Roman Hamrlik: 4 Autographed Cards

Some of my friends, over the years, have complained about Roman Hamrlik's play, somehow expecting more out of the veteran's play but, in all honesty, in the past few years when a team leader such as Andrei Markov went down, The Hammer elevated his play, took charge and often played double the amount of minutes he should have.

When I sent Hamrlik these 4 cards on November 23rd, 2010, I was surprised to realize I didn't have any of him in the Montréal Canadiens' uniform. Seeing as he could leave as an unrestricted free agent this summer, I was hoping to have a signed memento in my local team's colours, but perhaps it was not meant to be. Ironically, in December, opening packs of different brands of 2010-11 cards, it seemed I got him in every other pack I opened. But I am happy with the cards I did send, which I received, all signed in black sharpie, on May 4th, 2011:

First, two depicting him with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who had made him the very first pick overall in the 1992 draft:

The card on the left, where the signature gets a little lost on the foil, is from Donruss' 1996-97 Leaf Limited set (card #4), while the one on the right is from Score's 1993-94 Score set (card #131). For a while, he was ranked second on the team's all-time assists list, in part due to his best year ever, in 1995-96, when he tallied 16 goals, 49 assists and 65 points. He spent six seasons with Tampa, his longest tenure in the NHL.

After leading the Edmonton Oilers' defense squad for 3 seasons at the end of the 90s, he moved on with the New York Islanders, where he would have 46- and 41-point seasons, and another 16-goal campaign.

The card on the left, seeing him sport the team's away uniform, is from Upper Deck's 2003-04 MVP set (card #268); it seems the autograph's ink didn't quite stick to the card on that one, which is odd, considering it wasn't all that glossy. The card on the right has him in the Isles' home uniform, from Topps' 2000-01 Stadium Club set (card #221).

After the Islanders, he spent the locked out 2004-05 season playing with his older brother for ZPS Zlin in the Czech league, and two seasons with the Calgary Flames before joining the Habs.