Wild vs Blue Jackets

	vs
WILD		BLUE JACKETS
11-1		7-1

The Aesthetics
These are the league's two youngest teams, part of the most recent expansion. As far as aesthetics, this is one of the most difficult matches to judge. This incarnation of the Blue Jackets is simply the best ever devised. At the same time The Wild logo is pretty awesome. Some may not necessarily agree, but they really have to want it to see it. I don't know who to choose. I'm tempted to flip a coin. But since I can't do that, I'm going with the Blue Jackets for reasons unknown.
Blue Jackets

The Nickname
A Blue Jacket should know his way around the Wild, but if he were to face a bear, I don't know that he could necessarily hold his own.
Wild

The Analysis
A clever forest scene of Minnesota versus an Ohio flag wrapped around a silver star. How do you decide? Somebody really knew what they were doing when they designed these. However, while the Wild logo could befit any forest-laden locale, the Blue Jackets logo is very specific to Ohio. My love for the Wild logo will have to be overtaken. I'm sorry to say.
Blue Jackets

WINNER

2-1

 

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?