Nigel Dawes Autograph Card

There are countless examples of players who had an average shot at making the NHL but, when put in a position to succeed on a first or second line, delivered results that were better than expected: Pascal Dupuis, Chris Kunitz, Christopher Higgins and Brendan Gallagher rank among them.

There are others who showed promise later on but were forced by circumstances to apply to another role than they'd originally been groomed for, scoring forwards who were asked to become grinders or shut-down players, for example, such as Guillaume Latendresse, or Nigel Dawes.

Eventually, those players retire or move to Europe, where their skill set is better recognized; Dawes has not only been playing with the KHL's Astana Barys, based in Kazakhstan, for the past five years and for the next two, but has enjoyed his experience so much that he actually applied for citizenship there. And as soon as it was granted, the diminutive winger from Winnipeg who played in two World Juniors Championships for Team Canada (silver in 2004, gold in 2005 alongside Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron) started representing his new country at the World Championships, along with fellow former Canadians and Astana teammates Dustin Boyd and Brandon Bochenski.

Despite Kazakhstan being relegated to Group 1A with a 1-6 record, Dawes had 3 goals, 4 assists and 7 points in 7 games at the 2016 Worlds, plus a shootout goal against Switzerland's Reto Berra in a 3-2 win in the only game where he didn't register an official point.

He is quickly establishing himself as one of the most dependable professional hockey players outside the NHL.

Here's a card from when he was a New York Rangers prospect, as an alternate captain for the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack, wearing their white (home) uniform:

That's the signed insert version of card #78 (herein called #A-ND, featuring a black-sharpied on-sticker autograph) from In The Game's 2006-07 Heroes And Prospects set (and Prospect sub-set).

Nigel Dawes Autographed Card

Lost in the shuffle of hockey news was the announcement that the Connecticut Whale were returning to their original name, the Hartford Wolf Pack. One thing I find odd about it is their parent NHL team, the New York Rangers, letting Global Spectrum run the team, seeing as they're in the same amalgam of corporations owned by Ed Snider and his Philadelphia Flyers, one of the Rangers' fiercest rivals. Strange bedfellows indeed...

I have at least one Wolf Pack card, and this is the first one that popped up when searching, from In The Game's 2005-06 Heroes And Prospects set (card #234), Nigel Dawes.

A fifth-round pick of the Rangers, Dawes was Canada's leading scorer at the World Juniors in 2004 as he helped them win silver; he won gold in 2005 in a lesser role, on a team that boasted the likes of Patrice Bergeron, Ryan Getzlaf and Sidney Crosby.

A scoring threat in Juniors, he was also a point-per-game player in the AHL, but failed to impress his coaches at the NHL level, be it for the Rangers (parts of 3 seasons), Phoenix Coyotes (12 games), Calgary Flames (66 games), Atlanta Thrashers (9 games), or Montréal Canadiens (4 games). After the 2010-11 season, he lost patience and bolted to the KHL, where he put up 67 points in 103 games over two seasons and is tearing it up in the playoffs with 7 goals (and 9 points) in 7 games.

I got him to sign this card (in blue sharpie) in 2011 when he was with the Habs, after a game.