P.K. Subban Dual Jersey Card

So, uh, he delivered on his guarantee...

Indeed, the Nashville Predators won Game 3 and P.K. Subban, of course, played a pretty big role, part of a four-man unit (with Roman Josi, Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Ellis) that reduced the Pittsburgh Penguins' Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby to a grand total of... zero shots on goal. He got Malkin to lose his cool and Crosby to say something worth Subban distorting it to create a minor controversy.

And that's the thing about Subban: he's as good as the best in the league with his on-ice play. He can hang in there and dominate games like Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns, Duncan Keith, and the Drew Doughty and Dustin Byfuglien types of recent years - but once he's confident that his game preparation is tight enough, he also has that cockiness and edge to try to take some opponents off their game, yet also the leadership to calm his troops down and turn a 2-0 series deficit into a 2-2 tie, by calmly stating facts like "we're nearly unbeatable on home ice", and "we've got a great group of guys", "well coached", "terrific goaltending that's the backbone of this hockey club" all while never giving the Pens any locker room billboard fodder, not even mentioning the Preds had outplayed Pittsburgh in those two games.

The 2017 playoffs have shown and confirmed to the entire world - stubborn media types in particular - that Subban (particularly how he handled Jonathan Toews in the first round, but also his play against the St. Louis Blues and Anaheim Ducks) and Karlsson (who skated circles around the Boston Bruins, New York Rangers and even the Pens most times) are now the complete deal, that their positioning, defensive play and, heck, even hitting game is on par with their offensive prowess. They are on top of the game. The Hockey News even went so far as saying that Karlsson may now be on par with Crosby and Connor McDavid as the best player(s) in the game.

Here's Subban on the dual swatch insert version of card #77 from Upper Deck's 2013-14 Artifacts set:

It shows him wearing the Montréal Canadiens' white (now away) uniform, with two matching game-worn jersey swatch. It's numbered 87/125, and I feel I paid fair value for it on Ebay at $8.50 ($4.99 plus $3.50 shipping).

Guy Lafleur Board Certified Card

Guy Lafleur is a very opinionated man - always was, always will be, but that's exactly why journalists and members of the public keep asking him questions; we know he'll provide a quip that will reflect exactly how he feels at that moment, the truth as he sees it, with no sugarcoating. He was at it again, calling the San Jose Sharks' Joe Thornton's and Brent Burns' playoff beards "a disgrace to hockey", saying P.K. Subban should be on Ritalin (and adding Yvan Cournoyer said back in their day, he'd have gotten smacked with a stick), reiterating that Brendan Gallagher is the heart of the Montréal Canadiens but changing his stance on captain Max Pacioretty from a couple of seasons ago, saying he can be the best player on the ice "when he feels like it", as opposed to when he called him a choker in the past.

Of course, the main reason why he gets away with it is because he was arguably the best forward of the 1970s - the Habs' career leader for assists (728) and points (1246, one of just three to reach the millennial mark with the team with Jean Béliveau and Henri Richard), and the second in goals with 518, behind only Maurice "The Rocket" Richard. Oh, and he has five Stanley Cups with the team he grew up dreaming of playing for, so he knows a thing or two about the team's legacy and fans' expectations.

His six 50-goal seasons are also a team record; Stéphane Richer holds second place with two, and four others have had one such season: The Rocket being the first NHLer to do so, Bernard "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, Steve Shutt and Pierre Larouche being the others.

He shares the team record of most goals in a single season with Shutt (60), and holds the single-season team points record (136, in 1976-77). It was also that season that he set the team consecutive point streak record by having his name on the score sheet for 28 straight games.

So, yeah, Lafleur could hockey pretty well.

Because of that, many sets still include him in the modern era even though he retired following the 1990-91 season - often with special edition cards.

Here's one from Fleer/Skybox's 2001-02 Greats Of The Game set and Board Certified sub-set:

With the Joe Louis Arena closing in a couple of years, this piece of memorabilia will be even more rare. And Lafleur looks so natural in the Habs' classic red uniform.

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.

Rob Blake Jersey Card

At the turn of the century, there was a proliferation of brands making hockey cards and each one had their gimmick to entice you, and jersey card inserts were the norm, so much so that any type of jersey became a fall-back when game-worn ones weren't available, such as this Paul Kariya practice jersey card I featured in 2010...

