Stars Preview: John Klingberg 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.

The Dallas Stars are the hardest-hit team from the Covid-19 pandemic, with six players so far having confirmed positive tests, and two staff members hit as well; this might actually be a blessing in disguise for the team, as both star center Tyler Seguin and #1 goalie Ben Bishop are out long-term with injuries, which is why I have them outside the playoff picture looking in, despite their reaching the Stanley Cup Final last season. However, a ten-day delay to the start of their season gives the two star players nearly two weeks of leeway where they won't miss any games, which helps Dallas' chances greatly.

What makes their odds look good:
The fact that they reached the Final just a few months ago tells you this team now has depth, grit, defense and goaltending, probably solid team chemistry and very good coaching as well. They just need their offensive weapons to produce more so the senior executives don't lash out at them in the press.

Question marks:
Although... it is fair to wonder if we're all asking too much of Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov, as they're now over 30 with years of hard, physical hockey taking its toll on their bodies - and the same can be said for 28-year-old Seguin, who has a couple of deep Cup runs under his belt. And Joe Pavelski will eventually start showing his own age (36) as well.

Outlook:
With Miro Heiskanen and John Klingberg, the Stars pack a one-two punch on defense that compares favourably with anyone else in the NHL; the offense can change, but they have a certainty on D that has them set for the next decade. All they need is to renew the goaltending and first line in due time and ride the studs. There are interesting prospects up-front, with Radek Faksa, Roope Hintz and Denis Gurianov making for an interesting middle-six core and possibly Ty Dellandrea as the lone future star in the lot, but the D is going to be their bread and butter, with Thomas Harley, 19, also developping nicely in Juniors.

Prediction:
Fifth in the Central Division.

Initial rumours had Dallas in the West in lieu of the Minnesota Wild, and I would have seen them make the playoffs there, but when I made my predictions and saw that Seguin wouldn't be back until March and Bishop until May, I thought the blow would be too hard to come back from and that the Florida Panthers would jump ahead. The condensed make-up schedule might be what does them in, at the end of the day.

Normally, the offensively-gifted, smooth-skating Klingberg should be good for some 50-60 points in an 82-game season - he had a high of 67 in 2017-18 - and many were disappointed that he was only able to accumulate 32 (from 6 goals and 26 assists) in 58 games last year, but he more than made up for that with 21 points in 26 playoff games, good for second in team scoring behind Heisnanen's 26 (in 27 games); it was the second straight year Klingberg put up impressive postseason numbers, having posted 9 points in 13 games in 2018-19.

Here he is wearing the Stars' white (away) uniform on card #GJ-KL from Upper Deck's 2016-17 Series 1 set and UD Game Jersey sub-set, featuring a matching game-worn jersey swatch:

Internationally, he plays for Team Sweden and already has three gold medals on his resume, from the 2012 World Juniors and 2017 and 2018 World Championships.

Jamie Benn Swatch Card

I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge the fact that while he isn't scoring as much as he used to and that Joe Pavelski has also assumed a large part of the Dallas Stars' leadership up-front, captain Jamie Benn is once again looking like a leader in these playoffs.

His last two regular seasons had been a disappointment to say the least - 27 goals, 26 assists and 53 points in 78 games in 2018-19 and 19 goals, 20 assists and 30 points in 69 games in 2019-20 - but he elevated his gaem in both postseasons, and this year in particular, with two three-game goal streaks this season, against noteworthy adversaries like the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights, in key games, no less.

I'm not sure GM Jim Nill sees it as "worth the $9.5M cap hit" per se, but he's probably extremely happy to have him around, that's for sure. Here is the power forward in simpler times, wearing the Stars' black/dark green football-style uniform with the wordmark chest piece and number on the front of the jersey, on the swatch insert version of card #14 from Panini's 2010-11 Certified set and Certified Potential sub-set:

It features a matching game-worn jersey swatch and is numbered #88/99.

Cameron Gaunce Autograph Card

Cameron Gaunce knew he was a depth piece on defense when the Tampa Bay Lightning re-signed him to a one-year, two-way deal at league minimum ($700K), and they knew what they were getting: a 29-year-old veteran who had very little to prove as a role/defensive player but was starting to find his offensive game in the professional ranks as well, having come off a 46-point, 65-penalty minute season in 59 games with their AHL affiliate Syracuse Crunch; he'd also chipped in with a +3 rating and 7 penalty minutes at the NHL level.

This season, he's been called upon to provide more than hits and has delivered, posting 4 points in 3 games wit the Bolts so far (+2, 4 penalty minutes) to go with a 30-point output (36 PIMs, +10) in 49 games wit the Crunch.

We are starting to see the two-time OHL All-Star emerge, after he'd been drafted 50th overall by the Colorado Avalanche in 2008. He'd also spent time with the Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets organizations, for a total of 37 NHL games so far with the Avs (11), Stars (9), Pens (12) and Bolts (5).

