Predators Preview: Tyson Barrie Autograph Card

(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: Unlike in the distant past where I would post different texts on this collectibles blog and my personal one, I've been using a new format for the past couple of years, where I'll copy the same text on each one. As a father of two young kids, I just do not have enough time to write two separate posts per day on each blog. This year again, the entire scope of the analysis will take place first and the featured player will have a direct or perhaps indirect connection to what's written, below.

Caveats: At this point, despite training camp being set to start in a couple of weeks, several players haven't found a team yet and a few clubs are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much maneuvering left to do.

Key exits: Matt Duchene (C), Ryan Johansen (C), Mark Borowiecki (D), Zach Sanford (LW), Rasmus Aplund (C), and Cal Foote (D).

Key Arrivals: Ryan O'Reilly (C), Gustav Nyquist (C), Luke Schenn (D), and Denis Gurianov (LW).

Top prospects: Yaroslav Asparov (G, 21 years old, generally seen as a "can't miss" prospect), Joakim Kemell (RW, 19 years old, exploded in the AHL but could benefit from a bit of seasoning), Luke Evangelista (RW, 21 years old, candidate for the All-Rookie Team), Zachary L'Heureux (LW, 20 years old, has a bit of Claude Lemieux in him), Matthew Wood (RW, 18 years old, an NCAA All-Star at age 17 last year), and Fedor Svechkov (C, 20 years old, did not get much of a chance in the KHL last season).

Former head coach Barry Trotz took over from the Nashville Predators' only other GM in team history, and the first thing he did was send away all the bad apples in the dressing room, and then he brought in guys who used to think they were franchise players but learned to win Stanley Cups by relying on their teammates - O'Reilly's pivot still got him a Selke and a Conn Smythe, while Schenn won two championships riding the third pair with the mighty Tampa Bay Lightning.

What makes their odds look good:
When you have a goalie like Juuse Saros, you have a chance. Factor in Roman Josi having another two-three years of prime hockey left in him and you have an above-average defense that can win you those 3-2 and 2-1 games.

Question marks: Is sophomore Tommy Novak really their #1 center? The offense is very below average, but responding to the right system and a few players playing above expectations would help drag the Preds to the middle of the pack.

Outlook:
They were a playoff bubble team last year and in terms of talent are about on the same level this year, except they have a new head coach in Andrew Brunette and his boss is one of the best bench strategists in NHL history, who will be able to help and give his protégé tips at any given time. Trotz and Brunette might be worth a few more wins, say 3 or 4, but that cannot be enough to bring Nashville to the postseason, which isn't the point this year anyway.

Prediction:
Sixth in the Central Division.

Trade deadline acquisition Tyson Barrie came over from the Edmonton Oilers last season having quarterbacked the best powerplay in NHL history (with the help of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to some extent, I guess). He can handle that task with the Predators as well, with help from Josi.

It hasn't always been perfect for Barrie, though. Since the last time I wrote about him, he also had a one-year stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs where it simply did not work out, stepping into an immuable environment, in the midst of a run of regular-season success and spectacular playoff failure; there simply was no place for him on that team. His move to Edmonton proved that it wasn't on him, however, and that he could still be a very appreciated player, both on the ice and in the locker room.

He led all NHL defensemen in scoring during the 2020-21 season, with 48 points in just 56 games, finished 12th in All-Star voting, but did not receive a single Norris Trophy vote - the first time in history the points leader at the position is entirely snubbed for the trophy.

Here he is sporting the Colorado Avalanche's white (away) uniform on card #A-TB from Upper Deck's 2015-16 Artifacts set and Autofacts sub-set:

Barrie has suited up for Team Canada multiple times, winning silver at the 2011 World Juniors and 2017 World Championships, as well as gold at the 2015 World Championships.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson Jersey Card

(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

At times, it's looked like the Vancouver Canucks' management team comprising of President Jim Rutherford and GM Patrik Allvin have been in over their heads with this team, which they took over in a different contending window from when they led the Pittsburgh Penguins to two straight Stanley Cups out of the gate, having missed out on one and now being cap-strapped with key building pieces like Thatcher Demko, Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller, and Quinn Hughes.

Former captain Bo Horvat was sent to the New York Islanders at the last trade deadline, and rumours abounded that the likes of Brock Boeser, Connor Garland and Oliver Ekman-Larsson would eventually follow suit.

In the absence of a market for OEL's contract, however, the Canucks found themselves left with the option of terminating and buying out his contract, which brings tremendous cap relief this upcoming season and the next but will impact the team until the 2028-29 season.

I expect him to find a taker on a one-year deal around $2M to play on a team's third pair when free agency opens up on July 1st, but anything over those two thresholds would be a risk in my opinion (except for a team looking to reach the cap floor, in which case he'd probably rake in a million more as an experienced former captain for a team like the Chicago Blackhawks or Anaheim Ducks, and maybe also serve as deadline bait, as a rebuilding team would look to trade him for a mid-round (third or fourth) pick to a contender for a playoff run.

He spent his best years with the Arizona Coyotes, where he was one of very few bright spots in his eleven seasons with the franchise, twice leading them in points despite being a defenseman; he captained the team from 2018 to 2021 and represented them in the 2015 and 2018 All-Star Games. Here he is sporting their mid-2010s white (away) unifrom, on card #TS-OE from Upper Deck's 2015-16 Artifacts collection (and Treasured Swatches sub-set):

Artifacts used to be one of the two sets I most looked forward to seeing every year, with Ice.

Blaster Box Break: 2022-23 Artifacts

(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

I made a series of bad decisions today at Toys 'R' Us, including purchasing my kids clearance Ghosbusters and Incredibles plush toys that they ended up wanting noting to do with, but mostly having to do with knowing I had $35-40 of expendable money to put on hockey cards or McFarlane figurines, ending up deciding between blaster boxes of two Upper Deck products: 2022-23 O-Pee-Chee and 2022-23 Artifacts, at $43 plus tax apiece (essentially $50, above my target limit).

I should have steered clear, or at the very least gone with OPC, which was sure to get me double the amount of cards, and have them be easier to get signed as well. But no, I essentially played the lottery of 7 packs of 5 cards and paid more than a buck per card, got maybe three that I might be able to get signed (I'll probably end up aiming for ten, but I'm not confident at all), and was not giddy about any of the players I pulled. No Edmonton Oilers, no Colorado Avalanche, no Montréal Canadiens, no Calgary Flames, a single Ottawa Senators player.

