Nikolai Antropov: 6 Autographed Cards (Part 3)

(continued from the previous post)

This next card is a weird one, where we see Antropov wearing the Winnipeg Jets' new home jersey in front of a jet, taken from the press conference that served as the jersey's unveiling last summer. For some reason, Panini decided it'd be a good idea to include this picture in their 2011-12 Score set (card #476), instead of an in-action shot from a preseason game like they did for the rest of the team.

Antropov scored the (revived) Jets' very first goal against the Montréal Canadiens in their home opener.

And this is probably my favourite Antropov card of all, made even more meaningful because of the tragedy that struck Lokomotiv Yaroslavl on September 7th, as the team was en route to get their season started:

Oddly enough, this card (#34 in the set) from Upper Deck's 2004-05 All World Edition lists Antropov as a member of the Lokomotiv but shows him wearing the green Ak Bars Kazan uniform, the team with which he started the locked-out 2004-05 season, playing 10 games there before moving on to the Lokomotiv, where he played 26 regular season games (gathering 19 points) and playing 9 more in the playoffs (7 points).

I sent him these 6 cards and a fan letter on November 18th, 2011, and got them all back on February 23rd, 2012, signed in black sharpie, with his jersey number (80) at the end - even on his Leafs cards where he's wearing #11 (he switched numbers in March 2003, when the Leafs acquired Owen Nolan).