He seems to have a knack for signing with one team and one of their main rivals (Dallas/Colorado; Pittsburgh/Columbus; Florida/Tampa); he's going to have to find two more teams next or try the Minnesota Wild (Colorado and Dallas rivals), Philadelphia Flyers (Pittsburgh) or Montréal Canadiens (the Florida teams) to keep with the theme.

One thing's for sure, though: he's playing on a legitimate Stanley Cup contender and earning his playing time, so his next deal might be of the $1M cap hit variety.

Here he is wearing the Avalanche's RBK Edge piping-heavy burgundy (home) jersey on a card that mentions he's now with the Stars, #SI-CG from Panini's 2013-14 Select set and Select Signatures sub-set:

It's a silver foil card and the sides are green - even if the scan shows it all black. Over his head reads "DALLAS STARS" in yellow and top-right, over his left shoulder, a note says he was traded to the Stars on "4/2/13". The card features a blue-sharpied on-sticker autograph that just has his initials, a typical pet peeve among autograph collectors.

His brother Brendan also plays professionally, in the Boston Bruins organization.

Ed Belfour Jersey Card

Ed Belfour was a mostly-good goalie who had very bad years sprinkled in throughout his career. He won the Calder as the NHL's top rookie in 1990-91 despite also appearing in 23 games in 1988-89 and 9 playoff games in 1989-90 for the Chicago Blackhawks and also captured the Vezina Trophy as the GM's choice for top goalie that same year and in 1992-93, as well as the Stanley Cup in a hugely-contested 1998-99 Final where, according to the rules of the era, Dallas Stars superstar Brett Hull's series-clinching goal should have been disallowed.

The call was bullshit, as were Eddie The Eagle's Vezinas, as was his selection as a first-ballot Hall of Famer, which wouldn't have happened if he hadn't two very good seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs near the end of his career.

That's my biggest beef with Belfour: he was very good overall.

He had one excellent season (1994-95) in parts of nine years with Chicago, was awful with the San Jose Sharks, was very good for three of five seasons with Dallas but hugely protected by Ken Hitchcock's super-defensive system (and the likes of Derian Hatcher, Richard Matvichuk, Jamie Pushor, and Brad Lukowich while Sergei Zubov and Darryl Sydor were tasked with handing the forwards the puck), was mostly very good in Toronto save for the last season and all the playoffs, and was a parody of himself with the Florida Panthers.

And through it all, one constant: drinking.

I was first a witness to it at the 1993 All-Star Game held in Montréal where he and teammate - and former star defender of the Montréal Canadiens - Chris Chelios took full advantage of the city's legendary night life and were drunk at the skills competition (Belfour letting five goals in) and hung over during the game itself, with their Conference losing 16-6, including Belfour letting the Wales Conference team leave the ice with a 6-0 lead after one period, his opponent, Habs legend Patrick Roy, getting the shutout at the other end of the ice. Maybe Chelios was a bad influence, though.

There were rumours throughout the years, but another documented case was his 2000 arrest in Dallas, where he scared a woman enough to have her call security on him in a hotel while she fled by cab, with Belfour retaliating by putting the bouncer in a headlock and assaulting him. Upon resisting his arrest, he offered the police officers "a billion dollars" if they let him go.

While in Florida in 2007, he got teammate Ville Peltonen in trouble for drunken disorderly conduct and resisting arrest again.

And earlier today, he was "arrested for criminal mischief and alcohol intoxication in a public place after an incident in a hotel early Tuesday morning":

The arrest report says Belfour was lying on the floor clutching a curtain rod that had been ripped out of the dry wall above a window when police approached him.

The report adds that Belfour was kicking a door to the locked spa in an attempt to get in. It says he had slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and could barely stand up.

The police say Belfour was not being compliant when officers tried to put handcuffs on him.

This was his smug mugshot:

This is not meant as an attack, slander or to make fun of him; the man needs help and he has pretended not to for the better part of the past 25 years, getting away with slaps on the wrist that have never taught him a true lesson.

After all, his liquor (whisky) company - Belfour Spirits - has a slogan that seems to tell us how he really feels:

None of this looks like someone who is trying to atone for their troubles with alcohol...

But back to his on-ice achievements.

Again, he was good. All-time great? In the era of Roy, Dominik Hasek and the great-in-numbers-only-but-has-to-be-included Martin Brodeur, not near that trifecta for sure. Considering some of the guys who came after him - Miikka Kiprosoff, Henrik Lundqvist, Roberto Luongo, Sergei Bobrovsky and Tim Thomas - not as consistent as those guys either, no, and no peak as high, either, having never once been dubbed the "best goalie on the planet" for even a year.

On the other hand, imagine if he'd been on top of his game for his entire career, would it have been more consistently close to his peaks, instead of riddled with valleys? Would it have lasted longer at a high level?

Who knows?

But considering the fact that not all retired Vezina winners other than Jim Carey are in the Hall, that some Conn Smythe winners aren't there either, and that one guy who has both will never get there - Ron Hextall, another uneven-but-mostly-very-good goaltender - they could have at least waited for a few years before letting him in.

