Guillaume Latendresse: 4 Autographed Cards

Guillaume Latendresse is an under-rated sniper and power forward often criticized either for lack of speed - which isn't entirely true, it's more that he's far from graceful in his stride, however his hits totals always show he's often near the puck - or lack of commitment to being in shape. These criticisms are odd, considering he has always been a good point producer at every level.

From the day he was chosen second only to Sidney Crosby at the LHJMQ draft, he had 49, 78 and 83-point seasons in juniors, which led to his being picked in the second round by the Montréal Canadiens, where he started his career. While with the Habs, he had the NHL's highest point-per-minute played ratio in the league, but hometown critics were too strong, and he was traded to the Minnesota Wild, where he scored 25 goals in a mere 55 games to cap off the 2009-10 season, before scoring the very first goal of the 2010-11 season on his way to an injury-crippled 11-game, 6-point year.

This year, as of writing this entry, he has 1 goal, 4 assists, good for 5 points in seven games, and he stands second on the Wild.

I'm confident he'll silence his critics at some point, and they'll just let him play; perhaps at that moment he'll shatter the 30-goal plateau consistently, like a modern-day Keith Tkachuk.

I sent all 4 of these cards (care of the Wild) at the end of last season, on March 29, 2011, and received them back, signed in black sharpie, on October 4, 2011. He added his number below his signature - 84 with the Habs (the first NHL player to wear that number, by the way), and 48 with the Wild.

The card on the left, the Habs' classic red jersey, is from Upper Deck's beautiful 2007-08 SP Authentic collection (card #18), while the one on the right, in the Canadiens' white uniform, is from the equally eye-catching and unique 2007-08 McDonald's set (card #27), also from UD; it's all-foil, relief printing.

Unfortunately, I didn't have Guillaume wearing the Wild's home uniform, only the (white) away jersey, but he was kind enough to still sign both: on the left, a 2010-11 Score card (#254) from Panini, and a UD 2010-11 Black Diamond (card #69), which, ironically, looks darker and almost better on the scan than in person.

For having played in summer pick-up games with him and other NHLers such as Jan Bulis, Martin Havlat, and a slew of others, I can tell you this: he'll always match whatever talent's on the ice to be the most effective player - not the flashiest, but among the most productive.

Patrick Poulin Autograph Card

Just like the Pat Falloon card I wrote about last week, this ''extremely limited edition card'' of retired NHL player Patrick Poulin features him in his junior team's uniform, the LHJMQ's St-Hyacinthe Laser, whose other notable alumni include Martin Brodeur, Martin Gendron, Georges Laraque, Pierre Sévigny, Éric Charron and Éric Landry. Because the team had previously been the Verdun Junior Canadiens, they kept the Habs' uniform design and just apposed the new team appellation's logo.

Poulin was chosen 9th overall in the first round of the 1991 draft by the Hartford Whalers, ahead of notable players such as Martin Lapointe (10th), Brian Rolston (11th), Alexei Kovalev (15th), Markus Naslund (16th), Ray Whitney (23rd), Zigmund Palffy (26th), and Sandis Ozolinsh (30th), on the strength of a 70-point season (32 points, 38 assists in 56 games) with the Laser.

The following season, he exploded with 52 goals, 86 assists, 138 points in 56 games in juniors, earning him the Q's Jean Béliveau Trophy as leading scorer - and prompting the Whalers to give him a chance on their team in 1992-93, where he fared respectably with 20 goals and 51 points in 81 games.

The following season, he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks with Eric Weinrich for the Hawks' sniper Steve Larmer and mean defender Bryan Marchment - a sign he was valued at the time. Unfortunately, the Hawks weren't content with his half-point-per-game average in the Windy City and sent him packing to the Tampa Bay Lightning with bruising defenseman Igor Ulanov for enforcer Enrico Ciccone. Both teams also swapped second-round picks in the deal in which Poulin was pretty much rendered an afterthought.

After a 12-goal, 26-point season (73 games) in 1996-97, Poulin was once again traded (again with Ulanov!, also with enforcer Mick Vukota), this time to the Montréal Canadiens - a uniform he knew well - for Stéphane Richer, Darcy Tucker and David Wilkie, in one of many trades then-GM Réjean Houle made that completely decimated the team.

Poulin kind of retired as a Hab, splitting his final season in 2001-02 between the NHL club (5 assists in 28 games) and its AHL affiliate Québec Citadelles (12-7-19 in 31 games). The team included him in its Centennial celebrations nonetheless.

Other similarities with the Falloon card from last week include it being from The Score Board's 1991-92 Classic Draft Picks set, being ''extremely limited'' numbered 75 (or 95, it's unclear)/1100, a signed insert in blue sharpie. He is shown wearing the Laser's then-home jersey, modeled on the Montreal Canadiens' uniform, awaiting a pass with a Canadien-brand stick. Small world.

Derek Roy Autograph Card

One team I'm sure will surprise many this season is the Buffalo Sabres, who have improved their defense, offense, and have one of the 5 best goalies on the planet in Ryan Miller.

But their key marquee player remains the underestimated Derek Roy, who is a Jonathan Toews-type of player: a point-per-game or close who is also very capable of playing in his own end and taking the puck away from opponents.

Plus, he's a capable leader, as he serves as his team's current alternate captain and has been a captain in juniors - for his OHL team the Kitchener Rangers, which he led to the Memorial Cup, where he even won the MVP trophy, the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy.

He has also twice won silver for Team Canada - once at the World Juniors (2003), and once at the World Championships (2008). And how do you make a winning team? By incorporating winners into it. And Derek sure is one.

