Hurricanes Preview: Dougie Hamilton Autographed Card

This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: 2020 is a different beast and requires adaptability; in my case, it means the joint posts with my "main/personal" blog will not be in the "player here/analysis there" format but rather the entire scope of the analysis will take place here and the player will have some sort of direct connection to what's written. Caveats: at this point, despite the season being set to start in Mid-January, several impact players haven't found a team yet and quite a few teams are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much maneuvering left to do.

A lot has been made of last season's Norris Trophy voting and how the vote was split between the offensive powerhouse John Carlson and the well-rounded Roman Josi who happened to have a career year as well, but let's not forget Dougie Hamilton was also a force on the blue line until he got injured in January, after representing the Carolina Hurricanes at the All-Star Game. He had an astonishing 14 goals and 40 points in 47 games, playing over 23 minutes a night on one of the league's best brigades and finished 7th in Norris voting despite playing in 20-23 fewer games than the rest of the league.

What makes their odds look good:
Up-front, the top line of Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen and Andrei Svechnikov is exactly what it is supposed to be - elite - but it's the defense that turns heads, starring Hamilton, Jaccob Slavin, and Brady Skjei in a top-three unit that rivals any in the NHL; Jake Gardiner used to be a #2 in Toronto and is instead a luxury #6 in Carolina, and 22-year-old Jake Bean, fresh off being named the AHL's defenseman of the year, should have a spot on the middle pair. And that's saying nothing of Brett Pesce and once-highly-touted prospect Haydn Fleury.

Question marks:
Was Ryan Dzingel only a good fit with the Ottawa Senators? His first season in Carolina was disappointing, and Nino Niederreiter and Vincent Trocheck have also failed to produce as expected. And the goaltending pair of Petr Mrazek and James Reimer is possibly the weakest in the league.

Outlook:
This isn't the deepest lineup and they're an injury away from being in danger of missing the postseason because of that, but dealing with such a position of strength is a blessing for years in that even if more stud defensemen come up through the draft, the rest become assets that can be dealt to remedy to any weaknesses.

Prediction:
Third in the Central Division.

Which brings us to Hamilton. Like Carlson, he has flaws, but one cannot dismiss the qualities he does have - reach, extreme mobility, a good shot, tremendous offensive vision and strong shape. He's on his third team, because eventually, his lack of physical play at his size gets on coaches' nerves, as do the multiple giveaways. But the time that he keeps his coaches happy, he's extremely efficient.

Here he is from his days in Juniors, with the Niagara IceDogs, after a 58-point season (in 67 games) as a 17-year-old, about to be selected by the Boston Bruins in the first round (9th overall), on card #179 from In The Game's 2011-12 Heroes And Prospects collection:

He signed it in blue sharpie on my Mom's birthday in 2017 after a Calgary Flames game in Montréal, with his then-jersey number (27) tagged at the end.

Philipp Grubauer Autographed Card

Philipp Grubauer has come a long way since almost wrestling the Washington Capitals' starting job away from Braden Holtby after the Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft; Gru was traded to the Colorado Avalanche with one year of Brooks Orpik's monstrous contract to be bought out, for a second-round draft pick. You'd think not having Orpik attached would have netted the Caps something in the same vicinity as Semyon Varlamov once did - a first and a second.

Don't cry for the Capitals, however, because even though Holtby's deal is up now and no one should re-sign him at anything above $3M per - least of whom Washington - the team still has another blue chip young goalie ready to take over, 22-year-old Ilya Samsonov.

But back to Grubauer, who unfortunately didn't finish the Stadium Series game against the Los Angeles Kings tonight, suffering a lower-body injury when colliding with defenseman Ian Cole after stopping Kings forward Austin Wagner on a breakaway. He was having another terrific season for the Avs:

from HockeyDB

I included his career stats to show that when playing with a team that is good defensively, he can be even better, but the Avs are not that at all. For instance, two members of their top line are in the minuses: Mikko Rantanen (40 points in 41 games, -1) and Gabriel Landeskog (26 points in 41 games, -8), on a team that is two points out of first place in their division after that loss to the Kings earlier tonight, with two games in hand on the two teams that occupy that position.

Grubauer is one of the few Avs players with experience winning championships: he's won the Memorial Cup with the Windsor Spitfires in 2010 and was a member of the Capitals when they won the Stanley Cup in 2018.

Here he is from his final season in the OHL, wearing the Kingston Frontenacs' black (away) uniform, on card #36 from In The Game's 2010-11 Between the Pipes set:

He signed it in blue sharpie in 2017-18, but I had lost track of it in my last move. You'll notice his equipment's not the same colour as his uniform; that's because both the Spitfires and the Caps' colour scheme is red, white and blue, while the Frontenacs chose to lean on the Boston Bruins' black and yellow/gold.

