Senators Announce New Third Jersey

Earlier this afternoon during the conference call for season ticket holders, Senators President Cyril Leeder announced that the team would introduce a new heritage sweater to commemorate the franchise's 20th season in modern history. As great as it is to hear that the current black 'SENS' third jersey would be abandoned, Leeder did not elaborate on the design of the new alternate jersey until he joined Team 1200's Healthy Scratches program with hosts Jason York and Steve Lloyd.

On Twitter, Lloyd (@Steve_Lloyd) tweeted:

From Cyril Leeder: 1. "barberpole" will be part of the Sens heritage sweater next yr. 2. Club is exploring a behind the scenes show.

For actual details from the interview follow the jump...

Looking to see whether Leeder would disclose any hints about the sweaters or keep those cards close to his chest, Lloyd asked, "Are we going to see some kind of barberpole? Old-school (look)?"

Leeder replied, "Well, you'll definitely see a barberpole. I mean, the original barberpole was the Ottawa Senators jersey so it's definitely going to be part of the design. We've actually got the prototype sitting right in the office next to me here and we think it's a sharp jersey. It's really going to be a great jersey and a good testament and tribute to the teams that started hockey here in this city. And really, the NHL called it the first dynasty in the NHL was the Ottawa Senators."

Earlier in the season, the Binghamton Senators sported the vintage barberpole sweaters (featured in the picture that adorns the top of this article). Keeping in mind that organizations will often use their farm teams to test models, it will be interesting to see whether the parent club opts to use similar sweaters next season. Noting the Montreal Canadiens heritage CAC jerseys, the Senators may share concerns about how well these striped uniforms will translate on television.

If that's the case, it could be interesting to look at the specific wording Leeder used to describe the jerseys -- that the barberpole was referred to as "part of the design". Does this mean that we are going to see a completely barberpole jersey or one that incorporates a few stripes?

Maybe the popular Jacob Barrette design that gained some favour on Hfboards.com and eventually garnered traditional media attention could be implemented? It's not like it hasn't been featured on the Senators website before...



Either way, we won't know for awhile since there's no specific date to release the jersey to the public.

"No, we don't have that set yet. That's part of the consultation with the league and how our schedule comes out but we're planning to break the schedule down into three segments: 20 games which will pay tribute to our 20th anniversary; 10 games which will pay tribute to the heritage or the history of the Ottawa Senators; and another 10 games that will be special nights -- one which will be Chris Phillips' 1000th NHL game, so that's going to be another special night for fans."

You can listen to the full interview here.

Other News From Leeder Today:

- I neglected to mention this in my haste of posting the conference call summary earlier this afternoon (Bruce Garrioch did hit upon it over on Off The Posts), the organization is trying to hold the line on ticket prices but some seats will be going up in price from 0 to 2.2-percent.

- Regarding the All-Star Game, Leeder mentioned that he's almost certain that there will be another fantasy draft to select the All-Star teams. He's not too sure if they'll nullify the last pick situation that was criticized by Brian Burke.