René Corbet Autograph Card

René Corbet had the pedigree the Québec Nordiques had always made work when the team selected him 24th overall in the 1991 NHL draft: he was a French-speaking Quebecer who had been an offensive dynamo at the Midget and Junior levels.

Réal Cloutier, Michel Goulet, Marc Tardif, Wilfrid Paiement, Jacques Richard, Jean-François Sauvé... the Nordiques had a knack for putting local boys in positions to succeed. Corbet was going to be part of that history, but as the team moved to Denver to become the Stanley Cup-winning  Colorado Avalanche, developing Quebecers to stick it in the face of highway rivals Montréal Canadiens was no longer an issue the team had to deal with; they could just aim at icing the best team possible in the hopes of beating the Detroit Red Wings in the Conference Finals to advance to the Cup Final, which meant it was easy to send Corbet - an AHL Rookie Of The Year recipient - packing (along with Wade Belak and Robyn Regehr) and have the Calgary Flames send Theo Fleury and Chris Dingman the other way.

He spent a total of 68 games spread over parts of two seasons with the Flames before they sent him to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who also used him sparingly. He then spent eight seasons in Germany, playing for the Mannheim Eagles, producing at nearly a point-per-game pace, save for a disappointing 2002-03 season (4 goals and 12 points in 29 games).

He retired following the 2010-11 season, following two years in Norway, playing for the Frisk Tigers, where he was again fairly productive: 41 goals, 42 assists, 83 points and 148 penalty minutes in 72 regular-season games, and another 5 points and 8 penalty minutes in 5 playoff games.

Here he is wearing the Drummondville Voltigeurs' white (home) uniform on a signed insert card from Classic's 1991-92 Draft Picks set:

It's signed in blue sharpie, and numbered 124/950, which to some qualifies as "Extremely Limited".