Wayne Simmonds Jersey Card

First things first: I understand why the Nashville Predators sent Ryan Hartman and a conditional fourth-round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers for Wayne Simmonds' services at the trade deadline: he's a team-first leader who will sacrifice everything he has for even the slightest chance his team moves the puck forward, let alone scores a goal or wins a game; he's a two-time 30-goal scorer and two-time 60-point-getter who rarely got first-line time, so he's proven able to provide offense no matter where he was slotted in the line-up; he's a heart-and-soul gritty forward and the Preds might need more sandpaper than acrobatics and skill to get past the St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets in the upcoming playoffs.

But I also understand why the Flyers had to let him go: this marks the third consecutive season his goals and points totals have gone down; he's clearly battered and bruised at 30 years old - despite missing only seven games last season, he dealt with five major injuries, including a torn groin, lost teeth, a broken ankle and a torn ligament in his hand - and even this year he looks like he needs to rest up and heal; he was also on an expiring contract that pays him enough for what he's delivering at the moment but had him massively underpaid for most of his deal, and it looked unlikely considering his trend downwards that his next deal would be win-win.

Like Shea Weber and Zdeno Chara, Simmonds has done enough to warrant wearing the captain's "C" for a team that will be using him less and less in his waning years - that's how good and deserving he's been, and that's how respected he is. But while most teams could use his leadership, very few teams actually need a captain at this point. As a matter of fact, most playoff-contending teams already have a few players worthy of the "C" waiting in the wings, most of them on the right side of 30.

And he hasn't exactly turned the NHL upside down since the trade, either, what with a single goal and one assist for 2 points in 14 games in Music City so far, on a team that boasts elite talent like Ryan Johansen, Roman Josi, P.K. Subban, Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson, Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Ellis.

If I were a GM, would I have traded Hartman for his services (notwithstanding the fact that Hartman cost the Preds a good prospect and a first-rounder)? Absolutely. Would I re-sign him for more than one year with the way his last two seasons have gone? Nope.

So my guess is Nashville is betting he can help as a secondary piece - perhaps even a third-tier depth piece - on their way to another deep run. He can't do any harm, that's for sure. But I don't see them attempting to keep him after that, even if he goes on a 20-goal tear in the playoffs.

Here he is sporting (one of) the Flyers' Stadium Series black garbs (with matching game-worn jersey swatch), on card #PF-WS from Upper Deck's 2017-18 SP Game-Used Edition set and Stadium Series Fabrics sub-set:

Simmonds did not register a point in the February 25, 2017 game, but did nab a two-minute minor penalty for slashing at 18:00 of the third period, effectively keeping him in the sin bin until the end of the game. The host team Pittsburgh Penguins won the contest 4-2.

His final game with the Flyers was during this year's Stadium Series game, a 4-3 win against the same Penguins.

Jarret Stoll Autographed Card

Jarret Stoll never actually retired from the NHL, but when he failed to secure a contract atfter a tryout with the Columbus Blue Jackets ahead of the 2016-17 season and then signed with the Los Angeles Kings as a scout, the writing was not only on the wall but written in spray-paint.

Of course, he did win two Stanley Cups with the Kings, centering their checking line. While in L.A., he received some Selke Trophy votes in three different seasons, and had in his final year with the Edmonton Oilers as well.

Here is my favourite card of his, which happens to be during his days in Edmonton:

It's #20 from Upper Deck's 2005-06 Ovation set, and he signed it in (fading) blue sharpie after a Kings game in 2014-15. Ovation cards were like Ice and Artifact - a tad expensive for almost no "pulls" and just a few common cards, but so beautiful and classy. The silver foil on this card is really marvelous, and the cardboard has a three-dimensional feel thanks to the relief, which simulated used ice. It's too bad they went the way of the dodo.

He was inducted in the Kootenay Ice Hall Of Fame on March 1st (he was actually the first inductee).

Jarmo Kekalainen Autographed Card

Not everyone agrees, but I really liked most of Jarmo Kekalainen's gamble of going all-in in for these playoffs with a high number of possible unrestricted free agents at year's end, including the ones they already had (Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky) that they didn't trade for (tangible or intangible) "assets" at the deadline, as well as other UFAs-to-be in Ryan Dzingel and Matt Duchene - although the Columbus Blue Jackets should have read the signs of Duchene's previous trade, which sent him from a team that was near dead-last to a Conference Finalist Ottawa Senators club that was in the playoff picture in December, only to have the Sens miss the playoffs after his acquisition and the Colorado Avalanche squeak in on the Western Conference front.

Some thought Kekalainen paid too steep a price for Dzingel (Anthony Duclair and two second-rounders) while the Duchene deal, who came with Julius Bergman (an AHL offensive defenseman since traded with a fourth-rounder and a seventh rounder for defensive defenseman Adam McQuaid, another pending UFA) for prospects Jonathan Davidsson, Vitaly Abramov, an actual 2019 first-rounder and a conditional 2020 first-rounder, was essentially seen as continuing to empty the 2019 draft cupboard, as the Jackets currently only hold two picks next summer: their own third-rounder, and the Pittsburgh Penguins' seventh, which is almost guaranteed to be a late one.

