Tomas Vokoun Autograph 8 X 10 Card

Tomas Vokoun went under the radar in the news when, as a free agent, he chose to leave the Washington Capitals where he was #1A to be the backup goalie with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

I, for one, would have loved to see him sign with the Montréal Canadiens, in part to see him finish with the team that drafted him, in part to relieve Carey Price who plays way too much, and finally, to put pressure on Price to accept a lower salary than his ridiculous $6.5M per for 6 seasons. I have a feeling GM Marc Bergevin will come to regret listening to the media on this one...

But back to Vokoun, the two-time All-Star, two-time World Championship gold medalist and Olympian (bronze medal in 2006). Chosen by the Nashville Predators in the 1998 Expansion Draft (from the Habs), he went on to star in nets for the Preds for their first 8 NHL seasons.

After consecutive freak injuries, the Predators traded his rights to the Florida Panthers for a first-round pick and two second- rounders, and he manned the nets well enough in Florida to play in the 2008 All-Star game, but suffered another freak injury in 2009 when teammate Keith Ballard hit him in the head with his stick (he was aiming at the crossbar in frustration...) and missed a long time.

The following summer he signed a low-paying contract to play with the powerhouse Capitals, gambling that winning a Cup would result in a better contract this summer, but once again, the Caps failed to reach post-season success.

This autographed 8 X 10 (signature on a sticker) features the Preds' old jersey - before they decided to go with vomit-enducing colours - is from Upper Deck's 2006-07 Be A Player Portraits set (card #SP-VO). Each pack came with an oversized signed card, so for the price ($30 or so), to be assured a hit of such magnitude was pretty good.