Ice Cap's NHL Concepts: San Jose Sharks

[TheGoldenTriangle]

With most Kings set that use the current colours, I always find it too bland and boring. I think purple should be added in some way, shape, or form, it really would bring the set together.

[IceCap]

The San Jose Sharks

 

There's an argument to be made that the Sharks are a continuation of the old Oakland/California/Cleveland Seals/Golden Seals/Barons franchise. The Barons merged with the Minnesota North Stars after only two seasons in Cleveland. The Barons' owner, George Gund III, later bought out the new "combined" North Stars franchise. Gund wanted a team back in the Bay Area, and attempted to move the North Stars there in the 1980s.

In 1990 Gund sold his stock in the North Stars, and was granted an expansion franchise. As a condition of all of this he was allowed to take a portion of the North Stars roster with him, and the North Stars were allowed to participate in the expansion draft. All of this irregularity means that, from a certain point of view, the Sharks represent the Seals/Golden Seals/Barons franchise de-merging from the North Stars.

I went on about that because I'm drawing on a Seals uniform for the basis of this concept. The uniform in question is the California Golden Seals' 1974-1976 set. That set remains unique in that it utilized football-style over the shoulder loops as a design element. Given the Sharks' connection to the Seals franchise? It seemed like a good starting point. Something unique that could help set the Sharks apart. So I paired that look with the Sharks' inaugural 1991-1998 home and road set. The striping pattern and colours, including the more vibrant teal, have always stood out in a good way to me. I tend to like the Sharks' teal less and less the darker it gets, so I just went back to the earliest and lightest shade.

The original Sharks logos were stellar at the time, but they haven't aged well. Especially the primary. So I went with the current logo set, but altered the colours to better reflect the retro scheme I opted for. Orange remains as the stick colour, but that's it. In all other cases orange has been replaced by silver. I returned the fin alternate logo to its rightful place on the shoulders.

The alternate is based on the two black alternates the team has worn in their history. Teal and white striping on the arms, no waist stripes. I chose the full-bodied shark for the primary logo slot in an attempt to set it apart a bit. I was originally going to go with the shark fin logo as the alternate, but I opted for a little-known Northern California patch the Sharks use. It features the state of California, a star indicating San Jose's location, and a shark fin. It's a nicely done logo that gives a shout out to the region. And it's just a bit of fun for the alternate sweater. I altered the colours to match the retro Sharks scheme I chose to use.

 

 

 

[Morgan33]

I don't believe I've ever seen that Seals set used as inspiration for the Sharks before.  It works surprisingly well and I'd be really interested to see how it comes off on the ice.  Eliminating most of the orange was definitely the right decision though if I have one suggestion, it would be to leave that colour on the Shark's eye.  Something about a grey eye just seems off to me.  I like the use of the Northern California patch on the alternate and I'm glad you resisted the temptation to apply a hem stripe because it just isn't necessary on that uniform.  Solid work.

[VancouverFan69]

On 5/2/2017 at 8:52 PM, Ice_Cap said:

The Vancouver Canucks

 

The Canucks are truly baffling. They jump from identity to identity, only to end up where they started. That's well enough, but then they keep the generally ill-regarded logo from the previous set in a lazy recolour, and load up on far too many alternates. The orca. The retro stick-in-rink. The new stick-in-rink. Johnny Canuck. Johnny Canuck V. The Vancouver Millionaires throwbacks. The recoloured Millionaires patch. Two versions of the VC monogram. Even when they settle on a colour scheme they still don't know how to commit to a look! So this concept was a bit like the Wild. A lot of identities to chose from, with a lot getting left on the cutting room floor in the name of narrowing it all down to a concise identity.

I used the 1970-72 look as the base. It's a short-lived sweater, but it's the best the team has ever had. In my opinion. The striping is bold, and the Vs on the sleeves are distinct enough without being overkill ala the later Flying Vs. I didn't go fully retro though. The name and number fonts and the logos all come from the current set. I took the logos from the alternate in particular, switching them around. The Johnny V is now the primary, with the updated stick-in-rink (you know, the one that actually looks like a C) as the alternate. Johnny Canuck should certainly be the focus of the Canucks' identity, but I have concerns about how the full-bodied version looks as a primary. The Johnny V may be a bit goofy, but it's overall an effective mascot/monogram fusion. Plus the V primary is a subtle tip of the cap to the Millionaires' old look.

Speaking of the Millionaires? I didn't want to lose that Millionaires patch completely. It just looks so good in blue and white! I did swap the silver out for green though. I dumped silver from everything, in fact. The silver outlines on the Johnny V and the stick-in-rink were replaced with white ones. I didn't want to just make the recoloured Millionaires logo the primary logo for the alternate though. That would run into the current set's problem. The alternate and primary home would look too close. So I thought about it. I liked the Millionaires patch as just that. A small patch. And you know what other uniform I really like? Switzerland's 2010 Olympics uniforms. So I set out to do something like that.

 

 

 

 

Good effort on the Canucks jerseys. However, with the classic white V arm stripes, it makes no sense to use the Johnny Canuck V-head. I prefer the skating JC. And I much prefer classic block-style font over the corporate Agency style. 

 

Skating JC looks great in a roundel.

[New York's Greatest]

The stripes on the home and away are interesting...I like them though. I feel like they'd look good on the alternate though but that's my opinion