Here he is in what many consider his "peak" years - a Cup victory, and two seasons with a GAA below 2.00 although Hasek and Ron Tugnutt also had a habit of turning in those types of performances at the time on lesser teams - wearing the Stars' best-looking uniform, the classic green star-shaped jersey from 1997-2006:

That's card #DM-EB from Upper Deck's 2017-18 Black Diamond collection and Diamond Mine Relics sub-set, numbered 63/299. I got it on Ebay in October for under $5. It features a black game-worn jersey swatch that is probably from that uniform.

Jamie Oleksiak Autograph Card

It's not often an NHL player is less popular than their sibling (I know it was the case for Zak Bierk, whose brother Sebastian Bach fronted cock-rock/hair metal band Skid Row for a decade), but in the case of the Dallas Stars' Jamie Oleksiak, it's his Canadian Olympian sister Penelope "Penny" Oleksiak - the youngest Canadian athlete ever to medal and the first to win four medals in the same Summer Games - who wears the mantle.

The 6'7", 255-pound Jamie has an interesting career; he was drafted by the Stars then traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a fourth-round draft pick, yet when he was shown to be a poor fit in Pittsburgh and when the Stars realized he was exactly who they needed to have on their back end, was traded back for the exact same pick, as if the trade had never happened, save for the 83 games he played there, and the 8 goals, 17 assists, 25 points, 106 penalty minutes and +18 rating he collected while in Steel Town.

He's now a regular on the team's third pairing, generally driving play forward and contributing to the tune of a point per five games or so. Here he is wearing the Stars' old digs, the white (away) uniform with the awful wordmark and number instead of a logo on the signed insert version of card #173 from Upper Deck's 2013-14 Trilogy set and Rookie Premieres/Level 1 sub-sets:

The card appears to have a blue tint, but that's just the scan; it's actually a silver foil to the naked eye, with the parts appearing as black being gold foil. The signature is in blue sharpie, on a sticker. The card is numbered 137/699.

Oleksiak is a big tattoo buff.

Alexander Radulov Jersey Card

(As per years past, this is a twin-post with my "regular" blog, where I predicted the Dallas Stars would finish third in the Central Division in 2019-20).

I really believed Ben Bishop was going to lead the Dallas Stars to the Conference Final last season. He'd worked miracles all year long yet was sure to get the shaft for the Vezina - which was almost always going to go to Andrei Vasilevskiy - so it was only right for karma to reward his efforts with a double-overtime Game 7 win instead of the 2-1 loss. He had been the better goalie in the series, as well as in the first round, but Fate had decided the St. Louis Blues would win it all.

One player who shouldn't be embarrassed by the effort level he put into every game - although he did miss a game due to being late for practice - on the Stars is star winger Alexander Radulov, who had 29 goals, 43 assists and 72 points in 70 regular-season games and 10 more points (5 goals, 5 assists) in 13 playoff games.

To put it into perspective, despite missing ten games, he was second on the team in goals, assists and points, far ahead of captain Jamie Benn, who dressed for 78 games, and on pace to catch up to leader Tyler Seguin:

from HockeyDB

At the age of 33, he is showing no signs of slowing down. I expect another 70+-point season on his part as the Stars look to get past a tight Central Division and make an even deeper run than last year.

Also, Radu's looking pretty good in Dallas' white (away) uniform on the jersey insert version of card #66 from Upper Deck's 2018-19 SP Game-Used collection I got from Ebay earlier this summer:

It features a black game-worn jersey swatch that is from the stripes on either the home or away uniform. It blends extremely well with the rest of the card.

Alex Chiasson Jersey Card

Five years ago, I predicted Alex Chiasson would be a consistent 20-goal scorer in his prime who might even hit the 30-goal mark once.

It took longer than I expected, but he hit that mark last season, although many attribute it to playing with the Edmonton Oilers alongside Connor McDavid, even though McDavid's most frequent linemate was 50-goal scorer Leon Draisaitl - not Chiasson.

The Oilers will likely have a better group of wingers this year, as James Neal, Swiss two-way star Gaetan Haas, former blue-chip prospect Mikael Granlund, grinder Josh Archibald, and rookie Tyler Benson look to earn spots alongside McDavid, Draisaitl and/or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to get the team out of the league's basement; at least a couple of them are convinced he can do a better job of putting the puck in the opposition's net than Chiasson and Zack Kassian, and at least one of them is likely correct. And that's not factoring in Jesse Puljujarvi and/or the return he may provide if traded.

Still, I remain convinced the 20-goal plateau is within Chiasson's reach for three more seasons as he plays out his prime, whether that's on the first or second line.

Here he is sporting the Dallas Stars' white (away) uniform on card #URJ-AC from Upper Deck's 2013-14 Ultimate Collection set and Ultimate Rookie Jersey sub-set:

It features two black swatches from an event-worn (rookie photo shoot) jersey. The swatch on the left has a white line going through it, looking a little like chalk or wear-and-tear.

