Pascal Leclaire Jersey Card

If you want to make these current NHL playoffs player-centric, we could go with Pascal Leclaire and how the team that drafted him - the Columbus Blue Jackets - is now eliminated and the team that traded for him - the Ottawa Senators - is still in the running, as the highest seed in the Atlantic Division no less. And neither team existed when I was growing up in the 1980s, if I want to make this Seb-centric.

It's so hard to fathom that Leclaire's been retired since the end of the 2010-11 season and that he's still just 34 years old. Those hip injuries not only took a toll on his body, they ruined the best years of his life.

Sure, he never achieved what an 8th overall pick (2001) is expected to, but no one can take away his two silver medals (2002 World Juniors and 2008 World Championships) with Team Canada, both times falling to Russia.

He played with the Jackets more, so it's fitting that this card shows him wearing their blue (home) uniform:

That's card #HM-PL from Upper Deck's 2007-08 Fleer Hot Prospects set and Hot Materials sub-set, with a matching blue game-worn jersey swatch.

I used to love his TPS pad designs, which you can see a bit of on the card but even better below:

They just seem to be perfect at redirecting pucks to the corner, one of the moves I always try to teach young kids first.

Pascal Leclaire Autograph Card

For the life of me, I can't understand why people even think there's a doubt that Craig Anderson will be the #1 goalie for the Ottawa Senators this year, ahead of Andrew "The Hamburglar" Hammond. I see it in every pre-season preview magazine, it's all over the sports blogs, people have no respect for a #1 goalie who has proven time and time again to be among the league's top-10, and who two years ago was leading the Vezina race by a landslide before getting injured.

And it's not the first time a Sens goalie doesn't get his dues; Ron Tugnutt led the league with a GAA under 2.00 (1.79 in 1998-99) and has similar stats in the playoffs (1.98 and .917 save percentage in 1996-97) and he's still considered a career backup; Patrick Lalime, as previously mentioned, was top-10 in Vezina voting twice, and had amazing playoff statistics as well:

2001-02: 1.39 GAA, .946 save %, 4 shutouts in 12 games
2002-03: 1.82 GAA, .924 save % in 18 games
2003-04: 1.96 GAA in 7 games

One goalie who doesn't factor in this conversation is Pascal Leclaire, a very talented netminder who just fell into some injury trouble with the Sens and never got to show he could do the job as well as the others. Upon retiring at age 29 because of recurring hip problems, he became a player agent, a position he still holds to this day.

Here he is looking good and natural in the Sens' white (away) uniform, from Upper Deck's 2012-13 Fleer Retro set (card #96-PL of the 1996-97 Skybox Autographics throwback design sub-set):

He has suited up for Team Canada twice and won silver both times, starting as the #1 guy at the 2002 World Juniors where he posted a 1.80 GAA with two shutouts in 5 games, as well as at the 2008 World Championships where he had a 2.00 GAA, one shutout and a .925 save percentage in 4 games.

Pascal Leclaire: 4 Autographed Cards

It doesn't happen too often, but I was wrong.

At the beginning of the season, I predicted the Ottawa Senators would squeak into the playoff picture - but that wasn't enough, I had to dig my hole even deeper. I predicted they'd be in the Final Four come playoff time, because they were one defenseman short of perfectly balanced. The summer addition of Sergei Gonchar stabilized the powerplay, captain Daniel Alfredsson - while no longer the 90-plus point getter of yore - is still a more-than-capable top-line right winger and a hell of a leader, Jason Spezza is one of the league's premier playmakers, Chris Phillips is a very dependable defenseman who makes a terrific first pass and is also a definite leader, Alex Kovalev knows when to step his game up and be a star player, Mike Fisher is one of the league's 10 best two-way players, Milan Michalek is a guaranteed 20-goal scorer, they have two very promising kids on defense with Brian Lee and Erik Karlsson, and the goaltending tandem of Brian Elliott and Pascal Leclaire is among the top-tier in the NHL. The table was set for a rough season, but enjoyable playoffs. Or so I thought.

But I was right about one thing - the play of Pascal Leclaire. Sure, he was injured in awkward and fluke plays that made no sense whatsoever and was limited to 14 games of play so far; but in these 14 games, 10 times he was the best player on the ice - for either team. He's played better than anyone could or should have expected. Unfortunately, he didn't play enough, and despite a 2.83 GAA and .910 save %, his record stands at 4-7-1, as his team has failed to score more than 2 goals in more than half his starts.

As the Sens look to miss the playoffs for a second straight season, expect Leclaire's salary to drop by a large margin as he becomes a free agent this summer; on the other hand, also expect him to be one of the best deals on the market, as he will continue to perform to high standards whenever he's healthy.

I sent him these 4 cards and a fan letter on September 29th, 2010, and got them back on January 20th, 2011, all signed in black sharpie with his then-jersey number (31) at the end. The first two see him wearing the Columbus Blue Jackets' old jersey with the 'CBJ' logo, a jersey design close to the original Reebok jerseys in that it looks more like pajamas or a sweat shirt than a hockey jersey:

The card on the left is from Upper Deck's beautiful 2006-07 Ovation set (card #115), his rookie card in that set - one that not only has a great design for the look, but also the feel of the cards, as every ripple of ice and line on the player's equipment is accentuated on the card, giving it a 3-D effect; the card on the right is from UD's 2007-08 Victory set (card #128), also a pretty one.

The other two cards see him sporting the Jackets' ''star'' logo, inspired by Ohio's state flag:

These jerseys distance the Jackets from the New York Rangers more in their look, and give them more of an identity. They still suck, and prior to making the playoffs in 2009, they were the only active team to have never, ever made the playoffs - ever! - but at least they look like a hockey team now. The card on the left is from the 2008-09 Upper Deck Series 1 set (card #141), greeting fans as he is about to step onto the ice, while the card on the right is from the 2008-09 Victory set (card #138), where he's sporting the team's white jersey.

Pascal Leclaire And Ty Conklin - Jersey Card

Because many players care more about ice time and making money than the city where they play in or being on a championship team, we rarely see players spend their entire careers with the same team anymore. Both goalies here are no longer with the team in which they are pictured here (Conklin himself has been on 3 other teams since), but at least the card depicts a picture, jersey and team name that all fit at the time.

Upper Deck didn't have enough of the usual brands they were producing, they absolutely needed to flood the market with one more, and that's why they came up with this (beautiful) set: 2006-07 Artifacts, with these jersey cards being part of the Tundra sub-set. This Dual Jerseys card (TT-PT) depicts Pascal Leclaire wearing the Columbus Blue Jackets' blue uniform (though the patch seems to be from a white one), and Ty Conklin, backup extraordinaire who has been to the last 3 Stanley Cup Finals, in his Edmonton Oilers white jersey (the patch being bronze coloured, like the stripes on the arms or waist). The card is numbered 120/125.