Let's take a look at what I did get. First off, the set's theme this year is "blue". This used to be a set that had embossed textures, Egyptian-esque themes and colours relating to lost treasure and sand, like tones of grey, beige, light/nearly pastel versions of more traditional colours, with a classy bit of white to tie it all together. Not this year. It gets tackier every second I look at it, pretend British Royal drapes and a cheap design that a high schooler would have gotten down better:

At first glance, they look alright; the style is relatively reminiscent of past editions but definitely new, and the scan doesn't do the silver foil (ARTIFACTS brand, team logo and brand name), although the scan provides a depth to the blue artwork on the sides that the eyes can't even begin to see, kind of like when Advanced Stats had Benoît Pouloit as one of the best play-drivers in the league and yet everyone except Oilers GM Craig MacTavish knew that was absolute rubbish. this is worse than that. The backs feature five years of basic statistics as well as the player's height, weight, shooting side and birthdate (but neither birthplace, hometown or nationality).

Upper Deck having been infected by the O-Pee-Chee coloured variants/parallels virus since 2006-07, I did land three "Turquoise" parallels of Moritz Seider, Patrick Kane and John Carlson:

I exaggerated the green hue and put a bit of extra brightness on the filter to show that the foil is indeed a bit greener than just 'blue", but not all-out green, as that is probably reserved for the "Emerald" parallels.

The "one true hit" I got in this box is this "Indigo" parallel of Nicklas Backstrom, numbered 2/10:

Two things: the ink bled through its spots in both zeroes of the "02/10", which makes it look dirty, and the "/10" actually looks a lot more like "/18". I also don't know of diehard Backstrom fan communities where a member would take it off my hands at a decent value. If any ready knows of one, please, send them my way, it would be a shame if I let this one get destroyed out of neglect.

The entire set is comprised of 200 cards: 100 regular base cards, 35 "stars" (#101-135; short-printed at 599 copies each), 20 goalies (#136-155; also just limited to 599 per), 15 "legends" (#156-170; also limited to 599), and 30 rookies (#171-200; of which there are 999 of each, for some reason).

Please, please, please. PLEASE. STOP WITH THE RETIRED PLAYERS, and for fuck's sake, PLEASE DO NOT REFER TO ALL OF THEM AS LEGENDS. I pulled three, cards #160, 161 and 162 in the set, conveniently:

That is Matthias Ohlund, Teemu Selanne and Bernie Nicholls.

Selanne is a no-brainer Hall Of Famer. Consistently among the elite over a couple of decades, clutch both in his prime and in his decline, a decorated Olympian and Stanley Cup champion. He truly is a Legend.

Nicholls once scored 70 goals and twice scored 40 or more, and he has a 150-point and a 100-point season to his name. His peaks were high but he was merely very good compared to his peers for more than half his career, and he had a run with each team he's played on save for the Los Angeles Kings where he looked like his offense had completely dried up. He would need his lawyer to convice a panel of hockey experts that he belongs on a list of "legends".

Ohlund was the best defenseman on a Vancouver Canucks team that was in transition between the West Coast Express and Sedin Twin years, essentially holding the baton between two perhaps better defensemen in Jyrki Lumme and Alexander Edler. He did an admirable job, but unless I'm forgetting something, he pobably would have been a second-pair defender on a contending team.

Which brings me to this: Artifacts in a 200-player set in which the stars, rookies and goalies are relatively short-printed; 1004 skaters and 119 goalies suited up in at least one NHL game last year. Why waste ANY cardboard and ink on players whose cards can be found on Ebay for under a dollar at most and more commonly in penny bins at flea markets when half the players who actually suited in an NHL game in 2021-22 will not have their likeness on a 2022-23 product?

The colours on the "Legends" cards were spot-on, though. This should have been the main set's design.

For all these reasons, this box is the most disappointing one I've opened in a very long time.

2/10.

Alexander Wennberg Dual Jersey Card

(team and set links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

Alexander Wennberg reminds me a lot of Lars Eller, in that both were middle-of-the-first-round draft picks - Wennberg was selected 14th overall in 2013 by the Columbus Blue Jackets while Eller was chosen 13th in 2007 by the St. Louis Blues - who had all the tools to become top-six centers (size, passing abilities, decent speed, the ability to protect the puck, power along the boards) and even if they failed to reach their upside, their ability to play sound hockey away from the puck could justify their getting drafted relatively early regardless; there were going to be surprises and/or better-developped forwards picked later on, but they could at worst hold their own on a third line.

Eller was traded once to the Montréal Canadiens for a #1A goalie in Jaroslav Halak and subsequently fetched two second-rounders when acquired by the Washington Capitals, with whom he won a Stanley Cup as the #3 guy down the middle. He's proven to be a 15-goal, 30-point man, with a high of 38 in 2017-18, but he's a clutch playoff performer, with two decent runs (13 points in 17 games in 2013-14 and 18 in 24 games in the 2017-18 Cup run) under his belt.

Wennberg played his cards right in that he posted a career year in a contract year, parlaying a 13-goal, 46-assist and 59-point season in 2016-17 into a six-year deal paying him $29.4M, for a cap hit of $4.9M, while his production dwindled to 35, 25 and 22 points, even prompting the team to try to re-launch him by putting him on Pierre-Luc Dubois's wing with Emil Bemstrom. The Jackets ended up buying him out in the 2020 offseason, and he signed a one-year "show me" deal with the Florida Panthers, whose GM Bill Zito was a long-time assistant in Columbus.

Despite some playing time alongside Jonathan Huberdeau (34 points in 28 games), Wennberg's 13 points in 28 games rank him tied with Frank Vatrano, far behind the points totals of fellow centermen Aleksander Barkov (34) and Carter Verhaeghe (22). Still, head coach Joel Quenneville likes what he sees in terms of possession numbers and quality puck control.

Here he is one year removed from his career year, sporting the Blue Jackets' white (away) uniform, on the dual jersey insert version of card #98 from Upper Deck's 2018-19 Artifacts collection:

It features a couple of dark blue game-worn jersey swatches and is numbered #94/165.

Bruins Preview: Patrice Bergeron Jersey 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. Caveats: at this point, despite the season being set to start in Mid-January, several impact players 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.

One team that saw its situation get more problematic with the realignment this year is the Boston Bruins, who go from being one of two powerhouse teams in the Atlantic with the Tampa Bay Lightning and be nearly assured of at least one round of home ice advantage in the playoffs to joining the Metropolitan with perennial division winners Washington Capitals, contenders Philadelphia Flyers, the NHL's best-coached team (the New York Islanders), recent two-time Stanley Cup winners Pittsburgh Penguins, two teams that are nearing the end of their rebuilds in the New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres, and the New Jersey Devils. With Brad Marchand possibly still suffering from a serious injury to some extent and Rocket Richard Trophy co-winner David Pastrnak set to miss six weeks (i.e. close to half the season), the Bs will be fighting for their spot all year.

What makes their odds look good:
They still have the best goaltending duo in the league in Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak, for starters, so regardless of the team in front of them, they will always be in the game; Patrice Bergeron is still a two-way wonder, the middle-six is a solid if unimpressive blue collar-type of mix that always seems to fare well in Boston, and Bruce Cassidy has done a masterful job since taking over behind the bench in 2017.

Question marks:
With Bergeron still on board, I don't really fear a leadership "void" with the absence of Zdeno Chara on the blue line, as the giant's role had diminshed a lot in recent years with the steady play of Torey Krug and the rise of Charlie McAvoy, but don't sleep on Brandon Carlo, who is effective when on his game. Still, this is a defense that compares more with that of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets than the Flyers'. And Pastrnak's goals will be hard to replace.

Outlook:
The Flyers and Capitals are in a zone of their own, the Devils are a mess, theSabres' goaltending will sink them, the Rangers are clmbing and Pens are falling, which leaves the Bruins and Isles as the above average teams that should make the playoffs. But missing them and obtaining a high draft pick in a contract year for Rask that would bring his value down and getting back at it next year while essentially riding Pastrnak's injury out wouldn't be the end of the world, either.

Prediction:
Fourth in the Metro.

What was the sense since 2006 until concussion issues derailed his early career and Chara took the actual "C" actually came to fruition today when Bergeron was named the team's 20th captain, and only the fourth Quebecer to earn the title after Sprague Cleghorn (1925-27), Léo Boivin (1963-1966) and Ray Bourque (1985-2000). Here he is wearing the Bruins' white jersey on card #TS-BE from Upper Deck's 2012-13 Artifacts collection and Treasured Swatched sub-set:

It features two matching game-worn jersey swatches. I got it in a trade a couple of years ago.

At this point, Bergeron is tied with Bob Gainey with four career Selke trophies, the award for best defensive forward. He looks poised for a Hall Of Fame nod at the end of his career.

Victor Hedman Dual Jersey Card

There is bound to be a dichotomy between the best at anything for a period and the best on a shorter term, or most deserving of a nod. Victor Hedman, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in an impressive Stanley Cup run with the Tampa Bay Lightning is currently the best defenseman in the NHL, but I'm totally fine with handing this year's Norris Trophy for best performance by a defenseman to the Washington Capitals' John Carlson who produced an insane 75 points in 69 games this year, well ahead of anyone else at his position while almost never playing with Alex Ovechkin. It was his second straight 70-point season, and it deserves some recognition.

Does Carlson have flaws? Of course: all over the defensive zone. Does Hedman? Not really. And that's why Hedman won the Norris in 2017-18 and has been a finalist for the past four years. He's so dominant you get used to it, but not quite as head and shoulders above his peers as Nicklas Lidstrom used to be - which justified his winning the award every year - which is why other worthy seasons were also rewarded with the award.

His performance in these playoffs was just as impressive as those of the last defenseman who won the award, Duncan Keith of the Chicago Blackhawks, and it's a safe bet both players will end up in the Hall Of Fame some day.

He technically fell two goals short of Paul Coffey's 12 in a single postseason, but I was glad no one broke any production records this year since the statistics were skewed by the play-in round counting as postseason games this year, which is an aberration. I understand the league didn't want to influence the regular-season points (Leon Draisaitl versus Connor McDavid) and goals (Ovechkin versus David Pastrnak) standings, but that's no reason to forgo playoff history, although Wayne Gretzky was correct in saying that the greats from the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s were at a disadvantage when the elimination round started al being best-of-sevens instead of best-of-fives.

Speaking of all-time greats, none other than Scotty Bowman - whom the Toronto Sun aptly described as having "coached Doug Harvey and Lidstrom, Coffey, Larry Robinson and Serge Savard, and happened to be on the bench in St. Louis when Bobby Orr flew through the air after his famous 1970 Stanley Cup-winning overtime goal" had this to say about Hedman:

He is in his own place right now. He’s a big guy that does just about everything right. He’s so mobile for his size. He plays, what, 26 minutes a game? And you get the impression he could play a lot more. He reminds me of Larry (Robinson) that way. For a big man, he can really skate.

That's how I'd compare him as well. He's not as mean as Chris Pronger, but he hits as hard as Robinson; he's not as smooth and perfect as Lidstrom, but he almost looks as smooth as Scott Niedermayer out there at times.

Here he is wearing the Bolts' former third jersey on card #FA-VH from Upper Deck's 2014-15 Artifacts set and Frozen Artifacts sub-set:

It features two white game-worn jersey swatches that likely come from the team's away uniform.

Nick Bjugstad Jersey Card

Forgive me, readers, for I have sinned; it's been over a month since I last completed a post.

Much has happened since, including the Covid-19 pandemic and pausing of the NHL season. For my part, as a translator for essential services providers such as pharmacies, grocery stores and sanitizing products, I've been working overtime to help people from both official languages have access to information about store policies, administrative changes, and manufacturing an distributing supplies and masks.

I did begin writing a few posts on Women's hockey, all-time greats who have seen their numbers being retired and reasons why the Toronto Maple Leafs are wasting valuable talents - and hopefully I'll finish them sooner rather than later - but always ran out of juice to put the finishing touches on them.

To get back into gear, I thought I'd write about American forward Nick Bjugstad, currently the Pittsburgh Penguins' third-line centre and formerly thought of as highly as former Florida Panthers teammate Aleksander Barkov.