Jason Spezza Autographed Card

One of the better free agent deals of the summer may prove to be Jason Spezza's one-year, league-minimum ($750K) contract with his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs, solidifying their depth down the middle.

Now, granted, his final two seasons with the Dallas Stars have seen him relegated to mostly a defensive role, as his points totals of 26 and 27 points are far behind his 62, 63 and 50 of the previous three years and light yeras away from his 90-point, All-Star Game heyday, but he led the league in face-off percentages last season (58.2%) and managed some clutch goals down the stretch and in the playoffs to keep his team's chances alive when it seemed like captain Jamie Benn was unable to spark himself up.

He was also a leader in the room who now sits at 915 career regular-season points (in 1065 games), so he may require two more years to hit the 1000-point mark - and I hope he does.

He sent me this card (#312 from Upper Deck's 2015-16 Series 2 set) in the mail a couple of summers ago, before my most recent move:

It shows him wearing the Stars' beautiful green (home) uniform and is signed in blue sharpie.

I hope he gets some second-unit powerplay time with the Leafs, to pad up his stats line in the twilight of his career on a team that has some decent offensive weapons.

Ben Bishop Jersey Card

Once again, Ben Bishop is quietly having a Vezina consideration-worthy season, leading the league in save percentage. He is by far the biggest reason why the Dallas Stars will be making the playoffs, especially since Jamie Benn's having a very difficult season with just 47 points in 67 games so far.

Sportsnet conducted an analysis comparing Bishop's save percentage in just about every situation not just to the rest of the league but also his backup Anton Khudobin (who "benefits" from the same offense-depleted roster and playing style), so despite seeing fiercest competition by definition of his #1 role, Bishop's outplaying everybody in the NHL except likely Vezina winner Andrei Vasilevskiy this season, who trails him by one point (.933 vs .932):

Sure, the three-game shutout streak (breaking Ed Belfour's old record by five minutes before leaving the game with a lower-body injury) helped with his stats line, but he was having an MVP season until then anyway. He already had three shutouts in the bank on a team whose defense reads like a who's who of who's who: star defenseman John Klingberg missed 18 games due to an injury, Miro Heiskanen is a rookie, Esa Lindell is looking like a good second-pairing defender, and Ben Lovejoy, Taylor Fedun and Roman Polak are supposed to be extras who won't produce much offensively but will finish with a +/- of around 0 in a good year yet were pushed onto roles that may be bigger than they can handle because Julius Honka (29 games played) and Marc Methot (9) were each sidelined for most of the season.

The team's Top-10 scoring leaders also looks like that of a team waiting for the lottery to give them a high draft pick:

from HockeyDB

And yet, not only do they look like a lock for the playoffs, they may even finish above Wild Card status:

This, to me, has Bishop as a nominee for the Hart Trophy (league MVP) as well, likely finishing third behind Tampa Bay Lightning magician Nikita Kucherov and Calgary Flames leader Johnny Gaudreau.

And so I thought it'd be a good moment to focus on card #GJ-BI from Upper Deck's 2018-19 Series 1 set and UD Game Jersey sub-set:

You might recall it from a Box Break from late December. It shows him wearing the Stars' beautiful green (away) uniform with 25th Anniversary (of their move to Dallas) patch, and prominently featuring a white game-worn jersey swatch.

John Klingberg Jersey Card

Much has been said about the Dallas Stars' disappointing season, but one of the players providing exactly what was expected of him is defenseman John Klingberg, who was one of the best defensemen in the league last year - and three years ago, when he led the entire league for Team Goals While On Ice (with 132).

This season, in just 31 games played (he missed five weeks due to an injury), he's already at 6 goals scored - two fewer than the 8 he scored in 82 games last year - and 25 total points. That's good for fourth on the team, despite playing in 17 fewer games than two of the three teammates who are ahead of him:

There's little doubt that Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov are also having fine seasons, as is rookie defender Miro Heiskanen. I do agree with the Stars' VP Jim Lytes that Jamie Benn could have better numbers, though; until he's 34 (so for the next four-to-five years), Benn should always be flirting with the 40/45-goal mark and the point-per-game ratio - not only does his salary command that, he also actually is that good and important to the Stars, and his power forward style of play is still effective in today's NHL.

Adding star goalie Ben Bishop (currently at 16-12-2 with a 2.37 goals-against average and .921 save percentage in 31 games) and second-line center (and former Ottawa Senators captain) Jason Spezza to the mix, Dallas absolutely should be able to make the playoffs year in and year out if their support staff does the bare minimum. It just hasn't in the past couple of years...

Klingberg's already 26, entering what should be the prime of his career. If he didn't live in the Age Of Erik Karlsson, along with Victor Hedman, Drew Doughty, Roman Josi, P.K. Subban, Mark Giordano, Kristopher Letang, Brent Burns, Seth Jones, and Dustin Byfuglien, I'd say he was the Norris Trophy-winning type, but there is tremendously stiff competition these days.

