Daren Puppa Autograph Card

Daren Puppa had a decent career that was marred by inconsistency and back injuries toward the end. He was a runner-up for the Vezina Trophy in 1989-90 and had two clear-cut seasons as a #1 goalie, winning 31 games with the Buffalo Sabres in 1989-90 and 29 with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1995-96, leading them to their first-ever playoff appearance.

He is also the only NHL player to have been selected twice in an expansion draft, as the Florida Panthers took him off the Toronto Maple Leafs' roster in the summer of 1993 but had him plucked by Tampa who, like the Ottawa Senators and San Jose Sharks, were allowed to each pick two players from the Panthers and Anaheim Mighty Ducks. This was a compensatory selection because it had been deemed that the Ducks and Cats had benefited from better drafting rules than the Sens, Bolts and Sharks in the two years prior.

Here is Puppa with the Bolts, wearing their original black (away) uniform, on the signed insert version of card #281 from In The Game's 1998-99 Be A Player set:

He signed it in thin black sharpie (bottom right).

Nowadays, he is a realtor in the Tampa area.