Brent Sopel Autographed Card

You know you have a good, deep defensive corps when you can afford to have Brent Sopel as your fifth-to-seventh defenseman, like he was when he won the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks. You might be in trouble if he cracks your top-4, such as was the case during his days with the Atlanta Thrashers.

Though he has spent the last two years in the KHL, I wouldn't be surprised to see him wind up with the Montréal Canadiens again next year, possibly in place of Davis Drewiskie as the 7th or 8th d-man, and the reason is simple: the folks in charge of the Habs have had him before - GM Marc Bergevin in Chicago, and assistant-GM Rick Dudley in both Chicago and Atlanta - and know exactly what he can bring to the table.

His longest tenure in the NHL was with the Vancouver Canucks, parts of 7 season in two stints, which is why I chose to bring this card to have him sign it in 2010-11, after a Habs game:

He has played in 659 regular-season NHL games so far, and has scored 44 goals, amassed 174 assists and totals 218 points; he has also played in 71 playoff games, during which he was only penalized for 20 minutes to go with his 4-14-18 stats.