Jaroslav Halak: 2 Autographed Cards

There are so many hockey stories to start the week (Scott Gomez signing in New Jersey, Daniel Brière scoring against the Habs, the players Team Canada chose to invite to its camp for the World Juniors) that I almost didn't know where to start, and who to feature.

Of course, getting a surprise in the mail that wasn't even a return (just a straight-up ''free'' gift) kind of supersedes any other story, particularly when it's from one's favourite goalie... who was just named the first star of the week. Of course, I'm referring to the New York Islanders' winner of nine straight games, Jaroslav Halak.

Per NHL.com:

Halak posted a 3-0-0 record with a 0.95 goals-against average, .964 save percentage and one shutout to help the Islanders (17-7-0, 34 points) win three of four starts and complete their best November in 34 years. (...) Halak extended his personal winning streak to a career-long nine games (1.18 GAA, .956 SV%, 3 SO); only Billy Smith has posted a longer such streak in Islanders history (Jan. 23 – Feb. 25, 1982: 10-0-0). The 29-year-old Bratislava, Slovakia, native is 12-4-0 in 16 appearances this season, ranking in the top 10 in the NHL in wins, goals-against average (2.13), save percentage (.926) and shutouts (3).

I talked a lot about Halak's recent stats back in July, but I want to point out that apart from the lockout-shortened season in which he only played 16 games due to injury and had a sub-par GAA of .899, this year's numbers are consistent with what he's always provided during the regular season:

GAAs in the low 2s, save percentages in the .920s, usually tremendous under pressure (long runs with teams looking to secure playoff spots). And that's saying nothing of his Conn Smythe-caliber playoff run in 2010 on a team that didn't believe in him and almost refused to let him play.

Speaking of which, here he is wearing the Montréal Canadiens' white uniform, from Panini's 2010-11 Score set (card #7 of the Playoff Heroes sub-set):

And one of him with the St. Louis Blues' blue (away) uniform from the beginning of the Reebok era, from Upper Deck's 2012-13 SP Authentic set (#4 in the collection):

Both cards came in on December 1st, 2014, signed in (fading) black sharpie, with his jersey number tagged at the end. I'm particularly happy about them because now that he's an Islander, I don't expect him to receive his mail anymore, meaning the only way to get his autograph now will be in person.

In my playing days, I also wore Brian's equipment, mostly (though I had a Vaughn blocker and Victoriaville stick, the rest was all Brian's); therefore, I commend Halak's taste in protection, which usually looks as good as it protects.

Victor Hedman Autograph Card

By the way, this weekend marked the return of Victor Hedman to the Tampa Bay Lightning, following a month and a half on the long-term injury list. The towering former second-overall draft pick (in 2009) started looking like a Norris trophy candidate last season and was pretty much dominating in the five games he's played in so far to start the year.

If anything, his 7 points in his first 5 games made him one of the most valuable defenders in this salary-capped season, only accounting for $4M of his team's possible $69M. As for Norris talks, I usually hold out until mid-February to have a better idea, when play tightens and the injury situation is clearer, but he's definitely a member of the elite among defensemen now.

He turns 24 in a couple of weeks, with plenty of time to add to his collection of hardware, which already includes World Juniors silver (in both 2008 and 2009), World Championship bronze (2010), and another bronze and gold in U18 and U17 tournaments (in 2007). A Norris (or two), an Olympic medal, a World Cup, and perhaps even a Presidents' Cup / Stanley Cup would certainly look nice on his mantle - and he has at least a decade left to reach for those objectives.

Here's what he looked like when he was drafted:

It's card #19 from the Draft Day Autographs sub-set of Panini's 2011-12 Titanium set, numbered 74/99.  It features a sticker autograph, signed in blue sharpie.

Reto Berra Swatch Card

Like many of his teammates, Reto Berra has fallen on tough times with the Colorado Avalanche this season, seemingly on the verge of losing his role as the backup to oft-injured Semyon Varlamov to rookie Calvin Pickard, who was slated to spend the season in the AHL.

Berra's statistics this season do lend themselves to some questioning, with a 2-2-1 record in 9 games, a 3.57 GAA and .883 save percentage, adding to his less-than-stellar stats with the Avs from last year. What has to bother GM Joe Sakic and coach/VP Patrick Roy the most isn't his three-year one-way contract, but the fact that he cost them a second-round pick to be acquired from the Calgary Flames.

The reason why the St. Louis Blues draft pick was with the Flames in the first place was that their head coach, Bob Hartley, took his methods Switzerland for a couple of seasons, and from his time over there came back with the impression that Berra was, by far, the best goalie in the league. And Hartley, who won the Stanley Cup with Roy, Sakic, and the Avs was, according the Roy, ''the best Xs and Os coach I've ever had'', so he must have thought the 6'4'' goalie could provide the Avs with a solution pending Jean-Sébastien Giguère's retirement. Goaltending coach François Allaire was also familiar with him through his European goaltending school based in Switzerland.

In his defense, Berra's been stellar when playing internationally, with a 2.20 GAA in 15 mens' games at the World Championships and Olympics with the Swiss National Team. He even led his team to a silver medal at the 2013 Worlds, and his lone loss to a much better team at the 2014 Olympics was by a 1-0 score.

He's bulky and covers a lot of net, but is also extremely athletic, never giving up on a puck or a play, always making third and fourth efforts to stop the puck from going in, throwing his body around like a goalie from the 1970s or 1980s. His lateral movements are among the fastest in the game, with the likes of Jonathan Quick and Carey Price.

The flipside to that is his knock may be his technique. Allaire might be the best goalie teacher in the world, he has a ways to go with Berra, who is on the ice to have fun and feel the thrill of making a spectacular save, but won't be content with the easy ones. It worked for a few guys - Dominik Hasek, Martin Brodeur, Tim Thomas - but it can't work all the time. There's a reason most goalies still base their technique on the butterfly style: stopping 90% of the pucks has to be a starting point nowadays, not the ultimate goal.

Ironically, on this card, his basic positioning is okay - I'd personally guide him towards getting his catching glove out a little further, but everyone has their own comfort zone:

It's from Panini's 2013-14 Playbook set (card #B-RBE of the Breakout sub-set and part of last season's Dual Rookie Class), showing him wearing the Flames' white (away) uniform, with a decent-sized ''event-worn'' red jersey swatch. It's numbered 54/199.

Dougie Hamilton Jersey Card

One thing we have learned during Zdeno Chara's prolonged absence from the Boston Bruins' blue line - apart from the dangers of trading away the largest part of your depth to a team that will end up in first place because of it - is that Dougie Hamilton is ready for a bigger role, at just 21 years of age.

I tend to want to take my time in analyzing defensemen, particularly those who were already 6'5'' and 195 pounds when they were teenagers, but the quick towering defender with the hard shot looks like he's ready to enter the top-4 on a permanent basis, and take it from there to soon enter the top-2. He's definitely earned his powerplay time, and even scored the overtime winner against the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night.

Forever linked the the trade that sent Phil Kessel to the Toronto Maple Leafs for the picks the Bruins selected him, Tyler Seguin, and Jared Knight with, we hear a lot about what ''could have been'' for the Leafs, but that's a completely false debate.

First off, I'll always gladly shit all over the Leafs when they deserve it, but that trade brought them more than a fair return, simply because Kessel is currently in his fifth season with the team, is and has been their only actual legitimate first-liner since Mats Sundin left, scored 30 goals or more every single year except the lockout-shortened one, and has been their first consistent ''star'' winger since Wendel Clark in the 1980s.

Secondly, Seguin's gone from Boston, because he was immature and didn't fit with the defense-first, thuggish Bruins style of play.