They also don't have a second or third pick in 2020. You'd think a GM with the drafting pedigree like Kekalainen would value any pick highly; after all, he's responsible for the Sens (!!) drafting the likes of Jason Spezza, Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat, Antoine Vermette and Ray Emery; he got the St. Louis Blues David Backes, David Perron, T.J. Oshie and Alex Pietrangelo; in Columbus, he surprised many observers with the bull's eye surprise selections of Zach Werenski and Pierre-Luc Dubois, and he could very well have scored the same type of home run with Team France member  Alexandre Texier and London Knights skinny center Liam Foudy, both parents of whom were athletes.

Or maybe he's just taking too many risks now.

But he's making the game behind the game very exciting.

I wrote to him nearly two years ago and got this signed card back from him nearly a year ago to the day, before moving into my current digs (April 1st, 2018):

It's #108 from Upper Deck's 1991-92 Series 1 set, showing him attempting a play despite the presence of New York Islanders defenseman Nolan Baumgartner. "KK" may have only scored 5 goals with 8 assists for 13 points in 55 NHL games spread over three seasons in four years, but he did score against the Isles on January 15th, 1991. There's a very good chance this picture came from that game (he was blanked by the Isles in a February 28 game in Boston, where he would've been wearing the B's white - then-home - uniform).

This is a Boston Bruins uniform I have a soft spot for, as it's the one from my youth.

Thomas Hickey Autograph Card

Thomas Hickey is a former first-round pick (fourth overall, 2007) who delivers more than a hit per game, and many are huge ones, such as this one on Brendan Gallagher:

Props to the Montréal Canadiens' should-be captain for bouncing right back up from the hit, but it was clean and did not deserve Gallagher's extra attention, especially since #11's teammate Andrew Shaw had laid a borderline dirty hit on New York Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield in the previous shift.

Hickey's 30 years old now and has cemented his place as a second-pairing defender on a strong Isles blue line, playing 19 minutes per night in this injury-filled season, but he's also played upwards of 21 per game in the postseason before.

I really like what Barry Trotz, Lane Lambert and Mitch Korn have brought to the Islanders, uniting the team after star center John Tavares' departure to the Toronto Maple Leafs and instilling a team-first/underdog mentality that may just lead them to the top of their division, a feat the Leafs were never truly in a position to achieve at any point this year. Or any year, as they've only done so once in my lifetime (1999-2000). Which happens to be the only time they'd done so since the early 1960s. They haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1967 either. But hey, free agents are free to sign wherever they please - and everyone makes mistakes.

Hickey, for his part, is currently in the first of a four-year contract that pays him $2.5M annually and is semi-lockout-protected for 2020-21, as he's slated to get half his salary as a signing bonus on July 1st the summer before. That's a mighty good deal no matter how you slice it, as it takes him to what may be the end of his prime, at 34 years old.

Here he is as captain of Team Canada from the World Juniors, at which he won gold medals in both 2008 and 2009 on card #TCS-TH from Upper Deck's 2015-16 O-Pee-Chee set and Team Canada Signatures sub-set:

Even though he's clearly wearing a #4 white (home) jersey, the on-sticker autograph sees him having tagged "14" at the end - his number with the Isles until this year, until Dennis Seidenberg was let go, freeing #4. Fun fact: Seidenberg's now back with the team after skating and practicing with them all year on a PTO.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau Autographed Card

One of my favourite remaining players on the Ottawa Senators, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, was hit with his first career suspension earlier today, a one-game punishment for a hit to the back of the Vancouver Canucks' Ashton Sautner last night.

Pageau's usually a mild-mannered dependable two-way forward, but perhaps his extremely disappointing season is taking its toll on him: the Sens look like they'll finish last overall and he himself is marred in a three-year downward trajectory in terms of on-ice production, and he's posted his lowest per-game points average since becoming an NHL regular:

from FrozenTools

Then again, a career-low shooting percentage indicates this year is an outlier and, should he hit the 10% mark next year, will revert back to being a 40-point producer.

He's also playing on a defensive line with Tom Pyatt, who may very well retire after season's end if no one will hire him; his time in Ottawa looks pretty much over, especially now that head coach Guy Boucher has left/been fired.

Pageau signed this card for me last year:

It's card #49 from In The Game's 2011-12 Heroes And Prospects set, which he signed in blue sharpie; it's a much sharper signature than when he signed the same card for me back in 2015. That means I have one to trade...

Like Sean Couturier before him, I expect him to bounce back next year, as they're following a similar development curve.

Kerby Rychel: Two Autographed Cards

I wrote about a prospect who is currently in his fourth NHL franchise yesterday in Anthony Duclair; Kerby Rychel is in the same boat, now playing for the Calgary Flames' AHL affiliate the Stockton Heat, after stints with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montréal Canadiens and Columbus Blue Jackets organizations.

Unlike Duclair, skating is an area where NHL GMs and coaches are always telling Rychel to improve; his strongest suits are his grit, taste for playing in traffic areas (including in front of the opposition's net), tipping pucks, and traits generally associated with "plug-type" players and bottom-sixers, not first-rounders.

