Martin Erat Jersey Card

I hope the Nashville Predators don't win the Stanley Cup this year, because it might incite weird debates, such as ''do we send former Washington Capitals GM George McPhee a ring? Or perhaps Martin Erat?''

You might recall the Caps acquired Erat at the trade deadline two seasons ago for what they were hoping was a long playoff run, and it cost them highly-touted prospect Filip Forsberg - currently the favourite in the running for the Calder Trophy, the rookie leader in points and the NHL leader in +/-.

Erat's career started to dwindle in Nashville, and he asked for a trade, making his value plummet - though David Poile still managed to acquire quite an asset in return; Erat then didn't do so well in Washington either, and asked for another trade, which happened at last year's trade deadline.

He is currently with the lowly Phoenix Coyotes, with 12 points in 30 games, good for 7th on the team.

He is a three-time 20-goal scorer (with a high of 23 in 2007-08), and five-time 50-point maker (with a high of 58 in 2011-12), with three more years at 49 points, which is to say he's been a steady contributor for the better part of a decade, though in the NHL, many first-liners get their 50 points, so it could have been more of a matter of the Preds not having anyone better to play ahead of him. Honestly, I wouldn't know, living in the East and following mostly the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings out West, I didn't catch too many of Nashville's games these past few years; I would have thought he'd be in the same category as a Radim Vrbata, but Vrbata's proving to be solid this year in a brand new context.

Suiting up for the Czech Republic, he has medals of each kind: gold at the World Juniors (2001), silver (2006) and bronze (2012) at the World Championships, and bronze at the Olympics (2006).

Here's a card of the speedy winger wearing the Predators' awful all-yellow then-home uniform, from Upper Deck's 2002-03 Series 1 set (card #HP-ME of the New NHL Hot Spots / Game Used Jersey sub-set) featuring a blue swatch (likely from the away uniform):

Judging from his position and the fact that his helmet isn't strapped on, the picture is probably from a pre-game skate.