And lastly, who's to say the Leafs would even have taken Hamilton with the 9th pick in 2011, what with Jonas Brodin (10th), Sven Baertschi (13th), Nathan Beaulieu (17th), Joe Morrow (23rd), Matt Puempel (24th), Vladislav Namestnikov (27th), Tomas Jurco (35th), John Gibson (39th), Xavier Ouellet (48th), Keegan Lowe (73rd), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (96th), Reid Boucher (99th), and Johnny Gaudreau (104th) still being available?

The facts say that Hamilton, in his third season with the Bs, went from playing 17 minutes per game in his rookie season to 19 last year to over 22 this year, contributing 12 points in 23 games so far; his 4 goals are more than half-way that of last year's in just a third of the games played, and he already has 2 powerplay goals, equal the amount of each of his previous seasons.

All this in a year considered ''tough'' by the media and most Bruins fans.

There were comparisons with Chis Pronger because of his size at first, but he hasn't been all that physical as of yet, using his long reach to poke or steal the puck instead. I won't jump on the bandwagon of calling him ''one of the NHL's best defensemen'', but it's easy to see him put up 45-60 points for a decade, with one or two peaks near 70 and earning Norris talk, but let's not forget about the guys who are already in those talks and are still relatively young, such as Shea Weber, Drew Doughty and P.K. Subban, who will earn nominations for a long time, as will Duncan Keith, Niklas Kronwall, Alex Pietrangelo and perhaps even Tyson Barrie.

That being said, Hamilton looks to be a key part of Boston's defense for as long as he wants to stay there, which means this card might even inadvertently have company in my collection in the next few years:

It's card #RF-DH from the Rookie Fabrics sub-set of Upper Deck's 2013-14 SP Game-Used Edition collection, showing him wearing the Bruins' white (away) uniform, with a black event-worn (photo shoot) jersey swatch.

Lance Pitlick Autograph Card

A rugged, stay-at-home defenseman from Minnesota, Lance Pitlick never even dreamed of playing for the Minnesota North Stars growing up, because he didn't feel he had the skill level to even play in elite leagues. But at every step of the way, there he was, defying the odds, earning a scholarship with the University Of Minnesota Golden Gophers, then being named the Gophers' captain, then getting drafted by the North Stars in the late rounds (180th overall), and spending the better part of a decade in the AHL with the Hershey Bears.

And then the Ottawa Senators called with the exact need he could fit: that of an older, veteran defenseman who can hit, move bodies from the front of his net, a player who can pass on the tape and if he can't see a good pass to be made, instead of just dumping it away, will take a hit to protect the puck and try again three feet further. He was on the first Sens team to make the playoffs, and the first one to win a round, making even players such as Patrick Traverse look like NHL players, and helping groom Chris Phillips and Wade Redden into All-Stars.

He scored 11 of his 16 NHL goals with the Sens, before moving on with the Florida Panthers for three final injury-filled seasons under Mike Keenan. He was a realist to the end, claiming after his first game to just want ''to play one game and get a hockey card'', and that wish got me this one, from Pinnacle's 1997-98 Be A Player set, card #109 in the series, an insert signed on-card in black sharpie, wearing the team's beautiful mid-1990s black (away) uniform:

My favourite anecdote of his is from his days in Florida, in a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he was summoned to the point on a 5-on-3 powerplay, lost the puck and cost his team a shorthanded goal, and his coach telling him ''that's why you don't get powerplay ice time''. That's Pitlick for you: humble to a fault, and yet always the first to congratulate every other player on the team. Every team needs a couple of guys like him.

This one also marks my first ''official'' entry in my Sens Numbers Project, now that I know I'm going through with it.

Jeff Carter Dual Jersey Card

It's odd to think I have yet to post about Jeff Carter, considering I have many jersey cards of his. Perhaps because he is so closely associated with Mike Richards, having been teammates with the Philadelphia Phantoms, Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings and Team Canada - and the fact that I wrote about Richards often enough, I may have tricked my brain into thinking I'd also written about Carter.