Anthony DeAngelo Autographed Card

Anthony DeAngelo had a good "first full season" last year, posting 30 points in 61 games with 77 penalty minutes, a points total that had him lead the New York Rangers despite playing in 12 fewer games than his closest pursuer, Kevin Shattenkirk.

This year, he's doing even better from an offensive standpoint, with 7 goals and 20 points in 27 games (and just 17 penalty minutes), and his +1 rating is a nice surprise considering he came with a reputation: that of an aggressive player who needed to keep his anger in check (from his days in Juniors) and a defenseman who refused to play defence (from his AHL days with the Syracuse Crunch as a Tampa Bay Lightning prospect). He was also unable to "stick" with the Arizona Coyotes.

Yet, with Jacob Trouba and Brady Skjei playing like a top pair and the Adam Fox/Ryan Lindgren pair making the argument that they're the best defensemen on the team this year, some are arguing that GM Jeff Gorton should sell high on the talented RFA-to-be, with only UFA Torey Krug being a comparable type of player without a contract for next year, with Dougie Hamilton (20th top scorer in the NHL so far) alone on a similar list of perhaps-available high-producing d-men with a year left on his deal after this one.

Any contender or playoff bubble team looking for an extra spark in their top-four would do well to inquire about his availability, as now would be a good time for the Blueshirts to listen to proposals. I would see him as an upgrade to Justin Schultz and an insurance policy with the oft-injured Kris Letang on the Pittsburgh Penguins, for instance.

Here he is wearing the Sarnia Sting's white (home) uniform on card #82 from In The Game's 2012-13 Heroes And Prospects set:

He signed it in black sharpie during the 2015-16 season, when he played for the Crunch.

Devante Smith-Pelly Autographed Card

Devante Smith-Pelly has been through it all: prized prospect, traded for prized prospects twice, World Juniors bronze medalist for Team Canada, grinder, healthy scratch, Stanley Cup Final hero, demoted to the AHL, training camp tryout that he gets released from, and now signing in the KHL with the Kunlun Red Star, alongside Gilbert Brulé, Spencer Foo, Adam Cracknell, Jake Chelios (son of Chris), David Bondra (son of Peter), Griffin Reinhart, Trevor Murphy, Ryan Sproul, Andrej Sustr, Mikaël Tam, Wojtek Wolski and captain Brandon Yip.

Despite a wealth of North American players and being coached by Curt Fraser, the Chinese team currently sits fifth in the Chernyshev Division and ninth in the Eastern Conference.

A former second-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks (42nd overall in 2010), he has also suited up for the Montréal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals for two seasons apiece.

In Montréal, he is mostly remembered as Alex Galchenyuk's partner-in-crime in extracurricular activities, notably one incident on January 10, 2016 where police were (allegedly) called to the scene of an orgy at a luxury half-apartment building/half-hotel involving alcohol and a lot of cocaine that Galchenyuk's soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend crashed which resulted in an arrest for domestic violence... eventually to Galchenyuk's ex. As the organization is known to do, they got rid of Smith-Pelly quickly and Galchenyuk eventually, as soon as the team finished sullying his name to part of the fan base by constantly publicly questioning his work ethic and moving him around so much he looked lost on the ice.

Fast-forward a couple of years and a Cup and teammate and Caps star Evgeny Kuznetsov tests positive for cocaine. I'm not ready to say the drug is rampant in the NHL as much as it was in the 1980s, but its usage has probably increased in percentage as much as it seems to have in society, which is a lot more than in 1995 or 2001.

I hope Smith-Pelly finds his game again in the KHL and comes back next year on a team that could use his skill-set, like the Philadelphia Flyers or his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs. He's the type of unsung here that is easy to root for because he works hard and seems to leave his all on the ice.

Here he is wearing the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors' (now the Mississauga Steelheads) white (home) uniform, on card #176 from In The Game's 2010-11 Heroes And Prospects set:

He signed it in blue sharpie in November 2018, after one of two games against the Habs. He was shorter than I thought (he plays bigger than 6') but was affable and nice.

Edward Pasquale Autographed Card

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Edward Pasquale has posted very good statistics at every level, yet at best remained an NHL third-stringer, which is likely why he signed on with the KHL's Barys Nur-Sultan this summer, a move I hinted at back in 2014.

