Thursday, March 3, 2011

Vincent Damphousse: 5 Autographed Cards (Part 2)

       (continued from the previous post)

And finally, a card from his days with the Sharks:


He played five and a half seasons in San Jose, never again reaching an average of a point per game on a powerhouse team led by Owen Nolan. As for the current crop of Sharks, they had triumphant regular seasons that inevitably led to early post-season exits. This particular card is from Topps' beautiful 2000-01 Stadium Club set (card #183), which were being sold in dollar stores at the time in Montréal, when hockey went through a short phase where no one cared for it in the city.

He signed a free agent contract with the Colorado Avalanche prior to the 2004-05 lock-out, but never got to play with them, as he announced his retirement when play resumed a year later. He was always very active with the players' association, even serving as vice president under Trevor Linden at one point. He was one of the few visionaries during the lock-out who realized that a salary cap tied into the revenues with more than half of it going to the players might actually benefit the players more in the long run - which it did, nearly doubling their salaries five years into the deal.

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