Edward Pasquale Autographed Card

(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

Edward Pasquale has posted very good statistics at every level, yet at best remained an NHL third-stringer, which is likely why he signed on with the KHL's Barys Nur-Sultan this summer, a move I hinted at back in 2014.

We're talking about an OHL All-Star, a Calder Cup (2017) and Hap Holmes Award (2019) winner in the AHL, and now a goalie who's won 67% of his NHL starts - all against Original Six teams, as he's won against the Detroit Red Wings, lost to the Montréal Canadiens and won the Tampa Bay Lightning's final game of this past season against the Boston Bruins, the win that tied the NHL record for most regular-season wins in a single season with 63. Thus, even in the NHL, he's played important games.

But there was no more room left with the Bolts, after the team re-signed starter Andrei Vasilevskiy to an eight-year, $76M deal, signed excellent backup Curtis McElhinney, and traded for AHLer Mike Condon... all while still having 2018-19 backup Louis Domingue on the books. Something had to give.

In my opinion, a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs could have used his services to relieve Frederik Andersen once a week.

Here he is sporting the OHL's Saginaw Spirit's beautiful white (home) uniform, on card #93 from In The Game's 2009-10 Heroes And Prospects set:

He signed it in blue sharpie after the game he lost to the Habs last April, nearly five years to the day after I received my first signed cards of his by mail. I wish him the best in Kazakhstan.

Edward Pasquale: 6 Autographed Cards

After sifting through the (amazing) backlog of last week's deliveries, I'll be up-to-date with this terrific Edward Pasquale return:

Pasquale is the epitome of irony: he has been as consistent as can be, but because his teams haven't been, his statistics look like a roller-coaster ride through the highest peaks and the lowest valleys, regardless of the level he played at.

What he does is play a positional style, using his 6'3'' frame and 215 pounds to cover a lot of net and lets the puck hit him, and with playoff save percentages like his .940 rating in the OHL in 2008-09 and .923 at the AHL level in 2011-12, one can assume it works wonders for him. He leaves a bit of open net on purpose on the glove side and anticipates shots heading there to swiftly grab them out of thin air. I'm not sure how that'll translate to better shooters at the NHL level, but only time will tell.

Only once has he lost less games than he's won, and that was with the lowly St. John's IceCaps in 2012-13, going 15-23-4 in 43 games, making 1109 saves in the process. He has had seasons of 1821 and 1677 saves with the OHL's Saginaw Spirit, as well, prompting the Atlanta Thrashers to draft him in the 4th round in 2009.

He's still with the organization despite their becoming the Winnipeg Jets, though his contract expires at season's end. When young goalies lose patience, they tend to move on to Europe these days; I don't know if Pasquale is considering it, but I hope he gives the AHL another season, perhaps as the official 50-plus-game starter and impress the team enough to give him an NHL contract for 2015-16.

I had sent Pasquale these six custom cards from my own Hell's Kitchen 2013-14 Series 2 set (all variants - A, B, C, D, E, and F - of card #39), first showing him with the IceCaps' white uniform:

Also, three featuring him in the IceCaps' prettiest - particularly on the upright card - dark blue uniform (yes, I tried a few colour combinations for the background), showing him covering a lot of net from the wide side:

There's also one of him wearing the Jets' training camp practice jersey:

All six were sent to him along with a fan letter on March 11th, 2014, and all were signed in thin blue sharpie, with his AHL uniform number (40) tagged at the end, and received last Monday, April 28th (2014) - a 48-day return from the 2009 CHL Prospects Game MVP.