Indeed, the former University of Minnesota Golden Gophers star was a point-per-game player when he was drafted 19th overall by the Cats in 2010, ahead of the likes of star forward Evgeny Kuznetsov (26th), first-liner Brock Nelson (30th), Justin Faulk (37th), Ryan Spooner (45th),  two-time Stanley Cup winner Tyler Toffoli (47th), Jason Zucker (59th), Sidney Crosby linemate Bryan Rust (80th), Joonas Donskoi (99th), #1 goalie Philipp Grubauer (112th), top-pair defenseman John Klingberg (131st), super-pest Micheal Ferland (133rd), Petr Mrazek (141st), multiple 30-goal scorer and heart and soul of the Montréal Canadiens Brendan Gallagher (147th), Dalton Prout (154th), Jesper Fast (157th), the best two-wayplayer in the game today Mark Stone (178th), and #1 goalie Frederik Andersen (187th).

Look at what Hockey's Future had to say in 2012:

Talent Analysis

Bjugstad is a physically dominating presence. His combination of strength and positional awareness with a hard, accurate shot makes him a force at both ends of the ice. Bjugstad plays with poise and he protects the puck exceptionally well in the offense zone by either skating out of trouble or simply shielding opponents with his arms and legs while he buys time to find an open teammate. He can be very difficult to knock off the puck and rarely loses battles along the boards.

Future

Bjugstad made his professional debut late last season, and looks to continue to play at the NHL level in the fall. He has the skill-level to become a scoring line center who will be defensively responsible and who can play in any game situation. His puck skills will allow him to be a mainstay on the powerplay while his high level of hockey intelligence and work rate can also make him a key member of a penalty kill unit.

If that isn't a spot-on description for Barkov, I don't know what is.

So... what happened?

Injuries, for starters, have slowed him down directly in his most developmental years. And while he was out, Barkov was healthy, quickly climbing the ranks not only to the team's first line but also to the captaincy, developing a tangible chemistry with Jonathan Huberdeau that borders on symbiotic.

There's luck, circumstance, and the weight of constantly playing for underachieving teams that he will no longer be subjected to as a member of the Pens, except for the fact that Pittsburgh is now seeing its window close with most of its core having hit the age of 30 and no true superstar set to take over at any position except perhaps defense. But they won't be at risk of missing the playoffs as early as January in the next five seasons, either.

"Bugs" is probably a throwback to when the Penguins had the luxury of counting Jordan Stall followed by Brandon Sutter, in that a player who owuld have been good enough the center a weak team's second line can now provide offense while defending on their third. To complete the hat trick of comparisons, Bjugstad is also a "Heritage name", as his father and uncle played in the WCHA, and uncle Scott also played in the NHL, for the Minnesota North Stars, Los Angeles Kings and Penguins.

Here is Nick after his first 40-point season, on the dual jersey version of card #28 from Upper Deck's 2015-16 Artifacts set:

It features a black jersey swatch and a red one, too, both more vivid than what appears in this scan. It is numbered 45/125.

Mark Scheifele Jersey Card

Mark Scheifele has been the Winnipeg Jets' first-line centre for five years at this point and, at 26 years old, barring a major injury, he'll be a point-per-game player for at least five more, so it's no surprise he scored his third career hat trick earlier tonight. The Ottawa Senators' Nick Paul had scored the opening goal, but Scheifele tied the game and gave the Jets the lead before the end of the first period and added the sealer with under two minutes left in the third, which was a very "Schiefele thing" to do.

It's no coincidence the Jets' alternate captain was selected in his second-straight All-Star Game earlier in the month: not only is he relatively consistent - tonight's game may have marked the end of a 12-game goal-less drought, but he had battled the flu for over a week and had gathered assists here and there - he also has a flair for the dramatic, displaying a level of clutch play that matches that of Stanley Cup-winning (former?) teammate Dustin Byfuglien and captain Blake Wheeler.

Winnipeg was always high on Schiefele, having selected him 7th overall in 2011, and if there was a do-over, he's one of the few who were selected in the top-10 who still would be, with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (1st), Sean Couturier (8th), Jonathan Huberdeau, Dougie Hamilton (9th) and possibly Gabriel Landeskog (2nd) and Mika Zibanejad (6th), but those guys would be joined by Nikita Kucherov (58th), Johnny Gaudreau (104th), Vincent Trocheck (64th) and maybe Phillip Danault (26th) and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (96th) instead of Ryan Strome (5th), Adam Larsson (4th) and Jonas Brodin (10th). He was the top centre in a left wing-heavy (Huberdeau, Gaudreau, Landeskog) draft class.

I was extremely happy to land card #TS-MS from Upper Deck's 2015-16 Artifacts collection and Treasured Swatches sub-set, showing him wearing the Jets' white (away) uniform and featuring a dark blue swatch:

Internationally, he's suited up for Team Canada at the U-18s in 2011 (gold medal), 2012 (bronze) and 2013 (4th place) World Juniors, the 2012 Russia-Canada Series (victory), and the 2014 (5th place), 2016 (gold) and 2017 (silver) World Championships, and Team North America (5th place) at the 2016 World Cup, playing alongside Gaudreau, Couturier, Trocheck, RNH, Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin Jack Eichel, Seth Jones and then-Jets teammates Jacob Trouba and Connor Hellebuyck, among others.

Ilya Kovalchuk Jersey Card

For anyone who doesn't want to read a long analysis/tirade, the gist of it is this: after having his contract terminated by the Los Angeles Kings on December 15th, Ilya Kovalchuk signed a league-minimum two-way deal with the Montréal Canadiens for the remainder of this season.

Here's the thing: The Habs are desperate for offense. They are currently without point-per-game winger Jonathan Drouin, 30-goal scorer Brendan Gallagher, career-year right winger Joel Armia, 20-goal scorer Paul Byron and young mid-lineup guy Matthew Peca - all out with injuries. Max Domi's game isn't what it what in his career year last season. And the team is coached by Claude Julien, who historically coaches with the objective that a lucky bounce will net his team a 1-0 win because he does not understand creating offense.

Spoiler alert: Kovalchuk isn't the 50-goal player he was in his prime, nor the KHL points leader from a couple of seasons ago. He's slowed down a bit, but he still has that Alex Ovechkin-esque shot. He's a powerplay and shootout specialist.

