By far, the new Buffalo Sabres third jersey is the most highly anticipated of this year's crop. I'm sure it has to do with the "slug" finally being "salted," but it's given fans passionate about the logo a reason to be happy again.

Many are just dying to see the new sweater — unwilling to wait for the magical date of Sept. 18 when all will be revealed. No wonder the rumors are running rampant.

Time for Icethetics to join the fray. I read a lot — A LOT! — of speculation from all sorts of places. The way I see it, it's my job to wade through it all and provide you guys with the most (hopefully) accurate information. I only write about what I believe has any validity. How often have I steered you wrong?

Having said that, here's my take on Buffalo. They've been hiding hints in plain sight. Have you noticed? Look closely, as the graphic above comes from the Sabres' website splash page about ticket sales. And it's telling us a lot.

The latest, most reliable rumors say the Sabres' new alternate sweater uses these three colors: Royal blue, gold (yellow) and vintage white (dingy white). The jersey itself will be royal blue, allowing us to assume the navy blue will remain on the home sweater.

Number styling on Sabres 3rd jersey?The back — this is where it gets interesting. See the strange stitching pattern on the years (enlarged, right) in that above graphic?

Apparently, that's how the numbers will be styled on this new sweater — vintage white with blue stitching inside the numerals. A bit odd perhaps, but it's one of those cool little details you'll only notice up close.

What about the nameplate? Blue block letters on gold material — on a blue sweater. Think of it as similar to what the Flyers have done with their home and road jerseys with the untraditional nameplates.

The Sabres did tell us this one would be different.

I'm not comfortable calling it yet, but the most widely held rumors say the old Buffalo Bisons script will be emblazoned across the front of the sweater. I'm happy to wait for better details.

One final note. It appears that, unlike their past anniversaries, will not have a specially-designed 40th anniversary logo. Instead, it looks as though they're going with the classic primary logo with "1970" added inside the blue — also as seen in the image above — to mark anything celebrating their first 40 years.

I hope this will tide you guys over until either more information comes out or the jersey is revealed 24 days from now.

A new report from a Pennsylvania-based retailer says the Pittsburgh Penguins are dropping plans to launch a new third jersey for the 2010-11 season.

House O' Hockey in Monroeville, Pa. sent an email to customers today, claiming that the Penguins will be sticking with their current powder blue third jersey for at least another season. Here's a pull from the actual email:

Breaking News! The NHL Pittsburgh Penguins have decided not change their 3rd Jersey for the 2010/2011 season but will wear the light Blue 3rd Jersey (Columbia blue) again for another season.

Here to stay at least another year?As reported on Icethetics, it was first revealed in December that the Penguins were planning to ditch their current third jersey in favor of another alternate uniform, also based on a past design. 

These rumors were then confirmed by Reebok. While the manufacturer offered no specific details, they did say the Pens' third jersey was "TBD" for 2010-11, alluding to a new design in the works.

So if this report from House O' Hockey is true, what are the implications? Could it be a response to fan outcry? The jerseys are very popular and this rumor of a redesign has been churning for months. Plus, if the team were to stop wearing them, wouldn't fans who just spent their hard-earned recession money on one be annoyed?

My sneaky suspicion has to do with the next Winter Classic. Another report recently said that the Penguins and Capitals could be meeting for the next outdoor game on 1/1/11. If that's true, it might make more sense for the Pens to hold off and debut a new alternate uniform then. Of course the NHL has released absolutely no information on a Winter Classic in 2011, so this is just speculation on top of speculation.

What's your theory on the Pens scrapping plans for a new third jersey?

Thanks to Gary P. for passing along this information.

Update on Wednesday . 21 April 2010 . 10:02 PM by Chris

Just watching the Boston Bruins come back against Sabres tonight on Versus. How I do love overtime playoff hockey! But I saw something funny during the broadcast.

Bruins or Killer Bees?After one of the Bruins' goals, they showed some cutaways of cheering fans. I'm not sure who this guy was actually rooting for.

He was holding a poster that said Killer B's. What was odd was that it had a "killer bee" on it. And not just any bee. Take a look at the screenshot to the right. (Click to enlarge.)

That's the logo of the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees of the Central Hockey League. So that's weird. And random.

And it's not just that he's using another team's logo to cheer on his team. It's that it's a logo that doesn't represent his team at all. I know that fans often call the Bruins the B's, but they don't mean the insect.

Anyway, I just thought it was funny. And kudos to the Killer Bees for getting their logo on national TV.

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Collect them all!Also worth checking out if you're bored, there's a new board game out by CSE Games in which the goal is to collect various historic Hockey Canada jerseys. 

RPS 27: Rock-Paper-Scissors Jigsaw Battle (Hockey Canada 2010 Edition) — yes, that's the name of the game — is a puzzle game for kids.

Basically, you play rock-paper-scissors to collect pieces from your opponents to complete a puzzle. And the pieces have hockey sweaters on them.

We've done enough minor league coverage over the last week. Time to get back to our roots now. There are couple items to address, though primarily rumor.

Word on the street is the Philadelphia Flyers will be the first to break out their Winter Classic sweaters for a second game in the same season.

Claude Giroux #28According to Flyers beat writer Ryan Bright, the white sweaters worn last Friday will get another shot, this time at tonight's indoor game when the Flyers host the Maple Leafs. He said so on his Twitter account yesterday.

