL's return to Hartford. Such a great logo. And solid uniforms all around.
Jack Martineau	And finally, while the Canucks aren't actually planning a new third jersey — that we know of — I decided to toss Jacks' concept into this post as a bonus. The logo used on the jersey just won the NHL secondary logo tournament here on Icethetics.

As always, feel free to email in concepts. I'm working on adding a bunch more to the Facebook page this weekend.