Still, it's not his fault the Blue Jackets selected him 19th overall in 2013, ahead of Anthony Mantha (20th, already 200 games and 60 goals in an NHL career), Andre Burakovsky (23rd, 318 NHL games, 61 goals), Shea Theodore (26th), Ryan Hartman (30th), Robert Hagg (41st), Artturi Lehkonen (55th, 200+ games), Brett Pesce (66th, 278 games and counting), Pavel Buchnevich (75th), Jake Guentzel (77th, closing in on 200 games and a goal shy of 75), Mattias Janmark-Nylen (79th, 224 games, 40 career goals), Duclair (80th, 277 games, over 50 goals), Sven Andrighetto (86th, 205 games, 50 assists), Oliver Bjorkstrand (89th, 187 games), Miles Wood (100th, 193 games), Andrew Copp (104th, 282 games), and Tyler Motte (121st, closing in on 150 games played).

I've heard and read about a lack of compete and work ethic in his case, but surely there was a way to instill those traits in him via positive reinforcement and reward for what he did do well, and accentuating or encouraging a will to become a Dave Andreychuck/Ray Sheppard/Brad Marchand type of "garbage goal" scorer and powerplay menace, and expanding from there.

All's not lost for him yet, at just 24 years of age, and he does have 23 goals in 57 AHL games this season, so surely an NHL team might take a chance on him in the near future, it's just been a rockier path than some expected.

For my part, I always say power forwards need more time to develop, and although he's a little small for one, that's how he plays; he also never reached the 100-point mark in Juniors, so he was always going to have to learn to work hard to deserve his chances.

Speaking of which, here's a card from his OHL days with the Windsor Spitfires:

It's card #T-45 from In The Game's 2013-14 Heroes And Prospects 10th Anniversary set and shows him wearing the Spitfires' white (home) uniform.

There is also card #88 from Upper Deck's 2014-15 Team Canada Juniors/Women set, where he's seen protecting the puck from a Swiss player while wearing Team Canada's red (away) uniform:

He was held pointless in 7 games at the 2014 World Juniors, as Canada finished in fourth place.

He signed both in (fading) black sharpie while playing for the AHL's Toronto Marlies (2016-18).

Anthony Duclair Autographed Card

To many, Anthony Duclair is a mystery inside a riddle inside a maze that is lost somewhere in the vast confines of space. That's because he's a talented winger with all the tools needed to make an impact in today's NHL: tremendous speed, agile hands, a good shot and youth, as he's still just 23 years old.

But he doesn't backcheck hard enough and will make defensive mistakes (like Thomas Vanek still does at age 35, or more fittingly, like 27-year-old Evander Kane used to do, as he's closer to Duclair generationally). Or, as John Tortorella put it in late February, in his hometown of Montréal, with his parents watching the press conference on TV:

Duclair had many options to sign this summer, including a couple of two-year deals, and a two-way contract to play in his hometown (or more likely, a stint with the Montréal Canadiens' farm team, the Laval Rocket under Joël Bouchard's tutelage). Instead, he chose the Columbus Blue Jackets' one-year offer close to league minimum specifically to play under Tortorella, saying:

Before signing here, I talked to a bunch of guys that played for Torts and all I heard were good things. They all said he takes your game to another level and that's what I need, especially at this time in my career. You hear and you see all those interviews on YouTube, and all those rants, it's because he cares. He cares about his players. The main thing I heard is, "If you work hard for him, he'll battle for you."

My agent is Philippe Lecavalier, and his brother is [Vincent Lecavalier]. I talked to him a lot, about what happened in Tampa, when [Tortorella] came in and took the "C" away from him. We talked about what he went through. Then he told me it would be a good fit for me to play for him. It definitely opened my eyes, and it definitely was a no-brainer coming from a guy like that. (...)

If he calls me out, I don't take anything personal. He's just trying to make me a better player. He talks to me privately as well, he doesn't keep anything secret; if he has something to say, he says it, and as a player, you respect that a lot. Some coaches keep it to themselves and you don't get an explanation. He's going to give you that explanation every time. I like the challenge.

As usual, it's one thing to heed the warning, it's another to experience it firsthand. Torts is right in saying The Duke's got all the tools, and it isn't easy for a guy like Duclair, who was a goal-per-game regular-season producer and point-per-game postseason player on a Memorial Cup-caliber Québec Remparts team in Juniors, at point-per-game player on a gold-winning Team Canada club at the World Juniors and a 20-goal scorer in the NHL, to suddenly hear he doesn't know how to play the game, to be forced to play like old teammates of his who were never drafted, to not create plays out of nothing.

But that's the dilemma in the NHL. There are precious few who do not need to play defensively and can get their 50-60 points, but the vast majority of players need to play a perfect two-way game of chess to get middle-of-the-road stats (15-point guys turn in 25-point performances that way, and point-per-game AHLers get their 40-50 NHL points that way too). It evens the game down the middle, with creative plays fewer and further between - but they're still there at times, just once per week instead of once or twice per game; that means players can get a chance to win it for their team that once a week instead of tethering the edge of costing a game per week for their team.

