Jets Preview: Troy Murray: Two Autographed Cards

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This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: I liked doing last year's format, so I'll be doing it the same way this season as well, partly because of that but also because as a father of a toddler and a baby, I just do not have enough time to write two separate posts per day on each blog. I'll copy these on each one instead. Like last year, the entire scope of the analysis will take place here and the player will have some sort of direct connection to what's written.

Caveats: At this point, despite training camp being set to start, several players haven't found a team yet, many RFAs haven't signed with their respective teams, and a few clubs are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much maneuvering left to do.

Key exits: Mason Appleton (C), Mathieu Perreault (C/LW), Tucker Poolman (D), Laurent Brossoit (G), Derek Forbort (D), Nate Thompson (C), Trevor Lewis (C)

Key Arrivals: Nate Schmidt (D), Brendan Dillon (D), Riley Nash (C)

Top prospects: Cole Perfetti (C), Ville Heinola (D), Dylan Samberg (D), David Gustafsson (C), Kristian Vesalainen (LW), Chaz Lucius (C), Mikhail Bergin (G), Dmitri Kuzmin (D), Simon Lundmark (D)

Now that they've added to their blue line via the low-key Norris-level Schmidt and dependable Dillon, the Winnipeg Jets are once again a force to be reckoned with, with the best goalie in the world in Connor Hellebuyck, tremendous leadership in Blake Wheeler, star power in Mark Scheifele, the NHL's most underrated forward in Kyle Connor, and another potential first-line centre in Pierre-Luc Dubois, who underperformed last season after coming in a couple of weeks late due to Canadian Covid-19 protocols and never really getting enough time to catch up, but who has proven in the past that he can carry the load. And Schmidt's arrival will send Neal Pionk and Josh Morrissey in ideal slots (they were fine operating as the top-two defensemen but will be elite #2s and #3s).

What makes their odds look good:
A team with Hellebuyck between the pipes makes the playoffs. A team with him and Schmidt, Pionk and Morrissey might win a round. Add two potent offensive lines and a full cast on D (including Dylan DeMelo) and you may get a Conference Final.

Question marks: Eric Comrie is now in his 8th season trying to make it as the Jets' backup goalie. Will it work this time? He's a bit too good for the AHL and no longer has anything to prove there, he just needs to step up and have a save percentage above .905 to keep his head above water. This team is strong but not especially deep. A couple of key injuries could derail a lot of good things - and one to Hellebuyck would be deadly.

Outlook:
Don't sleep on the Jets. In a relatively weak Central Division where only the Colorado Avalanche are a powerhouse, there is a path to the third round that's wide open, and Winnipeg's talent level ranks on par with that of the St. Louis Blues, and above the Minnesota Wild, Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars.

Prediction:
Second in the Central Division.

Troy Murray was only a member of the Jets for a year and a half before the team - which had acquired him from the Chicago Blackhawks prior to the 1991-92 season - sent him back to the Hawks in February of 1993. The Jets ended up with the rights to Warren Rychel (who never played in Winnipeg) and Steven Bancroft while the Hawks landed Bryan Marchment (one of the meanest and dirtiest players of all time) and Chris Norton. Murray was by far the best player in any transaction, captaining the Jets for the duration of his stay in Canada and winning the Selke trophy in 1985-86 as well as the Stanley Cup in 1996 with the Colorado Avalanche alongside Rychel.

He was also captain of the Team Canada squad that took home the gold medal at the 1982 World Juniors.

After two stints with Chicago spanning 12 seasons and one year playing for the IHL's Chicago Wolves (posting 21 goals, 29 assists and 50 points as well as 63 penalty minutes in 81 games), Murray joined the Hawks' broadcast team upon retiring as a player, and it was announced just last week that he had been diagnosed with cancer. I wish him the best of luck in his fight for his life.

Here he is wearing the Jets' white (then-home) uniform, on card #215 from Pro Set's 1992-93 Series 1 collection:

And here he is in action pivoting in front of New York Islanders goalie (and fellow current broadcaster) Glenn Healy, with Jeff Norton in possession of the puck:

Both were signed in blue sharpie while he was in town with the Hawks, around 2015-2017.

Ralph Backstrom: Two Autographed Cards

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Ralph Backstrom passed away in his Colorado home yesterday, at age 83, following an illness.

I previously mentioned how he was a six-time All-Star in his first 12 NHL seaons with the Montréal Canadiens, winning the Stanley Cup in 1959, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1968, and 1969 in the process as part of two Habs dynasties, living through the transition from the Maurice "Rocket" Richard/Dickie Moore/Jacques Plante era to the Henri Richard/Yvan Cournoyer/Lorne "Gump" Worsley/Rogatien Vachon one.

He was also an All-Star in the WHA following stints with the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks and a member of Team Canada at the 1974 Summit Series against the USSR with Gerry Cheevers, Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Mark Howe and André Lacroix. His 8 points in 8 games were one shy of tournament leader Hull.

With a Calder Trophy, seven 20-goal seasons in the NHL and two 30-goal campaigns in the WHA, Backstrom is the type of player of belongs in the Hall Of Very Good - just shy of a Hall Of Fame career, yet too good to be allowed to be forgotten. Furthermore, he and Canadiens GM Sam Pollock are responsible for building the Habs' last dynasty - the one from the 1970s, which included the 1977 and 1978 editions, arguably considered the best lineups of all time, ahead of or a close second to the 1980s Edmonton Oilers. That is because Backstrom eventually grew tired of being "the best third-liner in hockey" and wanted a shot at more ice time to pad his own statistics, and face the oppositions' checkers instead of their best offensive elements, and Pollock eventually acquiesced, but in a wry, sly way.

