Sabres Debut New Uniforms!
Saturday · Sep 18 · 2010 | 11:41 AM PDT
The Buffalo Sabres introduce new home, road and alternate jerseys today
It's official. Years of work have paid off for the guys at Sabres Not Slugs — a hardcore group of fans on a mission to rid their team of the infamous "Buffaslug" logo, instituted in 2006.
Today, the Buffalo Sabres unveiled new home, road and alternate jerseys for the 2010-11 season — and the old logo is nowhere to be found. In fact, the new sweaters show a shift by the team back to its original identity.
Thomas Vanek #26Where to start... First, the previous third jersey, introduced in 2008, is the new standard home sweater. No surprise, and it's a welcome change as this is a spectacular hockey uniform. Even better, the Sabres will double up on this solid design by wearing a white version for road games.
Some fans have bemoaned the heavy use of navy blue, but let's be honest: this is 2010, not 1980. Bright colors are better in small doses. And that makes the new alternate sweater perfect. The bright colors are a great change of pace and superb tribute to the past.
And BUFFALO across the front, an homage to the town's original pro hockey club, couldn't be better suited. After years of new logos that have failed to catch on with fans, this was exactly the right play for the Sabres. Celebrate the city, its hockey history, and stop trying to reinvent the wheel.
In a single day, one of the NHL's worst-dressed clubs has become one of the best. It's an outstanding set of sweaters. Most teams would be lucky to look this good.
Unique features on the back of the thirdA release on the Sabres website details some interesting facts about new third jersey:
- The royal blue color of the third jersey reflects the original Sabres jersey that debuted in 1970.
- The “Buffalo” script wordmark was inspired by the old Buffalo Bisons “bottlecap” logo.
- The choice of an off-white color for the Buffalo script was to give the jersey a vintage feel.
- There are four stripes on the sleeves, socks and around the waist that represent 40 years of Sabres hockey.
- A commemorative 40th anniversary “1970” logo sits below the Buffalo script.
- The faux felt numbers have a unique cross stitched pattern in reference to early pro hockey jerseys.
The new third jersey will be worn for 12 home games this season, including its debut on Oct. 9 for the Sabres' season opener when they host the New York Rangers at HSBC Arena. Seems 10/9/10 is going to be the night for retro sweaters in the NHL.
According to the Sabres' website, "the design for both jerseys was a collaborative effort between the Sabres and Reebok International." By the way, they also have a complete photo gallery of today's unveiling for your enjoyment.
Reader Comments (67)
Man, if I wasn't a Sens fan, I wouldn't mind getting one of these! which one to choose?
i like all the jerseys, but im not too big of a fan of faux felt numbers on the alternate.I have a feeling that EA Sports is gonna screw the third jersey up when they add it to nhl 11 lol
If they would have gotten rid of the front numbers and the gray, it'd be perfect. The reversal of the hem stripes would have been nice, but that's nothin too big. Besides other teams, wish the Blues would correct their Edge mistakes.
Yeah, I'm a big Sens fan as well, but I have to say I definitely want one of those new thirds! They really bring that vintage feel to a new level.
10 bucks says all of the vintage jersey haters from the New York post will love this. If you still don't, well then you shouldn't be on this site.
actually, if you go to the sabres' website, at the top of the home page, on the very left of the banner, the buffaslug logo is STILL THERE!! except it's navy now.
matt h, thats the way the website has been since last season. the scoreboard at the arena still has the slug, but i think they'll change it.
btw those thirds look amazing. i had doubts, but they are beautiful in person.
As a Sabres fan, I'm so disappointed in this 3rd jersey. It looks stupid. The numbers/letters completely ruin it. Ugly.
I was there this morning for this unveiling. Although I saw these last week [thanks to this website], they look SO much better in person. Speechless is the best way to put it. I said over and over again "finally" today. I didn’t hate the slug, but THIS is what the sabres are and should always be. The jerseys do exactly what was needed; give an updated/modern version of the classic look. The white jersey is amazing and the third is 100 times better than I thought it would be. Like it was said, the bright colors bring back the vintage feel and don’t run that color combo into the ground. Overall, some of the best jerseys, if not the best in the league hands down.
