Jari Kurri Jersey Card

You've seen me talking about Jari Kurri a lot these past couple of years, be it when Jarome Iginla joined him in the 600-goal club or when referencing other Finnish greats such as Saku Koivu and Kimmo Timonen, and it's time to feature the man himself, with card #CC-JK from the Canvas Clippings of Upper Deck's 2008-09 Masterpieces collection:

Kurri was inducted in the Hockey Hall Of Fame in 2001, a fitting gesture for a player who had as much individual as team success: he finished his career with 601 goals, 797 assists and 1398 points in 1251 regular-season games and 106 goals, 127 assists and 233 points in 202 playoff games.

He led the league in goals in 1985-86 with 68 - which isn't his career high, as he'd scored 71 the previous year - but he also did so four times in the postseason, including a still-standing record 19 in 1984-85. He's also part of the "50 goals in 50 games" club.

He has nine All-Star Game appearances, made the end-of-season All-Star Teams a total of five times (the First Team in 1985 and 1987, and the Second Team in 1984, 1986 and 1989), and won the Lady Byng in 1984-85.

He's also not limited to his five Stanley Cups with the powerhouse Edmonton Oilers: he also has silver medal from the 1994 World Championships and bronze at the 1998 Olympics.

He's currently the general manager of renowned Finnish team Helsinki Jokerit as well as Team Finland in many international competitions. He was also part of the moving Rexall Place closing ceremonies yesterday.

Mike Richter Jersey Card

Well, the New York Rangers have tied their series at two wins apiece against the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 5-1 win that saw Rick Nash score twice, Martin Saint-Louis score once and Henrik Lundqvist stop 38 of 39 shots fired against him.

Strong goaltending being a factor in a Rangers playoff win led me to this card of Mike Richter's, from Upper Deck's 2008-09 Masterpieces set, the ''Authentic Memorabilia'' insert version of card #CC-MR of the Canvas Clippings sub-set, showing him in the Rangers' classic blue (then-away) jersey but incorporating a white swatch:

I'd featured a card from this set before, one that Rogatien Vachon signed for me by mail a couple of years ago, but these really are fine cards, with terrific texture and nice, matte finish that both signs well on and complements the jersey swatches when applicable. It's tasteful, too.

I wasn't always a fan of Richter's though. I thought he was a tad over-rated, having never won NHL hardware (save for the 1994 Stanley Cup), finishing among the Vezina finalists only once (third place in 1990-91), playing in three All-Star Games and leading the league in sub-par categories such as wins (42 in 1993-94), games played (72 in 1997-98), goals allowed in (184 in 1997-98), ties (15 in 1997-98), and losses (31 in 1999-2000).

But you've got to give credit where credit's due, and his play at the inaugural 1996 World Cup was a big reason why Team USA beat Team Canada and win top honors, getting named Tournament MVP (and best goalie) in the process, though it is important to note that Canada opted not to even invite the best goalie in the world - Patrick Roy - to play on its team. You reap what you sow.

And he was a big part of the Americans' losing bid at the 2002 Olympics, losing the final game to earn a silver medal while Canada captured gold on U.S. soil.

He finished his NHL career having played for just one team, and a nice round number of 666 regular-season games for the Original Six franchise, winning 301 of them in the pre-shootout era.

All told, he was pretty good, definitely All-Star material, but it's also fitting the he isn't in the Hall Of Fame, because he did fall a bit short of that.