The GM had traded Montréal's first-round pick and forward Ernie Hicke to the California Golden Seals for the Seals' first-rounder (believed to be the first-overall, since the team that finished last in the league got the first pick at the time) and local minor-league defenceman François Lacombe, who never played in the NHL. The best player in Juniors that year was a young man who was believed to be a "generational talent", Guy Lafleur, and the second-best player was no slouch himself, Marcel Dionne. But mid-way through the season, the Kings had a worse record than the Seals, so Pollock made them an offer they couldn't refuse: Backstrom - who was good enough to move directly onto L.A.'s first line - for Gord Labossière, Ray Fortin and hockey's most-traded commodity: future considerations. Fortin, a Quebecer, played 92 NHL games - none for the Canadiens; Labossière, despite belonging to the Habs twice, never suited up for the team in his 215 career NHL games. Backstrom's 27 points in just 33 games was the team's 10th-best mark, as he was far and away ahead of the rest of the team in points-per-game, leading the Kings ahead of not just the Golden Seals but also the lowly Pittsburgh Penguins. Lafleur would win two Hart Trophies, three Lester B. Pearson Awards as best player as voted by his peers, three Art Ross Trophies and a Conn Smythe, leading the Habs to five Stanley Cups.

But Backstrom was a natural in the bleu-blanc-rouge, as seen on card #7 from the 1992-93 Ultimate set by the Ultimate Trading Card Company:

And he looked just as good wearing the white (home) uniform:

That's card #64 from Parkhurst's 1995-96 Parkhurst Reprints set, the third such set by the revived card brand, this time hypothesizing how a 1966-67 set would have looked like. I have another one of these, signed in much thicker black sharpie.

Leafs Preview: Wendel Clark Autographed Card

This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: 2020 is a different beast and requires adaptability; in my case, it means the joint posts with my "main/personal" blog will not be in the "player here/analysis there" format but rather the entire scope of the analysis will take place here and the player will have some sort of direct connection to what's written. Two more caveats: at this point, the NHL has not even confirmed the division make-ups yet despite the season being set to start a month from now, and several impact players such as 25-to-30-goal scorer Mike Hoffman and 20-goal journeyman forward Anthony Duclair, among others, haven't found a team yet. And quite a few teams are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much maneuvering left to do.

That being said, let's start with the one division we're pretty sure is going to happen if only because of the border situation, the Canadian Division, and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

After three straight first-round eliminations at the hands of the Boston Bruins, the Leafs technically missed the playoffs altogether in 2019-20 after being ousted in the Return To Play by the Columbus Blue Jackets, despite a powerhouse offense that features Auston Matthews - who was on pace for 50 goals and 100 points - Mitch Marner, John Tavares, Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson but no defense to speak of. Gone are Kapanen and Johnsson, as well as Kyle Clifford, Cody Ceci, Frédérik Gauthier, Kevin Gravel and Tyson Barrie, replaced by grizzled veterans Joe Thornton (off a decent warm-up in the Swiss League), Wayne Simmonds, T.J. Brodie, Stanley Cup winner Zach Bogosian, Aaron Dell and former star U.S. College player Jimmy Vesey.

What makes their odds look good:
All that offensive firepower (minus the 40 goals provided by Johnsson and Kapanen) is still there and Morgan Rielly won't have to compete for ice time with Barrie and will be able to go back to accumulating points from the blue line.

Question marks:
Brodie will cover Rielly's back, but he is not a contributor like Barrie. Thornton, Simmonds and Bogosian are but shadows of their former selves, although the first two might get at least a temporary boost from playing in their hometowns. Goaltender Frederik Andersen no longer has the Toronto media hype machine to overrate, inflate and rate as great his performances and we can see him for what he is: a fine starter, but no Vezina contender.

Outlook:
As currently constructed, the Leafs' back end and depth is not made to withstand a condensed schedule, what with all those veterans in the middle of the lineup (Thornton, Simmonds, Jason Spezza, Jake Muzzin, Bogosian) and sudden drop-off in productivity up-front. Sure, there is something to be said about leadership, experience and character, but there's a reason why it's always the veteran who is two days from retirement who dies in all those cop movies and never the brash rookie: he just can't keep up and the gam has gotten past him. I also have a thing about Thornton and Tavares never winning a Cup and rooting for more of the same forever.

Prediction:
Fifth in the Canadian/North Division, a point shy of a playoff spot.

Which brings me to Wendel Clark, the only good forward not named Borje Salming the team had in the 1980s, who represents the team extremely well. Again, he was very good, a two-time All-Star Game participant (in his prime in 1986 and as a veteran prior to retirement in 1999), but no Hall Of Famer. Ask any Leaf fan and they'll tell you he was a multiple 50-goal scorer, when he in fact surpassed 40 only once (46, in 64 games, in 1993-94), although he did reach 30 four more times, three of them with Toronto. He collected over 200 penalty minutes twice and nearly did so a third time, and was a "minus" player for most of his career, doing worse than -20 four times, and worse than -10 three more.

Like Andersen, Tavares, Thornton, Rielly and nearly every player who dons the blue Maple Leaf jersey, Leaf fans overrate him and expect more than what he can provide - and whether he eventually does or not does not seem to matter.

He did captain the team from 1991 until 1994, as attested by card #325 from Topps' 1992-93 Topps set:

He signed it in black sharpie at a card show nearly a decade ago, between the time the Leafs honored his number (2008) and retired it (2016).

Doug Smail: Four Autographed Cards

There was a time in the 1970s and early 80s where very good players from Saskatchewan didn't necessarily play in the WHL and instead went to American Colleges, which is what Doug Smail opted for when he signed up with the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks, posting three impressive seasons of 50 points in 38 games, 58 points in 35 games and a whopping 43 goals, 44 assists and 87 points in 40 games to finish out his WCHA/NCAA career in 1979-80.

