Concept Collection 51

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Yes, it's been a while. But it's better now than never, right? I'm currently trying to develop a new system for posting concept art that makes things simpler for me. (That's always the unreachable goal.) In the meantime, I'll do my best to keep this page updated a little more often.

One last thing. Help me out here. I know some of you think I've been "making you wait" for new concepts, but that's not how it is. Having said that, if you perhaps don't care for the designs in this set and feel like commenting to say something like, "I've waited months for this?!", don't bother. It'll only tell me there's no point to updating the page in the future. Rate the designs, move on, and check back later. I can't please everybody, nor will I try to do so. Just know that I'm doing my best to keep all aspects of Icethetics updated.

Collection 23: Summer Comes Early

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Over the next two months, most of the hockey world will forget that the NHL actually extends beyond 16 teams. So before the playoffs kick into gear, I thought I'd share some concepts for a handful of clubs that have already wrapped up their seasons and will start the summer early.

Perhaps next we'll look at some teams that did qualify to play for the Stanley Cup in 2011.

Collection 17: No Pinching

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It's a day reserved for drinking and wearing green. There's nothing I can do to help you with the drinking part, but maybe you'll like some of these green concept jerseys.

Of course don't forget that the New Jersey Devils will crack out their 1980s throwback sweater — a swell mix of red and green — for one night only this season. That'll be tomorrow when they host the Capitals (they're in Ottawa tonight). They Devils wore them for the first time since 1992 last season on St. Patrick's Day.

Collection 10: The East Coast

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As the title would indicate, with today's concept post on this the first Hockey Day in America, we're sticking to the Eastern Conference — but not excluding Canada. Been receiving a lot of really creative artwork lately that should garner some interesting feedback.

So let that ruminate a bit. Long Island Hockey Club... a more overt NJ... and so on. Then leave your feedback in the comments. One thing, though...

At the moment, comments on concept posts are unmoderated. I'm trusting you guys. Please remember that these artists spent time and creativity on the work above. If you don't like it, you're entitled to that opinion, but please be thoughtful when unleashing it on the world. Be constructive with your criticism or don't offer any. Especially if you've never submitted work yourself. Just some things to keep in mind.

Strauss NHL Rebrand IX

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The NHL Rebrand series by Elliott Strauss is starting to wind down. This week he tackles the Devils, Wild and Predators. His own comments are in bold text.

Elliott Strauss

I thought that the old mustard alternate crest had potential to make an interesting primary logo, so I just cleaned it up. A simplified version of the current primary remains as a secondary. I came up with a custom font for the wordmark and numbers, and I'm happy with the way the numbers look on the jerseys.

The color scheme keeps navy and silver but adds an icy blue-gray in the place of yellow. The home jersey color of "steel blue" would make a unique addition to the NHL. The alternate slightly modifies the home/away template.

A strong entry here, to be sure. Personally, I never realized what a great logo the Predators' had on that old alternate until Elliott did some work to it. Certainly looks more like a hockey logo now. And overall, this is a really sharp uniform set. I'd by that home jersey in a heartbeat.
Elliott Strauss

I dropped the two-tone gold thing they have going, the darker yellow is gone, and wheat takes its place. Other than that, the logos stay the same, this is one of my favorite primaries of all time, so I got rid of the circle thing on the primary crest to focus on the awesomeness of this logo.

Pretty simple uniforms. No white in the homes, but I think the small amount of wheat really makes the red stand out. Then green has a prominent role in the roads as well. The alternate simplifies things even further. I do like how these uniforms turned out.

Great to see that primary logo back on the front of a green jersey. That's where it belongs. Only thing I don't like about this set is the alternate uniform. I understand what Elliott was going for but the style of that wordmark clashes with the simplicity of the sweater. At least the team got that right for real with the new thirds this year.
Elliott Strauss

I love what they wear now, but I wanted to try a modernization. I actually made the home jersey black, which is new, and then tried some devil-horn striping. I had to keep a lot of red, so the alternate brings back the red base, with a different take on a modern devil-horn stripe.

The striping on these jerseys is just flat-out cool. The shift back to classic style uniforms means we probably won't get to see anything like this in the NHL for another 15 to 20 years. I also like the secondary logo, borrowed from the AHL's Lowell Devils, but disappointed it didn't make an appearance on the uniforms, not even the shoulders of the alternate.

And if I'm being completely honest in my review, I'm also disappointed that we didn't get a modernization of the logo along with the updated jerseys. The Devils' logo is very clearly a product of the early '80s. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it seems out of place on the "futuristic" jersey designs. However I do like the re-coloring on the home sweater.

One more edition of Elliott's NHL rebrands to come. And by process of elimination, I'm sure you've figured out that the Rangers, Canucks and Blue Jackets are on deck. Spoiler alert: Rangers get the best rebrand!