Hopefully the team helps him reach some level of success.

Here he is sporting the Stars' white (away) jersey (with matching game-worn swatch) on card #GJ-JK from Upper Deck's 2017-18 Series 1 set and UD Game Jersey sub-set:

I pulled it from an unopened pack in an Upper Deck Mystery Box a couple of weeks ago. He made a Make-A-Wish kid's dream come true with the rest of his teammates around the same time.

Mike Modano Jersey Card

The Dallas Stars overhauled everything they could this off-season: they let backup goalie Antti Niemi go and replaced him with two-time Vezina Trophy nominee Ben Bishop; they let oft-injured right winger Ales Hemsky test free agency (and, ultimately, sign with the Montréal Canadiens) and signed the Habs' best player, Alexander Radulov instead; they went and took Marc Methot - one of the best defensive defensemen in the game - off the Vegas Golden Knights' hands; they did not renew head coach Lindy Ruff's contract, instead picking up Ken Hitchcock, who was behind the bench for the franchise's lone Stanley Cup in 1999, with Ruff on the losing side of that, too; the only "not-win" they have on their summer report card is signing slow-footed Martin Hanzal essentially to replace Cody Eakin. Hanzal almost single-handedly cost the Minnesota Wild first place after a trade deadline deal last year, and didn't do much when they were eliminated in the playoffs either.

All those moves lead me to believe they might take a while to assimilate Hitchcock's system and gel, but that by entering the playoffs as a Wild Card team, they could do like the Nashville Predators last year and make their way to the Stanley Cup Final, perhaps even beating the Tampa Bay Lightning while they're there.

I like this team a lot more than I did the Cup-winning 1999 edition, who had players I didn't like too much at the time (Ed Belfour, Joe Nieuwendyk, Brett Hull, captain and bruising defenseman Derian Hatcher, Pat Verbeek, Mike Keane), but a few guys I did respect a lot (Mike Modano, Brian Skrudland, Jere Lehtinen, Darryl Sydor, Dave Reid, Craig Ludwig, Benoît Hogue), and one guy I loved (Guy Carbonneau). I did prefer the Stars winning over Dominik Hasek and the Buffalo Sabres, though.

This time around, there are so many players I like. Sure, the new guys Methot, Radulov and Bishop are awesome, but so is Cup-deserving veteran Jason Spezza, captain Jamie Benn, star center Tyler Seguin, bruiser Antoine Roussel, and defensemen John Klingberg, Dan Hamhuis, and Julius Honka.

If they want to, they can ask Modano for guidance at any time, because he works for the team as its alternate governor as well as in advisory role.

Despite playing out his final season with his hometown Detroit Red Wings, he'll always be the Original Dallas Star to me, which is why I'm such a big fan of card #M-26 from In The Game's 2012-13 Decades - The 1990s set and Game-Used Jersey sub-set:

It depicts him wearing the team's original (in every sens of the word) star-shaped jersey and features a fairly big white game-worn jersey swatch.

Fabian Brunnstrom: Two Autographed Cards

NHL General Managers are in a bind when it comes to re-tooling their line-ups, because they're generally looking for younger, cheaper players who are ready (and already developed) to hold the fort until their own draft picks are ready.

For a couple of years, this came from unsigned U.S. College free agents, but this year, there's been an unprecedented wave of signings from European leagues, especially the KHL and Sweden League, particularly the championship-winning HV71, who has now lost the league's Rookie Of The Year Andreas Borgman (Toronto Maple Leafs), winger Filip Sandberg (San Jose Sharks), goalie Linus Soderstrom (New York Islanders), and forward Kevin Stenlund (Columbus Blue Jackets).

Signing free agents allows teams to not give up an "asset" (someone they already have under contract that they'd like to keep) while stockpiling other assets; there is a limit of 50 NHL-level contacts per team, however, which usually amounts to a full NHL roster (23 players), one or two overseas rookies, most of an AHL roster (15-23 players), some ECHL prospects (1-5), and a few players in Juniors (1-10), meaning the number of contracts awarded becomes a commodity almost as precious as salary cap space for some teams.

But the road to the NHL is abrupt, and for every success story like Jimmy Vesey, there's a Jimmy Hayes to contradict it. Which brings me to Fabian Brunnstrom, the once-sought-after wunderkind who quickly climbed the ranks of Swedish Hockey from third division to second division to a fine rookie season as a 22-year-old in the Elite League:

When Brunnström turned pro in Sweden's third-tier league with Jonstorps IF in 2005–06, he posted an impressive 44 points in 38 games; the following year, he joined Borås HC, helping them reach the second-tier Allsvenskan with a league-leading 73 points in 41 games. Then he was off to Farjestads BK Karlstad, where he posted what, at first glance, seemed like a decent season, with 9 goals, a team-leading 28 assists, and 37 points in 58 games. Except that stat line doesn't hint at the fact that most of his points were accumulated in the first half of the season, and as teams got wiser to him and started paying more attention, his production turned silent. Which also explains why he was reduced to a single assist in 12 playoff games.

