Wild Preview: Brian Rolston Autographed Card

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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, (at least) three star players have active trade requests, and a few clubs are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much left to do.

Key exits: Marcus Johansson (LW), Mats Zuccarello (RW), Jacob Middleton (D), Vladimir Tarasenko (LW), Jeff Petry (D), Robby Fabbri (C), Nicolas Aubé-Kubel (RW)

Key Arrivals: Olli Maatta (D), Calvin Pickard (G), Maxim Shabanov (RW), Blake Coleman (C), Justin Kirkland (C)

Top prospects: Charlie Stramel (C, 21), Adam Benak (C, 19), Riley Heidt (C, 21), Ryder Ritchie (RW, 20), David Spacek (D, 23)

For a team whose only solution as a top-six centre is Joel Eriksson-Ek, the Minnesota Wild sure have a lot of prospects that play the position...

What makes their odds look good:
There is elite talent at nearly every position, from Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy at forward, Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber on defense, and Jesper Wallstedt in net. General Manager Bill Guerin is fearless.

Question marks:
Head coach John Hynes has never won a championship in 18 seasons of coaching professional hockey; can this stacked team break the streak? But let's be real: the only valid questions are whether they will be able to re-sign and keep Quinn or be forced to trade him, and if they can acquire the rights to Dylan Larkin to keep stacking their Team USA stable.

Outlook:
For the second year in a row, the three best teams in the Western Conference play in the Central Division, which is to say that there is no shame in finishing third in the division behind fellow powerhouses like the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche - with or without Hughes, with or without a bona fide #1 or extra #2 centre.

Prediction:
3rd in the Central Division.

Brian Rolston is a decorated winner, having won the Stanley Cup in his first NHL season with the New Jersey Devils in 1994-95, and through Team USA: 1996 World Cup, 2002 Olympic silver medal, 1992 World Juniors bronze, and 1996 World Championship bronze medal.

Individually, he has finished in the Top-10 in Selke Trophy voting four times and represented the Wild in the 2006-07 All-Star Game, scoring two goals with two assists for four points. He is widely known for using his slap shot from the slot in shootout and penalty shots, after a recommendation from then-cooach Jacques Lemaire, who had already used his booming shot from the point on powerplays, both with the Devils and Wild.

Back when Minnesota alternated the captaincy (2000-09), Rolston's turn came many times: February, October and November 2006, as well as January and November 2007; this is what is reflected here, on card #46 from Fleer's 2008-09 Fleer Ultra set, manufactured by Upper Deck:

It's signed in thick blue sharpie, and shows him wearing the Wild's red (home) uniform for parts of that era. Of note, it was actually the third/alternate jersey from 2003-07, before Reebok decided to use it as the main home jersey with the introduction of their Rbk Edge series, adding piping around the shoulders (one of the rare instances where the piping added something positive to a design); the jersey would be abandoned when Adidas took over manufacturing before the 2017-18 season.

Brian Rolston Autograph Card

Last April, one of the most complete forwards of his time - though never a star per se, despite his one All-Star Game appearance and multiple Team USA nominations - announced his retirement: Brian Rolston.

Rolston has a Stanley Cup (in 1994-95 with the New Jersey Devils) and a World Cup (1996) to go with World Junior bronze (1992), World Championship bronze (1996) and Olympic silver (2002). He was near the point-per-game plateau only once (in 2005-06 with the Minnesota Wild, where he tallied 79 points in 81 games) but reached the 30-goal plateau 4 times in six seasons between 2001-02 and 2007-08.

A fine team player, he captained the Wild four times back when they would rotate the title.

I really like this card, from In The Game's 1998-99 Be A Player set (card #230 in silver foil), signed on-card in black sharpie:

It depicts him wearing the Devils' white then-home uniform, ready to accept a pass in the offensive zone.

Brian Rolston Autograph Card

Brian Rolston turned out to have made a pretty good career for himself, enough that he played for the same team twice, well, twice - once (well, twice...) with the New Jersey Devils, and now in his second stint with the Boston Bruins.

A formidable two-way player who should have won a Selke trophy at least once, his booming slap shot is so heavy he usually mans the point on the powerplay, in addition to centering the penalty-kill. He's the type of guy you want on your team to man the third (used to be second) line, as his experience in key games and determination know no boundaries. He's won a Stanley Cup with the Devils, as well as a Tampere Cup (1993), a World Cup (1996) and an Olympic silver medal (2002) with Team USA.

He has reached the 30-goal plateau on four different occasions, and been near the 60-point mark seven different times, with a career-high of 79 (34 of them goals) in 2005-06.

He's one of the main reasons why the Minnesota Wild were so difficult to play against after the last lock-out, so it's ironic this one, should it last as long, could put an end to his career, as he has surely slowed down in recent years and can no longer play 20 minutes per game which, frankly, shouldn't be his role anyway. On a team like the Bruins where he's behind Patrice Bergeron and Tyler Seguin on the depth chart, third-line minutes, second unit PP (40 seconds or so), and second unit PK (30-40 seconds or so) should enable him to reach the 35-to-40-point mark without putting the burden of making others produce while shutting down the opposition.

He was a part of two major trades in his career; first, in 1999, he was traded by the Devils to the Colorado Avalanche for, essentially, playoff juggernaut Claude Lemieux (draft picks also went both ways), then the Avs traded him to the Bruins in 2000 with a first-rounder and Samuel Pahlsson and Martin Grenier for Dave Andreychuk and Ray Bourque.

Many will remember him for taking a slap shot that made Jean-Sébastien Giguère duck, with the puck passing over his head for a game-winning goal in 2007-08; I also recall his 2-goal, 2-assist (on two goals by Yanic Perreault) performance at the 2007 All Star Game in a 12-9 win for the Western Conference, where the MVP of the game was Daniel Brière from the losing team when either Rolston or my favourite player Joe Sakic (4 assists, +6) would also have deserved the title.

This card from Classic's 1994-95 Draft Picks set (card #33 in the Autographs checklist, numbered #1891/2400) sees him wearing the Albany River Rats' uniform, when they were the Devils' top AHL affiliate. It was signed in blue sharpie.