Prepare for a Gold Sabres Sweater

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Is Buffalo ready to emphasize a new color?

In yesterday's NHL JerseyWatch mini-update, I mentioned that a trustworthy source informed me the Buffalo Sabres may be launching a gold third jersey on Friday. This is a source that prefers to be kept anonymous. I know who it is, but it's not important that you do. This source has never led me astray. So either it'll be a first or the Sabres are about to go gold.

Either way, the new sweater should be revealed on Friday — or so said the daughter of the team's owner via the team's own Twitter account on Tuesday. But having had some time to think over her exact words and some other factors, I can't help but wonder about that a bit.

Let's set the stage. Tomorrow is the Sabres Summer Fan Fest. It's the final day of the Sabres' prospect development camp, which includes the annual Blue & Gold Scrimmage. The team is promoting the event heavily online. They're touting food, music, player autographs and even a fireworks display. If you live in or around Buffalo, they want you to go.

So if they're really going to unveil a new jersey, why not promote that too?

Sure, it would make for a nice surprise for the fans who do show up, but wouldn't you sell more tickets if you told everyone in advance? And isn't that really the point?

The anatomy of a tweet

Now I'm skeptical. So let's look back at exactly what Kelly Pegula said. When asked for details about the new third jersey, she tweeted, "if you're at development camp, you'll get a sneak glimpse on Friday."

First, she doesn't say the jersey will be unveiled in so many words. She says "a sneak glimpse," which itself is vague. Apart from actually being able to see the jersey, what other way is there to take that comment? How about this? It's a "Blue & Gold" scrimmage. One of the prospect teams will technically be wearing gold. (The Buffalo News has pictures if you want to see what that looked like last year.)

It may be a stretch, but "sneak glimpse" doesn't exactly scream official unveiling. (Also the fact that the team isn't promoting it.) So I'm wondering if that was just a sneaky thing to say. Or maybe I'm reading too much into a tweet. That's very possible too.

But let's say the unveiling is happening and the jersey is gold. What then?

Photos from Don Hasey

Fan created his own gold Sabres jersey in 2010

Here's a little something to get you into that gold jersey state of mind. In the spring of 2010, jersey geeks were abuzz about the uniform changes the Sabres were planning. Finally the slug was getting salted. The classic crest was coming back and — to mark 40 years in existence — the club was adding a new third jersey.

That's where Don Hasey of Charlottetown, P.E.I. enters the picture. He actually made the gold jersey pictured above. Here's why:

Some friends of mine in Buffalo suggested that gold for the new third jersey could look pretty awesome. Since I've been doing jersey customization and cresting for myself as well friends since I was a kid, I took it upon myself to put something together just to see what it would look like.

I purchased a [University of] Michigan jersey and added a bit of old and new elements to it — the B's with swords from the slug era on the shoulders, along with the traditional logo stitched onto some off-white backing just to give it a more retro feel.

I also used off-white with navy trim for all the letters and numbers and altered the neck to include the tie-up laces.

It received a lot of negative [feedback] but some gave it two thumbs up. Either way, it was only meant to be a concept for my own collection. I wonder if the sneak peak on Friday will be anything close to this. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Indeed we will. Is it possible Don is psychic and the Sabres will actually go gold more than three years after he predicted it? I can't wait to find out.

The funny thing is these photos actually turned up in my email shortly after Don posted them online. He didn't send them; another reader did. For a while I meant to include them in a concept post. It never happened but I'm glad to finally get them on the site — and at the perfect time.