Another 40th concept...

I'm not sure where this concept came from (hit me up so I can give proper credit) but it certainly is a front runner in the concept contest. I would easily hand over the dough for this one. Great use of the old Buffalo Bisons script. Now, with most of the mysteries kind of figured out with some good educated guessing, all that is left is how is the 'Buffalo' script will look on the jersey. Anything but the Buffalo Bisons style will be dissappointing and not really a fitting tribute to vintage hockey in Buffalo. I'm hoping for the best come September 18th.

Just for fun

As I mentioned in my comment on the previous post, the Puck Drop announcement had this to say about the new jersey: "This classically-designed uniform is a tribute to not only the history of Buffalo hockey, but early NHL jersey designs." I wondered a lot about that first part. I made a "sweater collar" (see insert) that would look similar to Jochen Hecht's undershirt collar from the Winter Classic (Google it; he's just coming on the ice.) I also looked at the logo that is all over sabres.com and thought about all of those crazy stripes that we saw on one of Montreal's centennial jerseys, as well as historical Blackhawks jersey and several others. So, I came up with this:

New 40th jersey...Checkered Numbers?

Sabres Hockey Central has uncovered some more possible details about the new 40th Anniversary alternate. Their source informs and claims that indeed a new white away jersey is set to arrive for the upcoming season and that the new alternate is going to have some unique surprises that may hit or miss with the fans.

"The new 3rd jersey will look very different from anything the Sabres have done before. It will be royal blue with a “Buffalo” script in white across the front, with the player’s number underneath. A vintage logo will be underneath the script with 20 on one side of the sabres and 10 on the other."

Ryan from Sabretake.com came up with a mock-up after hearing the details.

I think the 20 and 10 will however be inside the shield like the 'puck drop' banner that is available now.

I'm a little puzzled with how the Sabres decribed this new jersey in the puck drop announcement. If this is to be a new permanent alternate third jersey from here forward, why have 2010 slapped on the front? If the new jersey is just for this year, then does that mean a slug is coming back as a potential home alternate for 2011-2012? That would be illogical, but possible until the team comes up with another alternate uniform...maybe a gold one? Either way the slug is still on the way out, or at least a minimized role and that pleases me greatly. Now, I just stand confused about the third jersey future probably as much as the Buffalo Sabres are likely to be.

They are about as good as laying out a new uniform and promoting as Nicholas Cage is at balancing his checkbook.

*****UPDATE******

I have a source I trust who said there is no checkered designs involved with the new jersey. They did confirm that the nameplate on the back is correct with the colors used in the mock-up but other than that the quote when shown the picture was "Not even close".