That's why NHL teams are now looking for players from championship teams, who have won individual or team hardware and have produced when the play gets more physical and intense.

Many teams were vying to retain Brunnström's services, and the "usual" Swede-happy teams were in the mix: the Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks - but it was the Dallas Stars who got the final word when the Canucks fired GM Dave Nonis, who reportedly had a deal in place.

After being a healthy scratch for the first two games of the 2008-09, Brunnström scored a hat trick in his first NHL game, prompting American sports media types to go nuts, kind of how they reacted last October when Auston Matthews scored four in his first game.

He did alright the rest of the year, including scoring a game-winner against the Flames in Calgary, but could never equal that performance; he finished the season with a respectable 17 goals, 12 assists and 29 points in 55 games, but injuries started taking over his 6'2", 205-pound frame.

Things got worse in 2009-10, as he spent the year alternating between the Stars (2 goals, 9 assists and 11 points in 44 games), their AHL affiliate Texas Stars (5 points in 8 games) and the injury list, then spent the entire 2010-11 season in the AHL, splitting his time between Texas (21 points in 37 games) and the Toronto Marlies (14 points in 35 games), and league-hopping again in 2011-12 between the Detroit Red Wings (one assist and 4 penalty minutes in 5 games) and the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins (12 goals and 23 assists for 35 points in 45 games), and while that was an improvement over the previous couple of seasons, it wasn't enough to convince yet another NHL team to give him a shot.

And so he went back to Sweden, where he was never again a point-per-game player (or even remote close to one), before ending up in Denmark last year:

from his HockeyDB page

And that's where it ends for him, as he has apparently retired. We're left with Wings GM Ken Holland's words about him, how he lacked "leadership and toughness".

He's not the only "Euro-bust" in recent memory, what with goalie Jonas "The Monster" Gustavsson never panning out as a #1 starter, Ville Leino having had just one decent year, Damien Brunner, Jiri Sekac...

In his defense, I probably would not have wanted to play in the Stars' Rbk Edge uniforms. Ugh. They're a "greatest hits"of everything you want to avoid on a hockey jersey, from a word-mark instead of the team logo on the chest to having the number on the front, which was even worse on the dark (home) uniform, as can be attested on card #207 from Upper Deck's 2008-09 Collector's Choice set and Choice Reserve and Choice Rookies sub-sets:

The white (away) uniform wasn't as bad, and although the Texas-shaped alternate logo on the shoulders wasn't the best idea ever, it wasn't terrible. And at least the jersey didn't have awful, ill-suited piping across the chest and under the arms:

That's card #467 from Upper Deck's 2008-09 Series 2 set and Young Guns sub-sets.

They both count as rookie cards, and he signed them both in blue sharpie while he was in the AHL.

Brad Richards Dual Swatch Card

Once every four to six weeks, I go on Ebay to see if there's anything that would inspire me to look at a specific set to buy packs of, or just to see if I had missed anything with sets I was sort of familiar with, which is how I fell onto this card of Brad Richards' two weeks ago:

It's card #TD-RIC from Panini's 2012-13 Limited set and Limited Travels sub-set - one I had never heard of but I find is a terrific concept: it shows him both with the Dallas Stars and New York Rangers, and features a game-worn swatch of each - black for the Stars and white for the Rangers. I like how the picture of him with the Rangers is clearer, as he metaphorically faded from the Stars to the Blueshirts.

The back also has a nice tidbit of information, revealing that he holds Dallas' second-highest point production mark, among other things:

This is a much better alternative to Frankencards, very original, fun and informative. This one is numbered 14/199.

Bill Guerin Jersey Card

Bill Guerin was a hard-nosed power forward who scored a career-high 41 goals in 2001-02 with the Boston Bruins, and led the league with 10 game-winning goals in 2003-04 with the Dallas Stars. All told, he accumulated 20-goal seasons with an NHL-record seven different teams in his distinguished career, which included a number of Team USA nods and the title of MVP of the 2001 All-Star Game.

He won two Stanley Cups as a player - 1994-95 with the New Jersey Devils and 2008-09 with the Pittsburgh Penguins - and added another as the Pens' assistant GM last year.

He was bought out by the Stars after a sub-par 2005-06 season (13 goals, 27 assists and 40 points in 70 games), but not before he got to wear the infamous "mooterus" jersey:

Oh. So. Good. That's card #J2-BG from Upper Deck's 2005-06 Series 2 set and UD Game Jersey sub-set. It features a two-colour game-worn jersey swatch (gold and white) that is likely from the Stars' white (then-home) uniform, but could also stem from his days with the Bruins or Edmonton Oilers.

