Monday, September 9, 2013

Yanic Perreault Autograph Card

In addition to being the best face-off man of his era, Yanic Perreault is also the man who eclipsed Eric Lindros - who was the unanimous #1 pick for the 1991 draft since he was a child - in a CHL All-Star Game prior to the 1991 draft. Perreault wound up being chosen 47th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs because he was deemed ''too slow'', despite leading the LHJMQ in points, while being its MVP and most gentlemanly player. His points totals improved every season in the ''Q'', from 108 to 114 to a whopping 185.

The Leafs sent him to their AHL affiliate St. John's Maple Leafs for three seasons, and he still owns the franchise record for goals (132) and points (276). But he only played 13 games for the Leafs before they sent him to the Los Angeles Kings... until they brought him back via trade at the end of the 1998-99 season.

He signed with the Montréal Canadiens as a free agent going into the 2001-02 season, starting with his then-career-best 56 points, only to drop to 46 and 31 as Saku Koivu was healthy and Mike Ribeiro's stock was rising.

He sat out the locked-out 2004-05 season and signed as a free agent with the Nashville Predators, then the Phoenix Coyotes, where he posted his best season (57 points) and played in the All-Star Game, something he hadn't done since his days in Juniors, where this card is from:


It's from Classic's 1991-92 Draft Picks set (card #39, usually, but the signed versions don't have a proper back, just a note saying ''You have just received this extremely Limited Classic Draft Pick Collection Autograph Card''). It's signed in blue sharpie, and numbered 593/1100 - makes you wonder what a not-limited card would get numbered to...

On it, he's wearing his league's white All-Star Game uniform, which would face off once against each other CHL league's All-Star teams (WHL, OHL).

He would wind up playing for the Leafs one more time (17 games at the tail end of the 2006-07 season), but refused to retire, instead playing 53 games in 2007-08 with the Chicago Blackhawks, with 9 goals and 14 points to show for it. He was usually the only face-off man in the league to win close to or over 60% of the draws he took, even in his waning years.

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