Xavier Ouellet Autographed Card

Generally, when a former second-round pick in his mid-20s signs as a free agent in his hometown, he's given every chance to succeed, but Xavier Ouellet went through a totally different experience when he signed with the Montréal Canadiens, getting sent to the AHL's Laval Rocket with the consolidation prize of the team's captaincy, all but ensuring he was there to mentor the young prospects instead of being a regular call-up.

However, he did his job well enough for the better part of two seasons that not only did he earn the occasional cal-up (19 games in 2018-19, 12 regular-season games in 2019-20), even head coach Claude Julien thought he was good enough to play on the bottom pair with penalty-killing time in the post-season, suiting up for 10 games for the team that ousted the Pittsburgh Penguins in the play-in round and took the Philadelphia Flyers to six games when the actual playoffs got rolling.

Furthermore, his role increased under Kirk Muller when Julien was hospitalized, playing 15 minutes in the elimination game last night. Furthermore - and that's where the Habs brass will be most happy - he was an even +/- 0 in the regular season and a +2 when play resumed after Covid-19 hit; in Ouellet's case, it actually hit home: he tested positive for the virus.

Defensemen take longer to develop, but I now see a possible career trajectory like that of Ron Hainsey, Nathan Beaulieu or Eric Brewer, high draft picks who took their time to get comfortable in the NHL but ended up staying in the Big Show for a long time.

Before he captained the Rocket and started his career with the Detroit Red Wings, Ouellet displayed his leadership skills by wearing the "C" for the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in the LHJMQ, who were coached by Joël Bouchard, Laval's current bench boss, as seen on card #63 from In The Game's 2011-12 Heroes And Prospects set:

That 1990s Los Angeles Kings-inspired white (home) uniform is beautiful! He signed it in (fading) blue sharpie back when he was in the Wings organization (2013-18).

David Honzik Autographed Card

David Honzik came just a little too late to make it with his frame and skill-set, which mostly consisted of his dropping to his knees in the butterfly style, trying to cover as much of the net as possible and shifting quickly from side to side to be in good position in the event of a pass.

Many of the people who accompanied me when I watched him play - be it live during his days in the "Q" or on TV in the Czech system - likened his style to that of Carey Price, but couldn't put their finger on why Price stopped more shots than Honzik did; sometimes, an inch makes a world of difference, and while they weigh nearly the same (214 pounds vs 217), Price's listed height at 6'3" or 6'4" depending on the source does cover a little more net than Honzik's 6'2", not-quite-6'3". I'm at that height myself and felt my eyes came up a little higher than his when I crossed his path, so maybe even that may have been slightly exaggerated.

Honzik was selected 71st overall (third round) by the Vancouver Canucks in the 211 draft, ahead of Jordan Binnington (88th), Laurent Brossoit (164th), Anton Forsberg (188th), and Garrett Sparks (190th) - all goalies who have appeared in over 35 NHL games, while he has suited up for none.

I'll admit his Czech League regular-season stats look pedestrian while his Second Division numbers are excellent (which in North American terms would be viewed as "tweener", i.e. too good for the AHL, borderline player in the NHL), but his playoff statistics are generally terrific, telling me he's learned to perform well under pressure:

from EliteProspects

He's now 26 years old, about to enter his prime years. It might be time for a team to take a chance on him during meaningful regular-season games.

He's played a bit in North America, suited up for àthree seasons of Juniors hockey in the LHJMQ, two with the Victoriaville Tigres and one with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles; he fared much better with the former, and this is what he looked like wearing their yellow (home) uniform:

That's card #46 from In The Game's 2011-12 Heroes And Prospects set, which he signed in blue sharpie. I actually traded for this one, and the person who had it signed had not erased the gloss off the card before handing him the sharpie, which is why it's a tad smudged.

Nicolas Deslauriers Autographed Card

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In the past two months, 6'3", 219-pound Nicolas Deslauriers has fought other NHL heavyweights, such as:

Radko Gudas of the Washington Capitals on December 6th:

Kurtis MacDermid of the Los Angeles Kings on December 13th:

Chris Stewart of the Philadelphia Flyers on December 17th:

Michael Haley of the New York Rangers on December 22nd:

Austin Watson of the Nashville Predators, January 5th:

Jamie Oleksiak of the Dallas Stars on January 9th:

MacDermid of the Kings again on February 1st:

Zac Rinaldo of the Calgary Flames on February 13th:

In a league that averages less than half a fight per game, Deslauriers has seemingly fought every other day to become the league leader with 12, five more than Watson, in second place. And the Anaheim Ducks seem to love it, because he was extended for two more seasons with an annual cap hit of $1M.

