Paul Stastny Jersey Card

There was much chatter when Paul Stastny left the Colorado Avalanche - the organization that used to be located in his city of birth, Québec - for the team from the city he actually grew up in, the St. Louis Blues.

In Game 7 against the Dallas Stars, Stastny's line has totally taken over, paving the way to the team's first Conference Finals berth since the 2000-01 season. That's two teams thus far making it when I would have preferred their adversaries win - the Pittsburgh Penguins have also eliminated the Washington Capitals. My last hope for 50% happiness would be seeing the Nashville Predators dispose of the San Jose Sharks tomorrow.

But back to the Blues, whose depth was superiors to Dallas', and whose goaltending was also far better, with oft-underrated All-Star Brian Elliott besting both Kari Lehtonen (who did have one great game) and Antti Niemi.

Captain David Backes and Team USA defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk both seem poised to leave the Blues, and both seem to want to do it by procuring the team its very first Stanley Cup, leaving the Toronto Maple Leafs as the lone team to not have won it since the late 1960s.

This may have been the first regular-issue card to feature Stastny as a member of the Blues, #42 of Upper Deck's 2014-15 Masterpieces collection and Memorabilia (Jersey) sub-set:

The seemingly hand-painted card features a dark blue game-worn jersey swatch, likely from his days with the Avs.

Jari Kurri Jersey Card

You've seen me talking about Jari Kurri a lot these past couple of years, be it when Jarome Iginla joined him in the 600-goal club or when referencing other Finnish greats such as Saku Koivu and Kimmo Timonen, and it's time to feature the man himself, with card #CC-JK from the Canvas Clippings of Upper Deck's 2008-09 Masterpieces collection:

Kurri was inducted in the Hockey Hall Of Fame in 2001, a fitting gesture for a player who had as much individual as team success: he finished his career with 601 goals, 797 assists and 1398 points in 1251 regular-season games and 106 goals, 127 assists and 233 points in 202 playoff games.

He led the league in goals in 1985-86 with 68 - which isn't his career high, as he'd scored 71 the previous year - but he also did so four times in the postseason, including a still-standing record 19 in 1984-85. He's also part of the "50 goals in 50 games" club.

He has nine All-Star Game appearances, made the end-of-season All-Star Teams a total of five times (the First Team in 1985 and 1987, and the Second Team in 1984, 1986 and 1989), and won the Lady Byng in 1984-85.

He's also not limited to his five Stanley Cups with the powerhouse Edmonton Oilers: he also has silver medal from the 1994 World Championships and bronze at the 1998 Olympics.

He's currently the general manager of renowned Finnish team Helsinki Jokerit as well as Team Finland in many international competitions. He was also part of the moving Rexall Place closing ceremonies yesterday.

Érik Bédard Swatch Card

Nearly five years ago, I traded a football jersey card (some quarterback, I don't remember which one) to someone who'd read my blog for this card of baseball pitcher Érik Bédard:

It's card #CC-EB from Upper Deck's 2007 Masterpieces collection (and Captured On Canvas sub-set), showing him with the Baltimore Orioles, with whom he had his best seasons; as a mater of fact, he even finished fifth in Cy Young voting in 2007 on the strength of a 13-5 record with 221 strikeouts and a 3.16 ERA.

It was one of only three seasons in which his ERA was below 3.50; injuries were a big part of his career - he'd even had ''Tommy John'' surgery on his pitching arm (left) as far back as 2003, when he was barely out of college. He retired earlier this summer after attempting a comeback with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who hired him as a pitching coach instead.

Clark Gillies Autographed Card

I was very happy to find this Clark Gillies autographed card when going through my ''unused'' cards, seeing as it features him sporting the New York Islanders' white (then-home) uniform from one of Upper Deck's best hockey sets ever, the 2008-09 Masterpieces collection, of which this is card #43:

I'd featured Gillies three years ago as a member of the Buffalo Sabres from UD's 2002-03 Foundations set, but it felt kind of wrong seeing as how he'd been such a huge part of the Isles' success, providing a power forward-type of presence for their run of four straight Stanley Cups, finishing with 663 points in 872 games with New York, making the end-of-season First All-Star Team in both 1977-78 and 1978-79.

