Buffalo Sabres' Uniform Woes, Team Teases New Third Jersey

The Buffalo Sabres have been at a bit of an aesthetic crossroads lately. Ever since they scrapped their red and black look in 2006, They've been struggling to maintain a balance between the classic and timeless royal and yellow appearance of their earlier days and the modernization that the Reebok EDGE template tends to force on teams. In some cases, the EDGE template has helped (Phoenix Arizona, St. Louis, Original Six teams if only because they didn't have to change much), but in many instances it's caused problems (Colorado, Dallas, Anaheim, Florida, Tampa... there are more, but you get the point). At any rate, the Sabres' set was hard to look at before Reebok came along. The fact that it changed nothing surely didn't help, and it did force them to drop their retro third for a season. Remember the Buffaslug?

(source: NHL Uniform Database)

I apologize for subjecting you to that, but it's a necessary evil. Everything about this set just seems wrong. Navy? Strange, curvy piping? Front numbers? Silver? These weren't your dad's Buffalo Sabres, and it was a shame, because there was nothing wrong with what they had from 1970-1996. Anyway, here's their current set:

(source: NHL Uniform Database)

Better, but all they did was lose the silver, slap the old logo back on the front of the sweater, and put the classic yellow striping back in. That awkward piping is still there, as is the front number, and the navy. I was only 9 years old when they began their identity crisis, but as someone who vividly remembers the Rangers' 1994 Stanley Cup run, for example, I know that the Sabres are not and should not be navy. They should be royal. Their anniversary jersey (below) is the color that they need to go back to.

(source: Sabres' Official Website)

I'll be honest, nothing else about that jersey appeals to me except the royal and the "Buffalo" wordmark with the logo below it, but it's better than any jersey they've had since reverting back to the realm of blues and yellows. But wait! Help is on the way! The Sabres teased a new third jersey yesterday, and Jhonas Enroth got a special sneak peek of the new sweater on Twitter, for all his fans and followers to see. What a standup guy, thanks Jhonas. As you can see from the link, it appears to be a gold/yellow jersey with a navy shoulder yoke. For starters, I'm glad it's not black. Many teams have done black for the sake of it over the years and the trend seems to finally be subsiding. Given that yellow is the primary focus here, navy actually works better than royal would for the shoulders, so in this case I'm glad the Sabres stuck to their guns.

Yellow has only recently been explored as an option for a home sweater. Nashville went yellow for their home uniform in 2011 and it's been met with praise, though I am not among those who approve of their look. It's mainly because I'm not a fan of yellow, but it also has to do with the unnecessary piping and those odd stripes on the numbers. However, Buffalo seems to have taken that into account, because there are a number of other elements at work here to ensure that the jersey isn't too loud or outlandish. Blue pants with a new wordmark that looks pretty sharp. The sleeves appear to be yellow on top and white on bottom, which is what Nashville used to have. A "BUFFALO" wordmark just below the collar, which is definitely NFL-inspired. Not sure how it'll work on a hockey jersey, but we'll see the full getup soon enough. 

Oh, and then there was this recent tweet from hockey jersey blog Icethetics:

"Another source with an odd report: #Sabres 3rd jersey will be gold in front, navy on the back! Should get concept artists thinking."

Uh-oh.

You can watch the teaser video here.

How Ilya Kovalchuk Screwed New Jersey

If you're like me, you were shocked to learn of Ilya Kovalchuk's sudden retirement from the NHL, at age 30. If you haven't heard about it yet... well, sorry for the lack of a spoiler alert, but yes, it's true. Kovalchuk left 12 years and $77 million out of his original 15-year, $102 million contract on the table because he simply wants to return home to Russia and play in the KHL. He turned down being "the guy" in Newark, just so he can go home and half ass his way to being one of, if not the best player that the KHL has ever seen. Don't get me wrong, the KHL has some talent, but let's be real, it's not on the NHL's level. There are many (the bulk being Devils fans, I would assume) who are sad to see him go. By most accounts, he's an exciting player to watch, always a threat to score, and has good offensive vision, but he's quite the liability in his own end. And I'll grant all of that. What's my reaction to Kovalchuk leaving for Mother Russia?

Good riddance.