Both players were drafted by the Flyers in the first round (in perhaps the best draft of all time) in 2003 - Carter 11th overall, and Richards 24th. Both came in as strong physically (Richards with more of a mean streak, Carter harder to separate from the puck), reliable defensively from a young age yet able to produce points, and cocky but hard-working; both also had years in Philly where they might have partied a bit too hard, but they've learned from their mistakes and matured, and learned to be professional.

Richards may have been the better playmaker, possibly regarded as more of a leader (having been captain in Philadelphia) and was selected on more championship-winning teams (particularly when representing Canada), but Carter was always the better shooter, able to score from a variety of shots and locations. His 5 points in 6 games at the 2014 Sochi Olympics to lead Canada's crop of forwards sent a clear message that he was for real.

It's no wonder, really, that on a team with Anze Kopitar playing the same position, he still found a way to be second in both points and goals on the Kings this season, behind linemate Tyler Toffoli. His other winger, Tanner Pearson, ranks fourth behind Drew Doughty; the whole trio also lead the team in +/-.

Here he is wearing the Kings' black (home) uniform, on a card which features two black swatches from probably the same jersey:

It's from Upper Deck's beautiful 2013-14 SPx set, card #WM-JC of the Winning Materials sub-set.

28-Pack Break: 2014-15 MVP

Why not a round number, you might ask? Well, I'm kinda glad I didn't fork over that extra couple of bucks, all told, considering. I know I got the ''retail'' packs (5 cards) rather than the ''hobby'' ones (8 cards), which have less chances of pulling ''hits'' than I'd like, but it was a nice way to test what the new season had in store, with the first set of the year, Upper Deck's 2014-15 MVP - and to stack up on base cards featuring more current uniforms for players than last year's sets, should I mail some cards out in the next few weeks.

At $1.25 (plus tax) for 5 cards, it's likely to be the best deal this year, apart from O-Pee-Chee, who lost me with their awful-on-purpose designs.

The cards themselves look fine, with the UD logo switching sides depending on the angle of the picture; here are the base cards, of which I had 118 in total, including 14 doubles:

I also had double Checklist cards of Sidney Crosby:

I had one 3 Stars Of The Month sub-set card, featuring Anton Khudobin, Phil Kessel and Joe Pavelski:

And one 3 Stars Of The Week card featuring Taylor Hall, Semyon Varlamov and Max Pacioretty:

I had 15 Silver Script cards, which look like this:

They include P.K. Subban, Theoren Fleury, Tommy Wingels, Bryan Little, Mikkel Boedker, Matt Niskanen, Jeff Skinner, David Backes, Alexander Semin, Jason Pominville, Brayden Schenn, Brad Marchand, Darcy Kuemper and two of Marian Hossa.

I also had three Rookie cards, one of Calle Jarnkrok and these of Greg McKegg and Vladislav Namestnikov:

As for my hometown team, the Montréal Canadiens, in addition to the Subban Silver Script, I landed Tomas Plekanec, David Desharnais, and departed captain Brian Gionta.

I like that for its return as a stand-alone set, MVP decided to keep the facsimile autographs to the Silver Script inserts and left the base cards alone for collectors to be able to have signed on their own without them looking weird. The photography is pretty good, but I would have taken less space for the design, and bigger pictures.

I also don't understand why current players aren't enough and I had to pull that Fleury SS and a base card of Joe Sakic. Don't get me wrong - Sakic was my favourite skater growing up, but he retired six seasons ago. I would gladly have taken an up-and-coming second or third liner instead of retired veterans, particularly those who do not need the merchandise licensing revenue to pay their bills.

