In a Buffalo News article from last fall, Kim Pegula was quoted as saying the hope for PSE, the Sabres and the Bills isn’t to follow the lead of other teams in each respective league, but to blaze their own trail. This is a great stance to take, particularly for the Sabres who have often been guinea pigs for NHL projects. Why be a follower time and time again when you can be the gold standard across the league?
However, I’ve come to notice other NHL clubs engaging in various practices and promotions which I would love to see the Sabres take on. What caught my eye most recently is a mini-pack ticket promotion the Anaheim Ducks are running that comes complete with a mini third jersey from throughout the organization’s history. I can say definitively that if the Sabres offered a line of mini jerseys they’d have full license to take as many of my hard earned American dollars as they pleased. I don’t care if it’s a blatant rip-off of the Ducks current promotion, these would kill in Buffalo. 
There have been plenty of opinions on whether or not the Sabres should do more promotions (they probably should). It has come up at every blogger summit for the past few years and I’m sure it will remain a topic while teams do stuff like this, or this. The Blues really should pull out some Star Wars/Spaceballs cross promotions with the Jedi Schwartz thing, by the way. The thing is that stuff like these mini jerseys or the replica banners don’t need to be freebies. Given that the banners are still on the shelves in the Sabres store leads me to believe that there’s certainly money to be made with unique memorabilia.
In my opinion, these type of things are of far more interest to me than trying to pick out a Reebok sweatshirt, hat or a jersey. Now, I’m not exactly a “jersey guy” to begin with, but unique collectibles like this are killer. Plus, the Sabres have the history to offer up a really great collection. Between the original, red and black, slug and current uniforms, the team could go really deep if they chose.
Original Blue and Gold
- Perreault (white)
- Robert (blue)
- Martin (blue)
- Horton (white)
- Gare (blue)
- LaFontaine (white)
- Mogilny (blue)
- Ray (white)
Black and Red
- Hasek (black)
- Peca (white)
- Satan (red)
- Barnes (red)
- Drury (black)
Slug
- Briere (white)
- Vanek (blue)
- Miller (white)
Turd Jersey
- Ott
Current Blue and Gold
- Eichel (white)
- O’Reilly (blue)
- Reinhart (white)
- Ristolainen (blue)
That’s 21 jerseys that cover the franchise’s entire history. It includes all the retired numbers along with a handful of franchise greats. So that’s 21 individual jerseys the team can sell as we all know that certain jerseys will sell faster than others and Sabres social media will only promote the Eichel jersey. But 21 individual items that can be sold separately or as a group – they could even get a display case made for the entire collection which would make even more money. It seems pretty great and it’s a great way to celebrate the entire history of the club.
That last little tidbit might be a tough hurdle to clear as there is very little celebration of team history done lately. The red and black era has been all but forgotten and I’d be very curious to see how many players, if any, were included in black and red or a slug due to potential pushback. I say, who cares? Look no further than what the Ducks did, honoring the otherwise ridiculous (and awesome) Wild Wing jersey. Own the Turd Jersey, own the Slug and make sure the entire team’s history is included. There’s no reason not to. Besides, including the myriad collection of past jerseys makes for more for fans to collect!
I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking these would make for a killer collectible for the Sabres to sell at the arena. The full collection might wind up being pricey, but you’d likely find these beauties adorning living rooms and man caves throughout Western New York.
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