This was clearly a very big day for the Buffalo Sabres. Eager fans lined up outside HSBC Arena before 10 a. m. Wednesday, waiting for the privilege of buying one of the new third jerseys at up to $295 a pop.

Bring out a new line of clothing and watch the people reach for their wallets. Sometimes I think it’s more about the jerseys than the team itself. Who cares if Max Afinogenov is spinning around the ice with no apparent purpose, so long as the turnstiles and cash registers are whirring and the kids are content?

The way people respond to the Sabres, you’d think they had actually won something. In that way, they’re a lot like the Bills. You have to admit, our two professional teams do a marvelous job of selling average teams to the public.

People act as if the Sabres are a sleeping giant, waiting to rediscover the magic of two years ago. How long must we wait? Going back to the start of last season, the Sabres are 49-54, including overtime and shootout losses.

So why all the fuss? Locking up players to long-term deals doesn’t make them stars. A big contract doesn’t make Jason Pominville an all-star. It doesn’t make Ryan Miller an elite goalie.

After more than 100 games, it stops being a slump. It’s a trend. They beat Boston on Wednesday, 3-2, but until proven otherwise, they’re average, without a consistent winning edge.

The core of this team rode Danny Briere/ Chris Drury to two Eastern finals. The Sabres lost their winning edge when those two left. They’ll stop hearing about it when they build their own legacy.

Listening to the players at the morning skate, it sounded like last year all over again. Pominville said they needed to play with desperation and stay within the system. Toni Lydman talked about keeping it simple, going to the net and getting ugly goals. Same old stuff. They should just play a recorded message.

“It is a lot about the same,” coach Lindy Ruff said. “We should have won some games that we didn’t. But we’ve got to turn the corner quicker.”

On Thanksgiving Eve, the Sabres played with passion and verve befitting the occasion. But it’s no shock to see them play an inspired game. They’re a frontrunning group with maddening streaks of good and bad play. They want it to be easy. Never has a team gotten so full of itself with so little justification.

Management falls in love with its own flawed players. You’d think they were an elite team with a solid, veteran roster no kid can crack. Around the NHL, teams are playing kids and getting away with it. Phil Kessel and Milan Lucic in Boston, Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal in Pittsburgh, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews in Chicago — all 21 or younger and thriving in the league.

Meanwhile, the Sabres keep their top kids down in Portland. Tim Kennedy is 22, Nathan Gerbe and Mike Weber 21, but we’re supposed to believe they need more experience riding the AHL buses. The Sabres have no one among the top 30 NHL rookies in scoring. Of course, until they brought up Mark Mancari, they didn’t have any rookies.

The Sabres won’t admit it, but they’re in transition. The hope is in Portland, and the sooner they bring up the kids, the better. What do they have to lose, except more games? Let the kids learn in the NHL, like all those other promising young players around the league.

It’s a joke that Afinogenov is on this team. He’s been here since 1999, and he’s still making the same mistakes.

Afinogenov should have been gone long ago. He and Tim Connolly are symptomatic of the Sabres’ tendency to hang on to soft, finesse players who hold a franchise back. They need to move on and prepare for life with the young players. They’re the future.

Just imagine the jersey sales.