Sabres Preview New Third Jersey
Series of "glimpses" offered up by Buffalo today
We knew we were getting a little something out of the Buffalo Sabres today with regard to their new third jersey. But I'm not sure I expected as much as we got.
Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth appeared to be the impetus for some of today's jersey action. Though I'm not sure if it was staged as a social media marketing effort or if Enroth was legitimately curious about the new uniform. I don't know anything about him and his Twitter presence.
It began this morning when Enroth tweeted, "when is the sneak peek for the new 3rd jerseys?" To which the Sabres' official Twitter account replied, "our jersey teaser video will be played in the arena during the scrimmage today."
Then in a follow-up tweet, he tried to cajole a picture out of the team. And would you believe it, he got one! That's why I wondered if it was staged.
So that was it. At 11:49 AM PT, we got our first official "sneak glimpse" of the Sabres' new gold third jersey. And there was much more to come, of course. But first, there was some debate on Twitter as to what part of the jersey this is.
Photo from Buffalo Sabres (via Twitter)
Is it the bottom of the jersey? Sure looks like it could be. But if we flip the photo around, now it looks like it could be a shoulder with a yoke design inspired by an old Boston Bruins sweater. Very clever, Sabres marketing people. Very clever.
So really all the photo tells us is that the jersey is mostly gold with some navy and white in there. Standard Sabres colors. Good to know. (At least it's not black, right?)
Photo by Eric Schmitz (@3rdManIn via Twitter)
Fans tweet gold t-shirts with new wordmark
The other thing we got today was our first look at the Sabres' new wordmark. (They've been using the Slug-era mark for the past few years despite not using the Slug anymore.) Eric Schmitz tweeted the photo above. Garret Wolowski was actually the first person I saw to tweet a picture of this shirt but Eric's shot had better lighting. (Sorry, Garret.)
This is a solid, modern logo — something Buffalo hasn't faired to well with over the years. It's striking in its simplicity. Basic letter shapes that form sharp, blade-like serifs. And even the sword from the crest has been incorporated, though straightened out to fit with the style.
So where else might we see this new logo? Glad you asked. As promised, the Sabres posted that teaser video on their website this afternoon and it gave us a few more insights into the new look.
Frame-by-frame: The Sabres' teaser video
First, a lot of tweeters bemoaned the lack of anything of substance in the video. But of course they're missing the point. This "I want it now" culture of ours is sad. Whatever happened to building anticipation? Plus, it'll give us more to talk about here on Icethetics for several more weeks.
That said, I'm afraid I won't be satisfied to just give you the video link and be on my way. Yeah, I'm going to have to break it all down frame for frame. I can't help myself. I write an entire blog about hockey uniforms. You understand.
All video stills from Buffalo Sabres
We begin on a tight shot of blue jersey material as the stitching animates on. This is odd because everything prior to this has indicated the jersey will be gold. But this is a big swatch of blue. Of course we can see a sliver of gold and white at the top of the frame, but deciphering what part of the jersey this is exactly is near impossible.
For what it's worth, I am intrigued by the white stitching on the blue areas of this jersey. That will make for an interesting look. On most jerseys, isn't the stitching the same color as the fabric itself?
Next we cut to what appears to be the right sleeve. But even as I say that I'm unsure. This patchwork mess doesn't really resemble any Reebok Edge material I'm familiar with. And it looks like the top half of the sleeve is colored and the bottom half is white, giving it that T-shirt effect the Predators used to have.
Plus, it looks like the front of the sleeve is gold while the back is blue with a heavy white stripe running between them down the length fo the sleeve. Is that right? Or is this another part of the uniform altogether?
Hey, it's that new wordmark we saw earlier! And there's no question about what this is. We're looking at the pant shell, the right leg to be specific. Good a place as any for a wordmark. Better than the chest at least. And this is a great-looking logo. Modern and retro all at the same time.
Cut to what is clearly the collar. We've come to know that triangle very well thanks to our friends at Reebok. And look, a shoulder yoke that extends below the triangle. This is new. But this still frame doesn't tell the whole story. All throughout this video various elements have been animating on, just like the stitching at the beginning.
Here, the word BUFFALO animates on just below the collar. It's the same style of text as the wordmark. This is NFL territory, folks. But for better or worse, it seems the NHL is dipping a toe in. It could be kind of cool. Remember that the last Sabres third jersey also had the word BUFFALO plastered across the front. But this one seems to be more toned down. Of course we haven't seen the crest yet.