Sure, the Ducks need to have players signed who will be available for the Seattle Expansion Draft, but chances are the new team will try to imitate the Vegas Golden Knights and focus on speed and possession stats more than pugilism skills.

Still, kudos to the 29-year-old former third-round pick who was considered a long shot to be a power forward with the Kings then reinvented himself as a tough checker and teammate protector with the Buffalo Sabres when it didn't pan out in grey and purple.

Here he is from his days terrorizing LHJMQ teams as a member of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, on card #117 from In The Game's 2009-10 Heroes And Prospects set:

It shows him wearing the team's clack (away) uniform; he signed it in blue sharpie last season, before he was traded by the Montréal Canadiens.

Marco Scandella: Two Autographed Cards

All season long so far, Montréal Canadiens head coach Claude Julien has been telling GM Marc Bergevin through the media that he doesn't like his options for the bottom-two roles on defense; while Shea Weber, Victor Mete, Jeff Petry and Ben Chiarot have been playing a bunch of minutes, Brett Kulak, rookie Cale Fleury and Mike Reilly have been alternating with call-ups Christian Folin, Otto Leskinen, Gustav Olofsson for some playing time, with veterans Xavier Ouellet and Karl Alzner also available with the AHL's Laval Rocket. And the NHL season hasn't even reached the halfway mark yet!

Kulak, Reilly, Olofsson, and Folin were all acquired via trade by Bergevin and re-signed afterwards; Ouellet, Leskinen and Alzner were free agent signings. All of them were chosen to be on the roster by the GM. And the coach cannot find a way to use any of them properly.

A few hours ago, Bergevin moved Reilly - a good skater with a decent pass and some offensive vision who at times makes bizarre decisions in his own zone, not unlike two-time Stanley Cup champion Justin Schultz or now-appreciated veteran Ron Hainsey - to the Ottawa Senators for a late-round draft pick and a career minor-leaguer and followed that up by acquiring Marco Scandella from the Buffalo Sabres for a fourth-rounder.

Scandella, a Montréal native whose uncle Sergio Momesso played with the Habs in the late 1980s and won a Stanley Cup here in 1986, is understandably ecstatic about coming home. His $4M cap probably no longer represents the kind of player he's become, but in his mid-20s, he was capable of playing upwards of 21 minutes per game (with a high of 23:19 in his first season with the Sabres in 2017-18), was good for some 20 points per season despite limited powerplay time and was a cornerstone of the Minnesota Wild's defense, playing in a shut-down role while Ryan Suter took care of the offensive-zone starts and easy minutes.

The wild's second-round pick in 2008 (55th overall) played his Juniors career with the LHJMQ's Foreurs de Val d'Or, where he had such an impact that he was their captain for two-thirds of his time there. He's a born leader and will make for a calming presence to help Fleury develop more effectively... provided Julien plays him that way. We're talking about the same coach who plays Chiarot upwards of 30 minutes per game and has a history of benching his most talented young players (Phil Kessel, Tyler Seguin, Charles Hudon, Jonathan Drouin).

Here is Scandella wearing the Foreurs' "classic" dark (away) uniform in his rookie Juniors season - notice the awful socks - on card #94 from In The Game's 2008-09 Heroes And Prospects set:

And here he is wearing the Reebok Edge uniform, with asymmetric lines and terrible piping (albeit with better socks), on card #103 from In The Game's 2009-10 Heroes And Prospects set, sporting the captain's "C":

Both were signed in blue sharpie back when he played for Minnesota. I look forward to having him sign a card showing him with the Canadiens. I also wish him the best of luck in this circus, where the team is in danger of missing the playoffs the third straight season and the fourth time in the past five years.

Valentin Zykov Autographed Card

Today, the Vegas Golden Knights announced they had sent Valentin Zykov down to the AHL's Chicago Wolves after clearing wavers, as he is set to return to play after a 20-game suspension for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. After it has been revealed that this was done without the consent of the Golden Knights - and because he's the second player in two seasons to get suspended by the league for PEDs - I am fairly certain the organization now wants him out.