Which brings me to this observation: Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin has a gambling problem. He's a functioning gambler in the same way that functioning alcoholics can still do what's asked of them and keep their jobs, because he's more afraid to spend than he is to take bets, but most of his moves have been long shots that are destined to fail, and he can't stop himself from making a ton of them:

His first two trades were one-for-one prospect swaps, a gamble in and of itself, but nothing major. His third deal was his first involving NHLers, and he sent appreciated veteran and current 30-goal scorer Erik Cole to the Dallas Stars for an over-the-hill former Canadien in Michael Ryder, a guy who in his prime could score 30 but was a negative in every other aspect of the game. Ryder played 27 games in his second stint in Montréal, had a surprising 21 points and was a -2. He retired after playing with the New Jersey Devils for two seasons. This counts as a salary dump as well as a "net loss".

He then acquired Davis Drewiskie from the Kings for a fifth-rounder. He hoped Drewiskie would be a third-pairing defender. The draft pick (Patrik Bartosak) never played for the Kings, Drewiskie played his final 9 NHL games for the Habs (producing a decent 1 goal, 2 assists and 3 points) before finishing his career in the AHL. That kind of works as a win, but it's a missed home run. If you're doing the math, that's one win, one loss and three failed gambles.

July 2013 brought actual hockey deals, starting with a swap of seventh-round picks (tie) and a trade of draft pick busts (Christian Thomas for Danny Kristo) - another failed gamble. He then managed to grab pugilist George Parros from the Florida Panthers for their own seventh-rounder from days earlier and a prospect who didn't pan out (Philippe Lefebvre).

At the 2013-14 trade deadline, he made a flurry of moves trying to get his team to the playoffs:

- He got veteran grinder Dale Weise for quick-skating young Swiss defenseman Yannick Weber. Win.

- He swapped unsigned rookies (Robert Czarnik for Steve Quailer) with the Kings. Failed gamble.

- He traded a fifth-round pick for veteran depth forward Mike Weaver in his fourth trade with the Panthers. Does he only have two GMs' phone numbers handy?

- He landed disgruntled free agent-to-be Thomas Vanek (and a fifth-rounder) for a prized prospect (Sebastian Collberg) and a second-rounder - his first true gamble win. Vanek had a good run to help the team make the playoffs then disappeared in the postseason and became a reason why the team didn't advance further.

- He acquired a spiralling Devan Dubnyk from the Nashville Predators as insurance as a third-stringer. Dubnyk would revive his career with the Arizona Coyotes the following season - they won their gamble, Bergevin lost his.

At the 2014 draft, he traded his third-rounder and a fourth for the Coyotes' third-rounder. None of them had a lasting impact in the NHL. Failed gamble.

In preparing for the free agent season, he then sent disgruntled forward Daniel Brière to the Colorado Avalanche for Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau and a fifth-rounder, a pure "hockey trade" that ended up even. After failing to sign anyone on the market, he sent veteran defenseman Josh Gorges to the Buffalo Sabres for a second-rounder who has yet to play in the NHL and is now in the Chicago Blackhawks organization, Chad Krys. Gorges played in Buffalo for four seasons. This one's a loss.

At the beginning of the 2014-15 season, to not lose goalie Peter Budaj in the waiver wire, he was sent to the Winnipeg Jets with fading prospect Patrick Holland for former prospect and AHLer Eric Tangradi. Pure loss, and failed gamble.

In early November, oft-injured hard worker Travis Moen was sent to the Stars for a fading Sergei Gonchar, who played his final 45 NHL games with the Habs. That's a win. Two weeks later, overpaid bottom-six forward Rene Bourque was sent to the Anaheim Ducks for overpaid third-pairing defenseman Bryan Allen, a tie even though Allen played only 5 games with the Canadiens and Bourque played for three more NHL seasons plus one year in Sweden. Addition by subtraction.

The trade deadline brought forth another avalanche of moves:

- Then-prized prospect Jiri Sekac was sent to Anaheim for Devante Smith-Pelly. Gamble loss: GSP brought too many problems along with his uneven game.

- He acquired the final couple of months of Jeff Petry's contract from the Edmonton Oilers for a second- and a fourth-rounder. Not only did Petry re-sign, but he's been a cornerstone of the Habs' defense ever since. Clear win.

- He also got fourth-liner Brian Flynn from the Sabres for another fifth-rounder. Win.

- Minutes later, same team, same kind of deal: he acquired Montrealer and fourth-liner Torrey Mitchell from Buffalo for a minor-leaguer and a seventh-rounder. Win.

Come July 1st, he sent beloved grinder Brandon Prust to the Canucks for Zack Kassian's alcoholism. Kassian a former Sabres first-round pick, never played a single game in Montréal, getting into a drunken car crash prior to training camp instead. Huge gamble, huge loss.

Remember Christian Thomas? He was sent back to Arizona during the Holiday period, for 12 games of a young Lucas Lessio, who now plies his trade in Germany after a few years in the KHL. Gamble and loss. Around that same time, Kassian was also sent packing - to the Oilers, for minor-league goalie Ben Scrivens. Don't get me wrong, he had to go, but he's now playing on Edmonton's top line with Connor McDavid. Another loss.

Two weeks after that, goalie Dustin Tokarski - the prospect acquired in Bergevin's second-ever trade - was sent to the Ducks for 23-year-old Max Friberg, who never played in Montréal and has been in Sweden for three years. This could either be a "gamble-and-loss" or "we're giving Tokarski away so he can play". Let's go with #2 and call it even.

A week later, Bergevin pulls a thee-team trade that lands him enforcer John Scott (from the Coyotes, for prospects Stefan Fournier and Jarred Tinordi) and Victor Bartley from the Preds (for the Coyotes' Stefan Elliott). He then refuses to let Scott play, creating a whole mess because Scott's named (sarcastically, via fan vote) to the All-Star Game, eventually being named MVP of the event. For some reason, Bartley suited up in 9 games with the Habs. Elliott is currently the only player in the list who has a shot of ever playing in the NHL again, having appeared in three games with the Ottawa Senators just last season, at 27 years of age. This is a loss, for sure, I'm not sure it's a gamble, though.

In late February, in a trade deadline move, Bergevin made his best very trade, acquiring centre Phillip Danault AND A SECOND-ROUNDER (Russian super prospect Alexander Romanov) for depth forwards Weise and Tomas Fleischmann (a free agent gamble of his own) as the Chicago Blackhawks made a push for a fourth Stanley Cup with their current core. Falling under the radar was the trade that sent Smith-Pelly to the Devils for Stefan Matteau.

