Hannu Toivonen 8X10 Autograph Card

Ah ha! I knew I had my own copy of this Hannu Toivonen signed 8x10 card! I finally got a hold of it while searching for this Jhonas Enroth card I've now traded away... but more on that when I talk about what I'm getting in return!

For now, let's focus on my second #SP-HT 8x10 picture/card from Upper Deck's 2006-07 Be A Player Portraits (the Signature Portraits sub-set:

Since my last post in 2013, Toivonen's been plying his trade in Finland, notably for the Tampere Ilves, the most decorated team in Finnish hockey, Finland's Montréal Canadiens, if you will. And, like the Habs, they haven't won a championship in a long time, in their case, since 1985.

He's had a losing record for the last three years, but his individual statistics are pretty decent:

From HockeyDB

I also found two of Nikolai Zherdev's of the same set, so look for that eventually as well.

Cam Ward Jersey Card

I'd hinted back in August that I thought Cam Ward might finish the season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, reunited with Jim Rutherford, the GM who gave him his current contract, but it hasn't happened so far. Plus, I have another card I can show if and when that happens.

He's currently in his 10th NHL season - all with the Carolina Hurricanes -  and, while he has struggled so far this year on a weak team, he did win the Conn Smythe and Stanley Cup in his rookie season, and twice finished in the top-10 in Vezina Trophy voting. On the other hand, that last time was in 2010-11. And his save percentage has been in steady decline ever since, from .923 to .915 to .908 to .898 to .829...

I'm not sure I would trade for him if I was a general manager myself, but I will say this: he's an option I'd consider way before Martin Brodeur if I were a contender in need of an insurance policy as my backup. But I'd call Ilya Bryzgalov first, who would come much cheaper and would be a fun distraction for the media and fans, taking the pressure off my star players.

And so here's card #FE-CW of Upper Deck's 2006-07 Be A Player Portraits collection, part of the First Exposures sub-set featuring a white swatch from a photo shoot-worn jersey; the card shows him in the Canes' original red (away) uniform:

Because he plays on a team that usually doesn't contend come playoff time, he has represented Team Canada at three World Championships, earning gold in 2007 and silver in 2008; Canada lost to Slovakia in the quarterfinals in 2012.

I had written him and sent 4 cards (care of the Hurricanes) in March 2012, but never heard back.

Ryan Suter 8x10 Autograph Card

I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of an important American hockey player, Bob Suter, a member of the 1980 Miracle On Ice team, brother to Gary Suter, and father of star defenseman Ryan Suter and up-and-comer Garrett Suter.

He had won an NCAA championship with the Wisconsin Badgers, and was one of the rare players on the 1980 Team USA who didn't go to University of Minnesota or Boston University.

He was a scout for the Minnesota Wild at the time of his death, with whom his son Ryan now plays. I didn't have a card of Bob's, nor one of Ryan with the Wild, but I have this 8x10 insert, signed in black sharpie on a sticker, from Upper Deck's 2006-07 Be A Player Portraits set (#SP-RS of the Signature Portraits sub-set):

It is from the same set from whence the jersey card of his I featured in May came; it also shows him in the Nashville Predators' former blue uniform which, all things considered, may have been their best-looking by a fair margin.

Johan Franzen Jersey Card

When you're nicknamed The Mule by Steve Yzerman because you can ''carry the load'', you're doing something right, and throughout his NHL career, Johan Franzén has done a lot of things right with the Detroit Red Wings, even breaking an old Gordie Howe team record by scoring 6 game-winning goals in the same month, with Howe present, celebrating his 80th birthday.

That's right, I just found a way to talk about The Mule by name-dropping two of the five best Wings players of all time (for the record, the other three in my opinion are Terry Sawchuk, Alex Delvecchio and Ted Lindsay).

He also broke another Howe record by scoring 9 goals in the same playoff series in 2008. As a matter of fact, his points production is actually better come playoff time than during the regular season; he knows how and when to step up to help his team succeed, which is why he has a Stanley Cup (2008) and World Championship gold (2006); he had been named to Team Sweden's 2014 Olympic team that eventually won silver, but had to bow out due to injury (a concussion, which didn't stop the Ottawa Senators' Chris Neil from trying to fight him) and was replaced by Wings teammate Gustav Nyquist.

He also shares Detroit's post-season scoring record of 13 goals in the same year with captain Henrik Zetterberg, and is one of only three Wings to have scored five goals in a single game.