We're talking about an OHL All-Star, a Calder Cup (2017) and Hap Holmes Award (2019) winner in the AHL, and now a goalie who's won 67% of his NHL starts - all against Original Six teams, as he's won against the Detroit Red Wings, lost to the Montréal Canadiens and won the Tampa Bay Lightning's final game of this past season against the Boston Bruins, the win that tied the NHL record for most regular-season wins in a single season with 63. Thus, even in the NHL, he's played important games.

But there was no more room left with the Bolts, after the team re-signed starter Andrei Vasilevskiy to an eight-year, $76M deal, signed excellent backup Curtis McElhinney, and traded for AHLer Mike Condon... all while still having 2018-19 backup Louis Domingue on the books. Something had to give.

In my opinion, a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs could have used his services to relieve Frederik Andersen once a week.

Here he is sporting the OHL's Saginaw Spirit's beautiful white (home) uniform, on card #93 from In The Game's 2009-10 Heroes And Prospects set:

He signed it in blue sharpie after the game he lost to the Habs last April, nearly five years to the day after I received my first signed cards of his by mail. I wish him the best in Kazakhstan.

Ryan Strome Autographed Card

When historians sit down to write the story of the 2018-19 hockey season, a few story lines will stand out:

- It's the year the Columbus Blue Jackets went all-in.
- It's the year Shea Weber started noticeably regressing.
- It's the year Roberto Luongo's injuries became a bigger story than his on-ice performances.
- The Tampa Bay Lightning's regular-season domination.
- Nikita Kucherov joined the "best player" conversation.
- The CWHL announced it was ceasing its operations, just a week after the Calgary Inferno beat the Montréal Canadiennes in the Clarkson Cup Final.
- The Chicago Blackhawks' offense finally retained (Alex DeBrincat) and acquired (Dylan Strome) offensive talent instead of trading it away (Teuvo Teravainen).
- The Ottawa Senators and Edmonton Oilers redefined "rock bottom".

That last point is where I want to look to shed yet another light on how bad GM Peter Chiarelli's tenure was, via oft-maligned former 5th overall (2011, New York Islanders) draft pick Ryan Strome.

After four seasons of Juniors hockey, Strome finished the 2012-13 season in the AHL (7 points in 10 games), and spent the following year bouncing up and down between the Isles and the Bridgeport Sound Tigers before posting a 50-point season on Long Island in 2014-15.

After two sub-par seasons in the 30-point range, Chiarelli acquired his services in exchange for Jordan Eberle, a move that was supposed to be lateral in terms of offensive production (it was thought that playing alongside either Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would re-launch Strome), at half of Eberle's salary for a few couple of seasons, as Strome is younger.

Unfortunately, Strome was only able to put up 36 points in 100 games over a season and change in Edmonton, prompting them to send him packing to the New York Rangers in exchange for Ryan Spooner, a player they would put on waivers just a few months later.

In Manhattan, Strome has put up 31 points in 60 games, a 42-point pro-rated production on an entire season, which is an improvement, particularly considering the Rangers are in full "rebuild" mode, although there is concern that his luck may run out at some point, as his underlying numbers are unsustainable.

The Rangers are in fairly good hands for their rebuild, with young veterans Mika Zibanejad (25 years old) and Chris Kreider (27) leading a pack comprised of Pavel Buchnevich (23), Jimmy Vesey (25), Brady Skjei (24), Vladislav Namestnikov (25), Filip Chytil (18), Brendan Lemieux (22), Fredrik Claesson (25) and goalie Alexandar Georgiev (22). Add a lucky middle-of-the-pack first-rounder or two, or a top-three pick in the next couple of years and you've got yourself a team that's fighting for the playoffs again.

Where does Strome fit in there? Well, he may not, unless he keeps producing. His brother Dylan's turning his career around in Chicago, though, so everything's still possible.

Here is Ryan playing for the OHL's Niagara IceDogs:

It's card #69 from In The Game's 2012-13 Heroes And Prospects set, which he signed in blue sharpie last December.

Kerby Rychel: Two Autographed Cards

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I wrote about a prospect who is currently in his fourth NHL franchise yesterday in Anthony Duclair; Kerby Rychel is in the same boat, now playing for the Calgary Flames' AHL affiliate the Stockton Heat, after stints with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montréal Canadiens and Columbus Blue Jackets organizations.

Unlike Duclair, skating is an area where NHL GMs and coaches are always telling Rychel to improve; his strongest suits are his grit, taste for playing in traffic areas (including in front of the opposition's net), tipping pucks, and traits generally associated with "plug-type" players and bottom-sixers, not first-rounders.