Antoine Roussel Swatch Card

A month of toughness warranted a look towards Antoine Roussel, the Dallas Stars' resident pest/heavy hitter who's gaining recognition all around the NHL:

He's physical, gets up under guys skins, and can throw opposing teams off balance by creating chaos wherever he is on the ice. Even tougher to swallow for opposing fans is the fact that Roussel isn't just some goon - he can make you pay with his fists as equally as he can on the scoreboard. He's potted a half dozen game-winning goals this year alone.

He's been straddling the right side of the thin line between "right" and "wrong", as well as "legal" and "not", for the better part of two years now.

He's on pace for a 40-point season, which would be a career-high for him and would cement his role in the middle-six and as a part-time powerplay participant. So far, he's flirted with the 15-goal and 30-point marks while accumulating 209, 148 and 123 penalty minutes in three full-time NHL seasons.

I believe he would be most effective in a Milan Lucic-like (dirty power forward) role, perhaps aiming for numbers such as 20/40/100, with highs around 25/55/125.

Here he is wearing the Stars' current white (away) uniform, on card #RG-AR from Panini's 2013-14 Titanium set, and Rookie Gear and Dual Rookie Class sub-sets:

It features a matching event-worn jersey swatch.

While suiting up for Team France at the 2014 World Championships - his third straight Worlds participation - he posted 11 points in just 8 games and was selected on the media's All-Star Team; he probably should have been named to Team Europe at the World Cup, with or instead of fellow countryman Pierre-Édourard Bellemare.

Darryl Sydor Autograph Card

In an effort to keep poaching all the available talent in the Central Division in the hopes of repeating last season's pre-playoff choke/terrific regular season, the St. Louis Blues have hired Darryl Sydor to be one of two assistant coaches (with Daniel Tkaczuk) with their AHL affiliate Chicago Wolves.

Sydor had been an assistant coach with the Minnesota Wild for the past four seasons, before a DUI event forced him to step down and enter rehab.

As a player, he'd been in five Stanley Cup Finals - including two Cup wins - to go with a Memorial Cup, two All-Star Games, over 500 regular-season points and over 50 more in the playoffs. He wasn't a Hall of Famer, but he was certainly a star and a good team player.

Here he is wearing the Dallas Stars' original (notwithstanding the Minnesota part of the franchise, anyway) green - away - uniform, showing him taking a slap shot from inside the offensive zone:

It's card #96 from Panini's 2012-13 Classics Signatures set (the signed insert version, signed on-card in blue sharpie - you can tell because the spot where the signature is was airbrushed white to show him where to sign). I'm not sure whether I'd classify that set as higher-mid-range or lower-premium, but boxes are still available for around $60 for 30 cards, with 5 or 6 autographs per.

Jamie Benn Jersey Card

There were two big pieces of news regarding Jamie Benn today: first, he signed a new monster contract that will pay him $9.5M per season for eight years, and second, the Dallas Stars' captain might miss the World Cup because of abdominal surgery to repair a muscle injury.

Let's talk about his deal first, which kicks in for the 2017-18 season. Is he worth that kind of top-player money right now? Absolutely, seeing as he won the Art Ross Trophy in 2014-15 and was runner-up in 2015-16, he's definitely a top player worthy of being "in the conversation" in terms of rare franchise players. However, he still has a year to go on a contract that currently pays him $5.75M, which makes him one of the most affordable and valuable players in the league at the moment, meaning some view him as currently underpaid.

His style of play is straight-up power forward, but he doesn't get that many penalties called against him, which differentiates him from the prototypical/stereotypical power forwards of the past, such as Keith Tkachuk, Eric Lindros, Todd Bertuzzi, or Jeremy Roenick. He does hit and get hit a lot, though, which means his body may get some bumps and bruises over time.

As I wrote somewhere else:

Ironically, the one thing that could save him with his physical style of play is a serious injury that takes a year for him to recover from, as every other bone and muscle in his body will also get some rest and he’ll be able to bounce back and buy back some time.

If not, the last couple of seasons may seem like overpayment and some disgruntled fans may scream for a buyout, which would be unfair for a true leader who really gives everything he's got for his team.

I'd featured Benn in the Stars' post-lockout black (home) atrocity a little over a year ago, so now it's time to do so with its counterpart white (away) monstrosity on card #DALL-JB from Upper Deck's 2013-14 Black Diamond set and Double Diamond Jerseys sub-set:

I'm so glad Dallas changed their uniforms to the current green and white ones with an actual logo instead of just letters; there are limits to identifying with colleges, i.e. amateurs.

Kari Lehtonen Jersey Card

I would be remiss if I didn't talk about Dallas Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen this weekend. He started the playoffs with a 4-0 shutout of the Minnesota Wild on Thursday and followed that with a 2-1 win tonight.

He's healthy and has been kept fresh by being in a rotation with Antti Niemi during the regular season, and while both had their ups and downs, both also played well enough to raise the question as to whom would start the playoffs between a goalie who has one postseason round on his resume (Lehtonen) and another (Niemi) who has a Stanley Cup championship on his, but was deemed replaceable by the Chicago Blackhawks that very summer - and who suffered through the Los Angeles Kings' historic comeback from an 0-3 deficit two years ago. Both goalies won 25 games this year.