Having signed an 11-year contract under the old CBA, Franzen's tied to the Wings until 2019-20, when he'll turn 40 years old. Though Detroit's no longer the powerhouse it was in the 1990s and early 2000s due to the salary cap, they are still consistent playoff contenders, and in most years that can be enough to make it to a certain point; the current crop of kids they have coming up is really impressive, and I see them winning another Cup before The Mule retires.

I'm a huge fan, which is why I cherish this card of him wearing his rookie jersey number (#39) rather than the #93 he's been sporting since 2006-07, from Upper Deck's 2006-07 Be A Player Portraits set (card #FE-JF of the First Exposures sub-set), featuring a small white piece of jersey that was worn in a photo shoot:

I'm thinking of writing him this season, so we'll see how that pans out.

Josh Gorges Jersey Card

And now a short break from all the model cards...

Tonight is Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final, and the Montréal Canadiens have a shot at tying their series against the New York Rangers. One player who might be instrumental in this (after, say, current Conn Smythe contenders P.K. Subban and Brendan Gallagher, Andrei Markov, shut-down center and magical passer Tomas Plekanec, and new idol in nets Dustin Tokarski) is shut-down defender Josh Gorges.

Now an alternate captain with the team, Gorges has been a staple of the Habs' penalty kill since 2009, and is now Subban's regular-shift partner as well. He averaged 21 minutes per game in the regular season and nearly 24 in the playoffs. He even saw some powerplay time, usually alongside Alexei Emelin, on the second pairing, when either Nathan Beaulieu or Francis Bouillon were scratched. It's a testament to his hard work, though, that the coach trusts him to be reliable enough to help the attack and keep the momentum going despite never scoring more than 4 goals and never reaching the 40-point mark; his passing skills have improved dramatically, though, another proof of his dedication to honing his skills.

A veritable rubber man, he takes tough hits every single game, and yet rarely misses one due to injury. He's very outspoken - always talks to the media after games, win or lose, and always talks in the dressing room between periods to help boost morale.

Here's a swatch card from his days as a rookie with the San Jose Sharks, from Upper Deck's 2006-07 Be A Player Portraits (card #FE-JG, part of the First Exposures sub-set) featuring a grey swatch from a jersey he wore in a photo shoot:

Mike Richards Jersey Card

This card seems to follow yesterday's Ryan Getzlaf card everywhere: I got them in the same shipment of Upper Deck's 2006-07 Be A Player Portraits (card #FE-MR, part of the First Exposures sub-set), and I stored them in the same box for future use. And now they're facing each other in the post-season, Getzlaf with the Anaheim Ducks and Mike Richards with the Los Angeles Kings, teams they have each won the Stanley Cup with.

The card shows Richards back when he was a member of the Philadelphia Flyers, and features a decent-sized black swatch from a photo shoot:

Not yet 30 years old, Richards has won a Memorial Cup, Calder Cup (AHL championship), World Juniors gold, World Championships gold, Olympic gold, and the Stanley Cup - that's one Calder Cup more than Scott Niedermayer's resume boasts, who is often considered the winningest hockey player of all time.

The former Flyers captain has been relegated to third-line duties with the Kings this year, but has proven to remain a clutch performer; he just needs to give his team one more win against Anaheim and let Marian Gaborik and Anze Kopitar work on getting the other one.

I was 7/8 in my first round predictions, but every team I'm rooting for in the second round (Kings, Chicago Blackhawks and Montréal Canadiens) has let their opponent back in the series, and I'm not sure my cardiologist appreciates the extra workload on my poor little fanboy heart.

Ryan Getzlaf Jersey Card

I knew I had this one stashed somewhere!

After featuring swatch cards of his from this year and last year, here is one I had in a box of jersey cards I unpacked this week, from Upper Deck's 2006-07 Be A Player Portraits (card #FE-RG, part of the First Exposures sub-set):

It shows him in the final Mighty Ducks Of Anaheim jersey (before they became the Anaheim Ducks), with a white swatch from a rookie photo shoot.

The Ducks' captain finished second in scoring behind Sidney Crosby this year, and would be my choice for winner of the Hart trophy; cynics and critics contend that he's had more than just some help from Corey Perry in recording the best season of his career, to which I answer this: would the Ducks have won their division without him? And how come Crosby - playing with the 8th-leading goal scorer (35), golden Olympian Chris Kunitz - couldn't do better than fall 8 points behind the Boston Bruins, in the Eastern Conference, perceived as being much weaker than the Western Conference?

You've got to give credit where it's due, and Getzlaf deserves to be recognized.

Ryan Suter Jersey Card

Ryan Suter had a rough game last night against the Chicago Blackhawks, finishing with a minus-3, as Marian Hossa and Bryan Bickell acted like kids in a candy store against the Minnesota Wild.