The June 2016 draft was a busy time for GMMB, as he sent Lars Eller to the Washington Capitals for two second-round picks who have yet to develop and grabbed Andrew Shaw from the Hawks for two second-rounders including Alex DeBrincat. Ironically, I would have considered an Eller-for-Shaw trade equal, perhaps even slightly advantageous to the Habs; however, with the players selected in the draft, this becomes two losses for Montréal. The team also swapped second-rounders again, this time with the Jets.

Then the seismic trade happened. This could be Shea Weber's final season where his positives outweigh the negatives. He traded a thriving Norris Trophy winner and three-time nominee in P.K. Subban to get him. Of course, Subban hasn't really been the same since the trade, but that's because he's always only wanted to play in Montréal. He's lost. Meanwhile, Weber's under contract until he turns 42.

At the beginning of the 2016-17 season, Bergevin traded prospect Tim Bozon to the Panthers for Jonathan Racine, whom he sent - along with a sixth-round pick - to the Tampa Bay Lightning three months later for Nikita Nesterov, who would play all of 13 games with the Habs before leaving for the KHL... but not before essentially calling head coach Julien a racist and biased against Russians. Considering five of them didn't make it back to the team the following season (first-line forward Alexander Radulov, top-pairing defenseman Andrei Markov, top prospect Mikhail Sergachev, hard-hitting defenseman Alexei Emelin and Nesterov) and that another one didn't make it to the Holidays the following year (Nikita Scherbak), he probably had a point. That's one lost gamble and one loss, and it was the first instance of Julien rebelling against his boss' player selection.

Bergevin, trying to please his new bench boss, made another torrent of moves at the trade deadline, trying to build Julien a heavy team to work with instead of one built on speed and skill:

- First came a prospect gamble, acquiring Keegan Lowe from the Carolina Hurricanes for Philip Samuelsson.

- Then came a net win, acquiring #6-7 D-man Jordie Benn for stagnating prospect Greg Pateryn.

- There was a gamble-and-loss in giving David Desharnais away to the Oilers for Brandon Davidson, who never became the bottom-pairing defenseman it was hoped he would turn into.

- Former pest Steve Ott was acquired from the Detroit Red Wings for a sixth-rounder. Loss.

- Fourth-line grinder Dwight King was acquired from the Kings for a fourth-rounder. Loss.

- Grinder Andreas Martinsens was acquired from the Avs for young prospect Sven Andrighetto, who was a solid second-liner on that team for over two seasons. Loss.

After failing to make the playoffs once more, Bergevin pulled the trigger on the trade that brought Drouin (and a sixth-rounder) to Montréal for Sergachev (and a second-rounder). He got rid of a Russian for Julien - one who could win a Norris Trophy some day - for a Quebecer, whom Julien isn't much more fond of. It's too early to tell who will actually win that one, but for the second straight season, my opinion is that the GM went for exactly the right player but overpaid to get him - and should have held onto the piece he gave away.

Later that summer, he sent Nathan Beaulieu to Buffalo for a third-rounder (loss) in a move to shield himself from losing him to the expansion draft, sent the Kings a fifth-rounder for David Schlemko (even) to compensate, and once again swapped seventh-rounders, this time with the Philadelphia Flyers (this one looks like a home run, because it netted him goalie Cayden Primeau).

At the beginning of the 2017-18 season, Bergevin pulled the trigger on a bunch of other small moves, sending Zach Redmond to Buffalo for local kid Nicolas Deslauriers (win), sending Martinsons to Chicago for failed prospect Kyle Baun (gamble loss), Mitchell to the Kings (because youcan't have too many local guys on your team) for a fourth-rounder (even) and grabbing veteran depth guy Adam Cracknell from the New York Rangers for Holland (even).

After New Year's, backup goalie Al Montoya was sent to the Oilers for a fourth-rounder (even), and at the trade deadline, defenseman Jakub Jeřábek went to Washington for a fifth-rounder (loss), veteran Tomas Plekanec and Baun made their way to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a playoff run in exchange for Kerby Rychel, Rinat Valiev and a second-rounder (gamble fail), Joe Morrow was sent to the Jets for a fourth-rounder (even), and what should have been a steal sent the Minnesota Wild a fifth-rounder for potential powerplay quarterback Mike Reilly (gamble fail).

The summer of 2018 was once again shock-full of roster moves:

- Bergevin's very first first-round pick, Alex Galchenyuk, was sent to the Coyotes for their own struggling former first-rounder, Max Domi. Habs win this on following production, age and salary on the following two seasons.

- The Oilers grabbed Hayden Hawkey - a quality NCAA goalie - for a fifth-rounder. This one's even for now.

- At the draft, the Habs and Calgary Flames swap... fourth-rounders. They also exchange fifth-rounder with the Hawks, seventh-rounders with the Flyers, and add picks with trades with Edmonton (receiving a third and a fifth for a second, a net loss in quality) and San Jose (receiving fourth- and fifth-rounders for a fourth, essentially a slight step back for more volume, a win).

- A week later, on the eve of July 1st, Bergevin makes his third-best move as Habs GM, sending prospect Simon Bourque to the Jets for Armia, a 2019 seventh-rounder, a 2020 fourth-rounder and Steve Mason's cap hit, which he buys out immediately.

Bergevin's pre-season is also overloaded with moves:

- Rychel is sent to Calgary for another first-round disappointment, Hunter Shinkaruk (gamble loss).

- In Bergevin,s second-best trade (he just may be improving!), he sends disgruntled captain Max Pacioretty to the Vegas Golden Knights for prized prospect Nick Suzuki, dependable two-way forward Tomas Tatar and a second-rounder. In pure hockey terms, any two of these would have been a win for the Canadiens - landing all three was spectacular, especially since Pacioretty actually wanted out.

- In what could very well be Bergevin's fourth-best trade, he sent Valiev and depth veteran Matt Taormina to the Flames for Brett Kulak, who has turned out to be better than the use Julien makes of him.

- Will Bitten was also sent to the Wild for Gustav Olofsson (gamble, even).

 The 2018-19 trade deadline was once again fertile ground for minor moves involving the Habs:

- The team sent defensemen Schlemko and Byron Froese to the Flyers for Weise and rugged defender Christian Folin (even).