Head coach Lindy Ruff ultimately went with former first round pick Lehtonen (second overall in 2002), and it's worked so far. It's not like he's never been in pressure situations before; as a member of Team Finland, he has an Olympic bronze medal (2014), World Championship silver (2007), World Cup silver (2004), World Juniors silver (2001) and bronze (2002 and 2003) and U-18 Worlds gold (2000) and silver (2001).

So here he is pictured wearing the Stars' current (and beautiful) green (home) uniform, on card #GJ-KL from Upper Deck's 2014-15 Series 1 set and UD Game Jersey sub-set:

It has a white game-used jersey swatch enclosed.

Tyler Seguin Swatch Card

Bad boys, bad boys, what'cha gonna do / what'cha gonna do when they come for you?

It's been the summer of suspected repeat offenders in the NHL, what with alleged sexual assault cases (Mike Ribeiro settled out of court with his nanny, Patrick Kane is facing a grand jury next week), Mike Richards getting caught "smuggling" prescription medication across the Canada/U.S. border, and Tyler Seguin "partying too loudly" in Toronto.

And that's in addition to first-time offenders Jarred Stoll (ecstasy and cocaine possession) and Slava Voynov (domestic abuse).

For many of these cases, little is known about the actual facts, and the internet is filled with suppositions, particularly in the case of the harsher allegations (Ribeiro, Voynov, Kane), the notion of "innocent until proven guilty" usually thrown out the window on the sole basis of the players' reputations.

Which brings us to Seguin, whom the Boston Bruins traded to the Dallas Stars mostly because, at age 21, he didn't fit into head coach Claude Julien's defense-first system and would party into the late/early hours while the rest of the team was leading mostly disciplined lives.

Stars' GM Jim Nill was adamant that his budding scoring superstar would have learned from this, yet former Toronto Maple Leafs president Richard Peddie claims Seguin parties late, disturbs his neighbours and leaves his trash on his lawn, among other things. In the off-season. In the summer. Around Canada Day.

Perhaps one guy has to grow up, and it's Peddie. Except that because of Seguin's reputation, he's the target of the media's attention, despite the fact that he stayed home, didn't go to a bar, didn't get into trouble, and from my knowledge, didn't get into legal troubles either. So, essentially, he did nothing terribly wrong.

Now let's talk about what he does right. Such as playing hockey, enabling teammate Jamie Benn to win the Art Ross Trophy last season, edging out Sidney Crosby and John Tavares. He finished sixth in Hart voting the season before that, and both of his seasons with the Stars had him at a more than a point-per-game pace, both times scoring 37 goals with 40 or more assists. He's also played for Team Canada at the World Championships, winning the gold medal and leading the tournament in scoring with 9 goals in 10 games.

He's on his way up, and will be a star for the next decade. Here he is on card #CL-TS from Panini's 2013-14 Totally Certified set (and Clear Cloth sub-set), featuring a black game-worn jersey swatch from the Stars' former garbs but showing him with the team's new green (home) jersey and new logo:

I really love the clear plastic where his head shot is; this one and that of Henrik Zetterberg are the only two I have of this sub-set, and I wish I had more; I'm willing to trade this one for two of "lesser-valued" players I collect (Alex Galchenyuk, Max Pacioretty, Alexandre Burrows, Blake Wheeler, Roberto Luongo), but would also be content starting a Seguin collection. This one is numbered 86/100.

Mike Modano Jersey Card

Now a member of the Hockey Hall Of Fame, Mike Modano currently stands as the all-time goals and points leader among American-born players in the NHL. He spent all but one season with the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars franchise, save for a final go-round for his hometown Detroit Red Wings.

He was never a leading scorer and is thin on hardware (save for the 1999 Stanley Cup), but for most of his career, he finished with Selke, Lady Byng, and Hart Trophy votes, and was a Second Team All-Star in 2000, in addition to playing in 7 All-Star Games (once as team captain), making the All-Rookie Team in 1990, and suiting up for Team USA 11 times, winning one gold (1996 World Cup) and one silver medal (2002 Olympics), as well as a runner-up position at the 1991 Canada Cup. It's easily understandable why he was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

He finished his NHL career at nearly a point-per-game pace (1374 points in 1499 games, plus 146 points in 176 playoff games) and also had a decent showing internationally, with 41 points in 57 games playing for the United States.

He also captained the Stars from 2003 until 2006, until management decided to pass the mantle onto Brenden Morrow - a decision I disagreed with, at the time, and still do; in my opinion, he remains the face of the franchise in Dallas to this day, and he uses that title in his current role as a team ambassador, attracting sponsors and business partners.

And so it's fitting that I feature him not just wearing the Stars' uniform, but their best and most memorable one, the star-shaped green and black jersey, on a card featuring two black game-worn jersey swatches, from Upper Deck's 2013-14 Artifacts collection:

It's a variant of card #66, and is numbered 50/125.