Despite his pedigree as a second-round pick (37th overall by the Los Angeles Kings in 2013), the 24-year-old with over-average stick-handling skills and near-elite passing with decent size (6'2", 205-210 pounds), I doubt many teams want to take a chance on handing him a middle-six position on the wing after this. I believe he will require a five-year exile to the KHL to mature before getting another chance at an NHL gig, especially with just 15 points in 47 NHL games to his name so far split between L.A., Vegas and the Carolina Hurricanes.

He did put up 33 goals and 54 points in 64 games with the AHL's Charlotte Checkers in 2017-18, but translating that extra "oomph" to NHL success has proven to be difficult, as is often the case for power forwards.

Here he is from his high-scoring Juniors days with the LHJMQ's Baie-Comeau Drakkar on card #65 from In The Game's 2013-14 Heroes And Prospects set:

I got this one in a trade last year from fellow collector BG, who got the autograph in-person. He's shown wearing the Drakkar's red (away) uniform, which does well to mostly use the Calgary Flames' colour scheme but avoid the trapping of copying their uniform design.

Rafaël Harvey-Pinard Autographed Card

I've gotten so used to young NHLers entering the league taller than me at half my age that I was shocked to see how small Rafaël Harvey-Pinard was in person, perhaps smaller than his listed 5'9" and 161 pounds.

He had made the trek to the draft in Dallas for his first year of eligibility after a 76-point season (in 67 games) with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in 2017-18 only to be left undrafted; he earned an invitation to the Vegas Golden Knights' rookie camp, but ultimately couldn't stick with the team.

Instead, he went back to Juniors, was named the Huskies' captain, led them to the best record in Canada (59-8-1), collected 27 points in 20 playoff games to lead the team to the Presidents Cup (LHJMQ playoff championship) and had six points in five games as the Huskies went on to win the Memorial Cup as Canadian Juniors champions. The icing on the cake came when the Montréal Canadiens selected him in the seventh round (201st overall), joining Memorial Cup MVP and teammate Joël Teasdale in the Habs' prospects pool.

While he didn't stick in Montréal past the rookie camp, he enters his final year in the "Q" as captain of the Chicoutimi Saguenéens - his rights having changed hands over the summer - where he hopes to replicate last season's successes in his hometown, where he gets to sleep in his own bed in his parents' house. He has 10 points in 12 games so far, facing much more scrutiny from the opposition than in years past.

Here he is wearing the Huskies' old white (home) uniform, on card #235 from Upper Deck's 2017-18 CHL collection:

He signed it in (fading) blue sharpie at the Canadiens' practice facility this summer.

Pierre-Olivier Joseph Autographed Card

Quebec-born players were part of many of the bigger trades of the summer and, for my money, the one who has the best chance at making an impact with his new team is Pierre-Olivier Joseph, a potential powerplay quarterback who joined Alex Galchenyuk in going from the Arizona Coyotes to the Pittsburgh Penguiins in exchange for Phil Kessel and Dane Birks.

I mean, for an offensive defenseman, joining a team that may still have the likes of Sidney Crosby and/or Evgeni Malkin two years down the line is a fine recipe for accruing points while pursuing one's development, particularly as injury-prone defensemen like Justin Schultz and Kris Letang keep getting older.

Joseph was selected by the Coyotes in the first round (23rd overall) in 2017, and the major point of concern in his case will likely always be his bulk, because at 6'2", with his slickness, skating fluidity and passing skills, as well as an ever-improving shot and take-away skills, it's his 168 pounds that scare his coaches every time he races to the boards to retrieve a puck.

However, he's showing well against professionals at his summer shinny sessions in Montréal with the likes of Anthony Duclair, Jeremy Davies (a.k.a. the Quebecer who was traded for P.K. Subban this summer), and Mathieu Joseph, P-O's brother who plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It's where he signed card #123 from Upper Deck's 2017-18 CHL Hockey card in blue sharpie:

It shows him wearing the Charlottetown Islanders' white (home) uniform. It's funny, because so much of this picture looks photoshopped, from the blurry referee on the right who doesn't seem like he's part of the original photo - the bronze set border that stops at pant-height doesn't help - to the difference in contrast between that ref and the coach behind him to the green and white pixel lines in front of the kid's face between the referee's head and Joseph's to the black puck-like line next to Joseph's helmet (his right, our left).

The more I look at it, the more it looks like each part doesn't belong with the one next to it.

And, yes, the Islanders' bottom part of their logo looks a bit like the New York Islanders' wordmark on their infamous Fisherman jerseys from the mid-1990s, with the wave-type pattern going in the same direction.

Antoine Bibeau Jersey Card

Antoine Bibeau was a sixth-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2013 but has spent most of his time plying his trade at the AHL level, including the last couple of seasons with the San Jose Barracuda. He's been quoted as saying this summer that his goal coming into training camp is to force the San Jose Sharks to keep him as Martin Jones' backup in the NHL, despite not having played as well as 21-year-old Josef Korenar last season:

Courtesy of HockeyDB

Still, the previous season, in his age 23 season, he represented the Barracuda in the AHL's All-Star Game, finishing with a 2.39 GAA, .919 save percentage and five shutouts in 43 games. He certainly still has potential, and his NHL-level statistics (a win, a loss and a 1.99 GAA in two games) do inspire some kind of confidence.

Bibeau has the rare distinction of having played for four (!!) different teams in the LHJMQ - the Lewiston MAINEiacs, Prince Edward Island Rocket, Charlottetown Islanders and Val d'Or Foreur - in his for seasons of Juniors. As a mater of fact, today's card shows him wearing the Foreurs' green (away) uniform, but contains a blue game-worn jersey swatch from his days in PEI:

That's the Silver Version of card #GUM-06 from In The Game's 2013-14 Between The Pipes set and Game-Used Jersey sub-set. He won the Hap Emms Trophy as the Memorial Cup's best goalie just months after this card was issued.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau Autographed Card

One of my favourite remaining players on the Ottawa Senators, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, was hit with his first career suspension earlier today, a one-game punishment for a hit to the back of the Vancouver Canucks' Ashton Sautner last night.

Pageau's usually a mild-mannered dependable two-way forward, but perhaps his extremely disappointing season is taking its toll on him: the Sens look like they'll finish last overall and he himself is marred in a three-year downward trajectory in terms of on-ice production, and he's posted his lowest per-game points average since becoming an NHL regular:

from FrozenTools

Then again, a career-low shooting percentage indicates this year is an outlier and, should he hit the 10% mark next year, will revert back to being a 40-point producer.

He's also playing on a defensive line with Tom Pyatt, who may very well retire after season's end if no one will hire him; his time in Ottawa looks pretty much over, especially now that head coach Guy Boucher has left/been fired.

Pageau signed this card for me last year:

It's card #49 from In The Game's 2011-12 Heroes And Prospects set, which he signed in blue sharpie; it's a much sharper signature than when he signed the same card for me back in 2015. That means I have one to trade...

Like Sean Couturier before him, I expect him to bounce back next year, as they're following a similar development curve.

Antoine Vermette Autographed Card

Just a few hours ago, Antoine Vermette announced his retirement from the NHL, having been unable to find a suitor, as he was looking for a job as a checking center on a contending team.

Having already had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup thanks to a short stint with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2014-15 (19 regular-season games, 20 playoff games); his postseason run was memorable, as he tallied 4 goals, 3 assists and seven points, with three of his goals being game-winners, two of them coming in the Cup Final. His 58.9% playoff faceoff wins percentage was also dominant, although it may have ironically cemented his transition from the top-line center he was with the Arizona Coyotes to the defensive specialist he ended his career as.

I mention the Coyotes because he was often among the team leader in points in the parts of five seasons he spent in the desert, but statistically speaking, his best seasons came with the Columbus Blue Jackets (27 goals and 65 points in 2009-10) and Ottawa Senators (24 goals and 53 points in 2007-08), but those teams had better rosters than the Yotes.

At his best, he was one of the very good #2Cs in the NHL, but he didn't necessarily have the #1C prerequisite star power. He was instead better left in the shadows, accumulating Selke Trophy votes in four separate seasons and Lady Byng consideration in 2009-10. He was dependable on both sides of the puck and finished with the ninth-highest career faceoff percentage since the league started keeping tack of such things in 1997.

His worth can certainly be felt in the returns teams got for him in trades: the Sens got a #1 goalie (Pascal Leclaire) and second-round pick from the Jackets for his services in 2009; the Jackets got Curtis McElhinney, a second-rounder and a fourth-round pick from the Coyotes for him in 2012; and the Hawks gave away a defensive prospect and a first-rounder to secure his services for that Cup run in 2015.

I actually met him earlier this winter, and he signed a couple of cards for me, but today, I wanted to showcase an old card that reminds me of when it all started to come together for him, on card #83 from Upper Deck's 2000-01 Upper Deck Prospects set, which he signed in blue sharpie in 2013-14:

It shows him wearing the Victoriaville Tigres' white (home) uniform, sporting the alternate captain's "A" that he would also inherit in Columbus and Arizona. He'd scored 30 goals with 41 assists for 71 points in 71 games the previous season and had just been drafted 55th overall (second round) by the Sens, making the LHJMQ's Mike Bossy Trophy as best prospect.

Zachary Fucale Autographed Card

Who knows best how to build a team, a GM who takes over a team two years removed from a Conference Final and manages to miss the playoffs three times in five years and mortgages 15% of his salary cap on a goalie three years removed from his lone good season, or a GM who builds a Stanley Cup Finalist out of rejects from the other 30 teams in his first year on the job?

GM #2 in this story, the Vegas Golden Knights' George McPhee, just signed former second-round pick, 23-year-old Zachary Fucale, to a one-year, two-way deal, banking on his youth, his pedigree as a three-time Team Canada gold medalist and the fact that despite posting a career-low in save percentage with the AHL's Laval Rocket last year, was the team's best goalie - both from an eye test and statistically. It was just an awful, awful team that was terribly outcoached every single game.

GM #1 truly believes Carey Price is the only player he needs to have that is an NHL-level talent (although, considering last season, even that last bit of sentence is up for debate).

We'll see who's right in due time, but I'd like to say to those who think Fucale is overrated that at the same stage of his career, Price had been supplanted at the Montréal Canadiens' #1 goalie by Jaroslav Halak for three years straight despite the job being Price's every training camp, and Price finished with pedestrian numbers every year:

From HockeyReference

And, of course, it was much worse come playoff time:

ditto

Fucale, despite playing on the worst AHL team of the past decade, displayed some fine control when facing NHL-level talent:

Zach Fucale makes an incredible pad save on Anthony DeAngelo. pic.twitter.com/PUR3N9KfWp

— Scott Matla (@scottmatla) January 13, 2018

So, yeah, I still believe Fucale can develop into a fine NHL backup before the age of 25 and a starter before he reaches 28, following the career trajectories of Carter Hutton, Cam Talbot, Antti Raanta, Scott Darling (well, he might not be the best example) and Craig Anderson.

Here he is sporting the Halifax Mooseheads' beautiful white uniform, on card #244 from In The Game's 2012-13 Heroes And Prospects set and CHL Rookie sub-set:

He signed it for me in blue sharpie last season, when the Habs called him up without playing him a single second.

Nicolas Deschamps Autographed Card

Nicolas Deschamps was a second-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks (35th overall in 2008) after posting better than point-per-game averages over three seasons in the LHJMQ, mostly with the Chicoutimi Saguenéens.

He then had up-and-down seasons in the AHL, oscillating between nearly point-per-game runs and a few deeply ineffective ones as well, such as his lone assist in 12 games with the Syracuse Crunch in his last go-round in 2014-15.

He mostly toiled around in Europe for the past four seasons, spending time in Austria, Finland, Germany, and Sweden, before finding his niche with France's Rouen Dragons, with 20 goals, 28 assists and 48 points in 44 games so far for the second-place team (with a 30-9-3-2 record in 44 games).

He signed this card for me in 2012-13, a season during which he spent time with both the Toronto Marlies and the Hershey Bears in the AHL:

It's card #97 from In The Game's 2008-09 Heroes And Prospects set. It shows hiom wearing the Sags' beautiful blue (away) uniform.

Laurent Dauphin: Two Autographed Cards

Needless to say, the Chicago Blackhawks have become masters at dealing with the salary cap after championship runs, but that fact also means losing players fans had been attached to. Many times, those players have come back years later, either to finish their careers with the team on low-paying salaries (Brian Campbell, Johnny Oduya, Patrick Sharp) or in trades that raise more questions than they answer.

One trade that may eventually make sense from a hockey standpoint was the one that sent Niklas Hjalmarsson to the Arizona Coyotes for defenseman Connor Murphy and forward Laurent Dauphin. As it stands, casual hockey fans see this as a salary dump mixed with a D-for-D trade, noting that Murphy had become a staple of the Coyotes' blue line last year, posting career-highs in assists and points at the age of 24.

However, the hidden chip in that trade - and the reason why I would have also done it in GM Stan Bowman's shoes - is the 22-year-old Dauphin.

You see, a couple of years ago, when the Hawks were winning championships every other season, their depth was as much of a reason they won as their offensive star power (Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane), stellar goaltending, except when facing the Nashville Predators (Corey Crawford) and, of course, elite play by defensemen Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Hjalmarsson.

But the third-line center spot was held down in recent years by the dependable Marcus Kruger, who had a heir apparent in Phillip Danault. The problem with Kruger was that he came with a $3M cap hit; the problem with Danault, whom the Hawks rightfully knew was going to come into his own and be able to produce at the NHL level, was Kruger was ahead of him, so he was traded to the Montréal Canadiens at the 2015-16 trade deadline. Danault posted 40 points with the Habs in 2016-17, playing in a first-line role he isn't suited for; Kruger was traded twice this summer.

Which leaves an open spot at the 3C position, one that was destined for Danault for years. Dauphin's statistics with the LHJMQ's Chicoutimi Saguenéens (186 points in 170 games) mirror those of Danault with the Victoriaville Tigres (251 points in 243 games), and his progression in the AHL (going from 0.25 points per game to 0.36 to 0.74) is even sharper than Danault's (from 0.36 to 0.54 to 0.33).

At 6'2" and 185 pounds, he just needs to add some 10 pounds of muscle to his frame to be a dominant third-liner like Jordan Staal and Nick Bonino have been in recent years. He isn't lights-out in any skill set, but he has no weaknesses either. He's a workhorse with good speed, good hands, terrific hockey IQ, good vision, and is already an above-average setup man. And he's sound defensively.

Here he is wearing one of the prettiest hockey uniforms of all time, the Sags' white (home) garbs, first with card #38 from In The Game's 2012-13 Heroes And Prospects set and CHL Rookie sub-set:

And here's an even better view of it, on the all-foil variant of card #58 from ITG's 2012-13 Draft Prospect set:

He signed both cards for me in blue sharpie in early May when he was in Montréal, tagging his jersey number (27) at the end.

Sergei Boikov Autographed Card

Currently in his first pro season with the AHL's San Antonio Rampage after signing his entry-level deal with the Colorado Avalanche last summer, Sergei Boikov is living up to the promise he had shown in Juniors, where he was known as "The Corporal" and helped Team Russia bring home the silver medal at the 2016 World Juniors with his swift skating and board-shaking hits.

There used to be a thought that his ceiling would be as high as Niklas Kronwall's - and he was a man among children with the LHJMQ's Drummondville Voltigeurs - but I've always seen his NHL potential as that of an Alexei Emelin, which in and of itself is not bad at all.

The hits may not show up as often in his rookie season - be that next season or the following one - but they will in time; it did take him a good month to stop being shy about physical contact on adults in the AHL this year, after all. His positioning is also almost NHL-ready, which means on a team like the Avs, where talent is thin on the blue line, he may get his chance at a roster spot earlier than later.

In due time (within the next five years), he should be a regular top-4 defender, one possibly looking at a shut-down role in the final minutes, with ample penalty-killing time. Some of the smaller forwards will even go out of their way to avoid facing him, opting to enter the zone on the other defenseman's side instead.

Unfortunately for him, he won't get to see his dream come true - playing against Pavel Datsyuk seems improbable now that The Magician is playing in the KHL - but perhaps he can play with him if the NHL decides not to send its players to the 2018 Olympics...

In any event, here's Boikov wearing the Voltigeurs' white (home) uniform from In The Game's 2013-14 Heroes And Prospects set and CHL Rookie sub-set:

He signed it in thin blue sharpie and tagged his uniform number (55) at the end. He was even one of the team's alternate captains in his final two seasons in the "Q".