That lesson is what turned Erik Karlsson and P.K. Subban into the best of their profession (although some still make the case that Subban remains risky a few times per year), and that's what separates that elite class from the decent-to-very-good, which holds the likes of Vanek, Ron Hainey in his prime, Morgan Rielly and Mike Reilly at the moment, and many more.

On the other hand, playing within the system is what makes late-round draft picks like Brendan Gallagher and projected spare forwards like Paul Byron into sure-fire 30- and 20-goal scorers.

NHL forwards are considered in their prime from ages 25 to 32; at 25, they're still in the shape they were in at 22, but stronger, and have started to use their experience to their advantage; from 30 to 32 is a stasis, where experience, health and nutrition help keep their production leveled, and after that, the toll on their bodies start showing, they slow down and must rely on their Hockey IQ more and more. Players like Duclair have more "innate hockey reflexes" (pure skill) than "Hockey IQ" (positioning and tactics), but all is not lost for him yet. The colour of his skin may mean a handful of teams in the U.S. might be more hesitant to give him a chance (I really hate to say this, but the past couple of years have shown that racism is not a thing of the past, unfortunately, even if hockey as a sport doesn't come with inherent biases against individuals - at least in my lifetime, it was probably different in Willie O'Ree's day), but he will probably be allowed another, final mulligan in North America before having to resort to playing in Europe if things once again turn sour between now and the end of April.

I just hope it doesn't have to get to that, and that he can find a permanent place within the Ottawa Senators organization. They need each other - but they need the best of what each has to offer, not the noise.

Here he is in happier times, as a member of the New York Rangers, when his future was at its most promising, Manhattan having already given him the nickname "The Duke", his spectacular play already winning the hearts of the team's fans:

That's card #U41 from Upper Deck's 2014-15 O-Pee-Chee Update collection and Marquee Rookie sub-set. I actually bought the unsigned card on Ebay then had him sign it in blue sharpie years later.

Ben Bishop Jersey Card

Once again, Ben Bishop is quietly having a Vezina consideration-worthy season, leading the league in save percentage. He is by far the biggest reason why the Dallas Stars will be making the playoffs, especially since Jamie Benn's having a very difficult season with just 47 points in 67 games so far.

Sportsnet conducted an analysis comparing Bishop's save percentage in just about every situation not just to the rest of the league but also his backup Anton Khudobin (who "benefits" from the same offense-depleted roster and playing style), so despite seeing fiercest competition by definition of his #1 role, Bishop's outplaying everybody in the NHL except likely Vezina winner Andrei Vasilevskiy this season, who trails him by one point (.933 vs .932):

Sure, the three-game shutout streak (breaking Ed Belfour's old record by five minutes before leaving the game with a lower-body injury) helped with his stats line, but he was having an MVP season until then anyway. He already had three shutouts in the bank on a team whose defense reads like a who's who of who's who: star defenseman John Klingberg missed 18 games due to an injury, Miro Heiskanen is a rookie, Esa Lindell is looking like a good second-pairing defender, and Ben Lovejoy, Taylor Fedun and Roman Polak are supposed to be extras who won't produce much offensively but will finish with a +/- of around 0 in a good year yet were pushed onto roles that may be bigger than they can handle because Julius Honka (29 games played) and Marc Methot (9) were each sidelined for most of the season.

The team's Top-10 scoring leaders also looks like that of a team waiting for the lottery to give them a high draft pick:

from HockeyDB

And yet, not only do they look like a lock for the playoffs, they may even finish above Wild Card status:

This, to me, has Bishop as a nominee for the Hart Trophy (league MVP) as well, likely finishing third behind Tampa Bay Lightning magician Nikita Kucherov and Calgary Flames leader Johnny Gaudreau.

And so I thought it'd be a good moment to focus on card #GJ-BI from Upper Deck's 2018-19 Series 1 set and UD Game Jersey sub-set:

You might recall it from a Box Break from late December. It shows him wearing the Stars' beautiful green (away) uniform with 25th Anniversary (of their move to Dallas) patch, and prominently featuring a white game-worn jersey swatch.

Brent Ashton: Two Autographed Cards

Three weeks ago, the NHL trade deadline saw nearly 50 trades happen with a total of 83 actual players switching teams (one of them, Derick Brassard, moving twice) with just about the same number of draft picks switching owners.

No stranger to moving, Brent Ashton was the NHL's record-holder in that category for more than a decade, having been traded eight times in his 14-season career, a feat that was tied by Mike Sillinger in 2004 and surpassed two years later.

Fun fact: both Ashton and Sillinger hail from Saskatchewan, and both returned to their respective hometowns of Saskatoon and Regina upon retiring from the NHL. Fittingly, Ashton owns a sportswear business and is a licensed... real estate agent. He does know a thing or two about purchasing and moving into and out of homes, after all.

His wife Susan, however, may have had the most experience in that matter according to a 2009 interview with the NHL's website:

"There was no help," she says.

Susan was the one who said goodbye to her friends, sold the home, found a moving company, had the mail redirected, found a new place to live, got the phone hooked up and set up shop in a new city, where she started all over again. She didn't have a dressing room to offer shelter from the storm.