He caught the eye of the Winnipeg Jets - not enough for them to draft him, mind you, but they did sign him as a free agent - and by the second year he was a full-time NHLer. He had a career year in 1984-85 with 31 goals, 35 assists and 66 points in 80 games, but he passed the 40-point mark four more times in the 'Peg before essentially spending his final two and a half seasons as a journeyman, spending 57 games with the Minnesota North Stars, and one season apiece with the Québec Nordiques and Ottawa Senators.

At one time, he shared the NHL record for quickest goal to begin a game at five second, tied with Merlyn Phillips, Bryan Trottier and Alexander Mogilny. It has since been broken by James Van Riemsdyk. He was extremely fast and swift, and because of the way he skated and his short size (he was 5'9" and 175 pounds and skated mostly bent forward), he looked like a bullet on the ice, as can be attested bt these two cards from Pro Set:

On the left is card #117 from the 1991-92 Series 1 set showing him wearing the North Stars' beautiful green (away) uniform; card on the right is #466 from the 1991-92 Series 2 set, where he's sporting the Nordiques' classic blue (away) uniform.

Here's another shot of the Nordiques' amazing blue uniform, showing Smail during a defensive zone face-off in front of goalie Jacques Cloutier, on card #124 from Upper Deck's 1992-93 Series 1 set:

And here he is wearing Québec's white (home) uniform - a rare sight in the early 1990s - on card #197 from Score's 1992-93 Series 1 (Low Numbers) collection:

It was thought after his lone season in La Belle Province with 28 points in 46 games and the subsequent season with the Sens where he posted 14 points in 51 games and even spent 9 games with the IHL's San Diego Gulls (3 points and 20 penalty minutes) that perhaps it was time for him to hang his skates up, but that was proven to be entirely wrong with his final three seasons, played in the British League:

From HockeyDB

Yeah. That's a 169-point season in 53 games. He was 20 points behind team leader Mark Morrison's 189 (in 57 games) for a team that went from last place to second overall on the strength of their Canadian imports that season. And two points per game the following two seasons for good measure also looks good on any resume.

Nowadays, he lives in Colorado and last I heard, he was coaching minor hockey. He's also the ideal #41 in my Nordiques Numbers Project.

Jimmy Carson Autographed Card

You may recall his name from two nights ago: Jimmy Carson is the second-youngest player in NHL history to reach the 100 career goals mark, and the American player to do it the fastest. Carson already showed he was special in Juniors, playing for the LHJMQ's Verdun Junior Canadiens: in 1984-85, as a rookie, he was second in team scoring with 44 goals, 72 assists and 116 points in 68 games, second only to Claude Lemieux, and the following season he led the team with 70 goals, 83 assists and 153 points in 69 games, with second-place Everett Sanipass pretty far behind at 94 - although Sanipass' 320 penalty minutes would catch the eye of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Carson was selected second-overall at the 1986 draft, behind Joe Murphy, by the Los Angeles Kings and would finish seventh in his draft class in career points with 561, behind Vincent Damphousse (1205 points, 6th overall), Brian Leetch (1028 points, 9th overall), Scott Young (756 points, 11th overall), Craig Janney (751 points, 13th overall), Teppo Numminen (637 points from the blue line, 29th overall), and Adam Graves (616 points, 29th overall).

He finished third in Calder Trophy voting in 1986-87 behind Kings teammate Luc Robitaille, who was two years his senior and barely had a better offensive output, but had way worse defensive statistics (+/-):

Robitaille: 45 goals, 39 assists, 84 points, -19 in 79 games
Carson: 37 goals, 42 assists, 79 points, -5 in 80 games

Finishing second was Ron Hextall, winner of the Vezina and Conn Smythe that year.

Carson followed that up with a 55-goal, 52-assist, 107-point season in 1987-88, only to be traded to the Edmonton Oilers during he off-season with Martin Gélinas, round 1 pick in the 1989 draft (Jason Miller), round 1 pick in the 1991 draft (Martin Rucinsky), round 1 pick in the 1993 draft (Nick Stajduhar) and cash ($10M in 1988 dollars) to Edmonton Oilers for Wayne Gretzky, Mike Krushelnyski and Marty McSorley.

He had 49 goals, 51 assists and 100 points in his first season in Edmonton, but 4 games into the 1989-90 season (in which he had 3 points), after making a trade request, he was sent to his hometown Detroit Red Wings with Kevin McClelland and a 1991 fifth-rounder for Graves, Murphy, Petr Klima and Jeff Sharples, the kind of one-sided trade that gives a team - in this instance, the Oilers - a Stanley Cup. It is said that he couldn't handle the pressure of having been traded for Gretzky, but he told me it was more that he resented being the face of Gretzky's departure from Canada - a much different pressure than just hockey-related.

Playing second fiddle to Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov and Gerard Gallant, Carson didn't get much ice time and his statistics dipped, often falling close to the point-per-game average, but always below it. He was eventually sent back to L.A. (for Paul Coffey, no less!), where injuries and declining speed took their toll, eventually passing through the Vancouver Canucks and Hartford Whalers organizations, playing one year in Switzerland, and playing for him hometown IHL Detroit Vipers for parts of two seasons before retiring for good and entering the "normal, 9-to-5" workplace that is the world of financial planning.

Here he is wearing the Wings' red (then-away) uniform on card #398 from Topps' 1992-93 Topps set, with the NHL's 75 Anniversary patch on the chest:

He signed it in blue sharpie at a card show in Windsor in 2010 or 2011.

Don Sweeney: Two Autographed Cards

(As per years past, this is a twin-post with my "regular" blog, where I predicted the Boston Bruins would finish fourth in the Atlantic Division in 2019-20).

Nowadays, people see Don Sweeney as an executive - the reigning GM Of The Year - but he's also a 16-year former NHLer who spent the vast majority of his career with the Boston Bruins (15 years) as the great Raymond Bourque's defensive partner.

