Chris Phillips Autographed Card

The Ottawa Senators retired Chris Phillips' number last night and even ended up winning the game against the Buffalo Sabres.

I wanted to write a heartfelt article detailing all the important moments of his career, why he chose that specific number, who he wanted to share the moment with, but not only did Sportsnet's Wayne Scanlan beat me to it, he did it so perfectly that there is nothing more I could add to that part of the story, so go ahead and read it, I'll wait.

It certainly brought a tear to my eye.

Some casual hockey fans might ask themselves why he deserved that honour, some even dispute his selection as the first-overall draft pick in 1996 head of heart-and-soul star captains like Zdeno Chara (56th) and Daniel Brière (24th), but in true "hockey terms", he was worth his salary in the team sport just as much as anyone on that level even if he didn't take part in any All-Star Game and didn't win a Norris Trophy.

The fact that he ended up getting votes in two years while playing alongside players like Chara, Wade Redden and Erik Karlsson shows you that his value did resonate even though he never passed the 30-point mark himself. Some sports writers actually saw the value that came with being an elite shut-down defender for a few moments.

And he was clutch, as that article mentioned, considering 13 of his 71 regular-season goals are game-winners, and one of his 6 playoff goals not only did the same but was an overtime series clincher.

He had nerves of steel that made him step up when it mattered most.

He was a very good hockey player of his ilk, but he was a great teammate.

And once in a while, once per 25 or 50 years, an organization has to recognize the best such player of its past generation or two and honour them, to show the following generations that playing in the shadows doesn't necessarily mean never getting recognition.

It was one thing for him to beat Daniel Alfredsson's franchise games played mark by one, but it's another to have his jersey hang alongside the most inspiring player to wear the uniform in the team's current iteration. And it's fully deserved.

I figured I could take this prolonged look back by featuring him on card #325 from Upper Deck's 1997-98 Series 2 collection, showing him wearing the Sens' white (then-home) uniform at the 1996 draft:

The two-time Team Canada World Juniors gold medal winner (1996 and 1997) signed it in blue sharpie during one of his two final seasons, so either in 2013-14 (most likely) or 2014-15.

During his playing days, he went by the nickname "Big Rig" because he was 6'3" and weighed 220 pounds (and defended his zone like he was 6'5" and 250); he now co-owns and operates a microbrewery of the same name in Ontario.

Chris Phillips Autograph Card

For a while there, while he was a healthy scratch - it happened 9 times so far this season - it wasn't so obvious that Chris Phillips was going to be able to crack the record-setting milestone, but tonight's the night it happened, as he passed Daniel Alfredsson for most games played in an Ottawa Senators uniform. The Sens played this video tribute:


And they also posted these pictures of his family taking it all in on their Twitter page:

The Phillips family is out in full force to support Chris on his record-setting night for the #Sens! pic.twitter.com/fFCchsphkw
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) February 6, 2015

Phillips, the reliable, steady defensive defenseman who can pass well and check cleanly wasn't your typical, flashy first-overall pick. However, here are the rest of those who made up the top-10 in 1996: Andrei Zyuzin, Jean-Pierre Dumont, Alexandre Volchkov, Richard Jackman, Boyd Devereaux, Erik Rasmussen, Jonathan Aitken, Ruslan Salei, and Lance Ward. Seven of them were pretty good, but none was a true impact player, certainly not the way Phillips has been in his 17-year career.

He garnered some Norris vote consideration twice and played for Team Canada five times, winning gold twice at the World Juniors (1996 and 1997) and silver twice at the World Championships (2005 and 2009), and coming home empty-handed once in 2000.

I first thought this photo of him was from a Spengler Cup because of the Zepter ads on the uniform, but I'm fairly confident they're from the 2009 Worlds, as they were held in advertizing-friendly Switzerland:

It's card #27 of Upper Deck's 2013-14 Team Canada set (the Signatures version of the card, featuring a blue-sharpied sticker autograph), showing him in Canada's red (and black) ''visitors'' uniform.

He has another year left on his contract, so it's a good bet that he'll reach the 1200-game plateau - if not this season, then early next year; he's currently at 71 goals and 217 assists, so hitting the next milestone mark for those might prove difficult, but he can take his 288 points and round them up to 300 probably around the same time he hits 1200 games. He has a knack for scoring two goals in milestone games: he did so in both his 800th and 1000th game.

Chris Phillips: 3 Autographed Cards

 

The Ottawa Senators made it a series tonight by beating the Pittsburgh Penguins in double-overtime, a series the Pens now lead 2-1. The heroes of the game were undoubtedly both goalies - Craig Anderson for the Sens, and Tomas Vokoun for the Pens - but the most impressive defenseman for Ottawa was the steady presence of Chris Phillips.

As the top pick of the 1996 draft, there was a lot of pressure on Phillips to perform, and his steady play - and the fact that he now wears an 'A' on his jersey - are a sign that he has lived up to the task. He reached the 1000-game milestone this season, and surpassed the 100-playoff game mark last year - all of them with the Senators.

I met him a year ago, as I went to see the Sens play the New York Rangers since my hometown Habs didn't make the playoffs; he signed these three cards for me in blue sharpie - one before the game, and two after. Ottawa won that one - in overtime, too, if I recall correctly.

First, a card showing the Sens' red (then-third, eventual main home) jersey, from In The Game's 2003-04 Action set (card #487):

But I've always preferred the Senators in black, and this jersey was particularly pretty:

The card on the left is from Upper Deck's 2006-07 Series 1 (card #141), while the card on the right is from UD's 2005-06 MVP set (card #270), one that features a fac-simile autograph on-card and feels weird to present to players, since most of them go out of their way to sign it in another direction than usual to not just sign on top of their already-present signature...

Nevertheless, I'm quite happy with these cards.

Chris Phillips Autograph Card

Granted, expectations were high when the Ottawa Senators picked Chris Phillips with the first overall choice in the 1996 NHL draft - you expect that pick to have an immediate impact on your team.

To his credit, though, he wasn't a bust like Alexandre Daigle or Alexei Yashin, and, apart from maybe Daniel Brière (Phoenix Coyotes, 24th pick), he's as solid as anyone else chosen in the first and second rounds that year, although reigning Norris winner Zdeno Chara was picked in the third round. And it wasn't exactly a weak year either, a whole bunch of guys ended up playing in the NHL, but apart from Chara, there weren't any NHL hardware winners, just occasional All Stars (Tomas Kaberle), good second-liners (Jean-Pierre Dumont) and tremendous role players (Steve Bégin).

And Phillips is right up there with the best of them. With the departures of Chara and Wade Redden, he is now counted upon the best on the team's top shut-down pair with Anton Volchenkov; he can also fill in on the point on the second powerplay unit and sees most of the ice time shorthanded.

He has represented Canada four times - twice winning gold at the World Juniors (1996 and 1997), and twice obtaining silver at the World Championships (2005 and 2009). He's 4 in 4, so if I were Hockey Canada, I'd keep inviting him...

This card (#007) was found in a pack of In the Game's 2001-02 Be A Player Signature Series cards, signed in black directly on the card; Phillips even went a little over the allotted space. It generally sells between $10 and $20.