Ironically, from what I'd seen prior to the 2003 draft, I thought he may have been drafted a tad too early in the 7th spot considering I thought he may become more of a defensive specialist than all well-rounded defender or even a force on the offense. I was under the impression that Braydon Coburn (8th), Dion Phaneuf (9th), Brent Seabrook (14th), Brent Burns (20th) and Shea Weber (49th) would have been better earlier picks, with my three favourites being Coburn, Seabrook and Weber.

However, with 5 seasons over the 35-point mark in 9 NHL seasons so far - three of them over 40, with a top of 46 in 2011-12 - he has definitely proved me wrong on that point. And with a career-high of 73 penalty minutes (2008-09), he is nowhere as nasty as his uncle (Gary Suter) was. Add his father Bob Suter to the conversation (a member of the 1980 Miracle On Ice Team USA) and you have decent talk about a legacy family in the making. All three have played for Team USA, with Ryan winning three gold medals (2002 U17, 2002 U18, and 2004 World Juniors) and one silver (2010 Olympics).

Much has been said about Suter's and Zach Parise's twin contracts with the Wild, but to me, it was him moving from one team with a kitty cat on its chest (the Nashville Predators) to another, and because of his father and the Team USA/Minnesota connection, it fit perfectly.

And so it is with a blast from the past and the nicest Predators uniform so far (then-away, dark blue) that I bring you this photo shoot-used jersey card from Upper Deck's 2006-07 Be A Player Portraits (card #FE-RS, part of the First Exposures sub-set):

R.J. Umberger Jersey Card

Looks like the Columbus Blue Jackets are going to make this a series... good, because I chose them to win in seven games, mostly because R.J. Umberger has proven to be a clutch playoff performer in the past while with the Philadelphia Flyers. He hasn't been as big of a factor thus far, but did assist on the overtime winner tonight to tie the series at 2 apiece.

Chosen 16th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in 2001, he has had a better career so far than anyone chosen after him in the first round, though later picks Mike Cammalleri (49th), Jason Pominville (55th), Craig Anderson (73rd), Patrick Sharp (95th) and Cristobal Huet (214th) would likely have been earlier first-rounders with the benefit of retrospect.

The Pittsburgh native never did play in Vancouver, as they traded his rights before he played a single NHL game - in their defense, he did sit out an entire season to avoid having to play in the Canucks organization - and though he was sent to the New York Rangers, he elected to sign with the Flyers as a free agent instead.

Apart from his sophomore season, he can be counted upon to provide 40-50 points each year, and as I previously mentioned, he loves the post-season, with 21 points in 30 playoff games so far, highlighted by his 10 goals and 15 points in 17 games in 2007-08 with Philadelphia, and 3 goals in 4 games with Columbus the next year.

Here he is wearing the (fortunately) short-lived, mostly-orange uniform the Flyers wore in the mid-00s, from Upper Deck's 2006-07 Be A Player Portraits card (#FE-RU in the First Exposures sub-set), featuring a photo-shoot-worn piece of jersey:

Valtteri Filppula Jersey Card

An anomaly in the Detroit Red Wings' system at the time because he hails from Finland and not Sweden, Valtteri Filppula first rose to prominence in 2007-08 as he posted 19 goals and 36 points in his sophomore season and 11 points in 22 playoff games to help the Wings win the Stanley Cup and just kept improving from there.

The next year he posted 40 points through 80 games in the regular season and another 16 more in 23 playoff games as the Wings lost in the Cup Final. In 2009-10 he posted 35 points in just 55 games, and the next season he slipped a bit to 39 points in 71 games (though with 16 goals to show for it), but exploded in the post-season with 8 points in 11 games.

2011-12 was the year he made his mark as the team's second-line center with 23 goals and 66 points, but he opted to leave Detroit after the lock-out and signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning last summer. He responded with a career-best 25 goals and 58 points, but Tampa was swept in the opening round by the Montréal Canadiens mostly because Ben Bishop was injured and couldn't help his team. It was probably disappointing for him, though I would have liked to see him play with Steven Stamkos when the deciding game was tied at two.

It's as good a time as any to feature this 2006-07 Be A Player Portraits card (#FE-VF in the First Exposures sub-set) by Upper Deck:

It shows him wearing the Wings' classic white uniform, with a decent-sized red swatch from a rookie photo shoot jersey.

He has won three bronze medals with Team Finland: two at the World Juniors (including the 2004 one where he made the All-Star team), and at the 2010 Olympics.

