Sabers officially announced "return to Royal"
As part of their “Jersey Reveal Week”, the Buffalo Sabres have officially announced their return to their original royal blue and white jerseys.
The Buffalo Sabres originally donned the royal blue and white combination when they first took the ice as a National Hockey League franchise back in the 1970-71 season.
From there, with a few tweaks along the way, Buffalo would wear royal blue and white until the end of the 1995-96 season.
A new jersey concept, coupled with a new arena, awaited the Sabres in the 1996-97 season.
Before the Sabres celebrate their 50th year in the National Hockey League with commemorative jerseys, decade theme nights and reminders of better days, owner Terry Pegula decided to turn back the clock for good.
Since that time, fans have clamored for the return of the original royal blue and white combination.
Some fans would get their wish in the 2006-07 season, when the Sabres returned to the ice with a third jersey that was modeled after the original royal blue jerseys.
This certainly appeased the masses for a short period of time but the chatter grew louder as time went on.
Finally, fans are able to sit back and bask in the glory that is a return to royal blue and white jersey combination. Not only does the jersey combination honor the team’s storied history but has a very fresh look and feel on the ice.
Many fans hope that the jersey refresh not only gives the team a fresh new feel on the ice but also gives them the ability to turn the page on a decade-plus of lackluster hockey.
The Sabres did not receive the royal blue prototype from Adidas until last month and quickly worked to build a marketing plan to present the jerseys to the fan base. Since players aren’t around for photoshoots, a PSE employee modeled the new looks for team-generated content. Care packages were sent to players to show them the jerseys.
However, the 50th anniversary season gave the Sabres an opportunity to introduce young fans to the days of Gilbert Perreault skating inside Memorial Auditorium while wearing a jersey that resembles the one that will now be worn by Jack Eichel.
“We have a whole generation of Sabres fans that just don’t know about coming to a game and seeing that every single time,” Durbin said. “What’s exciting is that connection is going to exist now. We get to introduce this to a whole new set of fans, get them excited about it and really grow our connection with them while connecting with our fans who remember this and remember the '70s, '80s and '90s teams that wore royal.”