"It wasn't easy," says Brent about what his wife had to juggle.  "As players, we have the dressing room. What do the wives have? They were left on their own."

Of all the moves she's been through, Susan says the one time she was close to the edge emotionally was in 1991. She recalls being at the Winnipeg airport on her way to Boston with a lot on her plate.

"I had a 6-month-old, a 2 1/2-year-old and I had a dog, which was running around the airport, and I had our luggage," she says. "It was left up to me to move. But what could I do? What was the alternative? But I didn't cry. We were fortunate because our kids were not in school."

Their son, Carter Ashton, was a Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick (29th overall, first round, 2009) who now plays in the KHL after a few years in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization.

Brent's prime took place between the 1984-85 and 1989-90 seasons, where he had six consecutive 50-plus-point seasons (all of them with more than 20 goals), with a high of 40 goals and 75 points in 1986-87, which was split almost evenly between the Québec Nordiques and Detroit Red Wings.

He finished his career two games shy of the 1000 mark, with 284 goals and 345 assists for 629 points. He also had three solid postseason runs (one in Québec and two in Detroit) in which he amassed 35 of his career 49 playoff points (in 85 games).

His time in Québec occurring just before I started really paying attention to the sport, I mostly remember him with the Winnipeg Jets, which is why that's the team I had him sign cards from.

First, here he is wearing the team's initial purple (away) uniform on card #130 from Topps' 1990-91 Bowman collection:

Those long white sleeves are a look then-GM John Ferguson had previously tried to impose when with the New York Rangers (to vitriolic reviews) and brought over to the Jets when they made the switch from the WHA to the NHL.

They then modernized their look for the 1990s, as can be attested from card #78 from Score's 1991-92 Score (Canadian Edition) set:

He signed both in black sharpie. These cards allow me to induct him beside Keith Tkachuk as wearers of #7 in my Jets Numbers Project.

Garry Unger: Two Autographed Cards

Before Gary Unger, the NHL Ironman record was 264 straight games. From the time he suited up as a rookie for the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1967-68 season through trades to the Detroit Red Wings (same year) to the St. Louis Blues during the 1970-71 season and to the Atlanta Flames in 1979-80, he suited up in 914 consecutive games, until head coach Al MacNeil made him a healthy scratch on December 21st, 1979. It was the only game he'd miss that year, and it was just a message to the team's other players that each and every one of them had to be accountable and deserve their ice time, regardless of the fact that they were a record holder, or what language they spoke.

It wasn't the only time Unger was treated unfairly; he was actually traded by Detroit because he defied head coach Ned Harkness. Harkness didn't like Unger's attitude; he'd scored 44 goals the previous season and was now dating the current Miss America, Pamela Eldred, who had been Miss Michigan prior to that. Unger had everything going for him, and had long, blonde shoulder-length locks. Harkness - an authoritarian disciplinarian - was of the old guard that hated individuality and may have been better at running a boarding school. His career .368 NHL record (12-22-4) as a coach now speaking of itself, Harkness insisted all of his players sport crew cuts, specifically aiming at one player to fall in line. Unger refused and was shipped to St. Louis with another good and dependable player (Wayne Connelly) for fading star "Red" Berenson and fourth-liner Tim Ecclestone.

Unger scored 30 goals or more in each of his eight seasons with the Blues, with a high of 41 in 1972-73; he had three seasons over the 80-point mark, with a high of 83 in 1975-76. After the Flames incident, he spent the 1980-81 season with the Los Angeles Kings, collecting 10 goals and 10 assists (20 points) in 58 games, as can be shown on card #123 from O-Pee-Chee's 1980-81 O-Pee-Chee set:

And, yes, he then spent the next three seasons mentoring Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Kevin Lowe, Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri, Ken Linseman, Charlie Huddy, Grant Fuhr, Andy Moog, Laurie Boschman, Lee Fogolin and the other young members of the Edmonton Oilers into being true professionals, as evidenced on card #120 from OPC's 1982-83 O-Pee-Chee collection:

And, yes, this card has him joining Tom Gilbert as wearers of #77 in my Oilers Numbers Project.

After retiring, Unger set his sights to coaching, winning a championship with the 1992-93 Tulsa Oilers and teaching kids in the Tulsa area for many years after that. However, when he started having grandchildren, he moved back to Alberta (Banff, more specifically) and heads the Banff Hockey Association to this day, into his 70s.

I've had these cards, signed in ballpoint pen since pretty much forever.  I met him a few times in the mid-to-late 1990s while attending and eventually teaching at the Jacques St-Jean Hockey School, and there were times when we organized meet-and-greet/tournaments with other hockey schools in the country. He was a class act each time we made our way there, spending time with every kid who went to see him.

Oh, and yes, Doug Jarvis now holds the NHL Ironman record with 964 consecutive games, from October 1975 until October 1987, and Unger is sitting comfortably in second place; the longest current active streak is Keith Yandle's, at 784, following Andrew Cogliano's suspension, which blocked his streak at 830.