Thomas Vanek Jersey Card

Apparently, the most coveted rental player at this year's trade deadline also turned out to be the most affordable, as the Buffalo Sabres could only extract a second-round pick from the Montréal Canadiens for Thomas Vanek.

The most talented forward the Habs have dressed since Alex Kovalev, Vanek became the team's leading scorer from the get-go, as his 21 goals and 53 points were better than anyone else, and his 4 goals and 5 points in 8 games since have given him an 8-point lead over P.K. Subban although he is now 6 behind Max Pacioretty on the goals front.

Like Frank Pietrangelo, who I featured yesterday, the Austrian Sensation is a University Of Minnesota Golden Gophers alumni, and it has been rumoured for over a year that the Minnesota Wild could be his destination come free agency. But the Wild traded for Matt Moulson at the deadline, and may be content with getting 75% of what Vanek brings at half the cost, if you don't care about selling jerseys and putting asses in the seats.

One thing's for sure, though, having just turned 30, with nine straight 20-goal seasons (including the lock-out shortened 2012-13 season), two 40-goal seasons and two other 30-goal seasons under his belt, and about to finish his sixth 60-point season (with a career-high of 84 in 2006-07), Vanek has been a model of consistency despite an ever-changing cast of linemates (of varying talent levels). And he has at least 4 or 5 more good years left in the tank.

The fifth overall pick of the 2003 draft (perhaps the best draft class of all time), it's pretty hard not to think of him among the 5 best players of his draft year, no matter the rank. Some things are certain, if it had to be re-done, Shea Weber would likely not be chosen in the second round, Ryan Getzlaf wouldn't have been picked as late as the 19th pick, but Vanek would still be a top-5 pick regardless of what values one was looking for (leadership, goal-scoring, passing, star power, being a winner). Simply put, he is a game-changer.

And I thought the same when I found this card in a pack of Upper Deck's 2006-07 Be A Player Portraits (card #FE-TV, from the First Exposures sub-set with a photo shoot-worn piece of jersey), showing him in the Sabres' white (then-home) jersey:

It's the jersey the team wore when transitioning between their classic 1980s garbs and the infamous Buffaslug... when black was fashionable in the NHL. The Sabres seemingly change uniforms and captains every other year anyway, so love them or hate them, they'll be completely different soon enough - don't get attached, don't take it personal.

Peter Budaj Jersey Card

Peter Budaj played an awesome game on the Montréal Canadiens' last road trip, stopping 27 of 28 shots (.964 save percentage), but not a word of it in Montréal media because Carey Price has been doing just as well, looking like Stéphane Fiset and winning games.

But Budaj's been pretty good for the Habs in two-plus seasons here, though he has faltered at times like anyone else. His GAA has been remarkable: 2.55 in 2011-12, 2.29 in 2012-13 and, well, 1.00 this season. His overall record is 14-8-6, but counting only this year and the last (so, essentially, the 2013 calendar year), he's 9-1-1. He also has three assists with the Canadiens so far.

This card, however, shows him wearing the Colorado Avalanche's (then-third, burgundy) uniform:

It's from Upper Deck's 2006-07 Be A Player Portraits series (card #FE-PB, the First Exposures sub-set). As much as I was never a fan of burgundy, these jerseys were okay in my book, with the COLORADO lettering going down on the chest, New York Rangers-style (but in the Avs' font). It contains a swatch of said uniform, taken from a photo shoot.

I'll be sending some TTMs this weekend, and I think Budaj will be one of the recipients of my compliments and requests. He's been a good, honest team player in all his time here and deserves to be featured again. Also, I made my first batch of custom cards, and he's in it.

Hannu Toivonen 8X10 Autograph Card

A former first-round pick of the Boston Bruins (29th overall in 2002), Hannu Toivonen was chosen ahead of Duncan Keith (53rd), Johnny Boychuk (61st), Matthew Lombardi (90th), Valtteri Filppula (95th), Maxime Talbot (234th), Dennis Wideman (241st) and Jonathan Ericsson (291st).

He played 61 games over the course of 3 seasons in the NHL, with a 18-24-10 record, a 3.37 GAA and a .890 save percentage. After years in the AHL farm teams of the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks, Toivonen returned to Europe in 2011, only to come back in North America (in the ECHL) because his team ran into some financial problems.

He can be seen here in the Bruins' white uniform:

It's an 8x10 picture/card from Upper Deck's 2006-07 Be A Player Portraits (the Signature Portraits sub-set, #SP-HT). I had initially found a copy in a pack, but as I was sorting through my things, I seemed to have lost it; to replace it, I purchased this one off Ebay for... $1.25.

