Don Beaupre Autographed Card

Going into the All-Star break, the Washington Capitals are leading the NHL with 73 points ahead of defending Stanley Cup champions Chicago Blackhawks, offensive powerhouse Dallas Stars, regular-season juggernaut St. Louis Blues, the perfectly-balanced Los Angeles Kings and the rising Florida Panthers, with games in hand on everybody, ranging from 2 (Kings) to 7 (Hawks!).

They are currently on pace for 130 points, which would not only shatter their team record of 121 (reached in 2009-10, though they were ousted in the first round that year by Jaroslav Halak and the Montréal Canadiens), but they're also on pace to break the Detroit Red Wings' 124 points from 2005-06, which marks the highest total since the season-long 2004-05 lockout.

Alex Ovechkin remains a scoring machine, Nicklas Backstrom remains an elite set-up man, Braden Holtby is the early favourite to win the Vezina Trophy (ahead, in my opinion, of Corey Crawford and Roberto Luongo), and head coach Barry Trotz looks like he's in full control of the situation.

Speaking of All-Stars and goalies, here's a card I uncovered recently when going through old stuff, actually looking for old textbooks full of songs as I was preparing for my first-ever all-French show on January 15th:

That's Don Beaupre, of course, the two-time All-Star, who was wearing Cooper equipment instead of the Vaughn gear he'd wear a few years later. It's card #307 from Pro Set's inaugural 1990-91 Series 1 collection, which he signed in thick blue sharpie, which pinpoints this to probably just before I stopped paying attention to hockey for a few years, so probably November 18th, 1995, as his Ottawa Senators lost to Patrick Roy and the Habs, two weeks before the infamous trade that burried the Canadiens for over a decade and was the final nail in the coffin of my rooting for them, following the trades of Guy Carbonneau, Chris Nilan, Éric Desjardins, John LeClair, and Donald Brashear, and the naming of Vincent Damphousse as captain (terrific player, not a guy you want to have as a leader).

But I digress. Beaupre was a fine goaltender, often found in the top-5 in many categories, notably goals-against average and shutouts, in which he led the league (with 5) in 1990-91, while with the Caps. He played parts of six seasons in Washington D.C., for 269 regular-season games and 36 more in the playoffs, but spent eight and a half seasons with the Minnesota North Stars (316 regular-season games and 34 in the postseason), so he was a big part of two different teams.

Don Beaupre Autographed Card

I agreed to a trade months ago, but because both the people involved were in the process of moving, we waited until last week to actually pull the trigger. I sent him one of these two Jamie Benn cards I featured last year, and he sent two cards my way, the first of which is this Don Beaupre autographed card:

It's card #310 in Upper Deck's flagship 1992-93 Series 1 set, and comes neatly signed in thin blue sharpie, which looks awesome on top of his red (away) Washington Capitals uniform (and red-white-and-blue Vaughn Legacy 2000 blocker). I had successfully written Mr. Beaupre a little over two years ago and he'd signed the three cards I'd sent him.

He was one of the most consistent goalies in the NHL from 1985 until 1994, getting the most starts on his teams with a good wins-loss record (save for one season where the Minnesota North Stars were pretty bad), with two All-Star Game appearances and finishing in the top-5 for goals-against numerous times, and first in shutouts once.

He probably was just as good even after that, but playing for the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs only got you the league lead in losses at that time (25, in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season, playing in 38 of the Sens' 48 games)...

Don Beaupre: 3 Autographed Cards

Statistically, Don Beaupre was always near the top of the NHL in its statistics department, usually in the top-5 for goals-against average. He played in two All Star games, once as a member of the Minnesota North Stars (1981) and once representing the Washington Capitals (1993, in Montréal). He also played in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1981, a season during which he split goaltending duties with the legendary Gilles Meloche - my friend Martin Itfor, an important hockey blogger, is a huge fan.

The card below has been with me as far as I can remember, from Topps' 1986-87 O-Pee-Chee set (card #89):

It shows Beaupre as a member of the North Stars when I, myself, was playing for the NDG North Stars, with brown pads, a CCM helmet-with-a-cage and a Christian USA stick of my own (at the Atom level).

Below, two cards of Beaupre as a member of the Caps, who just clinched a playoff spot tonight:

The card on the left, showing Beaupre in the red (away) uniform, is from Pro Set's flagship 1991-92 Pro Set collection (card #601, showing him as the mid-season GAA leader - he had finished second in the entire NHL the previous season); the card on the right, showing him wearing the Caps' white (home) jersey but, more importantly, focusing on the superb DC cityscape mask I mentioned previously in this Enrico Ciccone post, is from In the Game's 2010-11 Between The Pipes set (the Greats Of The Game subset, card #157).

I sent Mr. Beaupre these 3 cards and a fan letter on March 5th (2012) and got them back less than 3 weeks later, on March 26th, signed in blue sharpie. I thought about sending him cards from his days with the Ottawa Senators but didn't want to push it by sending too many - especially to his home - and stuck with the teams I identify him with the most instead.