Tom Pyatt: Two Autographed Cards

The Ottawa Senators announced in late May the signing of depth forward Tom Pyatt to a two-way contract for next season. He'd played in Switzerland (for Genève Servette) for the past two years, where Sens coaches Guy Boucher, Marc Crawford and Rob Cookson had also plied their trade in that time span.

Pyatt is a speedster with a good hockey sense that makes him perfect for a third-line role in today's NHL; he can also fill in on the second line once in a while but isn't the type to put up a surprising amount of points while doing so; he had 29 points in 42 games in the Swiss League last year and has 54 in 245 games with the Montréal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning in five NHL seasons.

Speaking of the Habs and Genève, he was teammates with Robert Mayer and Matt D'Agostini last year, as well as Quebecer Matthew Lombardi. They probably had a lot to talk about...

I really liked him on the Habs, and he signed two cards for me in 2010-11, in blue sharpie, both showing him with the Canadiens' classic bleu-blanc-rouge uniform with the Centennial shoulder patch.

First, here's card #268 from Panini's 2010-11 Score set which celebrated the brand's 20-year anniversary with the NHL with a nod to its 1990-91 set:

And here's card #99 from Upper Deck's 2010-11 Series 1 collection:

That was a nice set from UD, letting the picture speak for itself with little in the way - short borders at the bottom, subtle logo - with an additional head shot at the bottom, usually wearing the team's uniform not featured in the main picture.