A double per other pack was also a bummer, and takes another point off my grade; when I posted initially, I thought I would give this product a good 7/10, but with the caveats of player selection, and the fact that Upper Deck's new logo is reminiscent of when the brand made Looney Tunes baseball cards in the early 1990s and looks a tad unprofessional, I had to revise my final note:

6/10

Thomas Hickey Autograph card

Thomas Hickey didn't get to the NHL the easy way, though he was drafted 4th overall by the Los Angeles Kings in 2007; because he was picked ahead of Sam Gagner (6th), Jakub Voracek (7th), Logan Couture (9th), Ryan McDonagh (12th), Lars Eller (13th), Kevin Shattenkirk (14th), Max Pacioretty (22nd), P.K. Subban (43rd), Jamie Benn (129th), Jake Muzzin (141st), and Nick Bonino (173rd), many fans and journalists were quick to label him as a ''bust'' forgetting that defensemen take longer to mature than forwards do, that reaching the NHL in your 20s is perfectly fine, and there isn't much one can do with freak injuries but wait for them to heal, and to get back on the horse when they do.

Keep in mind that Gagner (with an Edmonton Oilers record of 8 points in a single game on his resume), Eller (a 4-goal game and long stretches where he looked like a #1 center), and Subban (a Norris trophy as the league's best defenseman) have all, also, been subject to much criticism from both the media and fans on social networks.

Hickey was chosen by the Kings to be the guy who had the Juniors career he had post-draft: a leader, point-per-game defenseman who was a key player in two Team Canada gold medals at the World Juniors - the latter as team captain, on a team that included John Tavares, Subban, and Zach Boychuk.

He had some adjusting to do in the AHL, except for those first 7 games at the tail end of the 2008-09 season where he was riding the wave from the World Juniors to producing almost two points per game in the second half of the year with the Seattle Thunderbirds, and having the Manchester Monarchs give him all the ice time he needed to contribute to the tune of 7 points in 7 games.

And though his point production normalized in the AHL to some 25 points per 75 games, he was seen as enough of a presence to warrant being named alternate captain. He led the team in +/- statistics in 2011-12 and was a ''Black Ace'' for the Kings' Stanley Cup run. The lock-out and depth on L.A.'s blue line got him invited to the team's mini-training camp for the shortened season, but when he didn't make the cut and had to clear waivers, he was claimed by the New York Islanders, and he's been a steady presence on their blue line ever since.

He averages around 19 minutes of ice time with the Isles, despite the team having acquired Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy at the beginning of the season, helping the team's defense (with Jaroslav Halak in goal) quality equal that of its offense, for the first time since the early-1990s.

The team is currently tied for first in the Metropolitan Division with the Pittsburgh Penguins (who have a game in hand), and whom the Islanders beat twice over the weekend. The Pens' resident cheap-shot artist Steve Downey laid a dirty hit on Hickey in the second game, grabbing a minor penalty in the process and forcing Travis Hamonic to intervene.

I thought I had a card of Hickey's with the Monarchs, but I can't find it; still, it's even better to have one of his with the team he's found his niche with - and has become an important part of - the Islanders:

It's from Upper Deck's 2013-14 SP Authentic set (card #SOT-HI of the Sign Of The Times sub-set), signed on-card in blue sharpie, and showing him in the Isles' current/retro white (now-away) uniform.

He's yet another example of good defensemen reaching maturity in their mid-20s, and their peak from ages 28-32. The first rule of drafting is being patient. If you trust a player enough to select him instead of thousands of other candidates, have faith that he will develop well if you lead him down the right path.

Julien Demers Autograph Card

As the San Jose Sharks sent defenseman Jason Demers to the Dallas Stars for Brenden Dillon on Friday, I got to thinking about another defenseman the Sharks had in the pipeline with almost the same name, Julien Demers.

Both were drafted by the Sharks in 2008, 40 spots apart: Julien 146th, and Jason 186th. Julien, however, never played in the NHL despite a promising career in Juniors with the Ottawa 67's, whereas most people who follow hockey are aware of Jason's ability and, perhaps, failings, as the Sharks' blue-line scapegoat.

They are not related. Julien played in two OHL All-Star Games, and captained the 67's in his final year in Juniors, in 2009-10, on a team that also included forward Tyler Toffoli, defensemen Tyler Cuma and Cody Ceci, and Petr Mrazek between the pipes. He was particularly dominant in 2008-09, with 42 points and 60 penalty minutes in 61 games, and an even more impressive 11 assists in 7 playoff games.

