Ilya Bryzgalov Jersey Card

Here's one guy who put himself in the proverbial hot water recently: Ilya Bryzgalov said if his Phoenix Coyotes moved to Winnipeg, he wouldn't tag along, citing cold weather, nothing to do, and a lack of a Russian population:

You don't want to go to Winnipeg, right? Not many people live there, not many Russian people there. Plus it's cold. There's no excitement except the hockey. No park, no entertaining for the families, for the kids. It's going to be tough life for your family.

At least he gets points for being honest, and it reminds the rest of us who would prefer more Canadian teams in the NHL that it wasn't always easy for Winnipeg and Québec - even Calgary and Edmonton, actually - before those teams were forced to move in the mid-1990s: free agents shunned them, the smaller cities didn't have much corporate support, and the weather was becoming an issue, what with Gary Bettman establishing teams in warm, non-traditional markets.

So hockey players will have this dilemma: will they want to play for higher salaries in sold out arenas and perhaps have a summer home elsewhere, or will they want to play in non-hockey climates to empty arenas for mid-range salaries?

And with the playoffs he's had, letting in soft goals in each game, Bryzgalov may be looking at something even lower than mid-range in pay. For millions, he might have to go to the KHL, despite another terrific NHL regular season, in which he tallied 36 wins to go with his 2.48 GAA and .921 save %. And the season before that, he crushed the team record for wins (formerly of 33) by getting 42, with a 2.29 GAA and .920 save % in 69 games to garner a Vezina nomination.

That was odd, considering he is third of all time for longest shutout streak in playoff history, a feat he achieved with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 2006 - the year before they won the Cup.

This card (#36) is from Panini's 2010-11 Limited set, and is numbered 012/199; it sports a burgundy patch at the perfect spot right on his crotch at the bottom of the jersey, letting a bit of the team's logo pass through above it.