A Brief History of the Sabres’ Iconic Uniforms Since Their Creation

The Buffalo Sabres have one of the most recognizable looks in the NHL, and their logo literally mimics the team name inside the badge, featuring a buffalo charging between a pair of crossed sabre blades – hence the name Buffalo Sabres.

Creatively, the current incarnation of the dark uniform seems to be well-liked by over 225 voters on Chris Creamer’s SportsLogos.Net, where it currently holds a 6.1 out of 10. Not bad, but what’s even cooler is that the Sabres’ goat-head look has also seen a bit of a renaissance, giving the franchise not one but two memorable looks throughout its existence.

Oh, and since the Sabres tend to win the latter, don’t expect this throwback look from the late 1990s and early 2000s to go away anytime soon. Anyway, now that we’ve talked about these iconic uniforms of today, let’s go back in time and discuss the quick history of the Sabres uniform.

Between 1970-71 and 1995-96, the Sabres uniforms looked very similar to what we see on the ice today, with the exception of some minor variations in the team logo and stripes. The 1970-71 through 1995-96 uniforms saw some minor upgrades, but that was nothing compared to the change that came for the 1996-97 season, something we saw many NHL teams make throughout the 1990s.

For the Sabres, this meant a change in colors, from the classic blue and gold to black and red, and with it the goat head logo. If you’re new to Sabres hockey, this is the uniform I was talking about earlier that has since returned as an alternate, again with subtle variations to fit the current times.

The polarizing navy, silver, white and gold “buffa-slug” uniform followed the Goats starting in 2006-07, which simultaneously saw the Sabres win the Presidents’ Trophy in that look’s rookie season. However, the “buffa-slug” look was only seen on the ice until the 2009-10 season before the Sabres brought back something that somewhat resembles what they have today.

The only problem with this uniform was that it was still navy and had silver in the stripe pattern, under the arms and on the front. Starting in 2017-18, the Sabres ditched silver except as an accent color in the stripe pattern, and that look remained until they brought back royal blue and gold for the 2020-21 season and beyond.

As mentioned before, this uniform is very similar to the one the Sabres wore from 1970-71 to 1995-96, but with a sleeker, updated feel. Buffalo has also had a number of alternate uniforms in the past, including reverse throwbacks, Heritage Classic looks, and unique looks, but those would be the subject of another article.