- Taking advantage of a Kings fire sale, the Habs grabbed Nate Thompson and a fifth-rounder for a fourth-rounder, then re-signed the third-liner.

- In order to shed another local kid from the roster, the Canadiens send young grinder Michael Chaput to the Coyotes for veteran grinder Jordan Weal. The Habs lose on age, gain experience. Slight net loss here.

Then the 2019 draft came along, and with it its numerous pick swaps so that Bergevin can justify his yearly $6M salary: a swap of fourth-rounder with the Sharks, the yearly swap of seventh-rounders with the Flyers (no joke), a swap of fifth-rounders with the Panthers, and a trade-down move that gave the Kings the Canadiens' second-rounder in exchange for their third- and fifth-rounders.

The end of June 2019 was also a busy time for the GM, as he sent Shaw back to the Hawks with a seventh-rounder for a second, a third and a seventh-rounder (he really loves to move those around!), meaning that, essentially, he got three years of Shaw - a solid, proven playoff performer - two of which were not playoff seasons, by trading down a second for a third pick and losing out on DeBrincat, a 40-goal scorer.

Oh, and he got rid of Deslauriers, a local kid, for a fourth-rounder (even).

Which brings us to this week, where he sent Reilly to the Sens for ECHLer Andrew Sturtz and a fifth-rounder (loss) and got local kid Marco Scandella for a fourth (win).

That brings us to his free agent signings: Prust (UFA move), Francis Bouillon (return to original team, 35+ deal), Colby Armstrong ("no-risk" $1M deal, didn't pan out), Douglas Murray (one-year "no risk" deal, didn't pan out), Tom Gilbert (didn't pan out as second-pair defender but played ok), Manny Malhotra (didn't work as fourth-line centre), Sekac (traded out after 50 games), Drayson Bowman (minor-league move), George Holloway (minor-league move), Mike Condon (prospect/backup goalie gamble), Joey MacDonald (backup goalie gamble, didn't pan out), Joel Hanley (prospect gamble, didn't pan out), Alexander Semin ("no-risk" one-year, $1M deal, didn't pan out), Fleischmann (didn't pan out, traded out mid-season), Radulov ("mid-risk" for his salary, coming off a KHL scoring title on a "show-me" one-year deal, left as a UFA for greener pastures), Chris Terry (former prospect gamble, didn't pan out), Bobby Farnham (minor-league move), Montoya (depth goalie signing), Karl Alzner ($5M per, five-year bust, currently buried in the AHL), Mark Streit ("no risk", $1M, one-year deal for returning veteran after Cup win, didn't last a month before getting terminated), Ales Hemsky ("no-risk" one-year, $1M deal, didn't pan out), Morrow ("no-risk" one-year, $650K deal, didn't pan out), Antti Niemi ($1M backup goalie deal, didn't pan out), Keith Kincaid ($1.75M backup goalie deal, didn't pan out).

Some of his most important players have been waiver wire grabs, like Byron.

To recap, on the trade market, Bergevin has 19 wins, 24 losses, and 12 even "hockey" trades, and has gambled 36 times, winning/hitting home runs on exactly 3 of them. He rarely gives up a roster player and has yet to trade a future first-rounder, so it's normal that the returns have been underwhelming - you can't receive while never giving. In terms of free agent signings, only one gamble (Radulov) has paid off out of 14, and most non-gambles haven't worked out well either - Prust, his first signing, may be his most valuable. And one of his most consistent goal scorers, Byron, comes from waivers.

All of this to say that when Bergevin comes out saying disrespectful things about Kovalchuk like "he has to buy into the system" and "he knows it's his last chance", he does come from a place he is familiar with: he has given a boatload of players a chance that has ended up being their last, perhaps if only because if someone can't stand out on a team that keeps missing the playoffs, then other teams feel their value has dropped and their time is up.

Kovalchuk had other options - apparently with better teams like the Caps and Boston Bruins; Bergevin should be a little more thankful that #17 (after a nice gesture toward Kulak) chose Montréal and its apparently open spot on the powerplay to attempt to salvage his North American career.

Here he is during better times, sporting the Atlanta Thrashers' white (then-home) uniform on card #TS-IK from Upper Deck's 2007-08 Artifacts collection and Treasured Swatches sub-set:

It features a blue game-worn jersey swatch.

Internationally, the Russian star captained the Russian Athletes' Delegation for their gold medal run at the 2018 Olympics, where he was named the tournament MVP. He also has a bronze Olympic medal (2002), gold (2001) and silver (2000) from the World U-18s, and World Championship gold (2008, 2009), silver (2010, 2015) and bronze (2005, 2007 and 2019) medals with Team Russia.

Tim Thomas Jersey Card

Spoiler Alert #1: I'm writing a book about the 100 best goalies of all time.
Spoiler Alert #2: it will differ from The Hockey News' list from last year.
Spoiler Alert #3: Tim Thomas will be included in it.

All of this was true before he came out this week and talked about the brain damage he's suffered because of all of his past concussions. It took a lot of courage to come forward and explain why he stepped away from the game. You can't help but feel for a guy who was so messed up he couldn't decide what to do or what to eat as he got out of bed, who had to resort to mapping out his days on paper and then choosing activities and willing himself to complete at least part of that list, whether it's crossing a couple of items off of it or half the list.

At the heart of it all stands a human being who has trouble living his daily life, his family who's been there for him the entire time, and a guy whose public life was fodder for sports journalists for a very short period of time.

We're talking about the best goalie in the world for a three-year run, who led the league in save percentage and goals-against average and won the Jennings Trophy and Vezina in 2008-09, and led the league in the same categories in 2010-11, winning another Vezina, but also bring the Stanley Cup to the city of Boston for the first time in 39 years, winning the Conn Smythe in one of the best displays of post-season goaltending since Patrick Roy's retirement.

In and of itself, that is amazing, as is the fact that he "made it" full-time in the NHL at the age of 30, became a true star at 33 when others actually start to decline, and was the last Québec Nordiques draft pick (217th overall, ninth round, 1994) to play in the NHL.

But there was also his political stances, his support of the Tea Party, his adherence to conspiracy theories ("Climate Change Is A Hoax" invented by companies who want to profit from selling "clean" energy), his refusal to join the Boston Bruins at the White House to meet President Barack Obama after their Cup win, and his support of Chik-Fil-A's homophobic and religious stances.

