Dan Hamhuis Swatch Card

After failing to land him at the trade deadline, the Dallas Stars have now signed Dan Hamhuis as a free agent for two seasons, essentially replacing deadline acquisition and consolation prize Kris Russell.

Hamhuis, 33, is still good to have on the penalty kill and the powerplay; his experience will also help a young Stars defense, as he’s won a gold medal with Team Canada at the Olympics (with coach Lindy Ruff, who also coached him at the World Championships) and played in a Stanley Cup Final with the Vancouver Canucks.

Dallas' one big question mark remains in net, as both Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi have had disappointing playoffs, and with Ben Bishop and Marc-André Fleury rumoured to be on the trade market.

But with an offense that boasts Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Jason Spezza, Patrick Sharp and Cody Eakin, goals for won't be a problem this year either.

Here is Hamhuis wearing the Canucks' blue (home) current/retro uniform, on card #TC-DHA from Panini's 2013-14 Totally Certified set and Red Jersey sub-set:

It features a silver game-worn jersey swatch that dates back to his days with the Nashville Predators.

2 Dan Hamhuis Autographed Cards

A first-round pick (12th overall) of the Nashville Predators in 2001, Dan Hamhuis is a special kind of player who can be used both as a shut-down defenseman logging tons of ice time, as well as a point man on the powerplay.

But as Shea Weber and Ryan Suter came to prominence in Nashville, the Preds let him go to free agency (well, they traded his rights to the Philadelphia Flyers, who in turn traded them to the Pittsburgh Penguins, but neither team could agree to a contract with him), he was signed by the Vancouver Canucks and helped steer them to their second Stanley Cup Game 7 defeat in team history.

He can now be counted on for 35 points per season while manning the team's top defensive duties, and should eventually be a candidate for wearing the 'A' on his jersey.

I sent him these cards care of the Canucks on April 11th, at the beginning of what I thought would be a long playoff run for Vancouver, but for the third straight season, they fell to the eventual Cup champions, this time the Los Angeles Kings in the first round, in which Hamhuis got 3 assists in 5 games. He sent them back while I was in the hospital (I got them on December 13th), both signed in (fading) blue sharpie with his jersey number (2) tagged at the end, each depicting him in the team's current uniforms.

First, from Panini's 2010-11 Donruss set (card #84), wearing the team's blue (home) jersey consisting of the dreadful 1970s colour scheme (and 70s logo on the shoulders), 1990s logo on the chest, and the mention of VANCOUVER on top (as if we needed more explanations), and all-Bauer equipment:

And second, from Panini's 2011-12 Score set (card #450), the white (away) version of the uniform, which I like a little better for some odd reason, using only Easton equipment this time around:

Another great return from an important player on a top-rated team, and one who collects international medals: bronze (2001) and silver (2002) at the World Juniors, and silver (2008, 2009) and gold (2007) at the World Championships. It'll be difficult form him to find a place on an Olympic team, however, with Weber, Drew Doughty, Duncan Keith ahead of him on Team Canada's depth chart, the rise of youngsters like P.K. Subban, Kristopher Letang, and Alex Pietrangelo, and equally-talented but more experienced players such as Brent Seabrook, Dion Phaneuf and Dan Boyle also in the mix.