Interesting side note: when looking at the vintage stitching in the numbers, it looks yellow from a distance. Up close it is obviously blue, but as people walked further away from me, the color looked yellow. Not sure if this was intentional, but it’s a nice little twist. LETS GO BUFFALO!!
"Some fans have bemoaned the heavy use of navy blue, but let's be honest: this is 2010, not 1980. Bright colors are better in small doses."
Sorry, I couldn't disagree with this statement more. Dark colors for the sake of dark colors are a result of wanting to look "intimidating" due to some misguided 1990s focus group propaganda, but in reality it just makes the uniforms drab and ugly.
I can't believe it took this long to get the original logo back. And, while I'd prefer to see the original colors, I think the Sabres finally hit a home run on the home and away jerseys. The third isn't awful. It's a bit college-y but I kind of dig it.
Wait there are actually people who think that third is a good jersey. That is laughable.
Ugly, awful, terrible. Yellow Nameplates? Stitching in the numbers? Full name on the jersey slanted upward? Small logo under the name? This isn't baseball.
Worst 3rd in the league. I would love to have some of what you are smoking thinking it is a good jersey. However, the home and away jerseys are awesome.
The real hidden gem is the 3rd's helmet.
FINALLY!!! Born and raised in Buffalo, playing pond hockey. I havent felt this positive about the sabres look since the first switch(mad cow.) These jerseys might be just a cash grab for the sabres, but it really does restore a sense of civic pride to have the team look this good on the ice. These Jerseys should be the permanent jerseys for this team(maybe a new third every ten years to make owners and businesses some money and reignite the base.) Not to be negative, because i know that alot of five to ten year olds only know the slug and love it, but when is the Slug burning party to send the message to the sabres to never make a drastic and ridiculous design change again that insults the history of the sabres and hockey in Buffalo.( i know that people vote with their dollars, but there needs to be an exclamation point on that emphasizes how disgusting that Slug was). As an aside, I think this team is gonna be a beautifuly dressed BEAST this year, and i don't think im drinking the kool-Aid, some scoring improvement(individually), added grit and experience, continued excellent goaltending, and Health, and we have a good chance of a parade.
I thought the 3rds sounded and looked terrible in concept so I am floored at how good these look. Buffalo fans are very lucky.
"Some fans have bemoaned the heavy use of navy blue, but let's be honest: this is 2010, not 1980. Bright colors are better in small doses."
Sorry but I have to disagree with this statement as well. I HATE to this day that some moron came up with the idea of EVERY TEAM must have a black/dark dark colored uniform(3rds, re-design,etc). God I miss the 80's: Pgh/Bos/Van..yea LA did but only because of Gretzky and the Raiders being popular with the Gangsta's
http://www.nhluniforms.com/1990-91.html look at all the great colorful away uniforms(yes kiddies home team wor white/road team wore dark back then)
I really like thier new thirds, and love the look of that birght royal blue on yellow, looks real sarp, and the faux felt cross stiiched numbers are a real nice touch, well done! The new road jersey looks pretty good as well.
Home jersey- Perfect
Away jersey- Could have made the blue stripes around the arms and waist thicker. Overall it's really good.
Third- looks better than I thought it wood. front looks really nice. The back Numbers looks ok with the stiching, but I think that the gold nameplate ruins it. I personally hate the off colores nameplates that seems to be the start of a trend on NHL jerseys.
first it was everyone making their thirds look "retro", now it even worse because you have these "retro" style jerseys with different color nameplates. I can see a few teams keeping the traditional look, but now every team with a third is doing that. teams should start using their secondary logos on the thirds and get a little creative.
Still like the white jersey. The 3rd is slooooowly growing on me - I personally like the "stitched" numbers. But the wrong colored namebar is vomitacular.
I think the Sabers now have the nicest set of jerseys in the league. The only issue I have is the yellow nameplate, otherwise all three are great!