His career plus/minus rating of +241 ranks in the top-40 among all NHL alumni.

I didn't remember how expensive his signatures were from my first meeting with him (honestly, I didn't even remember he charged for them), so it was a bit of a shock when I got to a store signing and he was charging $50 per item two years ago! That meant I didn't purchase of box of cards, but I did end up having him sign this card because, well, I wanted one of his with the Islanders, and it is a great card.

But apart from one jersey card I've yet to feature, this should be it when it comes to Clark Gillies.

Mike Richter Jersey Card

Well, the New York Rangers have tied their series at two wins apiece against the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 5-1 win that saw Rick Nash score twice, Martin Saint-Louis score once and Henrik Lundqvist stop 38 of 39 shots fired against him.

Strong goaltending being a factor in a Rangers playoff win led me to this card of Mike Richter's, from Upper Deck's 2008-09 Masterpieces set, the ''Authentic Memorabilia'' insert version of card #CC-MR of the Canvas Clippings sub-set, showing him in the Rangers' classic blue (then-away) jersey but incorporating a white swatch:

I'd featured a card from this set before, one that Rogatien Vachon signed for me by mail a couple of years ago, but these really are fine cards, with terrific texture and nice, matte finish that both signs well on and complements the jersey swatches when applicable. It's tasteful, too.

I wasn't always a fan of Richter's though. I thought he was a tad over-rated, having never won NHL hardware (save for the 1994 Stanley Cup), finishing among the Vezina finalists only once (third place in 1990-91), playing in three All-Star Games and leading the league in sub-par categories such as wins (42 in 1993-94), games played (72 in 1997-98), goals allowed in (184 in 1997-98), ties (15 in 1997-98), and losses (31 in 1999-2000).

But you've got to give credit where credit's due, and his play at the inaugural 1996 World Cup was a big reason why Team USA beat Team Canada and win top honors, getting named Tournament MVP (and best goalie) in the process, though it is important to note that Canada opted not to even invite the best goalie in the world - Patrick Roy - to play on its team. You reap what you sow.

And he was a big part of the Americans' losing bid at the 2002 Olympics, losing the final game to earn a silver medal while Canada captured gold on U.S. soil.

He finished his NHL career having played for just one team, and a nice round number of 666 regular-season games for the Original Six franchise, winning 301 of them in the pre-shootout era.

All told, he was pretty good, definitely All-Star material, but it's also fitting the he isn't in the Hall Of Fame, because he did fall a bit short of that.

Rogatien Vachon: 5 Autographed Cards (Part 1)

I got a heck of a surprise when I opened my mailbox to find these cards, I'll tell you that much! In these parts, Rogatien Vachon is a legend and deserves to be in the Hockey Hall Of Fame, especially if Bernard Parent, Gerry Cheevers and Billy Smith are there.

After all, Vachon had three Stanley Cups - all with the Montréal Canadiens - before truly getting his career under way, which happened when the Habs chose to go with rookie Ken Dryden and sent the mustached wonder to the Los Angeles Kings, where he'd hold 8 team records by the time signed with Detroit (2 of which were beaten by Jonathan Quick this last season). He was also a 4-time team MVP.

Here's what he looked like as a King, first with the 'away' uniform:

As a kid, I didn't think much of these jerseys, and was happy when they went silver-and-black in the Wayne Grerzky era; I do feel nostalgic for these now, though. The card on the left is from Upper Deck's 2008-09 Masterpieces (card #70), featuring a beautiful (and UD exclusive) painting by Gillies; the card on the right, showcasing his classic all-white mask, is from In The Game's 2010-11 Between The Pipes set (card #180, part of the Greats Of The Game sub-set).

In what made more sense then, the Kings' home (i.e. ''light'') jersey was yellow (unlike the current-day Nashville Predators, who use yellow as their ''dark'' colour and wear it against teams in white, which looks awful):

That one's from the 1977-78 O-Pee-Chee set (card #160) and specifies he was on the NHL'S year-end Second All Star team, a feat he achieved twice. His #30 jersey was the first to be retired by the team.

(continued in the following post)