My Alouettes Numbers Project

(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

It's been a while since I started another Numbers Project after my Habs Numbers Project, my Oilers Numbers Project, my Sens Numbers Project, my Canucks Numbers Project, my Nordiques Numbers Project, my Flames Numbers Project, my Expos Numbers Project, my Jets Numbers Project, my Whalers Numbers Project, and my Team Canada Numbers Project, so I thought I might start one for my local Canadian Football League (CFL) team, the Montréal Alouettes.

The goal is simple: to gather a special piece (jersey cards could work, but ideally an autographed card) from a player from every number worn by a member of the Als, regadless of era (I had to give myself a chance).

As you may know, the first iteration of the Alouettes lasted from 1946 until 1981, with its peak during the 1970s, winning three Grey Cups in six appearances in the Grey Cup Final during that decade. The team's owner would hit hard financial times in 1982 and would hand the team back to the league in May - roughly a month before the start of the regular season; Montréal Expos (and Seagram) owner Charles Bronfman would retain most of the team's sports staff, players and employees as the Montréal Concordes, but the team stank and was unable to draw a decent attendance; Bronfman briefly went back to the Alouettes name, but the team folded before the 1987 regular season got underway.

In the early 1990s, the CFL tried expansing in the U.S., and the most successful franchise in that endeavour was the Baltimore Stallions, who made the Grey Cup Final in their first season in 1994 and won it the following year. Unfortunately, Art Modell, owner of the NFL's Cleveland Browns, announced that he planned to move his team to Baltimore, which would have relegated the Stallions to a second-tier team (due to playing in a second-tier league) in their city; after negociations and legal procedures, Modell was awarded a "new" NFL franchise - the Baltimore Ravens - and was allowed to retain most of the Browns' staff and players, as long as he forfeited the Browns' history and trademarks; the Browns were revived in 1999. This, however, rendered the Grey Cup champion Stallions homeless; after attempts at moving them to Houston (after the loss of the Houston Oilers and before the arrival of the Houston Texans), the CFL (and its commissioner Larry Smith, a former Als 1970s legend) was able to convince the team to move to Montréal to become the third iteration of the Alouettes.

So far, I have featured the following players:

19: S.J. Green: check!
26: Tyrice Beverette: jersey card check!
I understand I still have a ways to go, but one reason why I started is that I believe I have enough to at least make it fun!

Tyrice Beverette Jersey Card

(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

In honour of the Montréal Alouettes' dominating 44-24 win against the Saskatchewan Roughriders earlier tonight. From the linked article (via TSN and the Canadian Press):

(Quarterback) Davis Alexander eclipsed 5,000 passing yards on the season for the Alouettes (13-3), joining Anthony Calvillo as the only quarterbacks in franchise history to reach the mark.
The 27-year-old from Gig Harbor, Wash., threw for five touchdowns, one interception and 403 passing yards on 26-of-33 completions. He also rushed for 40 yards on three carries as Montreal finished undefeated at home in the regular season for the third time.

Fresh off being chosen as one of the CFL's Players Of September, Tyrice Beverette had seven defensive tackles in the game, bringing his yearly total to 61 (67 total tackles).

He is a two-time CFL All-Star with the Als, a winner of the 2024 James P. McCaffrey Trophy for best defensive player in the East, as well as a 2023 Grey Cup Champion, which is why I'm proud to add him as #26 in my Alouettes Numbers Project with this card:

That is the Game Jersey version of card #72 from Upper Deck's 2024 CFL set. It shows him wearing the Als' current dark blue (home) uniform, matching the swatch that is included on the card.

My Sens Numbers Project: An Introduction

Has it really come to this, a gimmick worth repeating many times over, after my initial Habs Numbers Project and my Oilers Numbers Project?

Actually, it's more that I realized I had a lot of this one down already: so far, I have featured 48/73 numbers used in previous posts:

