Brad Boyes Jersey Card

It seemed like the right time to feature this card, seeing as the St. Louis Blues edged the Florida Panthers in the shootout tonight, with Brad Boyes having had a chance to score against his former team, and both goalies (Brian Elliott and Roberto Luongo) playing like their All-Star selves.

The 24th-overall pick of the 2000 draft - ahead of Justin Williams (28th), Antoine Vermette (55th),  Paul Martin (62nd), Lubomir Visnovsky (118th), Travis Moen (155th), Henrik Lundqvist (205th), Matthew Lombardi (215th), and Paul Gaustad (220th) - definitely has offensive upside, having passed the 30-goal and 40-goal marks once each, and garnering Calder consideration in his rookie year and Lady Byng votes throughout his career, but consistency has always been an issue for him, which has led him to audition for contracts on PTOs in training camp twice. Not counting the lock-out season, he also has four below-20-goal seasons. At least after proving his worth to the Panthers last year, he didn't have to go through with that again last summer, signing a two-season deal around the trade deadline.

Still, with three seasons with more than 10 powerplay goals, and 9- and 11-game-winning goal seasons behind his belt, teams should be taking a risk on him prior to go time. Points-wise, he has topped the 60 barrier three times, and his 35 points in 48 games in the 2012-13 season was on the right pace as well.

So here's a card showing him in the Blues' white (away) Reebok Edge uniform, from Upper Deck's 2008-09 Series 1 set (card #GJ-BB of the Game Jersey sub-set), featuring a black game-used jersey swatch:

In his career, the former Toronto Maple Leafs first-round draft pick has played with the San Jose Sharks, Boston Bruins, Blues, Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders and Panthers.