Now we're on the collar itself. First, it's dual-toned in a way we haven't seen before on an Edge jersey. It's white until just above the triangle where it abruptly goes blue. But more noticeable than that is Reebok's "hanger effect," which really doesn't seem to be going anywhere.
Inside the back of the collar is crammed a bunch of words: belief, commitment, character, discipline, trust and excellence. I'm assuming it's some sort of locker room mantra for the Sabres. Seems like a bit much for a jersey, but to each his own.
By the way, this shoulder yoke is starting to remind me of those hoodies sold in the NHL's online store. It looks huge and given what we saw in earlier frames of this video, it may extend down to the elbow.
At last, with the video winding down we get a look at the crest. Thank goodness! It's the classic Sabres primary logo from the home and road jerseys — albeit the one from 2008 with silver trim. But I'd rather that than another new logo from this organization. Normally I'm in favor of alternate crests on alternate jerseys, but every time the Sabres try something new, they manage to miss the mark. By a lot.
The video ends on a graphic reading, "coming this fall." It's not clear whether they're talking about the full reveal or the on-ice debut — which would have to wait for the fall since the season doesn't start until then.
After posting the video, the Sabres made it clear in a tweet that seeing the whole uniform is still far off at this point. They promised more photos "in the coming weeks." So we should keep an eye on their Twitter account for a while.
Another thing worth keeping in mind is that the Sabres typically hold off on jersey unveilings until training camp, when more eyes are on them. So the full reveal could be up to two months away in mid-September. But now is a perfectly good time to get some buzz started. It just better live up to the hype now.
All right, I'm done. Time to share your take on all this. Maybe you saw something the rest of us didn't. Maybe you're looking at these photos and video stills in a way others aren't. Comment away!
Chris
Another player got into the act this afternoon. Steve Ott tweeted this:
A fan replied asking if Ott had seen the new sweater yet. Ott said, "nope." Looks like Sabres are hoping to keep things under wraps for a while.
Reader Comments (44)
Comparing the materials to my authentics (real, not Chinese knockoffs), that gold is the material used on the side of the body and armpits, while the blue is the material used for the main part of the jersey and the sleeves. The preview doesn't make me think gold jersey, but we'll see what comes out next.
I take back my previous comment. The two parallel lines in the mesh fabric are the seems coming down the back/side from the yoke. So, this is a gold jersey with a blue yoke that has a white stripe like the Bruins jerseys.
Hmmm...looks Nashville-esque. Trying to stay positive but not optimistic!
(Hopefully, Chris can merge my three posts, because I just realized the the sleeves are two-tone, as well. So, the yoke must actually run the full width of the sleeves.
Nothing really out of the ordinary, so far this is what I've been expecting. Can't wait to see the rest of it.
From the looks of the teaser video, it seems to be:
A base of "gold" with possibly a blue shoulder yoke?
Text (words the team has plastered all over dressing room) on inner collar.
Either a new shoulder patch or pants logo saying "Buffalo Sabres" with a sword through the word Buffalo.
Excited to see if anyone else can pick up on anything else!
Can't quite tell what colour is the base and what is accent, though I would guess it's a gold jersey. Looks like it has potential either way.
http://video.sabres.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=0&id=262686&cmpid=embed-share-video
This gives more details about the jersey than the tweet
Shoulder? Maybe similar style to Boston?
If you go to the Sabres web site they give you a little video but its not much. It looks like the Primary logo is on a gold jersey. I was kind of hoping they would put the Buffalo from the black jerseys on a gold or blue uniform. I think that would look good.
My theory is that we're looking at an an upside-down closeup of the shoulder. The jersey is yellow with a blue shoulder yoke and 70s Bruins-style white bars in front of the yokes. Thats my guess anyway, looking forward to seeing the whole thing.
Oh my god.. Seriously.. I can't wait to see the rest of it.. And I can't wait to see what Icethetics Concept Artists will come up in the next couple of days to guess the real thing..
I LOVE the Pred's Yellow jersey, I LOVE the King's Yellow/Purple jerseys.. And boy, will I love the next YELLOW Jersey..
Quick question..
Why you american people use the "gold" moniker for those yellow jerseys ?? They aren't GOLD.. They're YELLOW.. :P
Two examples..
Pittsburgh Penguins are gold..
Winnipeg Blue Bombers are gold..
