Pavel Bure Jersey Card

I just posted my prediction for the upcoming Florida Panthers season, admitting I may have been overly optimistic by placing them 5th instead of 7th in the Atlantic Division, but it is what it is - I mean, I decided on my standings on September 1st, so there's really no going back now.

I could have gone many ways in featuring the Panthers on this blog today, but I decided to go with Hall Of Famer Pavel Bure, who led the NHL in scoring twice while in Florida, with 58- and 59-goal seasons in 1999-2000 and 2000-01, in the heart of the clutch-and-grab Dead Puck Era. He had also led the league in his second-consecutive 60-goal season with the Vancouver Canucks in 1993-94, bringing the team to one win of the Stanley Cup on the strength of 16 goals and 31 points in 24 postseason games.

Upon leaving Vancouver after a contract dispute, he played only four more playoff games - all of them in 1999-2000, his second season with the team. He wouldn't see playoff action in two injury-riddle years with the New York Rangers (2001-03) either, but still managed to score 31 goals and amass 19 assists for 50 points in 51 games on Broadway.

His NHL career was among the most spectacular of all-time:

He also starred and won a lot internationally, first with the Soviet Union, with World Juniors gold (1989) and silver (1990, 1991), World U-17s gold (1988), European Juniors Championship gold (1989) and bronze (1988), World Championship gold (1990) and bronze (1991), and Goodwill Games gold (1990), and also with Team Russia, earning Olympic silver (1998) and bronze (2002) medals.

Here he is sporting the alternate captain's "A" on the Panthers' best-looking red (then-away) uniform, on card #SCS-PB from Topps' 2001-02 Stadium Club set and Stadium Club Souvenirs sub-set:

It features a yellow game-worn jersey swatch that was likely from a stripe on the arms. I traded three Chicago Blackhawks autograph cards from the same brand to obtain this one in 2010 or 2011.