Needless to say, I disagree with all of the above political positions, but he had a right to have and express them. And none of that had any incidence on his play. It is a fact that in the 101 years of NHL hockey, the 110 years of professional hockey and the 125 years of the sport's existence, that three-year run alone makes him one of the 100 best to ever do the job, and his very good half-seasons (1997-98 and 1998-99) and elite-level full seasons (2001-02 and 2004-05) in Finland confirm it, too.

Granted, as a former goalie and goaltending coach to minor-league players and hockey schools myself, I would never teach his "style" to large groups of students, but some of his highlight-reel, Dominik Hasek-style moves are definitely worthy of further exploration, the same way Félix Potvin's paddle-down move had a decent four-year run and may warrant getting revisited in the future.

So here is Thomas, in his full Bruins glory, wearing their white (away) uniform, on the "Silver" two-jersey version of card #122 from Upper Deck's 2012-13 Artifacts set:

It features two black game-worn jersey swatches and is numbered 35/125.

Johan Franzen Jersey Card

It's not getting any better for Mike Babcock's reputation, as Chris Chelios had things to say on the Spittin' Chicklets podcast, and Johan Franzen corroborated he was on the bad end of Babcock's moods, going so far as saying he was “the worst person I have ever met. A great coach, but he's a terrible person, the worst I ever met. He’s a bully who was attacking people. It could be a cleaner at the arena in Detroit or anybody. He would lay into people without any reason.”

So not just scratching Mike Modano playing for his hometown Detroit Red Wings for ten straight games so he could retire with 1500 games played, scratching Jason Spezza in what would have been his first game as a member of his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs because it was against his former team - but actual verbal abuse rough enough to launch a player suffering from a concussion into a full-blown depression.

And Franzen came to Detroit the same year Babcock started, the 2005-06 season, playing two games in 2015-16, the year after Babcock left - and had been on LTIR since.

The Mule wasn't just a bit player who won an Olympic gold medal with Team Sweden in 2006 and a Stanley Cup with the Wings in 2008; he had 18 points in 16 games during that Cup run and 23 points in 23 games the following team when the Wings lost the the Pittsburgh Penguins in 7 games. He holds the team records for most game-winning goals in a single month (6), most goals in a single playoff series (9), most game-winners in a playoff year (5), most points in a playoff game (6), shares the team record for most consecutive playoff point streak (12 games, with Gordie Howe) and the mark for most goals in a post-season (13, with Henrik Zetterberg) and the NHL record for most points in a 40-game series (9).

In my lifetime, he's probably the third-best playoff performer I've seen play for Motown, after Nicklas Lidstrom and Zetterberg, ahead of Pavel Datsyuk, Mike Vernon, Steve Yzerman, Brendan Shanahan and Sergei Fedorov.

His regular-season numbers were nothing to sneeze at either, with four 25-goal seasons in five years - with a high of 34 in 2008-09 - and the one where he didn't put up those numbers on an even better pace, with 10 goals, 11 assists and 21 points in 23 games in 2009-10.

At 6'4" and 230 pounds, he wasn't physically weak, in case carrying the Wings on his back in the postseason didn't clue you in on that. He wasn't mentally weak either. But he still hasn't recovered from the physicality of the game coupled with the PTSD that came with Babcock piling on with his own shit.

I hope he can continue to improve as he turns 40 in 20 days, and lives a great retirement. He's more than earned it.

Here he is wearing the Red Wings' white (away) uniform on the dual jersey silver version of card #41 from Upper Deck's 2012-13 Artifacts set, numbered 80/125:

I got this one on Ebay a couple of weeks ago hoping to talk about Franzen again eventually, I just had no idea it would come so soon. It features two red game-worn jersey swatches.

2019-20 Upper Deck Artifacts Hockey Blaster Box Break

Upper Deck's 2019-20 Artifacts collection remains among the best-looking semi-affordable ($35 for 35 cards in this blaster box, in 7 packs (5 "regular" + 2 "bonus" five-card packs) sets of the early season - and althouygh I miss the times when they were printed on thicker, matte cardboard, the design still looks classy:

An action shot, some clever cropping, a great picture, and an elegant design. The stats are limited to the past five seasons, but at least just about every player gets a blurb that is different from those in other sets.

I pulled no rookies, no jersey cards or autographs, and my lone "insert" was a "Copper" variant of Max Pacioretty, numbered 158/299:

For me to be able to deliver a decent enough scan of the foil's colour, I had to tone down the brightness of the card's background, but it really looks nice, like broken 15th-Century art (think Renaissance/Sistine Chapel-type) with colours going from green to golden yellow to white.

This earns a 8/10 for me this year.

Nick Leddy Jersey Card

Nick Leddy made history earlier tonight as the first New York Islanders defenseman to score on a penalty shot as his three points helped his team win against the Ottawa Senators. Furthermore, it was thought for a while that he had joined Hall Of Famer Denis Potvin as the only d-men to score hat tricks for the franchise, but the (third) goal was given to Cal Clutterbuck a few minutes later when the NHL head office realized he'd actually deflected Leddy's shot ever so slightly.

Ever since coming from the Chicago Blackhawks in October of 2014, Leddy has been a steady offensive presence for the Isles, generally oscillating between 40 and 45 points per season except last year where he only collected 26, although his defensive play has sometimes angered the team's fans; one need only look at his stats from 2017-18 to understand their frustration: in 80 games, he scored 10 goals and had 42 points with just 20 minutes (not too bad for a defenseman who weighs 210 pounds), but his -42 ratio was unforgivable.

It's a far cry from the 10-goal, 37-point and +18 rating rating from 2014-15 that got him some Norris Trophy votes.

This year, he's again on track points-wise, with 5 points in 9 games, 2 penalty minutes and a +5 rating in part thanks to tonight's game. Head coach Barry Trotz seems to know how to best utilize him, too, because he was an even +0 last year on the team with the best goals-against average, so he's getting matchups where he can contribute and not put his team in a bad situation.

Here he is wearing the Isles' white (now-away) uniform on card #FA-NL from Upper Deck's 2016-17 Artifacts collection and Frozen Artifacts sub-set:

It features a bright orange (much brighter than the scan lets on) game-worn jersey swatch. Artifacts remains the best-looking set on the market year in and year out, in my opinion.