1: Damian Rhodes: check!
2: Lance Pitlick, Jared Cowen and Dylan DeMelo: check!
3: Zdeno Chara: jersey card check!
4: Chris Phillips: check (and once more)!
5: Christoph Schubert and Cody Ceci: check!
6: Wade Redden: check!
7: Randy Cunneyworth: check!
9: Milan Michalek and Bobby Ryan: check!
10: Brandon Bochenski: check!
11: Daniel Alfredsson: check!
12: Mike Fisher: check (and once more)!
14: Andrej Meszaros and Colin Greening: check!
15: Shawn McEachern: check!
16: Laurie Boschman, Brian McGrattan, Bobby Butler, Clarke MacArthur, and Mark Stone: check!
17: Jody Hull: check!
18: Ryan Dzingel: check!
19: Jason Spezza: check! (also wore #44 and #39)
21: Dennis Vial: check!
22: Shaun Van Allen: check!
24: Stéphane Da Costa: check!
25: Bruce Gardiner: check!
26: Bob Kudelski: check!
27: Janne Laukkanen: check!
30: Brian Elliott: check!
31: Peter Sidorkiewicz: check! (also Alex Auld)
33: Jakob Silfverberg and Pascal Leclaire: check!
38: Erik Condra: check! (also wore #22)
39: Matt Carkner: check!
40: Robin Lehner: check! (also Jeff Glass and Patrick Lalime)
41: Craig Anderson: check!
43: Roman Wick and Peter Regin: check!
44: Jason Spezza: check! (also wore #19) (also, Jean-Gabriel Pageau)
46: Patrick Wiercioch: check!
47: André Benoit: check!
53: Ilya Zubov: check!
57: Derek Grant: check!
58: Maxime Lajoie: check!
59: David Dziurzynski: check!
61: Mark Stone (twice): check!
62: Eric Gryba: check!
65: Erik Karlsson: jersey card check!
68: Mike Hoffman: check!
71: Nick Foligno: check!
72: Thomas Chabot: check!
74: Mark Borowiecki and Steve Larouche: check!
78: Filip Chlapik: check!
79: Drake Batherson: check!
83: Christian Jaros: check!
86: Christian Wolanin: check!
89: Cory Conacher: check!
93: Mika Zibanejad: check!

Captains: Boschman, Cunneyworth, Alfredsson.

I'll reiterate that I'm looking for collectibles - ideally signed cards, but also signed pictures or, at the very least, jersey cards of players from every possible Sens jersey number that has been worn.

Here are examples of things I'll be featuring soon - or am looking to add to the list:

13: Peter Regin, Vinny Prospal or Ted Drury I remember
20: Antoine Vermette and Marek Svatos are players I followed
23: Kaspars Daugavins' number
28: neither Zenon Konopka nor Matt Kassian replied to my TTMs
29: I could totally go for Martin Gerber and his black mask here
32: only Rob Ray and Daniel Berthiaume have ever worn this number
34: only Darren Rumble and Shane Hnidy have worn this one
35: only 5 goalies have worn this one, including Auld, Tom Barrasso and Mike Bales
36: only Josh Hennessy wore it for more than a few games
37: only Dean McAmmond wore it for more than one calendar year
42: Julien Vauclair would be cool for a goalie nerd like myself
45: only worn by Denis Hamel or Alexandre Picard
48: Jared Cowen wore it briefly
49: Michel Picard or Francis Lessard
51: Derek Smith
52: Colin Greening had it for a short spell
55: Sergei Gonchar never replied to my TTM, but Brian Lee also works
56: Lance Pitlick
60: Mark Stone (who also wore 61)
73: Guillaume Latendresse or Jarkko Ruutu
76: Radek Bonk
77: Joe Corvo
82: Martin Straka
90: Alex Chiasson
91: Alexandre Daigle
94: Stan Neckar
97: Matt Gilroy

Maple Leafs Preview: Vincent Damphousse Autographed Card

(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: Unlike in the distant past where I would post different texts on this collectibles blog and my personal one, I've been using a new format for the past couple of years, where I'll copy the same text on each one. As a father of two young kids, I just do not have enough time to write two separate posts per day on each blog. This year again, the entire scope of the analysis will take place first and the featured player will have a direct or perhaps indirect connection to what's written, below.

Caveats: At this point, despite the season just starting, several players haven't found a team yet, (at least) two star players have active trade requests, and a few clubs are tight at the top of the salary cap, which means there is much left to do.

Key exits: Joseph Woll (G), Matthew Knies (LW), Steven Lorentz (C), Dennis Hildeby (G), Nick Robertson (LW), Brandon Carlo (D), Simon Benoît (D), Matias Maccelli (LW), Henry Thrun (D), Emil Andrae (D)

Key Arrivals: Darren Raddysh (D), Kirill Marchenko (RW), Jack Roslovic (C), Sergei Bobrovsky (C), Nick Paul (LW),Zack MacEwen (RW), Brandon Duhaime (LW), Teddy Blueger (C), Colton Sissons (C),Miles Wood (LW),Elvis Merzlikins (G)

Top prospects: Gavin McKenna (RW, 18), Miroslav Holinka (C, 20), Ben Danford (D, 20),Jacob Quillan (C, 24), Noah Chadwick (D, 21), Alexander Bilecki (D, 18), Artur Aktyamov (C, 24), Ethan MacKenzie (D, 20)

I thought the Toronto Maple Leafs would make the playoffs last season despite losing Mitch Marner, but McKenna should provide some of the offense that was lost a year ago, though the leadership angle will have to wait a little bit - I don't see him taking over a locker room that already includes captain Auston Matthews and former captain John Tavares.