Had this come about before free agency started, or right after the end of the season, I'd have understood. However, let's look at what New Jersey has done so far this offseason:

• They inexplicably signed Marek Zidlicky to a 1-year deal worth $3 million. I heard plenty of Devils fans calling for Zidlicky's head by the end of this past season. He can still skate well and he moves the puck, but the Devils have a loaded defense corps in their farm system. In what's looking like a rebuilding year, it's time to give the kids a crack at the big show.
• In what was undoubtedly their best move so far, the Devils picked up Michael Ryder for 2 years and $7 million total. Ryder only appeared in 27 games for Montreal this past season, but he was on pace for 30 goals and 63 points over an 82-game season. He'll be called upon to replace the possibly fluky season that David Clarkson had two seasons ago, when he scored 30 goals in 80 games (note: he did score 15 in 48 games this past season, but I'm not banking on another 30 from him... not on Toronto), and I think Ryder can do the job adequately. He's still a productive player.
• They gave the following gem of a contract to Ryane Clowe: 5 years, $24.25 million. We're talking about a guy who had as many concussions (three) as he did goals this past season, and all three of his goals came after the trade deadline, when the Sharks dealt him to the Rangers. What boggles my mind is that they let Clarkson walk, I'm guessing because they didn't think he was worth the money that Toronto gave him (7 years at $5.25 million per), yet they hand Clowe a fat contract after the guy completely wasted his contract year.
• They traded the #9 overall pick in the recent draft (which became Bo Horvat, a center out of the OHL) to Vancouver in exchange for Corey Schneider. Good on them to get their "goaltender of the future" situation sorted out, even though it cost them a top pick in one of the deepest drafts we've seen in a long time. There's also the issue of them not having a first round pick in next year's draft (more on that in a bit), but still, I believe it was a move they had to make. 
• Not finished yet, the Devils inked the remarkably unspectacular Rostislav Olesz to a 1-year, $1 million contract. Olesz had his most productive campaign for Florida in the 2009-10 season, posting 29 points in 78 games. He hasn't played many meaningful minutes since then and has played in the AHL for the better part of the last two seasons. However, he should get a crack at making the team, since it's a one-way contract.

Given all of these occurrences, Kovalchuk's retirement coming about now, as opposed to a month ago, has to be considered a dagger to the Devils' hopes of contention next season and beyond. While it does free up $6.55 million in cap room per season, we're talking about the team that ranked 21st in attendance a season ago. The Devils have been in dire straits financially for a few years now, and with a volatile ownership situation to boot. They did turn a profit this year, but owner Jeff Vanderbeek missed a $3 million interest payment in April and the company that operates the Prudential Center, Devils Arena, owes $170 million to lenders. For the record, I can't see them moving out of New Jersey, but I digress. Kovalchuk puts asses in seats - that much is obvious. Without him, and Marty Brodeur likely done after next season, the cupboard's pretty bare in Newark. We're looking at a nucleus of Elias, Schneider, Zajac, Henrique (if he re-signs), Zubrus, Ryder, and Clowe, with more aging defensemen than I'd like to count. You could certainly do worse than that in terms of a roster, but that bunch doesn't exactly scream "playoffs".  Plus, and this is possibly the worst of all, the Devils don't have a first round pick in next year's draft. Why? Because they circumvented the salary cap when they tried to sign Kovalchuk the first time, and they deferred the league's penalty of docking a first rounder in any one draft from 2011-2014 until now. Not only that, but on paper, this roster might produce a pick in the top five. In the short-term, they're boned unless new investors come along or the team is sold outright.

However, if they can weather the storm, I believe that the Devils will be better off in the long run. They won't have to worry about Kovalchuk playing zero defense on a nightly basis, nor do they have to worry about him pulling any more dick moves like this. The extra cap space, theoretically, means that they can go out and get some free agent talent in the future, or make a trade for a big contract without worrying about having to dump salary the other way. Given the way GM Lou Lamoriello has spent money so far, though, I wouldn't count on much in the realm of intelligence on that front. They'll be able to build around Adam Henrique and their young defense, along with Schneider, and probably get back to playing the type of hockey that we're all used to seeing: gritty, defensive, and bend-but-don't-break. Even in the ludicrously-stacked Patrick Division (I'm calling the divisions by their old names until the NHL says otherwise), the Devils can still be competitive. It's going to be a few years before we can think about calling them contenders again, but the NHL has a flow to it, and the Devils will be back someday.

Let's hope that they learned a lesson from this, and that's to always be wary of signing and/or drafting Russian players. Between Radulov, the Kostitsyns, and now Kovalchuk, the threat of defection to the KHL is as prevalent as ever.