Still, it's not his fault the Blue Jackets selected him 19th overall in 2013, ahead of Anthony Mantha (20th, already 200 games and 60 goals in an NHL career), Andre Burakovsky (23rd, 318 NHL games, 61 goals), Shea Theodore (26th), Ryan Hartman (30th), Robert Hagg (41st), Artturi Lehkonen (55th, 200+ games), Brett Pesce (66th, 278 games and counting), Pavel Buchnevich (75th), Jake Guentzel (77th, closing in on 200 games and a goal shy of 75), Mattias Janmark-Nylen (79th, 224 games, 40 career goals), Duclair (80th, 277 games, over 50 goals), Sven Andrighetto (86th, 205 games, 50 assists), Oliver Bjorkstrand (89th, 187 games), Miles Wood (100th, 193 games), Andrew Copp (104th, 282 games), and Tyler Motte (121st, closing in on 150 games played).

I've heard and read about a lack of compete and work ethic in his case, but surely there was a way to instill those traits in him via positive reinforcement and reward for what he did do well, and accentuating or encouraging a will to become a Dave Andreychuck/Ray Sheppard/Brad Marchand type of "garbage goal" scorer and powerplay menace, and expanding from there.

All's not lost for him yet, at just 24 years of age, and he does have 23 goals in 57 AHL games this season, so surely an NHL team might take a chance on him in the near future, it's just been a rockier path than some expected.

For my part, I always say power forwards need more time to develop, and although he's a little small for one, that's how he plays; he also never reached the 100-point mark in Juniors, so he was always going to have to learn to work hard to deserve his chances.

Speaking of which, here's a card from his OHL days with the Windsor Spitfires:

It's card #T-45 from In The Game's 2013-14 Heroes And Prospects 10th Anniversary set and shows him wearing the Spitfires' white (home) uniform.

There is also card #88 from Upper Deck's 2014-15 Team Canada Juniors/Women set, where he's seen protecting the puck from a Swiss player while wearing Team Canada's red (away) uniform:

He was held pointless in 7 games at the 2014 World Juniors, as Canada finished in fourth place.

He signed both in (fading) black sharpie while playing for the AHL's Toronto Marlies (2016-18).

Darnell Nurse Autographed Card

As is customary during Super Bowl weekend, the Montréal Canadiens hosted matinee games on Saturday and Sunday against the New Jersey Devils and Edmonton Oilers, respectively.

You may have heard how much of a trainwreck the Oilers are this year, with the firings of head coach Todd McLellan and GM Peter Chiarelli, Milan Lucic's year-long goal drought, the team's inability to find Connor McDavid a winger (save for second-line center Leon Draisaitl filling in at times), and the litany of bizarre-to-comical roster moves, such as, trading reigning NHL MVP Taylor Hall one-for-one instead of with a draft pick, essentially trading proven scorer Jordan Eberle for a player that was put on waivers, signing a goalie no one wanted to a three-year deal...

One of their smarter moves, though, was signing defenseman Darnell Nurse to a two-year bridge deal worth $3.2M per season; if they keep making smart moves, his next deal should be around $5.4M per before a top-dollar long-term deal is made.

Nurse is one of the team's few, good core pieces, with McDavid, Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Oscar Klefbom and Alex Chiasson, in addition to prospects Jesse Puljujarvi, Kailer Yamamoto, Caleb Jones, and Evan Bouchard. That's half the building blocks Stanley Cup contenders have.

Nurse posted two assists in today's overtime loss to the Habs, bringing him to 26 points on the year, in 52 games - the same amount he got in 80 games last year. His next goal, assist and point will be career-highs.

Here he is wearing the Sault-Ste-Marie Greyhounds' red (away) uniform, on card #28 from In The Game's 2013-14 Heroes And Prospects set:

He signed it in thin blue sharpie before the game.

Michael McCarron Autographed Card

On December 29, I went to Place Bell to see the Laval Rocket play the Charlotte Checkers, a game the Checkers dominated where one goalie (Laval's Étienne Marcoux) and two skaters (one from each team) were clear standouts, despite not racking many points in a nine-goal game won 5-4 by Charlotte.

For the home team, Michael McCarron nabbed an assist, but he was clearly - by far - the best player wearing red. He was like a member of the 1990s Legion Of Doom playing against AHLers; the day when he will put all the ingredients together, his impact will likely be as massive as Milan Lucic's.

As it stands, he's 23 (two years from hitting his prime as a power forward), 6'6", 230 pounds, with a strong, accurate shot, deceptive and impressive speed, and a willingness to knock opponents over like bowling pins, whether they're in his way or not.