Anyway.. Woot for bright colored jerseys !! :)
@Xordok I think the reason the Sabres consider themselves blue and gold, is the use on the logo. The sabre (sword) handles are yellow, and probably metal, hence the gold.
Not a fan of the original logo and at 46 I can say I never was. Why couldn't they use the goat head logo on the "slug" jerseys? Oh yeah, because that would look awesome and NOTHING the Sabres do shows any common sense.
If the Sabres would just axe the piping, the armpit stains, and the unnecessary grey outlining on their stripes and logo, they could go with any virtually any colour and have the most stupendously boffo sweaters in the league.
Hey, if you go on the Sabres homepage (Sabres.com) they actually have a video that shows a little more of the jersey, not the whole thing, but a bit more than what we see here. It looks like white sleeves, blue yoke, and gold jersey. Additionally, possibly the traditional Sabres crest. (though possibly with a "frosted" look? Not sure if that's glare in the video or a whitish blend in the blue of the logo) New word mark also on display, not sure where it would be on the jersey or on the pants, but the handle of a sword, buffalo, and then point of the sword over the Sabres name for the word mark fans out there too! In the "Hanger effect" we have a series of words that Pegula (the owner) is trying to associate with Sabres hockey: Excellence, belief, commitment, character, discipline, and trust. Just a bit more information for those who are watching, (like die-hard Sabres fan and fan of jerseys in general me!) with bated breath!
Anyway, check it out!
XORDOK, Yellow is the color of insanity and cowardice. Hence the use of the word ''gold''.
'Nuff said.
The placement of "Buffalo" under the collar and the fact that the shoulder piping comes under the collar are two things I'm not a fan of.
The only thing I'm nervous about is the image that looks like a 2 tone shoulder/sleeve. I'm excited that it looks like its primarily gold. Guess we'll have to wait and see. I just hope it doesn't disappoint. We have that track record lol
If you look at the picture of the jersey's profile, you can see the navy blue from the shoulders extend down to the elbow along with the gold, where they both suddenly break to white. It's also fairly clear that the front of the jersey is yellow/gold.
Now this is probably just my imagination running wild here, but with the profile of the jersey having such a clear front/back cut with the front of the jersey clearly being yellow/gold, I wonder if perhaps the entire back of the jersey might be blue? Has anyone ever done anything like that before?
I don't think there is a Boston-style yoke with a white stroke, cause on the collar shots, that white stripe doesn't appear between the collar itself and the wordmark. I think the first picture is a blue hem with a white stripe that only shows on the front and back of the jersey.
The inside of the collar...the closest the Sabres are going to come to EXCELLENCE any time soon.
I've been coming around on the idea of a gold jersey for the Sabres, but this looks like it's building up to be another overly-complicated Reebok mess.
I'm guessing the blue gives kind of a frame effect to the main Gold color and logo with the white as 2/3 of the sleeve. So the blue runs from the shoulder down the armpit and across. The frame effect also contrasts it so they can use gold as the bottom stripe with Buffalo written in it. The neck of the shoulder blue looks to extend down so they can do a gold or white name plate. That's my guess
The whole collar seems very NFL-esque, being both two-toned and having the word mark underneath. Could this become a new trend in the NHL? But I like what I see so far! I definitely think Buffalo can pull off a gold/yellow jersey, and it seems like there'll be some original elements here unseen in any recent NHL jersey. Can't wait to see the whole thing and all the concepts that'll flow in until we do!
Based on the collar picture and that "BUFFALO" on the back of the neck...wouldn't that mean the shoulder yolk is navy on the front and yellow on the back? Or maybe where BUFFALO is is just yellow? Plus, if that is truly where the BUFFALO is located...where would the Reebok wordmark go..?
Why are the going to use Nashville yellow? I couldn't watch the Nashville vs Detroit series in 2012 when they played in Nashville because it was blinding me. (BTW I love the Nashville white jerseys) I don't get how the arms are going to work, but excited to see how exactly it is set up.
I think the T-shirt effect won't be so bad, since it looks like that inner wrist area is the grey/silver used in the pitstains on my monitor. It appears to contrast with the 70's era NYR yoke stripe. I think it'll end up looking very much like this (http://nhluniforms.com/Rangers/Rangers19.html) with an extra color break at the elbows.
Icethetics @icethetics 1h
Another source with an odd report: #Sabres 3rd jersey will be gold in front, navy on the back! Should get concept artists thinking.
I just wanna point out that I called this more than 12 hours ago
I get the feeling it's going to be a very "European" jersey look. Maybe to coincide with all the upcoming Euro talent?
@wat, I hope not. If that's the case, this new alternate jersey will make the Islanders' disaster look amazing. Anyways, I notice that inside the Sabres' logo, there is some white shading. It looks to me like they have snuck the shape of New York State into the logo too.
I meant to say that I think they have added a silhouette of New York State into the logo. Why do I have a feeling that with a New York State silhouette inside the logo, we will soon be calling the logo on the jersey "The Globe" or the "Buffalo Globetrotters". I hope this jersey ends up being really, really good because it is starting to look like a giant disaster.
It looked like the animation was colorizing the sleeve and stopped short. It seemed to me the colors may follow all they way down to the cuff. Blue and Gold with a white separating stripe . The first picture I think is where the shoulder and sleeve meet? But that is the most confusing picture. It looks like there are blue side stripes in the Capitals jersey style. Does it look like the stitching together could be similar to MNG04 seen here? http://www.spapparel.com/hockey-en/index/page/18
I don't know I'm not sure I'm liking this 'all gold' as a base color, that 'all gold' idea should've been used as a playoff t-shirt promotion, I've even sent them a template idea for it...they should've just tweaked the 90's 'royal blues' using the current outline however as we have come realize, the Sabres have a hard time making ANYTHING easy let alone fun but then again that's just me! Who knows this could turn out to be a pretty cool sweater and willing to give it a chance but I'd a preferred a revision of the 90's 'royal blues' I mean I fell in LOVE with them in 2006-07 when we wore them as a 'alternate' sweater!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7375/9280627282_df46ccca53_k.jpg.
This is what the Sabres' jersey will look like or pretty close to it. It fits the video perfectly and i think is pretty sweet. Only change would be pominville would not be on back. Not sure who made that decision
Also the BUFFALO can't be the back neck...if you look closely at the top of the picture, it appears as if the "Reebok triangle" tip is above it. That said, if it were below it, it would surely be in the other picture...
Wow, my fault. Mis-read the info about the BUFFALO and haven't seen the video!
@Case: I emailed Chris a similar concept drawing yesterday, but he hasn't posted it ... yet (wink, wink.) I agree that it will be something like that.
@Case I don't see how that design uses the original image tweeted by the Sabres: https://twitter.com/buffalosabres/status/355760735349010432
@GP its on the back of the left shoulder.
@CASE Ah now I see it. Certainly seems like the most likely place.
Here is my guess at what the jerseys look like - https://twitter.com/flyersfansindc/statuses/356832854543564802
Instead of the white stripe being a yolk stripe, it may start at the yolk and extend down the arm (imagine in the rotated imaged that you're looking at the left shoulder/armpit). As for the two-toned sleeve, could be that the blue extends down the sleeve with yellow underneath that stripe.
The only thing I can't account for is that under the two-tone sleeve, it looks like under the arm is very dark (blue?) but that may just be a shadow from the video.
I disagree, Case, I think we'll see something a little more traditional than that. Here's what I've put together, with discrepancies based on options
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b394/johnious/concept%20jerseys/sabresthirdjerseywhatweknowcopy_zps7a7220df.png
I also agree with Jack that the sleeve is simply not colored in yet. Here is my take on the evidence, with the screen cap from here and my own screen cap from a few seconds prior
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b394/johnious/sabresthirdjerseyinvestigationcomparisoncopy_zps050266f1.png
@Dave @Hockey Week i thought the exact same thing as you at first but if the colors do continue down, the strip and and color split would happen at on the top of the shoulder and continue all the way to the wrist. In other words the whole front of the sleeve when laid flat would not have any blue like both of yours do.
I'm sure it's only for demonstration purposes, but it was interesting to see "Buffalo" where the name should be. Terry Pegula has had some interesting ideas since buying the team, although none of that has translated into success on the ice yet. I think it would be cool to see a team incorporate Herb Brooks' famous quote, and put the team name in place of the player name. With television driving the game, announcers go by the players' numbers for reference anyway, so that wouldn't be an issue. I'm sure Buffalo would face some jokes at their expense from visiting announcers: "Hey who scored Johnny?""Oh you didn't see it? It was Buffalo. Wocka wocka." I'm sure this won't come to pass. It was just a thought I had reading this article.