Dustin Byfuglien Swatch Card

The off-season is nearly among us, which means we'll soon be due for a ''Dustin Byflugien is fat'' news story, where we'll learn the star defenseman has gained 100 pounds - which he'll lose by the end of training camp - and which will not stop him from scoring 20 goals and topping the 50-point mark as the Winnipeg Jets' leader on the blue line.

The Minneapolis native is a Stanley Cup champion (Chicago Blackhawks, 2010) and two-time NHL All-Star who has a slap shot clocked at nearly 103 mph. I sent him a fan letter and 5 cards in February 2012, and since I never heard back, I jumped on the chance to purchase this card when I saw it on Ebay for under $2:

It's from Panini's 2011-12 Pinnacle collection, and is #36 in the set, the Game Night sub-set. It features a nice, light-blue (though you can't tell so much from the scan!) swatch from an Atlanta Thrashers jersey. While I'm not much of a fan of the Jets' dark (home) jersey, I'm liking the white (away) one more and more as time passes. It's definitely a keeper, though I'd like to see a retro version of their old garbs for their home games.