The navy blue would be my only criticism of the Sabres sweaters. People who stand against the bright colours in hockey are fools. Hockey needs bright colours to contast the white playing surface. Navies and blacks are dull and mute the excitement of hockey. The vegas gold the penguins uses also blows. Some of the NHL teams have to get over the idea that black and dark colours are better merchandising ideas. Are people buying a hockey sweater so they can wear it to the office everyday and are worried about it clashing with their suit? No they buy the sweater to show their support at the game and what is better than seeing the C of red in Calgary or the orange crush in Philly. When fans are wearing black it just looks like empty seats. I am not totally against black in the league, but when the penguins play the kings in LA and the kings are wearing their 3rd sweaters we might as well be watching the game in black and white due to the lack of colour shown by these two uniforms. I want the Penguins sweaters of the mario led cups and marcel dionne kings, well maybe not the kings, but when the game is being played on a white sheet its nice to have a little colour. It would probably help some people see the puck better if its has fewer dark colours to deal with on the ice. However these Sabres jerseys are much better than the slug or white buffalo days. Sometimes teams try to hard to find the next trend and show no individuality in doing so. Its nice to see some of these teams accept their mistakes and try to make amends. Philly, the Oil, the Canucks and the Flames have all made the change in recent years and its nice to have some colour back in the game.
Absolutely love the front and what it represents, but the back... I'm not sure what to make to it. The "stitching" (this is going to make cresting these things REALLY tough, and if it forces people to buy the substandard cresting from NHL.com, that's downright EVIL) is interesting, but the yellow nameplate... man, that's a dealbreaker. Just because the Flyers did it for their orange jerseys (which was a good thing, because they used to do that in the 70's) doesn't mean it should be overdone. The Flyers using a black namebar on a white jersey looks weird, and now a yellow namebar? I don't think that dog will fetch, guys.
I don't know if anyone here remembers when the Minnesota North Stars changed their jersey designs in 1991 to the "STARS" form that they originally used a strange font and green letters for their nameplates. This setup was hard to read for fans and play-by-play folks alike, and I have a feeling this one might also give people some trouble.
I guess we'll see. On second look, having a yellow namebar kind of "frames" the jersey (yellow collar-white letters-yellow stripes on front, yellow namebar-white numbers-yellow stripes on back). The new home/away kit is the perfect evolution of the original Sabres jersey and should have been done instead of the awful Buffaslug in the first place (the white one is really growing on me). I will have to see these in action before I really figure out how I feel about them... the backs, anyway. Cool idea, but I'm not sure it works for me.
Absolutely stunning. Well done Sabres. You look like a real NHL franchise again. Now start playing like one.
Props to the Sabres Not Slugs guys. They've been at it a while.
I'm kind of loving the new third jersey. I like the home and away ones, too. They're all awesome =)
The thirds are fine, whatev, but the real story is both the home and aways look like THE SABRES again. Has any other team suffered more from marketing idiots' desire to "update," "modernize," and "freshen?" First we had the '90s black-and-red craze, then the hidious Slug with all the Reebok design crap. And now we're back to 1970, and it looks great. Memo to GMs: Stop screwing with your team's idenitity to sell a couple of jerseys in the short term, you're disrespecting the game.
ALMOST Sabres.... Almost.
The third jersey is awesome. Totally has a 70's look to it and the number stiching is something I've never seen before. All though I am young so that's probably why. Usually I hate word scripts on the front of jerseys (Too baseball, basketball) but somehow Buffalo has managed to make it work.
As for the new home and away set, they would be great if not for the pointless number on the front and the pointless silver piping running up the side. These are two features that remind me of the dreadful RBK era. If not for these features, the jerseys would get a 5 out of 5 from me. Oh well, an improvement is better than no improvement at all.
New hat has been ordered and I will be getting that third for Christmas!! AWESOME.
Having a better look at the thirds now, I can say that I do like them - from the front, at least. The yellow nameplate and the blue cross-stitching on the numbers will take some getting used to, but the off-white really doesn't look too noticeable. Overall, I like it.
And I'm glad the Sabres are finally back to where they belong, primary uniform-wise. While I didn't mind what some called the "goat head" itself, the red-black-silver seemed a bit of a misstep - yes, they were one game away from winning the Cup in them, but... then, there was the Buffaslug, debuted a year before the implementation of the Edge design. While it was great to see blue and gold back for the Sabres, the overall look just wasn't good.