Jonathan Huberdeau: Two Autographed Cards

There were rumblings around the trade deadline that the Florida Panthers were shopping young star forward Jonathan Huberdeau, the third overall pick of the 2011 draft. That was just an invention from TSN's Frank Seravalli, based on nothing but the Cats' interest in the Columbus Blue Jackets' twin free agents-to-be, Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky, whom they could add to their roster this summer without giving away any assets whatsoever, let alone a point-per-game responsible two-way forward who is just still 25 years old.

Indeed, Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov have been the two locomotives running the Panthers' offense for the past few years and no GM in their right mind would even consider making a trade like that, let alone Dale Tallon, who is now in his second patient rebuild of the team he constructed into a division champion three years ago only to see his successor Tom Rowe destroy it in a single summer.

Huberdeau has not let himself be bothered by such rumours and currently stands at 22 goals, 52 assists and 74 points in 69 games and was just named the NHL's First Star Of The Week with 9 points in 4 games.

The 2012-13 Calder Trophy winner now sports an "A" on his jersey, demonstrating how important he is to the team's young leadership core, with captain Barkov, defenseman Aaron Ekblad (still just 22!), Vincent Trocheck and Frank Vatrano, as well as veterans Roberto Luongo, Evegeny Dadonov and Keith Yandle, not to mention a certain Mike Hoffman, if he can keep out of trouble.

Of course, Luongo's nearing retirement (or a buyout, which would actually affect the Vancouver Canucks, not Florida), and I don't see a goalie in the system ready to pick up the mantle, so the Bobrovsky rumours may very well be founded - and all teams should be going after Panarin, possibly the best in-his-prime impactful free agent of all time, on par with Steven Stamkos a few years back and ahead of John Tavares last summer. But those two need to be added to a roster that includes Huberdeau, Barkov and Trocheck, not replace any of them.

Huberdeau was in Montréal in January, signing two cards for me in blue sharpie (with his number, 11, tagged at the end); first, showing him in the team's best-looking red uniform ever (with the team's 20th anniversary patch on the chest) is card #198 from Upper Deck's 2014-15 O-Pee-Chee set:

There is also the matching white (away) uniform from the same era, from Upper Deck's 2015-16 Series 2 set (card #337 in the series):

In terms of white uniforms, I would classify this one as tied for second with the current one, but I preferred the team's original digs. There was something about that design with the horizontal arm stripes that just worked well in white.

Petr Nedved Autographed Card

The 1990 NHL draft caught my generation's imagination, in part thanks to it happening just prior to the league expanding its card licensing to allow for multiple manufacturers to produce cards, which in turn stimulated manufacturers to find innovative ways to feature more players, trying to be one step ahead of the competition, usually by trying to get an exclusive on the next "big" rookie...

And so the 1990-91 sets were the first to feature cards of first-round picks from the draft. Only two of them never played an NHL game: Michael Stewart (New York Rangers) and Scott Allison (Edmonton Oilers).

Heck, only six players drafted in the second round never played in the big show. 98 made it to the NHL in total.

15 players suited up for more than 1000 regular-season games. 71 played in over 100 games.

Three players posted more than 1000 career points: Jaromir Jagr (1921), Keith Tkachuk (1065), and Doug Weight (1033).

Seven scored more than 300 goals: Jagr (766), Tkachuk (538), Peter Bondra (503), Owen Nolan (422), Vyacheslav "Slava" Kozlov (356), Geoff Sanderson (355), and Petr Nedved (310).

Eleven had over 1000 penalty minutes: Gino Odjick (2567), Brad May (2248), Tkachuk (2219), Chris Simon (1824), Nolan (1793), Derian Hatcher (1581), Keith Primeau (1541), Enrico Ciccone (1469), Chris Tamer (1183), Jagr (1167) and Paul Kruse (1074), with Mike Ricci (979), Weight (970) and Turner Stevenson (969) falling just short.

Team captains? Jagr, Nolan, Tkachuk, Weight, Hatcher, Primeau, Alexei Zhamnov, and Craig Conroy.

#1 goalies? Martin Brodeur, Félix Potvin, Roman Turek. Solid backups? Trevor Kidd, Mike Dunham, Corey Schwab, and Tommy Soderstrom.

To put it simply, it was one of the best draft classes of all time.

And the second overall pick, who modeled his game after Wayne Gretzky from the way he tucked in his jersey in his pants to the bent over stance when skating forward to the pass-first attitude on two-on-ones was Nedved, a lanky Czechoslovakian defector who stood at 6'2" and only weighed 178 pounds at the time (he would grow to 6'3" and 205 pounds in his later years).

Nedved posted 65 goals, 80 assists and 145 points (with 80 penalty minutes) in just 71 games in his draft year for the WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds, despite playing away from his friends and family, before the internet, back when long-distance phone calls would cost a fortune, and while on the receiving end of racist taunts as a "commie" and "job thief", skating in Western Canada.

He went on to acquire his Canadian citizenship in 1993, even suiting up for Team Canada at the '94 Olympics whilst in a contract dispute with the Vancouver Canucks, earning a silver medal in the process, proving those kids wrong in their assessment of his true intentions when leaving Czechoslovakia; he won bronze representing the Czech Republic at the 2012 World Championships to bring things back full circle and to this day still spends half his time in Liberec and the other half in Vancouver.

