Peter Forsberg Jersey Card

Because injuries cut his Hall Of Fame career short yet he was still good enough to make the cut, many like to compare Peter Forsberg's statistics with those of the likes of Eric Lindros to make the case for less deserving players, except with Forsberg, the numbers - while great - don't tell the whole story.

We're talking about a two-time Stanley Cup champion, who was the third ever member to have enough championships to join the Triple Gold club twice, and his domination at the international level is unparalleled, from his record 31 points in 7 games at the World Juniors to World Championship gold at age 18 to his gold-winning shootout goal at the 1994 Olympics to his back-to-back MVP titles (of both the league-awarded and player-voted variety) in Sweden to Calder, Hart and Art Ross trophies in the NHL.

And then there's the top-5 marks in points-per-game and assists-per-game which ranks him with the likes of Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr. He wasn't merely ''very good with a couple of dominant years'', whenever he had skates on, he was often the best player on the ice - and I say this as a guy whose favourite player was Joe Sakic. He was the Sergei Fedorov to Sakic's Steve Yzerman, where there was no way teams could shut both down, and if they were lucky, they could contain one of them - they just had to pick the lesser of two evils. But even that didn't work all the time, and both were tremendous two-way players anyway, so even on the rare occasions where they didn't make it onto the score sheet, they were useful on the ice, smart and crafty, positionally sound, and Foppa with the added physical element to his game.

This card (#FF-PF) is from Upper Deck's flagship 2003-04 Upper Deck set, the Franchise Fabrics sub-set, and shows him in the Colorado Avalanche's burgundy (then-away) uniform, with a blue game-worn jersey swatch:

The color scheme and font make this look a little too "retro" for my taste, but I do not find it displeasing to the eye.

Joe Thornton Jersey Card

Well, it's been an awkward year for Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks, as well as for the team who made him the first-overall pick in 1997, the Boston Bruins. Both teams are on the playoff bubble, and if I were a betting man, I'd put the odds of the Bs making it at 65%, while those of the Sharks dwell below the 20% mark.

Of course, the clown show continues in San Jose, and after stripping Jumbo Joe of the captaincy in an improvisation-filled summer of 2014, GM Doug Wilson explained a couple of days ago that Thornton had trouble taking the pressure that came with the role, to which Thornton replied he should ''shut his mouth''.

But the team isn't dysfunctional. At all.

I'm not the world's biggest Thornton fan. As a matter of fact, I like to remind everyone that unless he was used on a fourth line on a super-duper All-Star team (see: Team Canada at the 2010 Olympics), he's a perennial choker. But that's just judging from what the man, himself, achieves on the ice (or doesn't); it's nothing personal, apart that I like to see Bruins fail.

This situation, however, is attacking the man's character as a human being; and some of it wasn't even all bad: Wilson went on to say Thornton took the losses so badly he lashed out at people, without mentioning who. If it's a teammate who wasn't giving his full effort, it's actually commendable - and the captain's job - the say something. If it's his wife and kids, then obviously they have anger management classes for that.

I just wanted it said that I though Wilson's tirade was low. At the very least, it's something that should remain behind the locker room's doors.

Here's a throwback of Thornton in happier days, wearing the Bruins' white (home) uniform, probably while getting swept in the playoffs when facing the Montréal Canadiens, from Upper Deck's 2003-04 Series 2, card #FF-JT of the Franchise Fabrics sub-set:

Jarome Iginla Jersey Card

Here's a special Jarome Iginla jersey card - you'll notice the patch is blue; it's because it's from his 2003 All Star Game jersey (despite the picture on the card depicting him in his white Calgary Flames uniform).

Iginla might be the player I have the most jersey cards of - I mentioned one here and yet another one here, and I'm far from done. There have been so many trade rumours involving him this summer that I'm keeping my options open when it comes to making posts about him.

This card (#FF-JI) is from Upper Deck's 2003-04 Upper Deck series (there wasn't a Series 2 that year, hence this being a generic set, not a Series 1), the Franchise Fabrics sub-set. Ironic that the jersey isn't from said franchise, eh? I've seen this card sell over $50 because of the (rare) nature of the jersey used.