Honestly, this one is really hard to sit down and write about seriously.
I'll get three things out of the way before I talk about the actual jersey:
1) If you haven't actually seen it yet, don't bother.
2) The Ott leak just seems so fabricated, the more I think about it.
3) This is the second worst jersey in the history of the NHL. First is the Islanders' current third sweater. This replaces pretty much the entire uniform history of the Atlanta Thrashers as the second worst bunch of crap ever worn during an NHL game.
What the Sabres have done is ruined a summer full of pretty good NHL uniform releases (the Sharks aside). Worst of all, this has come out RIGHT after Minnesota dropped one of the best-looking sweaters IN THE HISTORY OF THE LEAGUE on us a few days ago. It could be argued that they've been slowly ruining it all summer, with their Sunn 0)))-paced weekly swatch leaks.
Was Steve Ott really tired of not being able to see what he'll be wearing on the ice 6-7 times this coming season? Probably, we've all been complaining about the slowness the Sabres have taken in letting this thing slip. But Ott just conveniently having one available, and numbered up? One of the lamest "leaks" I've ever seen. I mean, we are talking about Steve Ott, but I'll save my hatred of the little otter for another time and another channel.
I feel like I need to flip a coin to decide where to start ripping this thing apart. The three-tone color scheme and the non-matching yellows are both almost equally enraging. Let's start with the latter. This isn't hard to do, matching shades of colors. The Sabres have only used one throughout their history. But look at the jersey. The sleeves and the front are two entirely different yellows. That's almost impossible to mess up, unless it's been done intentionally. And if so, congrats, Sabres. You're now the six-blued Dallas Cowboys of the NHL.
The two different colors, front and back. This is what bothers me the most about this jersey. This isn't a new concept, the NBA's done it a few times with All Star Game uniforms, and the Toronto Raptors used to wear a purple/black jersey back in the day, post-dinosaur on the jersey. I don't understand the idea behind it at all. When I saw the first few peeks of the jersey, I figured it'd be solid yellow, with a gold and white shoulder yoke, sort of in the same style as the Bruins wear.
Finally, we get to the bizarre little details that round out this jersey. Starting with all the grey accents. The sleeves, the body panel, the numbers. Grey has been a color that's showing up more and more in college sports on alternate uniforms, but hasn't yet made the jump to the pros, until now. So I understand the marketing behind it, but it still looks dumb. Oh, and the nameplate on the back of the jersey! That is a HUGE font for a little guy like Ott. Hopefully they have different sized letters sitting around, or guys like Mikhail Grigorenko and Cody McCormick will have their names wrapping around to the fronts of their jerseys. Speaking of the front of the jersey, the "BUFFALO" wordmark is so unnecessary, it isn't even funny.
You know what rounds out the second worst jersey in NHL history? Whoever's captaining Buffalo this year gets a pair of crossed swords under his C. That's kinda cool, and I wouldn't mind it on all of Buffalo's jerseys. The one bright spot of an otherwise awful, awful looking uniform.
