Black & Blue in Pittsburgh

The playoffs start next week so I figured why not post some concepts in honor of the Stanley Cup champion that's soon to be unseated. My prediction: Sharks vs Caps for the chalice. So here are some Penguins concepts that have been sent in — some dating back over a year!

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Matt Marczel	Is it bad that I still have concept submissions waiting to be posted from December 2008? The first two items were sent by Matt long ago. But I haven't forgotten about them. And now as the Pens mull a third jersey overhaul, they certainly have piqued my interest. The second one, titled Version 3, incorporates a little black and calls back to the logo introduced in 1992. Seems strange in blue. But two more recent black-based designs are also pretty slick. The Penguins seem to like black and light blue, so why not combine them? And while I think the '90s logo is the best the Pens have had, I'm sure a lot of Pittsburgh fans would disagree.
Joshua Heckman	So let's just lose the logo altogether. After all, the dark jerseys from that era were just black and yellow with text on the front. But those were based on the original 1967 sweaters — before the team was comfortable placing a skating penguin there. Joshua's design is based in part on the distant past and more recent past — the Reebok Edge era excluded. But this dark blue is looking better and better the more we see it, as long as the light blue doesn't make itself too scarce.
Brad McPelican	Brad gives us another way of looking at it — going back to the classic gold in the primary logo only. It's always odd to see a crest that doesn't match the rest of the uniform. Odd in a good way, that is. I could see the Pens wearing an alternate like this one day.
Ryan Haslett	Ryan's going both ways. He likes a blue jersey and a gold jersey. His two-tone blue incorporates the Vegas gold penguin and some odd striping patterns that Reebok would just adore, I'm sure. But it does give the uniform a cutting-edge look. As for the other... Personally, while I think the yellow gold worked for the Bruins at the Winter Classic, I'm not sure it's a good way to go for Pittsburgh. If you want to return to the glory days, do it properly. Lemieux and Jagr would be proud only then.
Doug Graham	Doug has tried a few things. First, he's got a throwback-based look using current Vegas gold. It's not bad but it's not great. And it looks like Pittsburgh's coat of arms on the shoulder. He also went back to the vintage yellow in what's essentially a recoloring of the current powder blue third jersey. Works better in blue if you ask me — and I know no one did.
Matt McElroy	We finish where we started — with a Matt. In the most sweeping change, Mr. McElroy changed the logo by losing the penguin's legs. He's also added a gold jersey reminiscent of the Habs' in a way. But man that's a lot of yellow. I'm sticking with my hopes for a dark blue third in 2010.

Even more concepts on the way this week as any blog-worthy news seems to have slowed down. Don't forget that Elliott Strauss' NHL Rebrand series picks up with Part 8 this weekend.