I'm not saying he'll be a constant threat to score 35 goals at the NHL level, but I can see a 20-25-goal scorer, 40-50-points per year with a high of 65 once, who is a driving force of play for at least t5hree years, hopefully five. He's already too good for the AHL, he deserves a third-line NHL job until he can prove to be a top-six forward.

He signed his first OHL card in blue sharpie for me after the game, #15 in In The Game's 2013-14 Heroes And Prospects set:

It shows him sporting the London Knights' white (home) uniform, the team he wore an "A" with for a year and won the Memorial Cup against (as a member of the Oshawa Generals, who traded for him midway through the 2014-15 season).

He has so far won three silver medals playing for Team USA - at the 2012 U-17 Championships, and the 2018 World Juniors and World U-18 Championships.

Jordan Subban Autographed Card

Jordan Subban hit the 50-point mak twice in Juniors with the OHL's Belleville Bulls, and has now posted two straight 36-point seasons with the AHL's Utica Comets. He must not have been one of head coach Travis Green's favourite players, however, because Green now coaches the Comets's parent team - the Vancouver Canucks - and not only did he not keep Subban up in the NHL, the team actually traded him to the Los Angeles Kings earlier today.

Now, all three Subban brothers will be playing in the Southern U.S., with Malcolm Subban taking on a front-line role with the Vegas Golden Knights and Norris Trophy winner P.K. Subban earning his keep with the Nashville Predators.

All Jordan needs to learn now is California's State slogan (hint: he listed Florida's):

Here he is wearing the Bulls' white (home) uniform, on card #12 from the team's 2013-14 Belleville Nissan-sponsored team set:

Of note, the Bulls became the Hamilton Bulldogs when the AHL team of the same name (affiliated to the Montréal Canadiens) moved to become the St. John's IceCaps for two years before moving to a Montréal suburb last summer to become the Laval Rocket.

If you remember the IceCaps as being the Winnipeg Jets' affiliate, they (re-)became the Manitoba Moose when the Habs moved their so-called prospects out East.

Mathias Niederberger Autograph Card

After three seasons on this side of the pond, goalie Mathias Niederberger went back home to Germany, playing for his hometown Duesseldorf Eislauf-Gemeinschaft (EG) for the last three years to boot.

He had been named the OHL's Goalie Of The Week in 2012 when he posted two consecutive shutouts for the Barrie Colts, then was given an AHL contract with the Manchester Monarchs, but opted to move back to Germany after playing in the ECHL more often (9 games) than the AHL (6 games) in an injury-plagued 2013-14 season.

He was named the DEL's Goaltender of the Year in 2015-16. Chances are he'll represent Team Germany at the 2018 Olympics, like his father has done four times.

Here he is wearing the Colts' white (home) uniform, on card #A-MN from In The Game's 2012-13 Between The Pipes set and Authentic Goaliegraph sub-set:

It features a black-sharpied on-sticker autograph with his uniform number (35) tagged underneath.

Slater Koekkoek Autographed Card

After two unsuccessful turns in 2014-15 and 2015-16 and a decent 29-game showing last year, the Tampa Bay Lightning re-signed Slater Koekkoek to a one-year deal over the summer worth $800K.

The 23-year-old, 6'2", 193-pound rearguard was the Bolts' first pick of the 2012 draft (10th overall) was dominant in last year's AHL playoffs and will look to build on that to stick with the Lightning.

What you get from Koekkoek is a bit of everything. He was drafted to be a good second-pairing defender with the ability to quarterback a powerplay, good speed, the cardio to play a high-tempo game, an accurate first pass, good play-making ability and a heavy, accurate shot. He had also captained the OHL's Peterborough Petes and been an alternate captain on a U-18 Team Canada that won gold at the 2011 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, so there was some leadership to his game.

In last year's Calder Cup Final run with the Syracuse Crunch, however, he added "shut-down defender" and "penalty-kill specialist" to his skill set.

That's not to say he can do all these things against the likes of Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid in the best league in the world, but it cements his potential as a #3 defender, no doubt. And if you factor in the fact that Tampa already has Norris Trophy contender Victor Hedman and added a guy who could win one in the next decade this summer in Mikhail Sergachev, an excellent #3 is just what they need anyway.

I already see them winning the Atlantic Division this year, maybe we should just go ahead and pencil them in for the next five years.

Here is Koekkoek wearing the "C" on the Petes' purple uniform, on card #76 from In The Game's 2012-13 Heroes And Prospects set:

He signed it in blue sharpie after a game against his hometown Ottawa Senators during the 2014-15 season.

Dan Cloutier Autograph Card

About a year ago, Dan Cloutier was named the Vancouver Canucks' full-time goaltending coach, replacing Roland Melanson, who moves to a development role. He had previously served as a consultant, working mainly with the team's prospects.

Cloutier's best seasons in the NHL came in Vancouver, after stints with the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning, and before following head coach Marc Crawford to the Los Angeles Kings.

Like many Québec-born goalies of the 1990s, he modeled his style on Patrick Roy's butterfly technique, albeit in a more compact manner that made him seem shorter when both, in fact, stand at 6'1". His father being a logger had him move to Sault-Ste-Marie at a young age, and it was with the Soo Greyhounds that he started out his OHL career, as can be attested by this signed insert card from Signature Rookies' 1994-95 Tet Rad series:

It's numbered 1995/7000 and signed on-card in blue sharpie.

He also played for the Guelph Storm, a team his older brother Sylvain had previously captained. Fun fact: Sylvain retired in 2014, four years after Dan.

Also of note, the Canucks hired Travis Green to coach the team this summer; he and Cloutier have a bit of a history:

Anthony Stolarz: Two Autographed Cards

When the Philadelphia Flyers selected Anthony Stolarz with the 45th overall pick (second round) in 2012, the plan was to let the first New Jersey-born NHL-quality goalie slowly develop into a #1 goalie. Whether it was going to take seven years to become a top-level puck stopper (Carey Price) or nine (Jake Allen), GM Ron Hextall was not going to throw him to the wolves sooner than necessary.

Five years in, he saw his first 7 games of action in 2016-17, winning the first one, earning a shutout in the second, ending up with a 2-1-1 record, .928 save percentage and 2.07 goals-against average, easily the tops on the team ahead of Michal Neuvirth and Steve Mason.

That being said, his season in the AHL had its ups and downs, with a 2.92 GAA and .911 save percentage that ranked him behind Alex Lyon. So when Hextall extended both Lyon and Stolarz earlier today, it sent a clear message that Stolarz is not ready to be an NHL backup yet in his general manager's eyes. He'll need to dominate consistently in the AHL before getting that chance, which explains why Hextall also signed free agent on-again, off-again starter Brian Elliott for two years on July 1st.

I look forward to watching the 6'6" goalkeeper's development throughout the years. For now, however, here's a look at the uniforms he wore with the OHL's London Knights, starting with the black "away" one, with a throwback to the team's 1970s logo, on card #33 from In The Game's 2012-13 Between the Pipes set and CHL Prospects sub-set:

And here he is wearing the white alternate home uniform with the KNIGHTS downward wordmark, on card #12 from ITG's 2013-14 Heroes And Prospects set:

He signed both in blue sharpie, tagging his jersey number (43) at the end, during the 2014-15 AHL season, after a Lehigh Valley Phantoms game against the Hamilton Bulldogs.

The cards show his goaltending stance very well: he's a tall, butterfly goalie who hasn't learned to keep his stick blade stuck to the ice and uses the "patting glove hand" method that cuts out some of the angles but reduces occurrences of reflex stops, particularly the middle two feet of the left post. I usually prefer when my students extend their hand outwards a little more to the left and not so much to the front - I'd rather their stance say "try me" than show fear and play safe, which I also call "play dead". But I've never played in the NHL, and Stolarz will one day star in it.

Fun fact regarding the cards: they do not agree on where he was born:

For the record, he was born in Edison and raised in Jackson.

Ryan Strome: Two Autographed Cards

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, the Edmonton Oilers sent Jordan Eberle to the New York Islanders for former first-round pick (5th overall in 2011) Ryan Strome last week, mostly as a salary cap move to free up space for Connor McDavid's upcoming contract, but also because Eberle was disappointing during the 2016-17 playoffs.

But was this a move backwards in terms of it being a "hockey trade"? Yes and no. Strome may never live up to being a fifth-overall pick - and he's technically the second "failed Islanders prospect" Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli has taken off Isles' GM Garth Snow's hands, after Griffin Reinhart last summer, who will now continue his career as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights - but Strome might be able to jump in and fit in right away in Edmonton, as his ability to play either center or wing should give him reps alongside both McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, in addition to occasionally spending time with another decent player in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

A pretty-much guaranteed top-six role means he will be able to aim at a 50-70-point season like he achieved in 2014-15 (17 goals, 33 assists, 50 points on the nose) because he'll have a John Tavares-esque player next to him regardless of how he slots in the lineup, which should get him back into the  2013-14 AHL groove, when he posted 49 points in 37 games with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and at one point even led the league in scoring (a call-up to the Isles "cost him" a scoring title, but that's one move most players would make).

And we're talking about a guy who has posted 106- and 94-point seasons in Juniors with the OHL's Niagara IceDogs and won the bronze medal suiting up for Team Canada at the 2012 World Juniors, posting 9 points in 6 games.

Speaking of which, here is a close-up of the IceDogs' black (away) uniform, on card #169 from In The Game's 2010-11 Heroes And Prospects set:

And here's a sideways and more global view of the uniform, on card #34 from ITG's 2011-12 Heroes And Prospects set:

He signed both cards in black sharpie in January 2015, while the Islanders were in town to face the Montréal Canadiens. I have to say that I already found him to be NHL-ready when I saw him stand at 6'1" and 190 pounds, and he's since added ten pounds of muscle to his frame that should give him an entirely new dimension in the Western Conference.

Sean Day Autographed Card

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John Tavares, first overall, 2009 (New York Islanders). Aaron Ekblad, first overall, 2014 (Florida Panthers). Connor McDavid, first overall, 2015 Edmonton Oilers). Sean Day, 81st overall, 2016 (New York Rangers). These are the only four players to have been granted "exceptional" status by the OHL, meaning they could compete against players aged 16-20 when they, themselves, were only 15 years old.

Two of them - Tavares and McDavid - are centermen, and both are NHL All-Stars, so it's easy to see why that happened there. The other two are defensemen, and Ekblad is, indeed, such an exception that he already has NHL hardware (Calder Trophy, 2014-15) on his mantle. Day's development has not been going so smoothly...

I can't speak to his play as a child, because I didn't witness it - although some websites have his statistics from his days at the bantam and midget levels available for all to see - but here's a look at the rough numbers:

From HockeyDB

The good: his +/- ratings have improved every year, from -35 to -27 to -13 to a +24 split between two teams; let's not count the statistics with the Memorial Cup-winning Windsor Spitfires just yet, though, to keep this in the perspective of his playing for a non-contender for four years. It's still a definite improvement every year.

The bad: His offensive development took a major step back in 2015-16, prompting him to fall in his draft year, from a projected late first-rounder/early second-rounder to 81st, near the end of the third. Sure, he went back to a half-point/game rate in 2016-17 with a championship team, but keep in mind he's now an adult facing some teenagers and players who are at most two years older than he is, not four five like when he started out.

By the time he started playing in the OHL, he was already 6'2" and 220 pounds with tremendous speed, which had scouts salivating at the prospect of his further developing; that was forgetting that he still was just a kid, and one who had had fun playing hockey until then. Now came pressure, and accusations of laziness when he failed to meet expectations. Before he was drafted, he took his body fat down from 19% to 12%, which still had him at 228 pounds.

He's now a Memorial Cup champion. Maybe we can take a breath or two and wait until he's 24 or 25 to judge who he becomes as a hockey player and, more importantly, as a human being.

Here he is as a rookie, on card #101 from In The Game's 2013-14 Heroes And Prospects set and CHL Rookie sub-set, wearing the Mississauga Steelheads' white uniform, which he signed in blue sharpie:

I'm not worried about his becoming an NHLer, because by the time guys get to be his size, they'll be older than he is, which means he has that long to round his game and training regimen out. Essentially, he's learning the pro game backwards. As long as the Rangers' staffers know that, he'll be fine. He just might not be a first-unit defender, but there's nothing wrong with playing 1000 NHL games as a #4 or 5 defenseman - it's still living the dream.

Tyler Bertuzzi Autographed Card

The Detroit Red Wings drafted Tyler Bertuzzi in the second round (58th overall) in 2013, and he was already saying things they wanted to hear, such as he's "meaner than his uncle", Todd Bertuzzi. High expectations indeed, because as much as the hockey world would rather forget Todd's high points to instead focus on his hit on Steve Moore, he was the toughest, meanest player and best power forward in the NHL for years; as a matter of fact, when it comes to adding the word "dominating" to a player's resume, Bertuzzi's West Coast Express (with Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison) ruled atop the NHL for as long as Eric Lindros' Legion Of Doom, though Lindros had very good seasons (read: point-per-game or near) without his linemates, which Bertuzzi did not, due to the fact that he was never the same following the hit, likely afraid to cost someone else their career because of a bad hit or if his temper flared during an on-ice altercation.

Comparisons between the two relatives are inevitable and unfair, yet warranted, because Todd played and dominated in the Dead Puck Era; he and Naslund had the size and fearlessness that allowed them to fire back at defenders who attempted to slow them down, and were among the rare few who thrived in that context; still, it being "Dead", his two best seasons were where he posted 46 goals (third in the NHL - and 97 points for fifth in the league - in 2002-03) and 36 goals (for 85 points, third in the NHL, in 2001-02). The rest of the time, he was a 25-goal scorer, which was still very good in that era because that's what top-line players did.

