Jeremy Roenick Jersey Card

Was Jeremy Roenick a very good hockey player? Absolutely, with 1216 points (513 goals and 703 assists) in 1363 regular-season games and 122 points (53 goals and 69 assists) in 154 playoff games. He also played for Team USA at the 1998 and 2002 Olympics, earning a silver medal in 2002. For all of those achievements, including ranking fourth all-time among American-born skaters for goals scored, he was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2010.

That being said, did his ego usually get in the way of his making better, wiser decisions? All the time.

I've written before how Chris Chelios put him in his place early in his career when Roenick was under the impression that he'd reach the Stanley Cup Final regularly throughout his career, and we were privy to another such occasion of late, when he spent a night in jail after being arrested for driving with a suspended license in New York State.

It's not that he was wrong; indeed, there was just about no way of him knowing the state had been sending notices of an outstanding ticket to the wrong address, one that was 20 years removed from him living there. But he could have been more understanding towards the system, acknowledging there was no way the State could know he no longer lived in Westchester County but instead now resides in Arizona. At least in public, not using Twitter to express his anger.

And he certainly could have avoided adding: "I'm out $750. Not only my time. Plus I got arrested. Plus I sat in a jail cell with coke-heads. Plus I sat in the courtroom with real criminals. I've never been arrested before in my life!" So much for the courtroom motto (and justice system as a whole) being "innocent until proven guilty"... and such a great judge of character to demean addicts as lesser people than he - if they were coke-heads at all.

All this just two months removed from the Chicago Blackhawks honoring him as the third former player (after 1980s superstars Denis Savard and Steve Larmer) to get to dress for "One More Shift" prior to a game against the Vancouver Canucks.

Here he is sporting the Philadelphia Flyers' white (then-home) uniform they wore from 1982 until 2007:

It's card #115 from Upper Deck's 2003-04 SP Game-Used Edition collection and SP Cup Contenders sub-set, featuring a nice, big orange game-worn jersey swatch.

Jeremy Roenick Autographed Card

Part 4 (of 7) of my trade with Kyle... today, one of the best American-born players of all time, Jeremy Roenick.

Roenick finished his career with 513 goals, 703 assist and 1216 points in 1363 regular-season NHL games (plus 23-69-122 in 154 playoff games) and 1463 penalty minutes. That's pretty much a point and a penalty minute per game, and he ranks 6th in assists among American-born players, and second in goals behind Mike Modano.

He has three 100-point seasons, two 50-goal ans two more 40-goal seasons under his belt to go with two silver medals (1991 Canada Cup and 2002 Olympics) and 9 All-Star Games, neither of which were enough for Patrick Roy to hear him with though, as Roy's then-two Stanley Cups were plugging his ears:


Is Roenick Hall Of Fame material? I don't know. He's certainly USA Hockey Hall Of Fame-worthy, but his lack of hardware and no Cup, combined with the fact that he was not a dominating player for any stretch: his 1992-93 season where he garnered 50 goals and 107 points in 84 games were 53 behind Mario Lemieux who had played in only 60 games; Adam Oates had garnered 97 assists alone that season, while two different players (Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny) each had 76 goals. But if Mats Sundin can get in...

The card Kyle sent me is from Upper Deck's 2005-06 Series 2 set (card #334) and features him wearing the Los Angeles Kings' black and purple uniform:

It's signed in black sharpie (with what seems like an amalgam of the jersey numbers he has worn, 27 and 97) and has lived to tell the tale, with all four corner dinged (I don't mind that on my autos, I feel it gives them life). It's unclear if the autograph was initially acquired in person or by mail and by whom, but I've compared it to others and it is definitely legit. And a fine piece to add to my collection.