You learn a thing or two in such circumstances, including the need to keep a winning/contending team together so the star players don't have to leave to win that elusive Stanley Cup. And not only was he able to do so with his current roster, he also re-signed RFAs Charlie MacAvoy and Brandon Carlo to team-friendly bridge deals that fits right under the cap, with the understanding that they'll cash in on their next deals, when Zdeno Chara, David Krejci, David Backes and even Patrice Bergeron will no longer be on expensive deals.

It's ironic that what he does best - managing the salary cap - was his predecessor Peter Chiarelli's biggest weakness. Then again, Sweeney spent four years at Harvard while honing his skills instead of trying to play in Canadian Juniors.

While the Bruins' uniforms always remain close to their roots, my favourites were the ones from 1969-1995, which are the ones he's featured in on the cards he signed for me in black sharpie last year, starting with the white (home) ones:

That's card #244 from Pro Set's 1992-93 Parkhurst collection, and it's unclear if he's falling from being checked, from attempting to check an opponent or attempting some odd defensive maneuver in which he'd clear the puck with his hand whislt tripping.

There is also card #91 from Upper Deck's 1995-96 Collector's Choice set, showing him wearing their black (away) uniform, taking control of the puck in his own zone in front of journeyman goaltender Vincent Riendeau and New Jersey Devils forward Randy McKay:

Those are simply classic - simple and beautiful, perfect colours and stripes.

Yves Racine Autographed Card

Yves Racine was chosen 11th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1987 NHL Draft, ahead of Joe Sakic (15th), Andrew Cassels (17th), John LeClair (33rd), Jeff Hackett (34th), Éric Desjardins (38th), Mathieu Schneider (44th), and Theoren Fleury (166th).

He was a blue-chip prospect and proved it by posting 94- and 108-point seasons for the LHJMQ's Victoriaville Tigres after being drafted, then went on to post two 40-point seasons with the Wings before getting traded to the Philadelphia Flyers, where he had a career-high 52 points in 1993-94.

He then made his way to the Montréal Canadiens as a free agent, unfortunately landing on his hometown team the year it parted ways with legendary GM Serge Savard, Stanley Cup-winning coach Jacques Demers and the best goalie of all time, Patrick Roy. To add insult to injury, the Habs already had offensive-minded defensemen on the roster (Schneider, Patrice Brisebois, Jean-Jacques Daigneault, fellow former first-rounder Bryan Fogarty), which meant his skill-set was overly redundant, particularly on a team that lacked on-ice chemistry and defensive acumen.

He had short stints with the San Jose Sharks, Calgary Flames and Tampa Bay Lightning (in his third turn with Demers as coach, after Detroit and Montréal), but his reputation was already too tarnished to continue playing in the NHL as he turned 30, so he exiled himself to Europe, playing one season in Finland and four more in Germany before returning home to play in the LNAH for the Thetford Mines Prolab for a couple of years.

He then went into business with the Prolab's owner, Réal Breton, investing and obtaining a huge return in the building and selling of condos. Nowadays, he owns and operates a hardware and lumber company, Fixatech. He still suits up for the Habs' alumni team for charity events, a dozen or so times a year.

Here is is sporting the Wings' red (then-away) uniform, on card #287 from Fleer's 1992-93 Fleer Ultra set, which he signed in black sharpie during his time in Thetford Mines:

I should also have a few of him in Flyer orange and the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge as well, somewhere.

Garry Galley: Three Autographed Cards

Garry Galley is a Montréal-born All-Star defenseman who spent most of his prime playing for two of the Montréal Canadiens' most bitter rivals, the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers.

He actually started his career with the Los Angeles Kings, though, having been drafted 100th overall in 1983; he then spent a year and a half with the Washington Capitals before signing in Boston as a free agent.

Playing behind Ray Bourque on the Bs, Galley was among the best second-pair defenders in the league, helping the team reach the Stanley Cup Final in 1989-90 and playing in the 1991 All-Star Game. He even scored an overtime winner against the Habs in Round 2 of the 1990 playoffs that was compared to Bobby Orr's classic 1970 Cup-clinching "Superman" goal.

In February of 1992, however, the Bruins took advantage of his high value and sent him to the Flyers with Wes Walz for Brian Dobbin, the similarly-talented Gord Murphy and the draft pick that became Sergei Zholtok.

The Flyers ended up very happy with the trade, as Galley had his two most productive seasons in the NHL in Philly, posting 62- and 70-point seasons in the City Of Brotherly Love. He would appear as a member of the Flyers in the 1994 All-Star Game.

Once again taking advantage of his high tgrade value, the Flyers sent him to the Buffalo Sabres for former Habs defenseman/scout - and current player agent of most Czech players - Petr Svoboda. His two full seasons with the Sabres stand as a perfect example of what the mid-1990s clutch-and-grab style did to hockey, as can be attested by his stats line:

from HockeyDB

It's not that Galley regressed, it's that the entire NHL stopped scoring because everybody was imitating the New Jersey Devils' trap system to varying degrees of success, creating what became known as the Dead Puck Era.

After that, Galley spent three seasons with the Kings before playing out his final year with the New York Islanders.

Nowadays, he lives in Ottawa, where he provides game analysis to Ottawa Senators games on local radio and colour commentary on CBC's and Sportsnet's coverage of Hockey Night in Canada.

He's pretty cool in person, which is how I got him to sign these three cards in blue sharpie, starting with this one of him wearing the Bruins' classic black uniform from my youth, on card #71 from Score's 1991-92 Series 1 set:

And there are two from the Flyers, with the home and away variations of their 1980s/1990s uniforms:

On the left is the orange (away) uniform, featured on card #156 from Fleer's 1992-93 Fleer Ultra set, while on the card shows him sporting the white (home) uniform, from Upper Deck's 1992-93 Series 1 set (card #319).

