NHL Preview: Buffalo Sabres

Part two of our thirty part series previewing the NHL season focuses on the Buffalo Sabres.

The Sabres were content to stand pat for the most part during this offseason, which was probably a wise choice, given that in '06 they took the eventual Stanley Cup Champions to seven games in the Conference Championship Game. They are, arguably, the favorites to win the Prince of Wales Eastern Conference in '07.

But a lack of player personnel moves in the offseason has not equaled a lack of activity in Buffalo. In what, if true, is arguably one of the most important moves of the summer by any team, the Sabres decided that this wasn't nearly fierce enough. In order to give themselves more competitive advantage, the Sabres have made sure that teams making the trek to upstate New York will now be faced with this under their skates at center ice. So far, the only complaints about the new logo have come from the engineers in charge of maintaing the ice surface, whose job it is to scrape the players' vomit off of the ice. Oh, and also this little website.

Seriously though. What the hell is wrong with the people who do graphic design for the NHL? As bad as the new Sabres logo (affectionately refered to as the Buffa-Slug) is, it probably isn't even the worst idea for a uniform redesign that we've seen. Remember the Islanders' Fisherman? Or the Canucks' V (For victory, by the way. NOT for Vancouver)?

Let's face it, when it comes to truly awful uniform design , the NHL is lightyears ahead of other major pro sports leagues. For every Seattle Seahawk you show me, I'll counter with the inaugural Washington Capitals. Think the Oregon Ducks look particularly bad? Well... okay, so the Nike-designed Oregon unis pretty much take the cake. But the point is, the NHL trots out some really heinous uniforms.

Of course, that said, when the NHL gets it right, a hockey sweater pretty much kicks every other kind of uniform's ass.

Oh, right... the Sabres. Ummm... I'm going to say they finish the season atop the conference and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.

For all your Buffalo Sabres blogging needs, check out Sabre Rattling.