Buffalo Sabres Mascot Sabretooth, History, Reception: Every Question Answered

All the fun facts, history, and trivia you need to know about the Buffalo Sabres mascot

The Buffalo Sabres mascot, Sabretooth, is arguably the most physically imposing of the NHL’s 30 mascots (only the new Seattle Kraken and New York Rangers lack one). The seven-foot-tall, 242-lb sabre-tooth tiger has made a living staring down the opposing enforcers and grinders he dwarfs in size, doing his part to energize everyone in the KeyBank Center.

He’s also the last of the sabre-tooth cats in existence, meaning he’s quite old. While the Sabres’ scientific community can provide a rough guesstimate that he’s at least 10,000 years old, Sabretooth is rather quiet about his actual age. Though when you see him out on the ice, you’d never guess he’s been around for such a long time.

Sabretooth can trace his connections with the franchise back to the mid-1980s, when Paul Wieland and Budd Bailey were looking for ways to increase fan engagement. After confiding with the team’s then-owners, the Knox Family, Sabretooth would make his debut not long after.

Sabretooth is as friendly as he is imposing

If you’re at the KeyBank Center during a hockey night and showing off that royal blue and gold, Sabretooth will become your best friend. Yes, the physically imposing mascot is a gentle giant, and some of his favorite pastimes in the arena include chatting with fans, posing with them for selfies, and slapping high-fives every time the Sabres make a play.

The youngest Sabres fans from all over the world love Sabretooth so much he has even made time out of his busy schedule to attend birthday parties, school functions, and community events. That said, Sabretooth has become a fan favorite both on and off the ice.

Have Buffalo Sabres fans taken to Sabretooth?

Sabres fans love Sabretooth, and so does the rest of the NHL. In a recent poll conducted by over 2,000 NHL fans, Sabretooth took second in the voting, notching 3.74% of the vote.

And he nearly won the entire thing, falling behind only Carlton the Bear (Toronto Maple Leafs) by .07 points. Sabretooth took the NHL and especially Sabres fans by storm since taking up residence among them and his popularity will only continue to grow as he becomes even more of a fixture in the City of Buffalo.

Next to his age, what’s Sabretooth’s story?

Like his age, Sabretooth is mum on most of his backstory. Although NHL historians have traced his roots somewhere north, deep in alpine forests where winter lasts between October and May and spring confides itself to the first week of June.

The lakes are frozen for roughly eight months out of the year, so Sabretooth learned to skate and he developed his skills to rival that of the NHL’s top stars. After a few-thousand years, life in the forests got rather boring, so he came to Buffalo and made a career out of energizing crowds at the KeyBank Center.

When he’s not staring down the opposition, posing for selfies, and trading high-fives with the Sabres’ faithful, you can find Sabretooth jamming to classics like Eye of the Tiger, eating chicken wings, playing the drums, and even four-wheeling onto the ice. Not one to be afraid of heights, Sabretooth also loves to repel from the ceiling.

Is Sabretooth on Twitter?

Yes! You can follow Sabretooth here for news, updates, and other Sabretooth sightings both in and outside the KeyBank Center.