For each of them, he also added the correct jersey number - 28 with the Bruins, 3 with the Flyers - in a bubble below his signature.

André Racicot Autographed Card

The struggling Montréal Canadiens were facing the mighty Ottawa Senators tonight, in a game I thought would end 3-0 for Ottawa but instead turned into an 8-3 drubbing of the Sens. The Habs were so desperate to change the tide that they'd started backup Al Montoya in lieu of $84M-man Carey Price. Then again, with a 3-6-1 record so far this season, a .883 save percentage and a 3.64 goals-against average, the main man isn't getting it done for the bleu-blanc-rouge between the pipes.

The Silver Seven blog had a pretty hilarious recap of the game, including this gem:

We got Erik Karlsson not being fully healed from his injury and kind of sucking at defense, Craig Anderson leaving his net too many times, #TheSystem totally collapsing, Jean-Gabriel Pageau not scoring a hat trick to save the day and, of course, the Sens being embarrassed on home ice by a team so utterly devoid of hope and shame that it has resorted to starting Al Montoya in net. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m pretty glad I’m no longer living in an environment which requires that I interact with Habs fans on a daily basis.

A score worthy of the early 1990s, which brings me back to this card of André Racicot wearing the Canadiens' white (then-home) uniform and signed in blue sharpie:

That's card #11 from O-Pee-Chee's 1992-93 O-Pee-Chee Premier set, a collection that became less and less "premium" as he years passed due to increasing over-production and lesser-quality rookies as time went on.

Racicot gets a bad rap. I remember telling my street hockey friends one night I wanted to call him "Red Light", because compared to Patrick Roy, the goal-scoring light would tun red far more often with the 5'11", 165-pound guy from Rouyn-Noranda than with the future Hall of Famer; it was a (mean) joke. I was a bit shocked to learn, a decade later, that the nickname had stuck. Then again, The Gazette's Red Fisher (and many others) lived in my neighbourhood, so perhaps they heard us use it on Marcil Avenue or at NDG Park...

He wasn't great, but he wasn't close to being the worst of his era either. During the Habs’ (last) Cup year in 1992-93, Racicot's statistics were actually pretty even with Roy's during the regular season: Roy went 31-25-5 with an .894 save percentage and 3.20 GAA, while Racicot went 17-5-1 with an .881 save percentage and 3.39 GAA. And, remember, Roy finished sixth in Vezina voting that year.

As a matter of fact, according to Grantline:

(Among) every goalie who played 40-plus games during Racicot’s five-year career, Racicot ranks 43rd out of 68 guys in save percentage; that isn’t great, but it certainly isn’t close to “worst ever” territory. He’s right in that dependable backup range with guys like Reggie Lemelin and Rick Wamsley, and not even all that far off from guys like Sean Burke and Mike Vernon, who were considered stars.

So it's not like he would have been in Antti Niemi/Kari Lehtonen/Ondrej Pavelec territory in current-day talk...

But there were times when scouts (Winnipeg Jets, Québec Nordiques) would come to my games and tell me that just from the fact that I wouldn't make these kinds of mistakes, I had a real shot at making the NHL one day:

Then I got to Juniors, and the Laval Titan wanted to turn me into a fighter...

But I digress.

What probably killed Racicot's chance at being a long-time NHL backup was his 1993-94 season, where he went 2-6-2 in 11 games with a 4.44 GAA and .850 save percentage with the Habs and 1-4-0 in 6 games with their AHL affiliate Fredericton Canadiens, with a 3.28 GAA and .863 save percentage.

This led to years toiling in the minors, appearing in the AHL, IHL, ECHL, WPHL, the BISL (British League), the Russian League, the WCHL and five seasons in the LHSPQ/QSCHL (now the LNAH) before he hung the pads up after the 2004-05 season.

He still plays in beer leagues, but as a skater. Mostly, though, he works for a mining company called Agnico-Eagle, operating out of the Laurentians.

Rollie Melanson Autographed Card

Many thought Roland Melanson would take the 2016-17 season off completely when he announced he wanted to spend more time with his mother and fiancée, but he eventually reached an agreement with the Vancouver Canucks where Dan Cloutier would take over as goalie coach in the NHL and Melanson would be more of a consultant dealing with the prospects and AHLers, traveling from Utica to Montréal to Moncton by car when required.

Then he left the Canucks' organization altogether and joined the New Jersey Devils this summer, reuniting him with former Vancouver prospect Cory Schneider.

Today, I'd like to focus on the short time he spent with the Montréal Canadiens - as a player, that is. It started off with a lop-sided trade by GM Serge Savard, who receive "Rollie The Goalie" and the Devils' captain, Kirk Muller, in exchange for two-time 50-goal scorer Stéphane Richer and Tom Chorske. While both teams would win a Stanley Cup in the next five years, the Habs won it first (1993 vs 1995), and Richer never again reached even the 40-goal mark, while Muller was almost a point-per-game player in Montréal, culminating in a 94-point season in 1992-93.

For his part, Melanson stole the backup job away from prospects André Racicot, Frédéric Chabot, Jean-Claude Bergeron and Les Kuntar on the strength of an incredible training camp performance (two shutouts and two one-goal games in four appearances). He continued his strong play with two regular-season shutouts in 9 games in 1991-92 (against the Philadelphia Flyers and division rivals Buffalo Sabres), but did do poorly against the Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Capitals, letting in 4 goals against each team. Racicot would also suit in for 9 games, but at that point, the Habs were solely Patrick Roy's show, as #33 hit the ice in 67 contests.

And yet, here's Melanson, wearing the Habs' classic red (then-away) uniform, sporting the now-retired #1 (for Jacques Plante), on card #187 from Topps' 1992-93 Bowman set:

He signed it in black sharpie in 2002-03, when he was the Canadiens' goaltending coach.

I personally relate to his season in Montréal because, like him, I earned a roster spot on my most competitive team yet that year, as coaches dubbed me "Rollie" or "Hellie", seeing as I too came in not expected to make the Pee-Wee "A" team as a guy who'd only been a "C"-level player before then; I was just supposed to be a body who would get cut, someone present to make others look good and boost their confidence. Instead, I became the starting goalie and led the team to three tournament finals and the City Championship, earning MVP honors at every turn.

Meeting him while he was coaching the likes of José Theodore and Jeff Hackett inspired me to offer my services to coach kids myself, which I eventually got to do.

Brian Hayward: Three Signed Sharks Cards

Remember the good old days when you could count on the San Jose Sharks to not make the playoffs? Well, according to me earlier today, things are looking bad for the boys in teal this coming season, as I see them finishing 6th in the Pacific Division.

It's not that they don't have top-level talent, they do: GM Doug Wilson has built a strong roster with good upper-end players like Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns and Marc-Édouard Vlasic, who can provide an almost-elite-level 20 minutes per game, plus the 60 games of top-notch goaltending from Martin Jones. Instead, the problem lies within the team's depth and a lack of youth among their prospects, considering none of Danny O'Regan (23 years old, C, point-per-game AHLer), Julius Bergman (21, D), Antoine Bibeau (23, G), Marcus Sorensen (25, LW), or Radim Simek (25, D) are under the age of 20, and some are already in their mid-20s.

It's not as bad as the Sharks' inaugural season, mind you, when a rookie by the name of Pat Falloon, whom many (not me) see as a failed draft pick or, worse, a "bust", led the team in every offensive category with 25 goals, 34 assists and 59 points in 79 games. Those would be half-decent numbers in 2017, but they were extremely low in 1991-92. So low that he was also a -32, which was in a three-way tie (with Jayson Moore and Pat MacLeod) for fourth-worse on the team; indeed, Paul Fenton was -39, current GM and then-captain and All-Star Wilson was -38, and Bob McGill was -34.

In net, the highest save percentage was a tie between Jeff Hackett and Wade Flaherty, at .892; followed future All-Star Arturs Irbe (.868), Team Finland goalie Jarmo Myllys (.867) and three-time Jennings Trophy winner Brian Hayward, whose back gave out from all the flailing around required to stop pucks with that porous a defense (.867, in 7 games). In terms of goals-against average, it ranged from 3.84 (Hackett) to 5.02 (Myllys), with three at 4-or-more in between (Flaherty at 4.38, Irbe at 4.47 and Hayward at 4.92).

It was while injured that Hayward caught the broadcasting bug, as he would serve as colour commentator for Sharks games when he was sidelined, until he retired and the expansion Anaheim Mighty Ducks came calling and offered him to do the job for them... fives times. He declined for a while, wanting to finish his MBA at Cornell University instead.

He did eventually agree and, 23 years later, he's still there, occasionally taking on double-duties with Hockey Night In Canada and on NBC. It was during one of those double-broadcasts in the playoffs that I crossed his path at the Bell Centre, where he took a black sharpie to sign cards featuring him wearing the Sharks' inaugural uniforms.

Let's start with the white (then-home) uniform, for which all players posed with the same, generic #91 jersey, on card #59 from Upper Deck's 1991-92 Series 1 set:

For the teal (then-away) uniform, I decided to go with two cards from the Topps brand:

On the left, possibly in the middle of one of his patented two-legged pad slides, is card #436 from the 1992-93 Topps set, while the picture on the right - also known as card #60 from the 1992-93 Bowman set, of which I have an unopened box for sale or trade, if anyone is interested - is probably from a pre-game warmup. What I like on the Bowman card is that he's two years removed from asking for a trade away from the Montréal Canadiens, but is still wearing Lefebvre pads, hand-made made by then-Habs trainer Gaétan Lefebvre for Patrick Roy and other butterfly goalies. Lefebvre produced these from 1987 until roughly 1995 for close friends and their families, but had already drastically reduced production when Roy started using all-Koho equipment prior to the 1992-93 season.

Phil Housley: Two Autographed Cards

Phil Housley is going home, in a way.

Indeed, the former Buffalo Sabres star defenseman was named the team's new head coach, just hours after the Nashville Predators fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games in the Stanley Cup Final, going back to the franchise that initially drafted him 6th overall in 1982, behind Gord Kluzak (1st, Boston Bruins), Brian Bellows (2nd, Minnesota North Stars), Gary Nylund (3rd, Toronto Maple Leafs), Ron Sutter (4th, Philadelphia Flyers), and Scott Stevens (5th, Washington Capitals), and ahead of the likes of Rich Sutter (10th, Pittsburgh Penguins), David Shaw (13th, Québec Nordiques), Chris Kontos (15th, New York Rangers), Dave Andreychuk (16th, Sabres), Murray Craven (17th, Detroit Red Wings), Ken Daneyko (18th, New Jersey Devils), Patrick Flatley (21st, New York Islanders), Gary Leeman (24th, Leafs), Paul Gillis (34th, Nordiques), Tomas Sandstrom (36th, Rangers), Pat Verbeek (43rd, Devils), Ken Wregget (45th, Leafs), Troy Loney (52nd, Pens), Mario Gosselin (55th, Nordiques), Kevin Dineen (56th, Hartford Whalers), Corey Millen (57th, Rangers), Dave Reid (60th, Bruins), Ulf Samuelsson (67th, Whalers), Mark Lamb (72nd, Calgary Flames), Vladimir Ruzicka (73rd, Leafs), Dave Ellett (75th, Winnipeg Jets), Bob Rouse (80th, North Stars), Alan Kerr (84th, Isles), Brad Shaw (86th, Wings), Ray Ferraro (88th, Whalers), Dean Evason (89th, Caps), Claude Vilgrain (107th, Wings), Randy Gilhen (109th, Whalers), Ron Hextall (199th, Flyers), Tony Granato (120th, Rangers), Bob Sweeney (123rd, Bruins), Doug Gilmour (134th, St. Louis Blues), Dave Brown (140th, Flyers), Mike Hough (181st, Nordiques), and Kelly Miller (183rd, Rangers).

Out of that draft year, you could say the biggest home run was Gilmour, and a few teams drafted particularly well (Flyers, Rangers, Wings, Nordiques and Whalers). If we could go back in time, my top-10 would likely be:

10. Tony Granato
9. Dave Andreychuk
8. Ron Hextall
7. Ulf Samuelsson
6. Murray Craven
5. Kevin Dineen
4. Brian Bellows
3. Doug Gilmour
2. Scott Stevens
1. Phil Housley

Going back to Housley himself, the American defender has a stellar career, posting career totals of 338 goals, 894 assists and 1232 points in 1495 regular-season games, and an additional 13 goals, 43 assists and 56 points in 85 playoff games, the first half against strong Adams Division rivals (the Bruins and Montréal Canadiens each reached the Final twice in the 1980s) and the middle part against the Edmonton Oilers dynasty...

Late in his career, he became a regular on the waiver wire, but during his prime, he was fairly traded for the likes of Hall of Famers Dale Hawerchuk and Al MacInnis, just to give you an idea.

Upon retiring, he turned to coaching - obviously - starting out with nine seasons coaching the Stillwater Area High School in Minnesota, then won a gold medal coaching Team USA at the 2013 World Juniors before spending the last four seasons as an assistant-coach in Nashville, a role he has also held with the American National Team four different times, at the 2011, 2013 (bronze medal) and 2014 World Championships, as well as the 2016 World Cup.

As a player, he has a silver medal from the 2002 Olympics, and was a member of the 1996 World Cup team that beat Canada in the Final in Montréal. He played in seven All-Star Games.

Despite also suiting up for the Sabres, Flames, Devils, Caps, Blues and Chicago Blackhawks, I usually picture him as the blue-line leader for the Jets, sporting the alternate captain's "A", as seen in these two cards he signed in blue sharpie during his Hall of Fame induction weekend in 2015; let's start with the home (white) uniform, on card #440 from Score's 1992-93 Score set and Franchise sub-set, a card that defines him in my opinion, with the Jofa helmet and a Sabres player in the background:

And here he is wearing the blue (away) uniform, on card #276 from Upper Deck's 1992-93 Series 1 set:

Yes, this "A" seems cheaper, like it was made out of tape or a roughly-cut piece of plastic that was ironed on the jersey, typical of the "old" rinky-dink NHL. I love it!

Jeff Hackett Autographed Card

It was hard deciding which card to feature in the post that will make my page views pass the 200,000 mark for this blog, but I thought I could go with things that represented me well as a goalie: old-school helmet with a white neck protector, Vaughn Legacy 2000 blocker, black pads, a mix of stand-up and butterfly, usually the best player on an awful team...

Like Jeff Hackett, seen here wearing the San Jose Sharks' inaugural white (home) uniform, on card #308 from Upper Deck's 1992-93 Series 1 set, featuring the NHL's 75th anniversary patch:

He signed it in black sharpie in his time with the Montréal Canadiens. You might recall my encounters with him were not the friendliest...

Still, he overachieved on teams that underwhelmed - throughout his career. Well, he may have run out of gas at the end, in his stints with Habs rivals Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers...

Joe Nieuwendyk Autographed Card

I consider things as being "back to normal" when teams from my youth such as the Montréal Canadiens, Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames make the playoffs, so things are, indeed, back to normal on that front. The Toronto Maple Leafs are also on the verge of clinching a playoff spot ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders, which I would have preferred been avoided, but considering they'll be facing either the Washington Capitals or Ottawa Senators, I'm fairly confident they'll lose in the first round anyway.

The Flames played in the strongest division of the 1980s, with the Oilers and Winnipeg Jets as powerhouses, which didn't stop them from winning the Presidents Trophy in 1987-88 and 1988-89, and winning the Stanley Cup to close out the decade year as well, in addition to losing to the Habs in the 1986 Final. They were truly a force, with the likes of Doug Gilmour, Theoren Fleury, Joe Mullen, Sergei Makarov, Joe Nieuwendyk and Joel Otto up front, Al MacInnis and Gary Suter out back and Mike Vernon between the pipes.

Sure, I put Nieuwendyk fifth on that list, and I always viewed him as an over-achiever, but the truth of the matter is he did achieve all the things that had him inducted in the Hall Of Fame in 2011 and among the league's Top-100 players at last February's Centennial All-Star celebrations (that part is definitely an aberration, considering players like Jarome Iginla and Joe Thornton didn't make the cut).

Here are the facts: he was only the second rookie to ever score 50 goals in a single season, winning the Calder Trophy in the process. He won Stanley Cups with three different organizations (the Flames in '89, the Dallas Stars in '99 and the New Jersey Devils in 2003), winning a Conn Smythe in 1999 that could have easily gone to Mike Modano (who had two more points), Brett Hull (who scored the winning goal and played fine two-way hockey), Ed Belfour (who posted a .930 save percentage and 1.67 goals-against average with three shutouts) or even Dominik Hasek (.939 and 1.77 despite losing the Final 4 games to 2).

He played in two Olympics, posting 5 points in 6 games as Team Canada choked like never before or since at the 1998 Nagano Games but won gold at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games as a fourth-liner, with two points in 6 games. So, yeah, you can add Olympic gold to his resume, as well as silver from the 1986 World Juniors.

Add to that a King Clancy Trophy (for community and charity work) and you have yourself a fairly distinguished career...

All told, he scored 564 goals to go with 562 assists and 1126 points in 1257 regular-season games, having hit the 90-point mark twice, but never 100. He also has 116 points (66 goals and 50 assists) in 158 playoff games. Failing to post a career point-per-game average in either regular-season or postseason play, to me, says "semi-star" instead of "superstar", which should have excluded him from the Hall, but I'm still glad to have him serve as #25 and captain in my Flames Numbers Project:

That's, fittingly, card #25 in Fleer's 1992-93 Fleer Ultra set, which he signed in blue sharpie either in 2003-04 (while with the Leafs) or 2005-06 (with the Florida Panthers), after a game against the Sens in Ottawa.

Steve Larmer Two Autographed Cards

The Winter Classic has just ended in a 4-1 St. Louis Blues win against the Chicago Blackhawks, with the final minute indeed looking like many outdoor games in the park, with Brent Seabrook acting as the pad-less goalie to keep the puck out of his team's net for as long as he could; Vladimir Tarasenko had a two-goal outing and led the way for his team against perhaps their fiercest rivals.

Yesterday, the Alumni game was filled with stars, including a relatively unexpected Wayne Gretzky suiting up for the Blues:

Notice anything weird beyond the fact that St. Louis had six more players and two more coaches dressed? Where were the 1980s Hawks stars, particularly Denis Savard and Steve Larmer? And what about hometown hero Chris Chelios?

To right that wrong, today, Larmer will be my featured player.

We're talking about a Calder Trophy winner, five-time 40-goal scorer, someone who had an 884-consecutive game streak halted by a contract dispute, perhaps the only player who actually had a legitimate shot at Doug Jarvis' record of 964 straight games in my lifetime.

A guy who won the Stanley Cup with the New York Oilers Rangers in 1994 and retired after achieving two important milestones (1000 points, 1000 games played) after the following season.

We're also talking about the guy who led the 1991 Canada Cup in goals (6), including the game-winner that gave Team Canada its fourth title against Team USA in the Final; he was also second only to Gretzky in points during the tournament. This, mere months after helping the Canadians win silver at the 1991 World Championships.

He also held the Hawks' team record for most points by a right winger (101) until Patrick Kane surpassed it last season (106).

All told, the hard-working leader from Peterborough was extremely consistent over his 13-year NHL career. And so, I will show him wearing two slightly different iterations of the Hawks' classic red (then-away) uniform, first on card #53 from Pro Set's inaugural 1990-91 Series 1 set:

Then there's card #266 from Score's 1992-93 Canadian Edition set, which has the added bonus of featuring the NHL's 75th Anniversary patch:

If you notice the crest on the shoulders (which the Hawks were seriously lacking in today's game, as it was located closer to the elbows), there was a slight variation of colours in the tomahawk; the shaft is easier to see when it's green (1992-93) than when it's red (1990-91), which means the hatchet went from green to white for differentiation purposes.

Cool, eh?

Larmer signed both cards using a black sharpie.

Patrick Poulin Autograph Card

Once viewed as a blue-chip prospect - he was drafted ninth-overall by the Hartford Whalers in 1991 after a 32-goal and 70-point season in 56 games with the St. Hyacinthe Laser, ahead of the likes of Martin Lapointe (10th), Brian Rolston (11th), Philippe Boucher (13th), Pat Peake (14th), Alexei Kovalev (15th), Markus Naslund (16th), Glen Murray (18th), Martin Rucinsky (20th), Dean McAmmond (22nd), Ray Whitney (23rd), Zigmund Palffy (26th), Steve Staios (27th), Sandis Ozolinsh (30th), Jozef Stumpel (40th), Yanic Perreault (47th), Chris Osgood (54th), Igor Kravchuk (71st), Alexei Zhitnik (81st), Mariusz Czerkawski (106th), Dmitri Yushkevich (122nd), Brian Holzinger (124th), Oleg Petrov (127th), Dmitri Mironov (160th), Igor Ulanov (203rd), and even Brian Savage (171st) - Patrick Poulin became a reliable middle-six forward for a lot of the 1990s.

His best offensive season was his rookie year, when he posted 20 goals, 31 assists and 51 points with the Whalers, who sold high on him and traded him to the Chicago Blackhawks after just 9 games in the 1993-94 season, when he had just amassed 3 points (2 goals and an assist); he was accompanied by Eric Weinrich while Steve Larmer and Bryan Marchment went to Hartford.

For his next two trades, he was accompanied by Ulanov, first from Chicago to the Tampa Bay Lightning (for Enrico Ciccone and an exchange of draft picks), then from Tampa to the Montréal Canadiens (with enforcer Mick Vukota, for sniper Stéphane Richer, prospect David Wilkie and pest Darcy Tucker).

The late-1990s Habs were a cemetery for hockey players, particularly local boys (Patrick Traverse, Vincent Damphousse, Marc Bureau, Jocelyn Thibault, Éric Houde, François Groleau, Jonathan Delisle, Sylvain Blouin, Jean-François Jomphe, Frédéric Chabot, Alain Nasreddine, Dave Morissette, Jesse Bélanger, Christian Laflamme, and possibly the team's worst free-agent signing ever, Randy McKay), and Poulin was no exception. After posting 31 goals and 75 points in 277 games over five seasons with the Canadiens, he retired after spending the end of the 2001-02 season with their farm team, the Québec Citadelles.

Here he is in better times, wearing the Whalers' final away (dark blue) uniform, from Topps' 1992-93 O-Pee-Chee Premier set:

It's card #85 in the collection, which he signed in blue sharpie in 2002, with his then-number (24) tagged at the end.