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Hey everybody! Welcome to yet another NHL redesign series here on the boards. This is a series that I've been working on for a while, and I'm happy to finally share it with you guys. Welcome to the... This is an idea that I'm sure isn't totally unique, but it's an idea I had a while ago that I decided to run with. In my opinion, every team in the NHL has a solid identity, but every team still has a couple things I think could be improved upon -- hence my inspiration for this series. I'm going to be designing four jerseys for each and every NHL team, each of which centered around building a stronger identity out of the branding already established by each team. I'll be designing a home and road jersey for every team that will be based off of elements in each team's current -- or past -- identity, as well as an alternate jersey that helps expand that already established brand. The fourth jersey is called the "Wild Card," and that's where I'll be having fun with my designs. Some of the Wild Card jerseys will play off the other three jerseys, while others will be drastic departures from the team's branding. In short, the home, road, and alternate jerseys will be refreshes of each team's identity, while the Wild Card will push that identity into uncharted territory. Got it? With that being said, let's get on with the show! Here's the first team in the series, the Columbus Blue Jackets: The Jackets are, in my opinion, one of the biggest missed opportunities in the NHL, at least in terms of branding. The team has so much Civil War history, so much patriotic iconography, and so much room within their relatively young brand to work with, and yet they have one of the most plain uniform sets in the league. Aside from their cannon alternate, the team really hasn't had anything but mediocre jerseys in their repertoire, and I wanted to change that. Because the cannon is, in my opinion, the team's best logo, I decided to use that as their new primary mark. I also updated their color scheme to include both their navy blue used in their primary jerseys and the lighter blue used in the cannon alternate in order to give them a more distinct visual identity. A chest stripe felt natural for the team, as it blends both the modern and classical elements within the team's identity. Also, take note of the Captain and Alternate Captain patches -- they're inspired by the Captain and First Lieutenant insignia worn by the Union soldiers that the team is named after. The alternate was designed as a fauxback, and capitalizes on the use of a cream coloring. After all, shouldn't a team named after faded Civil War uniforms employ that kind of old-school color? The typography employed in Union Army recruitment posters also helped inspire the fonts used used for the diagonal script, the numbers and the NOB. The Wild Card jersey, believe it or not, is what inspired this series. I initially made it as a concept for a potential CBJ Stadium Series game, but decided that it belonged more in the limelight. I made the CBJ logo that serves as the crest myself, and it's pretty heavily modeled after the Ohio flag -- which is also on the uniform's right arm. The diagonal sash was inspired, again, by the uniforms worn by Union soldiers in the Civil War, and is pretty freaky for a Jackets concept. I think it sets a good precedent for what to expect with the Wild Cards in this series, though, which is why I wanted to post it first. How do you feel about these new Jackets jerseys? I hope you like 'em as much as I do