Darryl Sydor Autographed Card

In the early 1990s, the Los Angeles Kings had a pair of defensemen they thought would share the first pairing for a long time and would bring them playoff success, perhaps even a Stanley Cup. On the right side, drafted 70th overall in 1988, Rob Blake, who would go on to captain the team for 12 seasons, participate in 6 All Star games and 3 winter Olympics (one gold medal in 2002), earn a Norris trophy (1998), and eventually win the Cup with the Colorado Avalanche. On the left side, chosen 7th overall in 1990, winner of two Stanley Cups (with the Dallas Stars in 1999 and the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004), Darryl Sydor.

One of them was a star player for most of his career, while the other accepted to be relegated to 'role player' status for the better good of the team. Thusly, only Blake choked in the playoffs with a star-studded San Jose Sharks team for the past two seasons, and this year while captaining the team.

Sydor had a promising junior career, winning the Memorial Cup with the Kamloops Blazers, registering 95 and 105 points, respectively, in his final two complete seasons with the team. As a defenseman.

This is one of Sydor's rookie cards, from the 1991-92 O-Pee-Chee Premier set (card #90), by Topps. It's sort of an action shot, taken during a pre-game skate (you can see another King doing nothing at the blue line behind him) in which he's wearing my favourite Kings' home jersey of all time, and #40 - numbers in the 40s were usually reserved for rookies or players not expected to make the team; he would settle on #25 for the rest of his tenure with the Kings, starting in 1992-93. I got him to sign it in black sharpie during the Lightning's 2004 Cup run, when they sweeped the Montréal Canadiens in the second round.