What's impressive is his longevity and production even past his peak; his last 25-goal season in the NHL came in 2002-03 with the Rangers when he scored 27, yet two years later he scored 22 in just 46 games for Praha Sparta during the season-long 2004-05 lockout; and in his final six seasons in the Czech League, playing for his hometown Liberec Bili Tygri HC, he was still a point-per-game player:

from HockeyDB

He retired a month after the 2014 Sochi Olympics, although he hinted at a return at age 46 last year so he could play against Jagr.

He signed this card for me in blue ballpoint pen when I was a kid, probably in the early 1990s:

It's his first rookie card, #402 from Pro Set's 1990-91 Series 1 set, wearing the team's white (home) jersey from the draft. He wore #19 with the Canucks (1990-93) but mostly wore #93 (in honour of the year he received his Canadian citizenship) for the remainder of his career, with the St. Louis Blues, Pittsburgh Penguins, Rangers, Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, and Oilers.

Vincent Lecavalier Swatch Card

Vincent Lecavalier's name is all over the Tampa Bay Lightning's record book: most career goals (383), second in career assists (491) and points (874), the team's longest-serving captain (6 seasons) and up until tonight, its single-season points leader (108).

Nikita Kucherov's season for the ages, however, has now put the latter in the past, as he's now at 110 points with 13 more games to go in the regular season. This marks Kucherov's second-consecutive 100-point season, and he's been so impressive that he's rendered offensive stars like Steven Stamkos, Tyler Johnson and Brayden Point mere afterthoughts.

Then again, Tampa's so strong this season that both of its goalies - Andrei Vasilevskiy and Louis Domingue - have each had 10-game winning streaks this year. Of course, they're playing behind what is by far the best defense in the league in Norris winner Victor Hedman, All-Star Ryan McDonagh, potential future Norris winner Mikhail Sergachev, Anton Stralman, Braydon Coburn, and Dan Girardi. Any of the first four could be a first-unit player on any other team.

The Bolts are even more balanced than in Lecavalier's heyday, when he was surrounded by the likes of Hall of Famers Martin St-Louis and Dave Andreychuk, Brad Richards, Fredrik Modin, Cory Stillman, and Ruslan Fedotenko up front, Dan Boyle, Pavel Kubina, Cory Sarich and Jassen Cullimore out back, and "The Bulin Wall" Nikolai Khabibulin in nets. Some of those guys were extremely talented, and they did win the 2004 Stanley Cup, but they don't stack up against the All-World talent on this year's team, which was the fourth-fastest of all time to reach 100 points (although, of course, this warrants the asterisk for happening in the shootout era where there are no longer tied games).

Here is Lecavalier, sporting the captain's "C" on the Bolts' alternate jersey from last decade, on card #1 from Panini's 2011-12 Titanium set and Game-Worn Gear sub-set:

It features a black swatch that is more likely to be from the Lightning's black (away) uniform. I'd like to note that I like this jersey a lot better than the team's current alternate, the "Black Ice" uniform:

Urgh. Tampa Bay's batting average for jerseys is among the worst in the league with the Buffalo Sabres.

Derick Brassard Jersey Card

It hasn't been a fun couple of years for Derick Brassard.

The 6th overall pick of the 2006 NHL draft, he was a building block of the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2007 until 2013, when the New York Rangers made the Jackets an offer they couldn't refuse, essentially offering a just-past-his-prime Marian Gaborik for the young, emerging center, with secondary assets going each way as well.

In New York, Brassard became, essentially, a 60-point 1-B center, making the Blueshirts one of the best teams in the league down the middle, with Derek Stepan on equal footing and Kevin Hayes just behind them. Brassard was a key cog in the Rangers reaching consecutive Conference Finals in 2014 and 2015 (one of them a Stanley Cup Final, actually).

It was this type of production the Ottawa Senators were aiming to receive when they traded for him, sending the younger Mika Zibanejad to Manhattan before the 2016-17; he may have only had 39 points in 81 games that year in Guy Boucher's defensive system, but that still got the Sens to the second overtime period of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final. In a way, the got exactly what they wanted from a hometown kid.

And then the proverbial shit hit the fan and everything unraveled, with GM Pierre Dorion opting to dismantle the team as it started getting eaten away from the inside through odd stories involving Mike Hoffman's girlfriend versus Erik Karlsson's wife, and Matt Duchene sowing the seeds of discord as he is wont to do (remember Ubergate?).

In that dismantling, Brassard was sent to the Vegas Golden Knights for a third-round pick, who themselves flipped him to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Ryan Reaves and a fourth-rounder. The Pens were gearing for a third consecutive Cup run and figured Brassard, in a #3C spot, would be the best third-liner in the league; they also had the depth to pair him with the likes of Phil Kessel, Jake Guentzel, Connor Sheary, Bryan Rust or any other past home-run AHL call-up... except the Pens' luck had run out. All of their guesses in previous seasons had panned out, but their smart-money moves were now busts.

Less than a calendar year later, he was shipped to the Florida Panthers with a plethora of draft picks for Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann. Twenty-four days after that, the Panthers flipped him to the Colorado Avalanche, for a third-rounder.

