Devante Smith-Pelly Autographed Card

Devante Smith-Pelly has been through it all: prized prospect, traded for prized prospects twice, World Juniors bronze medalist for Team Canada, grinder, healthy scratch, Stanley Cup Final hero, demoted to the AHL, training camp tryout that he gets released from, and now signing in the KHL with the Kunlun Red Star, alongside Gilbert Brulé, Spencer Foo, Adam Cracknell, Jake Chelios (son of Chris), David Bondra (son of Peter), Griffin Reinhart, Trevor Murphy, Ryan Sproul, Andrej Sustr, Mikaël Tam, Wojtek Wolski and captain Brandon Yip.

Despite a wealth of North American players and being coached by Curt Fraser, the Chinese team currently sits fifth in the Chernyshev Division and ninth in the Eastern Conference.

A former second-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks (42nd overall in 2010), he has also suited up for the Montréal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals for two seasons apiece.

In Montréal, he is mostly remembered as Alex Galchenyuk's partner-in-crime in extracurricular activities, notably one incident on January 10, 2016 where police were (allegedly) called to the scene of an orgy at a luxury half-apartment building/half-hotel involving alcohol and a lot of cocaine that Galchenyuk's soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend crashed which resulted in an arrest for domestic violence... eventually to Galchenyuk's ex. As the organization is known to do, they got rid of Smith-Pelly quickly and Galchenyuk eventually, as soon as the team finished sullying his name to part of the fan base by constantly publicly questioning his work ethic and moving him around so much he looked lost on the ice.

Fast-forward a couple of years and a Cup and teammate and Caps star Evgeny Kuznetsov tests positive for cocaine. I'm not ready to say the drug is rampant in the NHL as much as it was in the 1980s, but its usage has probably increased in percentage as much as it seems to have in society, which is a lot more than in 1995 or 2001.

I hope Smith-Pelly finds his game again in the KHL and comes back next year on a team that could use his skill-set, like the Philadelphia Flyers or his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs. He's the type of unsung here that is easy to root for because he works hard and seems to leave his all on the ice.

Here he is wearing the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors' (now the Mississauga Steelheads) white (home) uniform, on card #176 from In The Game's 2010-11 Heroes And Prospects set:

He signed it in blue sharpie in November 2018, after one of two games against the Habs. He was shorter than I thought (he plays bigger than 6') but was affable and nice.

Corey Perry & Devante Smith-Pelly Dual Swatch Card

So the trade deadline came and went, and a few teams made some nifty moves, but the team who made the best ones, I think, was the Anaheim Ducks, who acquired All-Star defenseman Stéphane Robidas for a fourth-round pick and picked up draft picks for players they didn't need (Viktor Fasth and Dustin Penner), in addition to getting point-per-game AHL winger Andre Petersson  for offensive defenseman Alex Grant.

And so, in their honour (and because they just lost to the Montréal Canadiens), I present you this card:

Don't let the scan fool you, the top-left corner is pristine, that's just the penny sleeve bending because the card is so thick

It's from Panini's 2011-12 Prime set (card #5 of the Prime Combos - Dual sub-set, numbered 206/225) of Hart Trophy winner Corey Perry and young gun Devante Smith-Pelly. Ironically, the card shows Perry wearing the Ducks' dark (home) uniform while Smith-Pelly is sporting the white (away) one, but the swatches are actually the opposite.

As I mentioned, Perry has a Hart and a Rocket Richard on his resume (both from 2010-11), a Stanley Cup (2007), three All-Star Game nods and a 50-goal season. He's also a golden boy, both at the World Juniors (2005) and Olympics (2010 and 2014). His number was retired by his Junior team, the London Knights, as he was the OHL's (and Memorial Cup's) best player in 2004-05. And to think he was chosen 28th in total at the 2003 draft...

Smith-Pelly, on the other hand, was chosen 42nd overall in 2010. He's currently in his third season with the Ducks and has 20 goals and 35 points in 44 games so far this year. He had 7 goals and 13 points in his first 56 NHL games spread over two seasons...