From The Slug to Barney Rubbles hair: There is no shortage of opinions, even from Sabres al

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The beautiful part about nostalgia is that it’s good for bringing back all the great feelings from the high moments of the past. It was no different during 2000s night for the Sabres as they celebrated the great teams during that decade.

Of course, not all nostalgia is the same. It is the decade that phased out the black and red “goat head” logo and brought back the classic blue and yellow colors that were emblazoned upon the Sabres’ uniforms for the ’70s, ’80s, and part of the ’90s. That the colors came back with a new logo after the Sabres’ run to the Eastern Conference final in 2006 made it the perfect time to strike while the brand was hot.

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At least that was the idea.

Fans — What do you call this logo? Asking for me because I want to know your preferred term pic.twitter.com/8o3viufsYx

— Joe Yerdon (@JoeYerdon) February 13, 2020

I asked my Twitter followers to tell me what they called the logo, and roughly 98 percent of you (my math is a bit fuzzy, mind you) called it some variation of “The Slug” or the “Buffaslug.” Some called it the “Angry Cashew,” while others thought it looked like Barney Rubble’s or Donald Trump’s hair. Ah, it was a simpler time then, but from 2006-2007 to 2009-2010, that’s what they wore on the ice. That they won the Northeast Division twice (2007, 2010) and the franchise’s first (and to this point only) Presidents’ Trophy in 2007 wearing that logo means it has a distinct (and proud) place in team history.

A lot of you called it “ugly,” while others said it was a reminder of the halcyon days of success. With the number of alums in town for 2000s night, I had to know what they thought of it. Many of the players wore it, and others had to play against those Sabres teams.

In the players’ own words, here’s how they felt about seeing The Slug for the first time. There is also a lot of appreciation for the 50th-anniversary sweaters they wore to the ice for the pregame ceremony Thursday before the Sabres’ 4-3 win over the Blue Jackets:

Jason Pominville (Sabres forward 2004-2013, 2017-2019; team captain March 2008, 2011-April 2013)

I wasn’t sure if it was true or not or if it was a joke. But then I kind of came to appreciate it, I guess. The more I saw it, I’m like, “Ah, they’re not too bad.” But then now that they’ve switched it’s like night and day. It makes way more sense to have this (current look), and it looks so much better.

The black one, the “goat head,” is one of my favorites also. To go to that one then to (the slug) and now back to this finally, it’s great — it’s a good one to have.

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Danny Briere (Sabres forward 2003-2007; team captain February 2004, 2005-2007)

I liked it because I grew up with the blue and gold when I was young. To me, the Sabres were blue and gold. I think I was more excited about the colors. That brought me back to my youth with the colors. I know there’s been a lot of critics about (the logo), but I was so excited about going back to the blue and yellow that I didn’t care what it looked like. I was excited about it.

I’m never going to complain (about wearing black and red), I would wear any jersey to play in the NHL, but I grew up watching the Sabres and it was blue and gold, blue and yellow. That to me was the real color that belonged with the Buffalo Sabres. That’s why I was really excited to go back to that.

Patrick Lalime (Sabres goalie 2008-2011)

I did like the other ones better. To say I wasn’t impressed, that was my impression. I think this one is awesome (tugs on the 50th-anniversary jersey), the one that they have now. … Also, the front of it (the crest) was too small.”

Martin Biron (Sabres goalie 1995-2007; Sabres analyst on MSG)

I was happy because it was the blue and gold so for me, it didn’t really matter what the logo was like because I was looking forward to going back to the blue and gold. Because I had started with the blue and gold and then we went to the black and red and come back to it. So I was happy for the color.

Andrew Peters (Sabres forward 2003-2009; co-host of “The Instigators” on WGR)

I said, “That’s not really it.” I told this story on the show, and I hate saying it because people put hard work into it. It’s just … when I grew up watching Buffalo, my first game as a young kid was with the Sabres and — I know I’m giving you a long-winded answer — but there’s a build-up to why my reaction was that way. It was because I thought the “goat head” was a drastic change. When I first saw it I fell in love with it and not just because I was drafted here (second round in 1998), but you get the feel of it and you eliminate the blue and gold and it was great. … But it’s like, “that’s not really it. …” I just thought it was a bad prototype. I thought, “Eh, they’re not going to pass that.” But you know what? We had our best year ever in that jersey.

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We’re in Atlanta and regardless how much ice time I played or whatever, I was looking around at what was going on in the environment and Atlanta didn’t have much of an environment, hence the reason why they’re no longer there. I don’t even want to make a joke about how many people are there, but there was nobody there in that arena. We’re beating them pretty handily and I look up and all those people — even though their team is losing and getting embarrassed — are able to laugh at us because they put our logo up there and it’s a banana with horns on it. And I’m sitting on the bench and I’m like, “We’re the best team in the NHL and they can still laugh at us.” That bothered me. I don’t know why, I guess pride or whatever and, I guess, hope that when I heard we were changing to blue and gold growing up watching the Sabres I was like, “This would be amazing if they went back to the round logo or just anything.” The colors were great, the colors were fine, I didn’t mind the colors — it was just the logo didn’t scream Buffalo Sabres.

Patrick Kaleta (Sabres forward 2006-2015; from Angola, N.Y.)

You’re asking the wrong person because I would wear any sort of logo that would be affiliated with the Sabres. Everyone calls it “the slug” or they loved the “goat head,” but I loved it either way.

J.P. Dumont (Sabres forward 2000-2006; team captain January 2004; avoided wearing The Slug)

I told a lot of people I know the fans were really happy going back to the old colors, but when I was here, we had so much history with the black-and-red jersey when I was here and in ’06 and stuff like that. For me, that jersey sticks in the back of mind just because of the success we had as a team and how much fun we had playing and at the same time all being together. My early 2000s in Buffalo was unbelievable.

It was definitely strange the first time I played the Sabres. I left and the first game was in Nashville and they beat us pretty bad with those jerseys, but when we came back I scored the winning goal to beat the Sabres, so that felt pretty good that day. Those jerseys were great, but these (points to a 50th-anniversary jersey) are phenomenal.

Paul Gaustad (Sabres forward 2003-2012)

It was tough. I mean, it was tough. It was fine, honestly, we don’t really care about that stuff too much. That’s not something we care about in the sense of the look of the jersey. I mean, for me, like with my No. 28, people were like, “Oh, why 28?” and before that in Rochester, I was 14 because I was 14 in juniors. Fourteen was retired here, so Willy (equipment manager Dave Williams) and Rip (Simonick) gave me 28. “Well, why?” I’m just fucking happy to be here, I’ll take anything. This — it’s the same thing — I’ll put on any jersey. If it’s pink, it’s pink — I don’t care, I’m in the NHL and this is what the team is so honestly there’s not a lot of care to that. Now, I saw the 50th-anniversary jersey and those are amazing. Like that is really, really cool.

Brian Campbell (Sabres defenseman 1999-2008; team captain December 2007)

I was happy to put on any jersey. I don’t know, I think what they have now — it’s too bad we never kept the classic around, and it could’ve been more important. You can’t say too many bad things about it because it was a good time in Sabres history.

(Photo of former Sabres Jason Pominville and Teppo Numminen: Doug Benc / Getty Images)

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