Adam Erne Autographed Card

In the next few hours, many free-agents-to-be will switch teams, going from pretenders to contenders as teams try to stack up to face the top teams in their divisions. With Kevin Shattenkirk off to the Washington Capitals and Ben Bishop now with the Los Angeles Kings, the top two available players are currently off the market, but many more are left.

Speaking of Bishop, the Tampa Bay Lightning have also sent Brian Boyle to the Toronto Maple Leafs, meaning they may have decided to forget about their dwindling playoff hopes and instead focus on next season, meaning they will either make room for their prospects right away or use one of them to acquire players who have some term remaining on their contracts, such as the Colorado Avalanche's Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog. Should they go that route, power forward Adam Erne might be one player who'd go the other way, seeing as he has yet to make a dent on the score sheet in 5 NHL games this season, but has 14 goals and 13 assists for 27 points in 39 AHL games with the Syracuse Crunch so far.

The American youngster was an alternate captain with the Québec Remparts team that lost in the 2015 Memorial Cup Final against the Kelowna Rockets, winning the LHJMQ's playoff MVP award in the process.

He reminds me of Keith Tkachuk, a speedy, super-strong winger with a knack for finding the hole to score through. I expect him to be a force within three years.

Here he is wearing the Remparts' white uniform on card #246 from In The Game's 2011-12 Heroes And Prospects set and CHL Rookie sub-set:

He signed it in thin blue sharpie in 2015; the signature has since faded a bit.

Martin Réway Autographed Card

Back and forth.

Those seem like the best, nay the only words that can aptly describe Martin Réway's career for now.

The Montréal Canadiens' fourth-round pick (116th overall) in 2013, Réway had been developping in Europe, first playing for Praha (Prague) HC Sparta, then Fribourg-Gotteron of the Swiss League after a dispute over ice time. He led Team Slovakia to a bronze medal at the 2015 World Juniors, posting 9 points (4 goals, 5 assists) in 7 games.

There was a school of thought that claimed he was remaining in Europe because he didn't want to develop in the AHL here, but that proved to be wrong. As a means of showing good faith, he signed his entry-level deal this summer during one of his frequent visits to Montréal, but remained in Slovakia for the training camp with an illness that attacked his heart.

It is now believed he will miss the entire season; some actually think his career is compromised.

He actually signed this card for me during said 2015 World Juniors, as the Slovaks played most of their games in Montréal:

It's card #76 from In The Game's 2013-14 Heroes And Prospects set; it shows him wearing #98 with the Gatineau Olympiques.

Martin Frk Autographed Card

Nothing has come easy nor normally for Martin Frk.

A European playing in the LHJMQ, he ranked second in scoring on the Halifax Mooseheads in his rookie season in Canadian Juniors, playing his way to being drafted 49th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in 2012. The following season, he helped the Mooseheads to the Memorial Cup, finishing tied for second in team playoff scoring with Nathan MacKinnon, behind Jonathan Drouin.

He seemed to have adapted greatly, but the Wings have a tendency to take their time developing their prospects, oftentimes using a hard-line approach that has led Frk to the ECHL in two consecutive seasons, finishing third in goals on the Toledo Walleye last season (with 23) despite only appearing in 29 games.

The way the CBA is written, however, Frk had to go through waivers when the Wings cut him from their roster this October, and he was claimed by the Carolina Hurricanes, who had him appear in a pair of games over a one-month trial during which they mostly kept him as a healthy scratch to not lose him in the same way.

When they concluded that he needed seasoning and assigned him to the AHL, he was re-claimed by Detroit, appeasing the team's fanbase, who had been vocal with their criticism of GM Ken Holland's handling of waiver wire losses in the past two years.

I've seen Frk play in summer camps and shinny games, and he does have talent, but he's shy - both on the ice and in person. I'm not surprised his first pro season in 2013-14 left some underwhelmed; he was basically still a teenager, in a new foreign land (for the second time in three years), surrounded by men who had been playing the game forever and weren't going to just give him their position. He was going to need some time to settle in.

