Josh Holden Autograph Card

Once in a while, a player sticks with you, whether you like it or not. Josh Holden is that guy for me. I'd first heard of him from a 7th Inning Sketch CHL card from his rookie junior year (1994 or 1995) and was later shocked to see the guy on my card go on to be drafted in the first round by the Vancouver Canucks - my guy was going places!

Unfortunately, he was only to be a journeyman NHLer - and one that has only played in 60 games so far - with the Canucks (twice), Carolina Hurricanes and Toronto Maple Leafs - scoring 5 goals and adding 9 assists for 14 points.

Since the NHL lock-out, however, he's been playing in Europe, and has developped into a point-per-game player in Switzerland, so good for him.

This card (#78, with a sweet blue sharpie signature) is from The Score Board's 1996-97 All Sport PPF set, but since it's not an officially recognized set, I don't know much more about it, other than it seems to be the CHL's mid-90s card manufacturer, like 7th Inning Sketch before it and Be A Player later. However, this card was actually in a box of Tri-Star's 2005-06 Hidden Treasures, a product you must try to avoid at almost any cost. These boxes lure you by promising rare cards and offering the possibility of getting mint-condition 1952 Parkhurst cards (i.e. a Gordie Howe or 'Rocket' Richard rookie), but all they are is a mix-and-match gathering of (extremely) common Pro Set and 1992-93 Parkhurst (manufactured by Pro Set) like Mike Hartman of the Jets and Darryl Shannon of the Leafs. And each box is guaranteed to have an autograph - usually one from this All Sport PPF set. Lured in by the possibility of saving on shipping charges with more than one purchase (the 10-pack boxes were about $5 apiece and shipping for the first box was $10 but the rest were $2 each), I bought many a box of this, most of which are still unopened - after too many Brent Gilchrist cards, I realized I had been duped. I have plenty of them left for sale should anyone be interested in tempting karma.