Just so we're clear, I haven't read anything official on this from the Flyers yet. (If you have, drop me a line.)

The rumors have been flying since before this jersey was even unveiled that it would become Philadelphia's new road sweater — being a light version of the alternate (now home) jersey launched last year. But I didn't expect to see it back so soon.

To date, only one team from each Winter Classic has gone on to use their jersey in some form on a regular basis. Since we can bet on the Flyers here, will the Bruins break the mold and carry over their awesome gold jersey as a third for 2010-11?

By the way, don't forget that jersey galleries are available on Icethetics for the last two Winter Classics. Take a look and be sure to rate them.

The rumor mill continues with the Ottawa Senators.

First, let's set it up. You'll recall in August that speculation was rampant that the Sens would be dumping their new "SENS" third jersey in favor of Jacob Barrette's Heritage sweater.

Senators Heritage jerseyWe later held a poll here at Icethetics asking readers to choose between the current alternate and the vintage design. It yielded a predictable result after more than 4,800 votes.

Now Icethetics reader Nevill is writing in with some thoughts on the future of the white road jersey.

I was at the Sens game against the Avs [last week] and noticed that their road white jerseys were discounted down in mass quantities at all the team stores and kiosks.

The retail chains around town are also selling the road whites up to 60% off, too, which leads me to believe that changes may be coming as soon as next season.

The vintage look is more apparent than ever at Scotiabank Place right now and I wouldn't be surprised to see new jerseys in the fall.

Nor would I, but considering this new uniform set debuted only in 2007, it might be a little too soon for wholesale changes. Either way, it's safe to say we're keeping the Senators on the radar for JerseyWatch 2010. Something is definitely going on in the capital city.

There's a story that's been making its way around the web today regarding an alleged leak of the Colorado Avalanche's third jersey.

It started with a post this morning at Mile High Hockey — an Avs blog — and continued on to Denver Post beat writer Adrian Dater's blog All Things Avs. Here at Icethetics, I see this sort of concept art all the time. Rarely have I seen it picked up by so many other blogs before my own (that should tell you something).

For reference, this is the design in question, which originated at the SportsLogos.net message boards.

Avalanche third jersey concept

It's a new take on the burgundy alternate sweaters from several years ago. David at Mile High Hockey is not taking a hard line on the legitimacy of this rumor, but he does sound confident in its source.

Being a bit of a jersey geek, I am familiar with the, uh, "fluorescent" poster who made the mock up from a camera phone pic he says he took of the jersey. I spoke to him a little yesterday and while I haven't seen firsthand evidence of the jerseys, I'm pretty confident this individual has seen the above jersey in person.

If it is the 3rd, I have to admit it's not that bad. I was fearful the fine folks at RBK would find a way to come up with something even more ridiculous than the horrible uniprons they've foisted on us. The above mock up may not be the best looking jersey in the world, but it's a vast improvement over what the team is wearing now. I assume that blue is Nordique blue, a nice nod that many have been suggesting.

I think the Quebec connection is a bit of a stretch, but he may be right in assuming that, if true, these would probably be nice-looking sweaters. The burgundy ones sure were sharp.

I've done some research and asked around among my usual sources and, basically, I can't confirm or deny it. That being said, my gut reaction, based on over two years of tracking this type of news, tells me something is fishy. But when isn't it, right?

Anyway, it all remains to be seen but I thought I'd at least mention it here because of the coverage its getting. Share your thoughts below on this latest rumor.

I'm normally opposed to posts based entirely upon rumor, but I can make an exception in the name of a slow news day. Yesterday, a commenter called LF3240 left us a couple of links to interesting message board threads that explore potential third jersey options for the Nashville Predators.

I'll start with the realistic and slowly move into the silly. To start, a user at HFBoards (echlfreak) claimed to have had an "inside look" at the new alternate sweater. Whether this is true or wishful thinking remains to be seen, but I'll take a page out of CNN's book and report on the reports of others for a moment.

The following is that user's description of the jersey, verbatim.

There is no yellow or gold at all. They have brought in a steel grey, same blue color and some other shades of grey to the logo. Same Pred logo...just different color scheme.

The arms and bottom have two white stripes separating a thick middle stripe. The middle stripe is black and blue checkers. Tie on the front.

Thats it. Looks cool from far. But, the checkers is kind of dumb up close. From far away the checkers are not noticeable.

That spurred another user to create the following concept design.

I'm not a fan, but then it's not geared toward me. It's more for the Nashville/NASCAR fan, I think. (The checkered pattern?) What I do like is the simplified color scheme. However, echlfreak replied, "The checkers are only two rows and the Pred's eye is red." Mulligan.

Not much different, but also not any better. Typically a lot is lost in translation when people get a quick glance at a new sweater. So we'll just have to see when in comes time for the Preds to release the real thing.

The aforementioned message board threads also featured a handful of other concepts based on what fans are hoping for. Two stuck out for me — both featuring the relatively new saber-toothed skull logo. The first is based on a more traditional striped look.

The other looks like something you might seen on someone working in a construction zone.

Philadelphia can get away with orange. Maybe even the Ducks one day. This concept convinces me the Predators should never attempt it.

I wish I had more to offer tonight. But unfortunately, rumors reign when facts are few and far between. Take all of this with a grain of salt and believe none of it until you read the word "official" in the Icethetics post headline.

And Happy 4th of July!