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:
set (card #128), also a pretty one.The other two cards see him sporting the Jackets' ''star'' logo, inspired by Ohio's state flag:
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.
and 
didn't forward mail to their players, so going TTM with them is pretty much equal to losing whatever you send them; I have come to the conclusion that things are the same when it comes to Leafs players, which is a shame, since they employ some of my favourite players, namely 
.
, the smooth-skating giant (6'4'', 210 pounds) centerman the 
have never replaced since trading him back to the 
in 1990. With the Habs, he had six consecutive just-about point-per-game seasons during which he was also sent to take important face offs and to shut down the opposing team's best line; skating alonside 
from 1985-86 to 1988-89, he registered seasons of 86, 75, 93 and 83 points, twice scoring more than 30 goals.
by a whole 10 points. He won the Calder trophy as the league's best rookie (a trophy neither Gretzky nor 
ever won) after a 74-point 1978-79 season and improved the next three years with seasons of 83, 93 and 114 points (43 goals!) before being sent to the Habs; upon his return to Minnesota in 1990, he proceeded to bring his team to the Stanley Cup finals and reach the 1000-point milestone.
' general manager for parts of four seasons before holding the same position with the team he owns, his hometown QMJHL's 
, which he now also coaches. It is tehre that I sent along these five cards and a fan letter, on November 29th, and I got them back all signed in black sharpie on December 20th. It's a tremendous record, and I'm particularly excited, as he was one of the players whose play got me interested in hockey in my youth.
was in the news this week, for having been sucker-punched by the 
' 
, resulting in 
, who received... a two-game suspension.
.
was a heck of a robust stay-at-home defenseman who had a very precise ''first pass'' but somehow often was relegated to being a ''plus'' player because the players he'd pass to made more passes before a goal was eventually scored. Despite often missing upwards of 10 games per season, he managed to accumulate over 100 penalty minutes in 6 different seasons and over 90 in two more. He retired one season short of playing his 1000th game.
s player to wear #19 before 
, and was named the 
' captain after 
was traded to the 
, which is why I love the three cards above, all depicting him with the 'C' on his chest, all from the Whalers, a defunct team.
, which is where I sent these cards and my fan letter on November 18th; the cards were sent back, signed clearly in blue sharpie, on December 20th, just a month later, a great return, especially when you factor in the fact that the Randys are a two-man team with no other assistants sharing the workload of teaching the Future Habs the basics of the game and the work ethics of professionals.
and the 
.