I was big on him when the Sens acquired him, so I thought it'd be fitting to feature him wearing Ottawa's red jersey (with matching swatch) on card #GJ-BR from Upper Deck's 2017-18 Series 1 set and UD Game Jersey sub-set:

The swatch is actually very bright to the naked eye, the scan doesn't do it justice.

He'll be a UFA this summer; I doubt he gets a long-term deal despite being just 31 years old - and I'm not sure he gets anywhere near the $5M cap hit he had for the last five years, either.

Derek Stepan Swatch Card

The Arizona Coyotes have been the most snake-bitten team in the NHL this season, and the news just got worse as their #1 center, alternate captain Derek Stepan, was just ruled out of the next 4-6 weeks with a lower-body injury. He joins #1 goalie Antti Raanta, shut-down center Dave Bolland, top-pairing defenseman Jason Demers, rookie Kyle Capobianco, middle-six winger Michael Grabner, and young star Nick Schmaltz on the injured reserve list.

Last year, Stepan posted 56 points for the Coyotes, his second-best career mark, one point less than during the 2013-14 season with the New York Rangers. He was also second on the team, behind only star rookie Clayton Keller.

He captained the gold medal-winning Team USA at the 2010 World Juniors, leading the tournament with 14 points (4 goals and 10 assists) in 7 games and being named to the tournament's All-Star Team.

Here he is wearing the Rangers' classic white (now-away) uniform with a matching game-worn jersey swatch on card #15 from Panini's 2011-12 Crown Royale set and All The King's Men sub-set:

Stepan's cap hit of $6.5M runs through the 2020-21 season.

Jamie Macoun: Two Autographed Cards

It feels good to finally see the Calgary Flames near the top the NHL standings, 30 years after their last Presidents Trophy (and Stanley Cup) in my youth.

One of the important members of those strong 1980s Flames was Jamie Macoun, who could have had a stellar career as a point-collecting defenseman due to his size, speed and strength, but instead forged himself a reputation as one of the best shut-down defensemen in the league on the team's second pairing, with Ric Nattress. Between 1986-87 and 1990-91, his plus-minus read as follows: +33, +40, +34, and +29.

He missed the entire 1987-88 season after a car accident that first responders initially thought had been fatal, as he lost control of his vehicle, swerved into oncoming traffic on the other side of the highway, initiated a head-on collision, turned upside-down and skidded the length of a hockey rink (some 200 feet) on its roof; it took 45 minutes to get Macoun out of the vehicle because his arm was pinned underneath it, and the nerve damage was so bad that doctors gave him a 50-50 chance of ever being able to use it again - playing hockey was pretty much out of the question at that point, yet he returned. He pleaded guilty to charges of reckless driving and was fined.

The 1989-90 Flames team was probably the best team the franchise ever iced, although it finished second overall, a year after finishing first and winning the Cup. Its top two centers each passed the 90-point mark (Joe Nieuwendyk had 95, Doug Gilmour was a close second with 91); one of the greatest Russian forwards of all time (Sergei Makarov) won the Calder Trophy as Rookie Of The Year with 86 points after crossing the Atlantic Ocean; Gary Roberts (39), Joe Mullen (36) and Theoren Fleury (31) each passed the 30-goal mark; Paul Ranheim (26) and Brian MacLennan (20) each reached the 20-goal plateau; Joel Otto and Jan Hrdina's two-way play were both Selke-worthy; Al MacInnis (90) and Gary Suter (76) both posted point-per-game performances from the blue line; Macoun (+34), Dana Murzyn (+19) and Brad McCrimmon (+18) were all tremendous on the penalty kill; and Mike Vernon and Rick Wamsley were both dependable between the pipes, with Vernon coming off a Conn Smythe-worthy performance in the previous playoffs.

His career took a turn when he was part of one of the biggest (and lopsided) trades of my lifetime, as he was sent to the Toronto Maple Leafs with Gilmour, Nattress, Wamsley and prospect Kent Manderville for Craig Berube, Alexander Godynyuk, Gary Leeman, Michel Petit and backup goalie Jeff Reese. He helped the Leafs (along with Gilmour and a young Félix Potvin) reach the 1993 Conference Finals, falling to Wayne Gretzky's Los Angeles Kings, who themselves ultimately lost to the Montréal Canadiens.

He ended his career by playing just over a season for the Detroit Red Wings, who won the Cup in his first quarter-season with the team and finished first overall for his final season.

He returned to Calgary after retiring, running and co-owning a real estate firm; he also owned a stuffed toy store with his wife early in his career, and a Ford dealership in Ontario in his Leaf days. He is smart and business-savvy, but also affable, a quality that comes in handy as the head of the Flames' Alumni Association.

He was also an unquestioned leader, and was part of a rotation of team captains in 1990-91, as can be attested by the two cards below, starting with #38 from Pro Set's 1991-92 Series 1 set:

And there is also card #504 from Score's 1991-92 Score (Canadian Edition) set:

Both show him wearing the team's classic red (then-away) uniform and sporting the captain's "C". He signed them in blue sharpie at an NHL Alumni game.

He also suited up for Team Canada four times, winning silver medals at the 1985 and 1991 World Championships.