While I'm definitely in the camps of "get rid of the silver piping and the pitstains" and "get rid of the front numbers", other than those two nitpicks, these are what NHL uniforms should be.
Hahaha, oh man, thi is just like when Vancouver came out with their thirds and had a chance to finally shut all the cry baby fans up. Here Buffalo fans have a amazing set of jerseys and what do some of you still do? COMPLAIN!
The navy looks awesome and really helps the yellow pop and updates a once great hockey jersey. Oh big flipping deal, it has cross stitching in the numbers... When you're watching a game you're not even going to see that... And even with that being said, it still looks good to me.
Anyways, I guess the old saying is true "you can't please everyone". I guess some people just are not happy unless they are belly aching.
The third is ok, might take some getting used to, but I think the only thing it has going for it is the numbers.
Those jerseys are all ugly. They would look a heck of a lot better without the numbers on the front, and the back of the 3rd looks terrible with the yellow name plate and the stitching.
The numbers and nameplate dont work for me. I would buy a third, but not customized.
that third is one of the ugliest things I have ever seen. the two sets of yellow stripes are ridiculous, regardless of what it represents, the C is way too big and ugly, and the little logo under the word buffalo looks horribly misplaced. the numbers on the back don't help. the colouring itself is great, but the actual jersey is terrible. if they had one set of double stripes, ditched the logo and just kept the writing, and shrunk the captain/alternate letters so that they aren't bigger than the actual logo, it would look pretty nice.
the home/away jerseys look awesome, they would be perfect if they used royal blue and are pretty close as is.. but those thirds..ew
Sorry, these jerseys are all trash and the Sabres haven't had a good jersey since they moved away from the classic look they had for the first 30-ish years.
Just because they got rid of the awful slug doesn't mean these still aren't terrible.
I am not a Buffalo fan but thank the maker they got rid of the Buffaslug, it was the worst logo ever.
The new jerseys are well done. The third is not great but who cares, the Buffaslug is DEAD!
Every person that has a slug jersey should send them all to ELWOOD so he can wear a "terrible" jersey every day of the week.
These jerseys are beautiful. The thirds have grown on me tremendously since I saw them--I hated the idea of another text-based jersey--and I think look amazing. The backs of the 3rds I'll have to wait to see them in action before I make a decision on whether or not I love or hate the nameplates and stitched look, though I will say that I really like that the Sabres decided to do SOMETHING creative with the numbers. It's like the Lightning's alternates from the 90s and their old font. You can love it or hate it, but at least it was different and kudos to them for stepping out of the box with non-generic numbers.
The home and away unis look spectacular. I know that they could have been the royal blue instead of navy, but it also could have been red and black, so be happy for what you've got, Sabres fans. The Sabres now have a beautiful home, great away, and stunning, throwback, full-old-school-color 3rd to enjoy. Not a Sabres fan myself, but I'll enjoy watching them play this year, and now it's not just for Ryan Miller, Thomas Vanek, and Drew Stafford.
The home and away would be great if only they lost the vertical piping. It is so minor, but my eyes are drawn to it and it totally ruins them for me.
I actually liked the thirds better in the concept when the colour looked a little darker. Now that I see them for real I am really not liking them much. I really like the striping pattern, but I don't like the colour of blue, the yellow nameplate, and the cross stitch numbers. And worst of all, I hate the word across the front. Needs a logo. Like some people have said, too baseball like for me.
The base set is great, but wow is the back of that third atrocious. Less would be definitely more here. Stay simple. The back is usually simple (a name and number in white/team color), but that is just godawful. Changes my total opinion on the jersey.
@ Red Six, AMEN BROTHER, AMEN!!!
For those of you who think the Sabres have never had a good jersey... just what the hell do you want, anyway?
Maybe Chris could hold a "Rebrand the Sabres" contest, so that those of you who don't like the new look can show the rest of us how you'd go about making the Sabres uniforms look good in your eyes.
That new third is fun and interesting. I'm a fan.
I'm not sure i agree with your comment that about Navy being more acceptable than Royal Blue though. The best designs in the NHL are bright/vivid colors regardless of era.
I have a couple of questions.
1. Is this 3rd going to be only for this season as a "40th anniversary sweater" or will it be a full time 3rd? Will it be worn again for the 2011/12 season?
2. I'm having trouble accessing the Sabres website. Could anyone tell me what is on the sides of the white road helmets? Is it the Buffalo&Sabres logo like on the blue home helmets?
Also what is on the front of the 3rd uniform pants. Lots of teams have logos on the right front pant leg. Do they have anything on the front of the pants in terms of a logo?
No need to say much about this. Lets get to the review.
Away: This jersey is almost perfect. My only pet peeve is that the Blue Striping is too thin. They really didn't need to put silver on white, it's practically invisible.
Overall: 4.5 Out of 5.
Third: This jersey is solid. The only thing holding it back is the text logo. It saves a bit of face by adding the original Sabres logo though. The cross-stitch look of the numbers looks a bit unnecessary, but it fits quite nicely with the Yellow nameplate. One of the better text jerseys in the league I must say.
Overall: 4 Out of 5.
And with that, it is the end the slug. With it goes one of the Reebok jersey styles.
I'm really a big fan of the white. RIP to the slug.
@ 91Pens92 and Red Six,
I am with you guys ALL THE WAY. However, I do think the navy blue is very complimentary with the gold. As sick and tired as I am of all the black and navy overkill, navy blue that isn't too dark can make a secondary or a "middle" colour as I call it, stand out a lot more. I am a big Canucks fan and I always felt that navy blue, not dark midnight blue, would make the Canucks' green trimming stand out even more. Can you imagine the Canucks finally ditching the breaching orca and going with the skating Johnny Canuck? Because Vancouver uses royal blue with the modified Stick 'n Rink logo, having JC on a navy uniform with green shoulder yokes and trimming would set the uniform apart from royal blue teams like the Oilers, Leafs, Rangers, and Islanders.
On the topic of the Sabres new uniforms, I agree with the removal of the front numerals and the vertical silver piping. I would also make the gold trimming around the blue yokes on the whites a little thicker and the last thing...PUT the traditional white and gold stripe on the navy pants exactly like the stripe on the third royal blue pants. The stripe on the pants shows a team's true colours. Overall, I love the fact that the Sabres have gone back to their roots and congratulations to the fans of our expansion cousins for getting their classic crest back. Good riddance to the Banana Slug! Hopefully, the Orca will join the Slug soon.
These multi-colored nameplates have definitely worn out their welcome. It was cool on the Flyers third jerseys but when it showed up on the Winter Classic one, it was stupid. Now, a gold plate on a blue jersey? Do the Sabres wear a gold jersey that the plate was removed from? Because that was the whole point of the different colored plate. It was taken off one jersey and placed onto the other. In order to be accurate, why not use a WHITE nameplate? Especially since the road jersey is...wait for it...WHITE. And single-layered white numbers on a jersey that features no white at all? Retarded. If the numbers were gold, it would have worked better. Switch the colors of the plate and the numbers and it'll be a million times better.
How anyone could find fault with this set after dealing with the slug for 4 years is beyond me. This is one of the best uni sets in the NHL. Period.
Get rid of the stupid numbers on the front. This isn't the NFL. And what the heck does 2010 have to do with dark colors. Better than the previous jersey for sure, but just go back to the old ones from the 70's/80's.
LOVE the front of those thirds, but I can't find anything I even like about the backs! That said, I want this jersey so much as long as I don't customize it! I always complained about how ugly the flyers' jerseys looked with those stupid wrong-color nameplates, and now we have them too! I don't want to be a hypocrite so there's no way I could customize this.
I hope the come out with shirts with this logo too, I live in Florida and I'd love to rep the style without melting in the heat!
I love these uniforms. Though I think the numbers on the front of the uniforms, make the uniforms look cluttered. There is no need for front numbers on any uniform in the NHL. The Dallas Stars is a prime example of this. With just a word-mark and numbers, their jerseys look boring and plain. This may have worked in 1920 but not today. This may work in collage hockey but not the NHL. But thankfully the slug is dead. Congrats to the hard work of the people who so valiantly worked towards this goal.