I thought he might develop into a good, physical defensive defenseman, a 5th or 6th d-man who would excel shorthanded and might be able to lend a hand on the powerplay once in a while with decent passes, but after playing Juniors, he went by way of the University Of Ottawa, and didn't play in North American professional leagues.

This custom card by Ottawa-area collector BG for his 2010-11 Hot Prospects set / Future Watch sub-set, signed in blue sharpie, might be the last I'll hear of this former prospect:

He's seen wearing what may have been the finest Sharks uniform - apart from the jersey number on the right of the chest, the colour combination and design really is the best thing they've ever had.

Devan Dubnyk Autograph Card

I had written Devan Dubnyk last March, sending him 4 cards (including two customs), and haven't heard back yet, but I still wanted to write about him and his terrific start to the 2014-15 season with the Arizona Coyotes, what with a 4-0-1 record in six games, a 2.25 GAA and .925 save percentage, slowly but surely stealing starts away from Mike Smith. He even dominated his former Edmonton Oilers this week, in a 33-save, 2-1 win.

People who don't know much past the obvious about goaltending will point to his ''lack of consistency'' as the main knock against him, but that isn't accurate at all. Before last season, his save percentages in Edmonton (apart from his rookie season) were .916 (in 35 games), .914 (47 games) and .920 (38 games). These statistics point to him being among the elite of backups, or a starter who needs a game off per 7-10 days to remain effective, capping him at perhaps 55 games per year (the way 85% of goalies should play anyway).

But it's not really inconsistent, is it, to hover between stopping 91.4% and 92% of pucks headed your way. That's actually pretty consistent, and borderline excellent. The thing with Dubnyk, in my opinion, is he has relied on his size (6'5'' or 6'6'' depending on the source, 210 pounds) and rebound control to excel in lower levels, and his actual technique doesn't rank among the 30 best in the world, and neither does his glove hand, nor his stick control.

So when a goal that he wouldn't have let in at lower levels does get past him in the NHL, he might get discouraged and let it affect him for the next few minutes, until he can redeem himself with a big save; looking for the big save, however, usually leads to losing focus and forcing the play... and ultimately to another bad goal. And that's where the public perception of ''but he played GREAT the last two games'' comes in, and the critics pounce, particularly in Canadian markets where the press is aggressive. And a bad game or two at the NHL level, where everyone has dominated at some level before, for a goalie, can mean a week or two of riding the pine instead of standing between metal posts.

Keep in mind we're talking about a guy with Spengler Cup gold and World Juniors gold, and a perfect 6-0 record for Team Canada at the World Championships where, playing against some of the best in the world, he holds a 1.27 GAA and .935 save percentage.

In a salary cap world, what would you say if I gave you this choice of two Olympian goalies:

GOALIE AA: $6.5M per year, 2.49 GAA, .917% for 65+ games
      + token goalie at $1M, 2.35 GAA, .910% for 25 games

or

GOALIE A1: $4M per year, 2.50 GAA, .917% for 55 games
   + Dubnyk, $800K per year, 2.35 GAA, .917% for 35 games

Personally, I'd go with the cheaper tandem who stop a consistent amount of pucks, and take the nearly $3M I'd save and put it on an elite defender or improve my second-line from a 15-goal to a 30-goal scorer. Particularly since the goalie I have in mind is a proven playoff performer.

I didn't believe Dubnyk would make his way onto the Montréal Canadiens' roster when they acquired him last season, and I think Arizona might actually be a perfect fit for him.

I hereby check him off my list as #40 in my Oilers Numbers Project, with this card from Panini's 2013-14 Crown Royale set, #SO-DDU of the Sovereign Sigs sub-set, showing a nice close-up of his mask:

It's signed on-sticker, in thin blue sharpie, with his uniform number (40) below it.