http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/sabresnh...ory/474448.html

Black becoming the uniform norm
By Mark Herrmann
NEWSDAY

Buzz up!
When The Hockey News did a recent fans poll about the best uniforms in the National Hockey League, the Chicago Blackhawks won big. That was good news for anyone who likes the color red, and for everyone who is concerned that the league is inching toward a 30-way tie on jersey popularity.

Or perhaps you prefer the wonderfully original Ducks color scheme: black sweaters, black shorts, black socks, black gloves, black helmets. That happens to match the ensemble worn by the Flyers. And the Lightning. And the Kings, Penguins and Stars. All of which were inspired by the Bruins.

It’s such a great idea that the Hurricanes last month introduced their new third jersey: black. Thus they joined the Sharks, Senators, Coyotes and, alas, the Blackhawks among teams who wear black at least part of the time.

What you have is uniformity in uniforms. It’s also a mess. When you turn on a game, you often can’t tell who is playing unless you happen to know who is playing.

“Only a handful of teams stand out, if you ask me,” said Chris Smith, who tracks hockey fashion in his popular blog Icethetics (www.icethetics.blogspot.com). “Teams claim to spend so much money ‘developing’ uniforms and don’t seem to care when nobody likes them.”

Kudos to the Sharks, who dare to be teal. Here’s to the Bruins and the rest of the Original Six, who have not bent to the winds of trend. Here’s to the Islanders, who will unveil their new third jersey on Monday. It is expected to be a lighter shade of blue, possibly with orange numerals, which they wore in their inaugural season of 1972-73.

Of course, the pertinent color is green — and not the Wild’s dark green shirts, which, naturally, look like black.

Marketers have figured out fans like to buy and wear black jerseys. But the real point of a uniform always has been to build a team’s identity, not to bow to fashion’s whims.

“If you go back to the ’70s and ’80s and look at those jerseys,” Smith said, “there are the North Stars in bright green, the Kings in bright purple and yellow, the Whalers in bright green. I’m not saying those were the best uniform designs ever, but at least there was some color in the league and a way to tell everyone apart.”

Fact is, when fans or players are polled about NHL sweaters, the classic ones always win.

Islanders veteran center Doug Weight voted for the Red Wings. “I grew up in Detroit as kind of a fan of that jersey,” he said. “There is something about that red.”

“Probably the old Original Six teams, I think that’s what everybody would say that they like,” said Mike Modano of the Dallas Stars, an NHL player since 1989.

I understand that these guys are business people and the main goal of owning a hockey team is making money. But, isn't there money to be made in tradition?

The Sabres are the worst offenders in the league. Look at our stands and this it what you see:






Plus, the new old jersey, with updated colors.



We have had three different logos and three different color schemes in our short history. I'm okay with tinkering and updating and I can even live with a new alternate jersey every couple of years. But, I think the league really needs to tighten up its rules on teams completely changing their brand, willy-nilly, every couple of years.

The goathead was awesome.

ok, so i had a good post going but lost it...


teams generally change there logo/color scheme when they need to get a little revenue boost or when they are loosing fanbase/appeal. look at the sabres, the change to the goat head was to coincide with opening of the Marine Midland Arena . Later, the goat was dropped and the current logo was brought in. the recent change happened after the whole Adelphia incident and the team bankruptcy. a new logo (and new owner) was a way to get some needed attention to a floundering team and look, it worked. a new logo and a good, young core of players had those jerseys flying off the shelf. granted the new logo wasnt what was expected and there was a lot of backlash but it was still getting press coverage.


as far as the black jerseys go, there are currently 13 of the 30 teams with black in their color scheme and 7 of them already use it for their dark jersey. what are teh other 6 teams suppose to use. the coyotes already have red and white for home and away, as do the hurricanes, sens and hawks. What do people expect these teams to do. Put the Senators in Gold? the Hurricaes in Silver? things like that wont translate well onto the ice and, in my opinion, would look ugly as sin.


if you want to look at uniformity in the league, how about the fact that 12 teams now have a blue jerseys and 9 have red.


im all for the black jerseys, its a sharp color that makes your players stand out from the nosebleeds.

Let's just go to the entire league using only black and white jerseys. Each team has its own logo, but everyone uses black on the road and white at home.




On another note:

I know it is a minority opinion, but I loved the raging buffalo myself. I have a jersey and I think it is the coolest looking buffalo I've every seen.

Not to mention I think the red alternate is one of the top 5 jerseys of all time.

eeewwww...are u serious ? that has to be one of the gayest uniforms i ever saw

Agree 100%; lacks imagination, and the logo is very dull.......

(Not as pathetic as the slug still....)

I actually liked the red jersey,
very much

(BTW, I'm looking for one )

My problem with it was
that the Blackhawks had already worn it
since 1955

PS..Chicogo's red sweater is my all time favorite

Yeah, something about the Blackhawks red jersey just screams tradition and timelessness. But Hey look on the bright side Sabres fans. It could be worse uniform wise. We could be like Vancouver with 3-4 primary logo changes and 4 color changes with countless jerseys.