What makes their odds look good:
He's been away from the game for a while, but GM John Chayka still co-owned Stathletes with sister Meghan Chayka and Neil Lane, so he still kept tabs on NHL players and kept digging on the analytics front. Expect smart bets on young players coming out of their entry-level deals like he did with the Arizona Coyotes, and savvy veteran additions.

Question marks:
Is signing Bobrovsky for three years a savvy decision, though? Is Jim Hiller an NHL-caliber head coach despite what we saw him do with the Los Angeles Kings for the past two and a half years??

Outlook:
William Nylander is probably good for 90 points, Matthews should get back in the 30-to-35-goal range, Oliver Ekman-Larsson continues to defy age and Marchenko probably enjoys a year-long honeymoon in Toronto, who are very improved from last year. Enough to make the playoffs? Enough to make it interesting until the final week of the season.

Prediction:
5th in the Atlantic Division.

I tend to think of Vincent Damphousse as an important player for the San Jose Sharks and the Leafs, not as much for the Montréal Canadiens or Edmonton Oilers - but the truth is that, statistically, his highest totals have come in Montréal and his lowest were in San Jose. I'll say this though: Damphousse made the Sharks a serious team whose move to replace him as a centre after his retirement was to acquire Art Ross winner Joe Thornton in-season. To get back to the Leafs, however, they were the first team with which he broke the 30-goal and 90-point marks for the first time, going 33-61-94 in 80 games in 1989-90. Here he is wearing their classic 1980s blue (away) uniform on card #34 from In The Game's 2003-04 Original 6 - Toronto Maple Leafs set:

He signed it in-person in fading black sharpie at the Bell Centre 10-15 years ago, definitely after his ugly divorce.

Senators Preview: Thomas Chabot Autographed Card

(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: Unlike in the distant past where I would post different texts on this collectibles blog and my personal one, I've been using a new format for the past couple of years, where I'll copy the same text on each one. As a father of two young kids, I just do not have enough time to write two separate posts per day on each blog. This year again, the entire scope of the analysis will take place first and the featured player will have a direct or perhaps indirect connection to what's written, below.

Caveats: At this point, despite the regular season being set to start today, several players haven't found a team yet, (at least) two star players have active trade requests, and a few clubs are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much work left to do.

Key exits: Brady Tkachuk (RW), Lars Eller (C), James Reimer (G), Nick Jensen (D), Dennis Gilbert (D), Lassi Thomson (D), Olle Lycksell (F), Mads Sogaard (G), Arthur Kaliyev (RW), Jan Jenik (D)

Key arrivals: William Eklund (RW), Samuel Ersson (G), André Burakovsky (LW), Samuel Blais (LW), Philip Tomasino (RW)

Top prospects: Carter Yakemchuk (D, 20), Logan Hensler (D, 19), Jonas Lagerberg Hoen (RW, 18), Blake Montgomery (LW, 21), Jorian Donovan (D, 22), Leevi Meriläinen (G, 24), Jaxon Cover (LW, 18), Xavier Bourgault (RW, 23)

The Ottawa Senators did some fine house cleaning in the offseason, clearing/cleansing the air in the (neighbouring) nation's capital.

What makes their odds look good:
Tim Stützle is a legitimate #1 centre, Jake Sanderson is an all-world defenseman, Thomas Chabot has been to an All-Star Game, Linus Ullmark is a Vezina winner, Artem Zub is a world-class defensive defenseman, Drake Batherson is a true top-six sniper, Claude Giroux still has gas left in the tank, Dylan Cozens is a good secondary centerman, Warren Foegle brings the lower-tier power forward element, Ridly Greig is a terrific wish-you-were-on-my-team pest (while Nick Cousins is the league's most-despised one), and Eklund still has untapped potential to break out as a first-liner.

Question marks:
Head coach Travis Green took a giant leap forward last season - does he have another step ahead in him? Is the Tkachuk addition-by-subtraction with the actual addition of Eklund enough to remain a wild-card team while the Florida Panthers get healthy again and the Toronto Maple Leafs have improved?

Outlook:
This is a good team with plenty of youth who can improve. They'd make the playoffs in any other division, but it's going to be a dogfight in this one.

Prediction:
6th in the Atlantic Division.

The Sens did the right thing today and righted a wrong from five years ago by naming Chabot the team captain. He had previously been a long-serving alternate captain for the team; internationally, he has worn both the "A" (2017 World Juniors, where he was tournament MVP) and "C" (2022 World Championships) in leading Team Canada to gold medals, a feat he also achieved at the 2019 Worlds.

Here he is wearing Ottawa's magnificent white (away) uniform on card # 127 from Upper Deck's 2021-22 Series 1 set, which he signed in blue charpie around 2023: