Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Doug Lidster Autographed Card

Doug Lidster was the Vancouver Canucks' seventh-round pick (133rd overall) at the 1980 draft, and he proved to be worth it, as his 63-point season in 1986-87 still stands as the team's highest mark for a defenseman in a single season.

He played 666 games with the Canucks, accumulating 307 points in the process and sharing the captaincy with Trevor Linden and Dan Quinn in 1990-91, before Linden took the reigns by himself the following season, Lidster keeping the "A" as proof of his leadership skills. I mostly remember a quick and agile skater with a decent pass and good if unspectacular shot who didn't feel the need to use his size, kind of like Patrice Brisebois later on.

He twice won the Stanley Cup as a trade deadline addition, in 1994 with the New York Rangers (against the Canucks, who had traded him two months prior, prompting Lidster to mention in a post-series interview: “Once we won (the Stanley Cup) and we were shaking hands, I realized that I knew the Canuck players better than I knew my own teammates”), and in 1999 with the Dallas Stars (after spending most of the 1998-99 season with the Canadian National team).

He retired following that Cup win and went into coaching, which included a short stint as head coach for the OHL's Saginaw Spirit, a story that ended as quickly as it was sour for him (with an accusation of "abuse" for apparently poking the goalie in the chest with his index finger while trying to teach him how to take responsibility for his actions). He moved on from that adventure by winning two gold medals with the Women's Canadian team in 2002 and 2010 as an assistant coach.

As a player, in addition to during the 1998-99 season, he had suited up for Team Canada at the 1984 Olympics (to a fourth-place finish) as well as the 1985, 1990 and 1991 World Championships, winning silver twice.

Here he is sporting the "C" for the Canucks on card #247 from Pro Set's flagship 1991-92 Series 1 set, which he signed in black sharpie when he was an assistant coach with the team (2014-17):
I should have others from my youth as well, most likely signed in ball-point pen. I hope I find them in the near future.

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