Chris Butler Autographed Card

Although he's been with the St. Louis Blues organization since 2014-15, Chris Butler had more NHL reps with the Buffalo Sabres (155 games over three seasons) and Calgary Flames (194 games over three seasons) earlier in his career.

In the four seasons since, he's seen his games per year totals go from 33 to 5 to 1 and 0 this year despite being signed to his hometown team. It's not that he's particularly bad, he's just very unspectacular. He plays decently in his own zone but doesn't take the puck away every time, his 6'1", 196-pound frame has become part of the lower-average size for current-day defenders, he doesn't take many penalties, he's not super quick, and he makes a decent first pass without sending forwards on breakaways.

In many ways, he reminds me of Greg Pateryn.

Except that Butler wore #44 in Calgary, which makes him eligible for my Flames Numbers Project, with card #70 from Panini's 2013-14 Score set:

He signed it in blue sharpie - tagging his jersey number at the end - after a game against my hometown Montréal Canadiens in the winter of 2014. In typical Chris Butler fashion, he had one shot on goal and blocked another in 25 shifts (19 minutes) that night, going pointless in a loss.