Tomas Vokoun Autograph 8 X 10 Card

Tomas Vokoun went under the radar in the news when, as a free agent, he chose to leave the Washington Capitals where he was #1A to be the backup goalie with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

I, for one, would have loved to see him sign with the Montréal Canadiens, in part to see him finish with the team that drafted him, in part to relieve Carey Price who plays way too much, and finally, to put pressure on Price to accept a lower salary than his ridiculous $6.5M per for 6 seasons. I have a feeling GM Marc Bergevin will come to regret listening to the media on this one...

But back to Vokoun, the two-time All-Star, two-time World Championship gold medalist and Olympian (bronze medal in 2006). Chosen by the Nashville Predators in the 1998 Expansion Draft (from the Habs), he went on to star in nets for the Preds for their first 8 NHL seasons.

After consecutive freak injuries, the Predators traded his rights to the Florida Panthers for a first-round pick and two second- rounders, and he manned the nets well enough in Florida to play in the 2008 All-Star game, but suffered another freak injury in 2009 when teammate Keith Ballard hit him in the head with his stick (he was aiming at the crossbar in frustration...) and missed a long time.

The following summer he signed a low-paying contract to play with the powerhouse Capitals, gambling that winning a Cup would result in a better contract this summer, but once again, the Caps failed to reach post-season success.

This autographed 8 X 10 (signature on a sticker) features the Preds' old jersey - before they decided to go with vomit-enducing colours - is from Upper Deck's 2006-07 Be A Player Portraits set (card #SP-VO). Each pack came with an oversized signed card, so for the price ($30 or so), to be assured a hit of such magnitude was pretty good.

Alexander Perezhogin Jersey Card

There are players that your team will try to sell you as 'Future Stars' eventhough they couldn't find the back of the net if they were caught in it (we call them Chipchuras); there are others who get drafted really late and turn out - surprisingly - to be gems, cornerstones, 'Franchise Players' (such as Pavel Datsyuk and Andrei Markov); others have the potential to become stars, but management loses patience with them, or they're never really given a fair shot, and they turn into scoring machines elsewhere (like Mike Ribeiro and John LeClair).

Then there is Alexander Perezhogin.

The team sold the fans on him, they definitely thought he was top talent; he believed so, too. But no one thought he was a headcase, for some odd reason, but it was there all along.

We're talking about a guy who left his home country Kazakhstan with his coach to play with Avanguard Omsk in the late 90s and actually became Russian in the process - he left his roots behind and changed his citizenship.

Then he came to North America to play with the Hamilton Bulldogs, Montréal's farm team, where he didn't even get to finish the season - he was suspended for the remainder of the playoffs as well as the whole following season - the longest suspension in AHL history - for cross-checking an opponent in the face, rendering him unconscious and leaving him convulsing on the ice.

During his AHL suspension, as it would have not been too kosher to have him play in the NHL during that time span, he returned to Omsk.

Upon his return to North America in 2005, he spent the better part of the next two seasons with the Montréal Canadiens, playing over 60 games each year in a relatively limited role, playing mostly with Tomas Plekanec, the Habs wanting to let them develop progressively, at their own pace. While Plekanec became the team's best centerman in the past 3 seasons (despite the presence of Saku Koivu and Scott Gomez), Perezhogin left for the KHL, unsatisfied of 'only' being used between 12 and 15 minutes per game.

In his first year playing with Salavat Yulaev Ufa, so-named in honour of Salavat Yulaev, a national hero of Bashkiria who was from Ufa (thanks, Wikipedia! - kind of like if the Habs were named to ''Maurice Richards'', I guess), he gathered 21 goals and 41 points in 50 games. In his second year, he'd upped that total to 28 goals, 22 assists (good for 50 points) in 55 games, helping his team win the KHL championship, ensuring its place in the 2009-10 Champions League. Also on the team's roster are former NHLers Alexander Radulov, Alexei Medvedev, Dmitri Kalinin, Viktor Kozlov, Oleg Tverdovsky, Patrick Thorensen and Ilya Zubov.

He was also a part of the Russian team who won the gold medal at the last World Championships, playing alongside Ilya Kovalchuk and 5 Ufa teammates, defeating Canada for a second straight year; he is likely also to make the cut for the Russian team in the upcoming Olympics.

Meanwhile, the Canadiens have struggled to find a top-6 forward to complete their second line... (and have another headcase on board who hasn't even scored yet - hi, Sergei!)

This is card #FE-AP from Upper Deck's 2006-07 Be A Player Portraits series and sports a piece of jersey that Perezhogin has worn in a photo shoot.