Colton Sissons: 2 Signed Cards

Lost in the pre-trading deadline frenzy was the fact that Colton Sissons signed a brand-new three-year deal with the Nashville Predators in late February.

At 22 years of age, the former Kelowna Rockets captain is looking to parlay a successful stint in juniors and decent AHL run with the Milwaukee Admirals (including a captaincy there as well this season) into a permanent third-line center role in the NHL, not unlike Phillip Danault, now of the Montréal Canadiens.

I thought it was a good time to show these two cards, which are essentially different signed versions of the same card from In The Game's 2012-13 Heroes And Prospects set:

On the left is the regular-issue card (#124 in the series) which he signed in person in silver sharpie after a game against the Ottawa Senators in 2013-14; on the right is the signed insert version of the card (#A-CSI in the Autograph sub-set), featuring a black-sharpied on-sticker autograph. It's the same design, and the same picture of the Rockets' red uniform with the captain's "C" on his chest.

I also like that his signature is identical, down to the tagged jersey number (15) at the end, which shows that he takes even the at-times tedious obligatory card company signings as seriously as face-to-face encounters with fans. In this day and age, I find it impressive that a young sports star isn't jaded.

The backs were also different, in the same order:

Also fitting: as the go-to call-up for the Preds this year, he was brought back two days ago to fill in for the injured Paul Gaustad, who, like Sissons, is also a face-off beast.