Enrico Ciccone Autograph Card

Thank you Ebay for netting me this card of Enrico Ciccone's showing him wearing the Minnesota North Stars' colours (though he's listed on the back as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning):

It's the autographed insert version of card #132 from Upper Deck's 1994-95 Be A Player set, which he signed on-card in gold sharpie.

It's fitting, because the North Stars moved south just a few seasons later to become the Dallas Stars, and a decade later were replaced by the Minnesota Wild, who are currently facing off in the first round of these 2016 playoffs. (I'm predicting the Stars will win it in 5 games).

Ciccone's one of Québec's best hockey analysts and an NHL-recognized player agent (one job obviously helps with the other). The former heavyweight defenseman (6'5", 200 pounds in the 1990s) racked up 1469 penalty minutes in just 374 regular-season games while suiting up for seven teams (Minnesota and Tampa Bay, obviously, as well as the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, Carolina Hurricanes, Vancouver Canucks and Montréal Canadiens).

Enrico Ciccone: 4 Autographed Items

Enrico Ciccone was a really tough guy. In his first year in juniors (for the LHJMQ's Shawinigan Cataractes), he accumulated 334 penalty minutes to go with his 2 goals and 14 points. Every year, he got better at playing the game, as can be attested by his 4 goals (28 points) in 40 games in his final junior year with the Trois-Rivières Draveurs, but didn't lose any of his mean streak, still managing to amass 227 penalty minutes. Yes, on average, that's over 5 minutes a game.

Which is precisely why the Minnesota North Stars drafted him in 1990. However, they only kept him for 42 total games split in two seasons - in which he still managed to garner 163 penalty minutes and was even (0) in plus/minus.

This card shows him wearing the soon-to-be-Dallas Stars uniform:

The card is from Topps' 1992-93 O-Pee-Che Premier set (card #122). It serves as his ''most valuable'' rookie card, but is still a ''common'' card.

The North Stars traded him to the Washington Capitals to complete a prior trade (he was the so-called ''future considerations'').

The card on the left is from the 1993-94 Parkhurst set (card #219), at this point manufactured by Upper Deck, after a few years of being Pro Set's ''high end'' product. It has a pretty good view of his goalie, Don Beaupre, and his wonderful DC cityscape mask. The card on the right is from Upper Deck's 1993-94 Series 2 collection (card #528).

I sent Ciccone these three cards and a fan letter on February 28th, 2012, and got all three signed in black sharpie, with his jersey number added (39), and the Parkhurst card even personalized ''À Sébastian''. He also included the signed index card below, which reads ''À mon ami Sébastian'' (''to my friend Sébastian''). I was able to reach him through the sports analysis show Le Match, which runs on new station TVA Sports. He also moonlights as the station's colour commentator for Ottawa Senators games while station owner and media mogul Pierre-Karl Péladeau awaits the opportunity to put the Québec Nordiques back on the air.

For the past decade or so, Ciccone has been one of the best-spoken and best-informed spots talk show panelists, a situation due in part to his being an active player agent who knows the CBA by heart, but also because he is actually one of the smartest ones out there. I may not agree with him all the time (although I do more than half the time), but even when I disagree, he is usually the most convincing on his end of the spectrum.

Ciccone also played for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Chicago Blackhawks, Vancouver Canucks, and Montréal Canadiens. He played for Tampa and Washington twice each, actually. He also spent time in the AHL and IHL farm clubs for all these teams.