This card (#DR) is from Upper Deck's 2006-07 Be A Player set and features Roy wearing the Sabres' infamous ''slug'' jersey in its white version.  His signature - from a black sharpie - is on a sticker which was apposed onto the card.

Pat Falloon Autograph Card

Pat Falloon was the second player chosen overall at the 1991 draft, behind ''The (First) Next One'', Eric Lindros. He was also the San Jose Sharks' very first pick ever.

As the first pick of an expansion franchise, one is expected to be the cornerstone of the team for years to come, perhaps a decade or longer, but Falloon never even reached the 60-point plateau. After a little more than 4 seasons, the Sharks dealt him to the Philadelphia Flyers, where he played well for two and a half years before being sent to the Ottawa Senators in return for another top-pick ''flop'', Alexandre Daigle. He also had brief stints with the Edmonton Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins when neither of these teams were close to their dynasty form of 10 years previous.

Over the years, he was nicknamed ''Fat Balloon'' for his lack of conditioning. Despite all that, he still managed to gather 322 points in 575 NHL games - perhaps insufficient for a top-line player and second-overall pick, but pretty decent for a hockey player, period. But players chosen after him and Lindros at the draft went on to have better careers, such as Scott Niedermayer (3rd), Peter Forsberg (6th), Brian Rolston (11th), Alexei Kovalev (15th), Markus Naslund (16th), Ray Whitney (23rd), Zigmund Palffy (26th), and Sandis Ozolinsh (30th).

The card is from The Score Board's 1991-92 Classic Draft Picks set, and is ''extremely limited'' numbered 546/1100, a signed insert in blue sharpie. He is shown wearing the Spokane Chiefs' then-away jersey, modeled on the Montreal Canadiens' uniform, making a play with his head down and a Canadien-brand stick.

Ted Drury Autograph Card

With the sad news of Chris Drury retiring, I thought I'd talk about this signed insert card of his older brother, former NHLer Ted Drury, from Classic's 1994-95 Classic set, which never made the Beckett price guide because it wasn't licensed by the NHL nor the NHLPA - and perhaps also because they were cheaply made and as thin as cardboard can get before it's simply called ''paper''.

It is numbered 827/1920, which Classic still dares to say is a ''limited edition''. Yes, this signed version is ''limited'' to less than 2000 - bravo. How many of the original card did you print? And why does the whole back have to be the proof/guarantee, why can't the autographed version also have Drury's stats or at least a mention of which team he was playing for or drafted by?

In this instance, Drury's wearing Team USA's colours, either from the World Juniors or the National Team, which he was a part of for two seasons. It should be mentioned that before the NHL's players were allowed to play in the Olympic games, most countries (a notable exception was the USSR, who sent a combination of the Moscow Central Red Army team and other star players) had a year-long National Team program where players practiced year-long and played friendly games against low-level professional games to get ready for the next Games.

Drury played for those teams while he attended Harvard University, where he played 3 seasons after being drafted by the Calgary Flames in 1989. He only spent half the 1993-94 season with the Flames, as he was traded to the Hartford Whalers in mid-season. After spending the 1995-96 season with the Ottawa Senators, he spent just over 3 seasons with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks - his longest tenure with a single team, ever - before bouncing around with 3 more NHL teams, 2 AHL teams and 3 German teams before reiring in 2007.

Despite moving around like a prison escapee on the run, Ted Drury still managed to put up decent checking-line numbers everywhere he went, as can be attested from these statistics:

-  93 points and 367 penalty minutes in 414 NHL games
- 121 points in 74 NCAA games
- 30 points and 33 penalty minutes in 69 AHL games
- 168 points and 384 penalty minutes in 252 DEL games

Ryan Smyth: 5 Autographed Cards (Part 2)

                 (continued from the previous post)

But the real prize of this mailing remains the cards picturing him as an Oiler. After Wayne Gretzky and Kevin Lowe - or perhaps even on par with them - Smyth rounds up my top-3 favourite Oiler skaters ever. These three cards have him wearing all three Oilers' uniforms he's worn over the years:

The one on the left - the dark blue 'away' jersey - is from UD's 2005-06 SP Authentic set (card #41); the card in the middle - the 'home' jersey -is from the 2003-04 In The Game set (card #38) by In The Game; and the card on the right, in which he's sporting the Oilers' then-third jersey designed by Todd McFarlane - my favourite alternate jersey in all sports - is from Topps' 2002-03 Topps Total set (card #268).

Welcome home, Captain Canada!

Ryan Smyth: 5 Autographed Cards (Part 1)

Timing is everything!

I sent Ryan Smyth - one of my favourite Edmonton Oilers of all time! - these 5 cards, care of the Los Angeles Kings, on March 25th, 2011, along with a fan letter wishing him the best for the upcoming playoffs. I got them all back, signed in black sharpie, on May 23rd, 2011 after a quick elimination at the hands of the evil San Jose Sharks. And what a unique signature it is!

In my letter, I also added that I never thought he'd one day be a part of another team than the Oilers, but that I was happy to see him with the Colorado Avalanche, alongside my favourite player, Joe Sakic, and that he did look good in a Kings uniform. But that it wasn't the same as with the Oilers.

Well, karma has hit, as the trade to send him back to Edmonton was finalized yesterday, with the Kings getting Colin Fraser and a seventh-round pick in return.

So I now have this card to remind me of his Colorado days:

It is card #144 in Upper Deck's 2008-09 Victory collection.

I also have this memento of his time in Los Angeles, card #77 of UD's 2010-11 Black Diamond set:

              (continued in the next post)