Wade Redden Autographed Card

For a while there, I was afraid that Wade Redden would remain stuck at 994 NHL games because the New York Rangers had buried his contract in the AHL with the Connecticut Whale, where he was the team's captain and best player, just not worth the $6.5M the Blueshirts had bestowed upon him.

Although that can be argued, to an extent, seeing as he had garnered serious Norris Trophy consideration in six of his previous eight seasons (three top-10 finishes among them despite playing on the same team as Zdeno Chara) prior to their signing him as a free agent.

He was the Ottawa Senators' alternate captain and anchor on the blue line, so much so that the Sens opted to let Chara walk in free agency so that they could afford to keep Redden - and it paid off at the time.

He may have gotten grief for his huge contract with the Rangers, but we're talking about a guy who retired a year and a half ago with 109 goals, 348 assists and 457 points from the blue line in 1023 regular-season games with a +160 (his +35 led the league in 2005-06), and another 49 points (from 13 goals) in 106 playoff games, twice reaching the 10-point mark in the postseason.

He's had way too solid a career to earn such disrespect. At least he got some of it back when he retired a year and a half ago.

With his extensive international resume, having suited up for Team Canada seven times and medaling in four (2004 World Cup, gold at the 1995 and 1996 World Juniors and silver at the 2005 World Championships where he was also voted best defenseman), I could definitely see him as part of a selection team for Canada at some point in time, when the current Boys' Clubs of Steve Yzerman and Kevin Lowe step down.

Here he is sporting the Sens' beautiful original white (then-home) uniform manning the offense from the point, from Upper Deck's 2005-06 Victory set (card #139), which he signed in black sharpie: