Ales Hemsky Dual Jersey Card

The Montréal Canadiens' big free agent acquisition this summer, Ales Hemsky, was the recipient of two big hits in the last game against the Anaheim Ducks, a booming one by Josh Manson and a dirty check from behind by Corey Perry, the latter of which left him with concussion-like symptoms.

Hemsky's already had multiple shoulder injuries throughout his NHL career, and missed most of last season after a hip operation. Now, at 34 years old, we'll have to add "head injury" to his long list of ailments.

His injury history is the biggest reason why I disproved of Habs GM Marc Bergevin offering Hemsky this deal, but there was also the fact that I was afraid people would expect him to replace first-line winger Alex Radulov, who had signed with the Dallas Stars the day before.

There was a time when Hemsky's production was close to elite-level, in his early days with the Edmonton Oilers;

from Hockey-Reference

Even then, however, as you can see in regards to games played, he was already having trouble suiting up in every game. The 2012-13 season was limited to 48 games due to a lock-out, and he still managed to miss 10 of them...

Scoring in general has gone down, league-wide, since 2010, in part due to refereeing becoming increasingly lackadaisical, and in part due to the sophistication of defensive systems, but Hemsky's decline is even more steep than the league average; point-per-game players have regressed to the 60-point mark on average, but in two seasons in Dallas, he's been producing around 40 points per 82 games.

With the disappointing Habs, he flat-lined like the rest of the team, with no goals, no assists, no points and 10 penalty minutes in 7 games so far. Surprisingly, at -1, defensively, he's the best on the team, tied with Jordie Benn. His Corsi For stands at an even 50%.

Here he is wearing the Oilers' classic white (now-away) uniform, on card #TS-AH from Upper Deck's 2013-14 Artifacts set and Treasured Swatches sub-set:

It features two game-worn orange jersey swatches made from different materials, therefore from different parts of the jersey. Here's wishing him a full recovery.

Ales Hemsky Autograph Card

The Dallas Stars seem to be in a selling mood, with the prospect of missing the playoffs one year after leading the Western Conference now becoming a reality more and more every day.

The off-kilter season started with a slew of injuries to their star players suffered at the World Cup, continued with the poor goaltending of Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi, and just never let up.

One of the forwards lost at the World Cup was Ales Hemsky, who appeared in a single game before it was deemed he would need season-ending surgery to repair his hip. While he wasn't exactly lighting it up in Dallas, he did have back-to-back 30-plus-point seasons (32 and 39, respectively) with the Stars, decent middle-six numbers in this day and age, although way below his career highs (77, 71 and 66 with the Edmonton Oilers after the 2004-05 season-long lockout), and below what he usually puts up with the Czech Team in international competitions; he did lead his country in points at the 2014 Olympics, in addition to his securing a 2006 Olympic bronze medal and 2005 gold and 2012 bronze medals from the World Championships.

Here he is on card #SFS-AH from Upper Deck's 2005-06 Trilogy set and Scripts One sub-set, showing him in the Oilers' late-1990s white (home) uniform with the team's 25th Anniversary patch:

It features a blue-sharpied on-sticker autograph that makes him the perfect entry for #83 in my Oilers Numbers Project.

Ales Hemsky Jersey Card

With two goals against the Ottawa Senators on the day before the trade deadline and three assists for them tonight, Ales Hemsky has had a busy week...

I've been a fan of Hemsky's since before he even started in the NHL, as he played his Junior career with the Hull Olympiques, less than two hours away from Montréal, and I saw him play a couple of times, right when I was getting re-acquanited with hockey (I stopped watching it save for the Stanley Cup Finals from the Patrick Roy trade in 1995 until Wayne Gretzky's last game in Ottawa in 1999, which like twenty five years).

He managed to compile 197 points in 131 games in the LHJMQ, and he kept producing at the NHL level. Sure, Edmonton Oilers fans wanted and expected more out of their 2001 first-round draft pick (13th overall), but look at these statistics:

2002-03 (rookie season): 30 points in 59 games
2005-06: 19 goals and 77 points in 81 games (plus 17 points in 24 playoff games)
2006-07: 53 points in 54 games
2007-08: 20 goals and 71 points in 74 games
2008-09: 23 goals and 66 points in 73 games
2009-10: 22 points in 22 games
2010-11: 14 goals and 42 points in 47 games
2011-12: 20 points in 38 games

Reads like clockwork to me.

He made the roster for the 2011 All-Star Game, and has won Olympic bronze with the Czech Republic (2006), as well as World Championship gold (2005) and bronze (2012).

So I never considered parting with this 2006-07 Series 1 card (#J-AH of the UD Game Jersey sub-set) from Upper Deck:

I wrote to him in 2011 and sent along 4 cards at the time, but never heard back, unfortunately.

Ales Hemsky Jersey Card

It's been a long time since my days of youth, since the Wayne Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers tore through the NHL and re-wrote the entire league's record book. This season, marred by injuries, will likely see them finish last overall.

Ever since the surprising Stanley Cup run of 2006, the team has failed to reach the post-season; apart from the usually stellar play of goalies (such as Dwayne Roloson), Ales Hemsky has pretty much been the lone bright spot on the team since then. Injuries, however, seem to be taking their toll on him, as he has only once played in over 80 games in a season (2005-06), and while he is always near the point-per-game mark - even in the playoffs - more and more critics are emerging from Edmonton to the effect that he might never fulfill the high expectations that were thrown his way upon entering the NHL.

Eager to catch the attention of NHL scouts, Hemsky played his junior hockey with the Hull Olympiques of the QMJHL, who had made him their first choice in the midget European player draft. In his rookie season with the Olympiques, despite having to adapt to new surroundings, Hemsky scored 36 goals and gathered 100 points, made the All-Rookie team and won the Mike Bossy trophy as the best prospect in the league, an honour won the previous year by Antoine Vermette and the following year by Pierre-Marc Bouchard. Other recent recipients include Sidney Crosby, Vincent Lecavalier and Alexandre Daigle...

In his second junior season, he scored 27 goals and finished with 97 points in 53 games, after the Oilers had made him the 13th overall pick of the 2001 draft.

He managed to collect 30 points in 59 games in his rookie season, despite being a healthy scratch for 23 games and playing limited minutes on the third and fourth lines. In his second season, he scored 12 goals, doubling his output from the previous year. By 2005-06, he was a team leader, managing 77 points in 81 regular-season games and 17 points in 24 games in the Cup run; the following season, he lead the team in scoring with 53 points - in a mere 64 games.

Before the 2007-08 season started, he was named one of the team's alternate captains, and he didn't disappoint nor crumble under the pressure, finishing first in points (71) and assists (51), while reaching the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career; in 2008-09, despite only playing in 72 games, he again led the team in points (66), but led it in goals as well, for the first time, with 23.

With his skill set, it is safe to say he can now be counted on to have 20-goal, point-per-game seasons, even on terrible teams like the current Oilers squad; if he were to be surrounded with better talent, he could flirt with the 25 goal/90-point mark, perhaps even 30/100. Considering other winners of the Mike Bossy trophy in the Québec junior league such as Vermette and Bouchard, Hemsky's statistics are vastly superior; in fact, they now resemble more those of a Saku Koivu, who was considered an elite player - when healthy - for most of his career.

What I like the most about this card (#10), an Authentic Game-Worn Jersey card numbered 159/250 from Pacific's 2003-04 Crown Royale set is that the piece of jersey contained in it is from the team's third jersey, designed by then-co-owner Todd McFarlane (the Calgary-born creator of comic-book series Spawn, also noted for his work drawing Batman and Spider-Man). The overall design is reminiscent of the Gretzky-era Los Angeles Kings jersey, while the logo, a stylized oil drop with gears and five smaller drops representing each of the team's Stanley Cup conquests... a work of art.

And for those who might like him for the wrong reasons, say the fact that he's blonde and has nice eyes, here's a whole entry on just that, from Hockey For The Ladies.