Charlie Huddy Autograph Card

If the Edmonton Oilers win tonight against the Anaheim Ducks, they will pass them in the standings and be two points out of the final playoff spot in the Pacific Division; if the Winnipeg Jets beat the Arizona Coyotes tonight, they will catch up with the Colorado Avalanche in the Central Division standings.

What those two teams have in common is former star defenseman Charlie Huddy, who was part of all five of the Oilers' Stanley Cup-winning teams, as he is currently an assistant coach with the Jets. He also reached the Cup Final with the Oilers as well as the 1992-93 Los Angeles Kings, alongside fellow former Oilers Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and Marty McSorley.

He finished sixth in Norris Trophy voting in both 1982-83 and 1983-84, and finished his career with 453 points (99 goals and 354 assists) in 1017 regular-season NHL games, and another 85 points (19 goals and 66 assists) in 182 playoff games. Not bad for a guy who didn't get drafted.

His big, black mustache screamed "1980s", and so did his play, where his go-to defensive-zone play was to bring opposing forwards closer to the boards to get bad-angle shots, but he had a decent shot, good skating skills and tremendous passing abilities.

Here he is wearing Edmonton's white (then-home) white 1980s uniform, from Upper Deck's 2013-14 Edmonton Oilers collection (card #FI-CH of the Franchise Ink sub-set), with a blue-sharpied autograph that was too large for the sticker they provided him with:

He's wearing a full beard here, so it's probably from the playoffs, either 1988 or 1990. I like that almost all of the 80s' Oilers wore those Jofa helmets.