Sunday, August 16, 2015

Rick Wamsley Autographed Card

Part of the stash of cards I received at my old apartment earlier this summer was this terrific card of Rick Wamsley's, the current goaltending coach of the Ottawa Senators:
It's card #201 of O-Pee-Chee's 1983-84 O-Pee-Chee eponymous set, which he signed in blue sharpie. He had won the Jennings Trophy for having the lowest GAA in the league just two years prior (2.75, with two shutouts), the same year he finished fifth in Vezina and sixth in Calder voting, and had just played the bulk of the games (46 out of 80) for the Montréal Canadiens, with Richard Sévigny and Mark Holden splitting the rest in 1982-83.

He'd go on to have moderate success with the St. Louis Blues before winning the Stanley Cup with the Calgary Flames (more on that here), and played his final 11 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs as Félix Potvin took over duties there.

Of note, the two jersey numbers he wore with the Habs ended up being retired for players who'd worn it before him - 29 (Ken Dryden) and 1 (Jacques Plante).

He wore #30 in St. Louis, a number also worn there by Plante, Michel Plasse, John Davidson, Michel ''Bunny'' Larocque, Vincent Riendeau, Jon Casey, Chris Osgood, Tom Barrasso, Ben Bishop and Martin Brodeur - all decent goalies... who played better on other teams, save for Riendeau.

The same can be said for the #31 sweater he wore in Calgary, a number he shares with Pat Riggin, Réjean Lemelin (who was as good with the Flames as he would be with the Boston Bruins, honestly), Rick Tabaracci, Ken Wregget, Grant Fuhr, Curtis McElhinney, Curtis Joseph, and Karri Ramo.

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