PowerPlayGoal.com – Hockey From A Different Angle

A recent conversation about The Islanders moving to Kansas City promoted some googling and I found out a little something about Kansas City and their desperation to become an NHL city.

Because, let’s face it, this is what Bobby Ryan will always be remembered for.

The inspiration for this came about during the Ducks games I’ve been able to watch recently: at least once, and without fail, a play-by-play announcer will always mention the 2005 NHL entry draft, and how Ryan was picked second overall after Sidney Crosby.

Back in 2006, rumours were going around that the Buffalo Sabres were going back to the fan favourite blue and gold colour scheme, which was used from their inaugural season in 1970, until 1996 when they switched to black and red. Fans got excited, hoping for the classic circle logo with the buffalo and crossed sabres which many of them grew up with to make its triumphant return, but unfortunately for them, they got something completely different instead…

While they did go back to using blue and gold, albeit in darker shades, they also came up with this… thing, whatever the hell it is. I think it’s supposed to be a charging buffalo, but it’s hard to tell since he doesn’t have any legs.

Ever since it was leaked during the summer of 2006, it has been reviled and hated everywhere, from the SportsLogos.net forum to a website named Sabres, Not Slugs, and there was even an online petition with, as of today, over 30,000 signatures dedicated to getting rid of it, and for perfectly understandable reasons. It’s been compared to many different things, such as a banana slug (hence its nickname, the “Buffaslug”, or “Sluggalo”, whichever you prefer), to Pikachu, and even to Barney Rubble’s hair. In fact, it’s partially because everyone was up in arms over this logo that the team was allowed to use their original blue and gold jersey as an alternate just to keep fans pleased.

There are, however, some redeeming qualities of this logo. Firstly, there are some interesting design elements that may not be visible at first, such as the fact that the Buffaslug’s body is forming an awkward letter ‘B’, as well as the red eye which has a slight resemblance to a sabre. If you look carefully, you will also see that the horn and the blue streak behind it are also forming the shape of a sabre.

Secondly, and this is more of a personal thing here, I associate this logo with the Buffalo Sabres’ 2006-07 campaign. Not just because that was when it was first unveiled, but because they were a very, very good team. In fact, they were the best in the league. I spent most of the postseason being scared of the team I root for possibly meeting Buffalo in the Stanley Cup Final, with the Sabres completely destroying my team. The Sabres were so good that year, that some even said that they were “scary good”.

Still, that doesn’t change the fact that the logo looks like a banana slug. With the unveiling of the team’s new third jersey this year, with a slightly modified version of the original logo, rumours are suggesting that we could see this thing being either reduced to third jersey status, or being retired completely by the team’s 40^th anniversary, coming up in 2010.

I’m Wildwing64, and I declare War On Logos.