In terms of Wings prospects, I believe Anthony Mantha has a higher ceiling and Tyler Bertuzzi can help out in more different ways, but Frk can play a middle-six, producing forward role, like Oleg Petrov in his day, or perhaps Martin Hanzal or Radim Vrbata nowadays; he's definitely not someone you can build around, but rather someone you hope will bring secondary scoring two out of every three years.

Here's a card he signed in blue sharpie (with his uniform number, 91, tagged at the end), showing him wearing the Mooseheads' red (away) uniform:

It's card #97 from In The Game's 2010-11 Heroes And Prospects set.

Zachary Fucale Signed 4x6 Picture

When looking purely at his statistics this season, one may be inclined to think Zachary Fucale is having a pretty bad year. Indeed, with the team standing at 9-7-0-3 near last place of its division, Fucale's 3.09 GAA and .887 save percentage don't necessarily scream out "Next Vezina Winner!", although his 6-3-0 record is pretty good.

As a matter of fact, he's the best on the Brampton Beast in every regard, as can be attested by this screen grab from HockeyDb:

Indeed, Andrew D'Agostini and Bryan Pitton seem to be what's bringing the Beast down this year.

It hasn't been easy for Fucale, once seen as Canadian Junior Hockey's best goalie, which forced the Montréal Canadiens to draft him 36th overall in 2013, though the team didn't want to repeat the growing pains of Carey Price, who took seven years to fulfill the promise that made him a top-5 pick in 2005.

Fucale was the youngest ever to reach 100 wins at the Junior level, a Team Canada gold medalist and holder of the country's record for most tournament wins (8) - tied with Stéphane Fiset and Marc-André Fleury - a Memorial Cup winner and tournament All-Star. In short, he's had one of the best Juniors career of all time.

So it was unexpected that he should fall to the ECHL after the Habs signed veteran Yann Danis as an insurance, but it's not like he is the first-ever to do so. Reigning Vezina winner Braden Holtby spent time there, as did Conn Smythe and two-time Stanley Cup winner Jonathan Quick. Oh, and one Jaroslav Halak.

He spent a lot of the past two summers in Montréal, training with goaltending coach Stéphane Waite. It was here that he signed this photo in thin black sharpie, showing him wearing the Halifax Mooseheads' white (home) uniform:

The kid's 21. I believe most goalies should reach the NHL around the age of 24 or 25. He's still on the right path, he just has Charlie Lindgren - a U.S. College signee from last season - ahead of him on the team's future depth chart to take over after Price's next contract prices him out of the Habs' lineup.

René Corbet Autograph Card

René Corbet had the pedigree the Québec Nordiques had always made work when the team selected him 24th overall in the 1991 NHL draft: he was a French-speaking Quebecer who had been an offensive dynamo at the Midget and Junior levels.

Réal Cloutier, Michel Goulet, Marc Tardif, Wilfrid Paiement, Jacques Richard, Jean-François Sauvé... the Nordiques had a knack for putting local boys in positions to succeed. Corbet was going to be part of that history, but as the team moved to Denver to become the Stanley Cup-winning  Colorado Avalanche, developing Quebecers to stick it in the face of highway rivals Montréal Canadiens was no longer an issue the team had to deal with; they could just aim at icing the best team possible in the hopes of beating the Detroit Red Wings in the Conference Finals to advance to the Cup Final, which meant it was easy to send Corbet - an AHL Rookie Of The Year recipient - packing (along with Wade Belak and Robyn Regehr) and have the Calgary Flames send Theo Fleury and Chris Dingman the other way.

He spent a total of 68 games spread over parts of two seasons with the Flames before they sent him to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who also used him sparingly. He then spent eight seasons in Germany, playing for the Mannheim Eagles, producing at nearly a point-per-game pace, save for a disappointing 2002-03 season (4 goals and 12 points in 29 games).

He retired following the 2010-11 season, following two years in Norway, playing for the Frisk Tigers, where he was again fairly productive: 41 goals, 42 assists, 83 points and 148 penalty minutes in 72 regular-season games, and another 5 points and 8 penalty minutes in 5 playoff games.

Here he is wearing the Drummondville Voltigeurs' white (home) uniform on a signed insert card from Classic's 1991-92 Draft Picks set:

It's signed in blue sharpie, and numbered 124/950, which to some qualifies as "Extremely Limited".