This time, it's a Rob Blake jersey card, from a very specific type of practice:

Yes, it's from Team Canada's pre-Olympic summer orientation camp, before their 2002 Salt Lake City gold medal win. Then why did they show Blake wearing the Colorado Avalanche's blue and burgundy away uniform on the front of the card?

The card is from In The Game's 2003-04 Be A Player Memorabilia set (card #PMP-6 of the Practice Makes Perfect sub-set).

I have no doubt Blake will be inducted in the Hall Of Fame next year, as the former Triple Gold Club (Olympic gold, World Championship gold, Stanley Cup), Norris winner, who has played in 6 All-Star Games and been on 4 end-of-season All-Star teams - one First Team, three Second Team - as well as captained two different teams, has a resume many currently in the Hall could only aspire to.

Dave Reid: 4 Autographed Cards

Dave Reid was one of those guys who always ends up playing for your favourite team's biggest rivals. In my case, as a fan of the Québec Nordiques and Montréal Canadiens, to have him get drafted by the Boston Bruins, then signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs 6 years later (where he played for three full seasons) only to see him go back to Boston for 5 more seasons, he was one of the players I saw play the most often as a child and teen.

As a grinder and checker, he wasn't necessarily the type of player you build a team around, but as one of the pieces you add to your core, he was just like Steve Bégin is nowadays: a heart-and-soul guy who gives his all for his team. And who better to understand that than the Dallas Stars, with whom he started playing in 1996-97, culminating in the 1999 Stanley Cup, where he spent the playoffs on a line with renowned leaders Joe Nieuwendyk and Jamie Langenbrunner, on a team that also boasted former Habs Guy Carbonneau, Mike Keane, Brian Skrudland, and Craig Ludwig, a team that already boasted superstars Mike Modano, Brett Hull, Sergei Zubov, Pat Verbeek, Ed Belfour, Derian Hatcher and Darryl Sydor - as well as former Nordiques Tony Hrkac and Brent Severyn. Pretty much all captains at some point in their careers.

And when he ran out of adversaries, Reid played his final two seasons with the good guys - the Colorado Avalanche, formerly the Nordiques, with whom he won another Cup in 2001.

And I got to see a whole lot more of Reid when his playing career was over, as he was a regular analyst on the NHL Network's NHL On The Fly nightly show until he accepted the job of General Manager of the OHL's Peterborough Petes, the team he had played junior hockey with in the early 80s.

I sent a fan letter to his home, congratulating him on his new position and wishing him the best on October 9th, 2010, and received all 4 of my cards back on October 29th, barely 20 games later, a very fast turnaround from a busy man - all signed clearly in black sharpie, with the jersey number he wore for that team added on, which mostly corresponds to the number he's wearing on each card - except the one top-right, from Upper Deck's 1991-92 Series Two (French Canadian) set (card #531), where he's sporting sweater #31 with the Bruins - probably in pre-season play, before settling on #17. Notice the two stains on the card - it's been through hard times!

The card right below it, bottom-right, is my favourite of his, because he's sporting the Bruins alternate/NHL's 75th Anniversary jersey with the huge B in front rather than the modern team logo. It's from the 1991-92 Pro Set collection (card #348), possibly from the high-numbers, a.k.a. 'Series Two' set since he's got his new team's colours on.

The card on top-left is #217 from Upper Deck's 1991-92 Series One (French Canadian), in which he is pictured as a Leaf. How bad were the Leafs in his final season there? Consider he scored 15 goals and was a minus-10 player - that bad.

And because I couldn't have him just wearing enemy colours, the card on the bottom-left sees him wearing the Avalanche's away jersey from In The Game's 2000-01 Be A Player Memorabilia set (card #367). On the back of the card are his statistics from the previous season against each other team in the league - it's where you learn that of his 18 points in 1999-2000, three came in the six games against the Calgary Flames; that he was a point-per-game player against the New York Rangers and Nashville Predators (2 points in 2 games against each); and that the only team he really got it going against was the Pittsburgh Penguins - 2 points in one game. That's half his points of the 65 games he played in the regular season, in just 11 games, against only 4 teams.