Kirk Muller Autograph Card

The Carolina Hurricanes stand at 2-3-0 to start the season, good for 12th in the East. We'll see how things pan out, but I have to say Kirk Muller didn't choose the easiest team to start a coaching career with. Sure, they have decent talent in the system, but on the current team, they have one top line (Eric and Jordan Staal and Jeff Skinner), one of the 10 best goalies in the league (former Conn Smythe winner Cam Ward) and offensive defenseman Joe Corvo, but little depth; should injuries occur, they'll be more or less sending out an AHL team to compete against NHLers.

Captain Kirk knows his way around the game, though. He was almost a #1 overall draft pick (he fell second to Mario Lemieux), captained two teams (the New Jersey Devils for many years, and the Montréal Canadiens temporarily, part of the 4 guys who got to wear the C between Guy Carbonneau and Saku Koivu between 1994 and 1999), won two Stanley Cups (Habs and Dallas Stars) and nearly scored 1000 points - he was stopped at 959, in 1349 games, to go with his 66 points in 110 playoff games. He has also participated in 6 All-Star Games, and represented Team Canada six times, be it at the World Juniors (1984), Olympics (1984) and World Championships (1985, 19856, 1987 and 1989) as well as made the NHL team at Rendez-Vous '87.

This is a signed insert from Pinnacle Brands' 1997-98 Pinnacle Be A Player (card #121). I sent Muller 4 cards when he was the Habs' assistant coach three years ago, and never got them back, so I was happy to pull one of these last year, although he's obviously wearing the Florida Panthers' white (home) jersey, not one I mostly identify him with...