Nowadays, scoring is also an issue, with only one player (Connor McDavid) having reached the 100-point plateau this year, and none scoring 50 goals. Most players are defensively aware, and although there may be a slight discrepancy between the top of the elite class ("superstars") and "regular" stars, the systems at play are so sophisticated that teams' entire top-six are usually within the same range of point production.

In that context, a fearless, relentless 6'1'', 200-pound physical winger with decent hands can, indeed, expect those kind of minutes in his prime (ages 25-33), so I could see him get his 25-30 goals five or six times in that span, for sure. I think his peak/maximum upside would be something similar to a 2008-12 Alexandre Burrows, a top-line agitator who draws penalties, takes a few, and scores important goals.

For now, at 22 years old, he needs to add those ten missing pounds - he's currently at 190 - and continue developing. He went from a 43-goal season with the OHL's Guelph Storm in 2014-15 to 12 goals in 71 AHL games with the Grand Rapids Griffins the following year in his first pro season. He got up to 12 goals in 48 AHL games last year, while going pointless in 7 games with the parent Wings.

My plan if I were GM would be to have him aim for a 30-35 goal season in the AHL next year, then a 15-goal rookie season in the NHL, then a step up to 25 in 2019-20; Detroit, however, is in a rebuild, and they might look to speed things up by having him spend most of next year in the NHL to get that first year out of the way. We'll see. He currently has 12 points in 12 playoff games with the Griffins this year, his second-straight point-per-game postseason, so that probably has the Wings salivating.

Here he is wearing the Storm's white uniform, on card #9 from In The Game's 2013-14 Heroes And Prospects set:

He signed it in black sharpie last November, after a game against my hometown Montréal Canadiens.

Jason Dawe Autograph Card

With the NHL draft coming in just a few weeks, I'm reminded of the story of Jason Dawe, who was chosen 35th overall in 1991 by the Buffalo Sabres, after a 43-goal and 70-point season with the Peterborough Petes as a 17-year-old.

He reached the 100-point plateau the following season (108) and was even better in 1992-93, becoming the Petes' all-time leading scorer and the first player in franchise history to score 50 goals in less than 50 games (48), en route to 58 goals, 68 assists and 126 total points in just 59 games as a 20-year-old. Keep in mind, Petes alumni include Steve Yzerman, Dawe teammates Chris Longo and Chris Pronger, Bog Gainey, Larry Murphy, Mike Ricci, Jordan Staal, André Lacroix, Cameron Mann, Terry Carkner, Keith Acton, Bob Errey, Jody Hull, Tom Fergus, Jamie Langenbrunner, Steve Larmer, Claude Larose, and Dave Reid.

Dawe's career highlights, however, came more on the international stage - gold at the 1993 World Juniors and silver at the 1996 World Championships playing for Team Canada - because his NHL career was spent moving around between four teams (Sabres, New York Islanders, Montréal Canadiens and New York Rangers) in eight seasons over nine years, while dressing for just 366 regular-season games (86 goals, 90 assists, 176 points and 162 penalty minutes).

He played in 22 playoff games, half of them coming in 1996-97, for 4 goals, 3 assists and 7 points. Oh, and 18 penalty minutes. Somehow, as play got tougher and more physical, and as the referees stopped calling penalties, he would get punished more often.

Here he is wearing the Petes' classic blue (away) uniform, on the signed insert version (on-card, blue sharpie) of card #31 from Classic's 1991-92 Draft Picks set:

It's numbered #44/950 in the "extremely Limited" sub-set.

Jason Sweitzer Autograph Card

Today I decided to feature a former OHL player from the Oshawa Generals, Jason Sweitzer, who retired after going undrafted. His statistics weren't bad at all, but he produced a lot less than his team's star player, Marc Savard:

Courtesy of EliteProspects.com

You'll notice the Generals made it to the Memorial Cup Final, which they lost to a Hull Olympiques team that was coached by Claude Julien and included the likes of Martin Biron (as Christian Bronsard's backup!), Francis Bélanger, Jonathan Delisle, Matthieu Descoteaux, Christian Dubé, Mario Larocque, Donald MacLean, Pavel Rosa, Colin White, and Peter Worrell.

And, well, that's it. He didn't get drafted, he didn't pursue a career in Europe nor was he a career minor-leaguer. He just became an adult.

Here he is sporting the Generals' alternate (blue) uniform, on a signed insert card from The Score Board's 1997-98 The Score Board collection, which I got in a re-pack box:

He signed it on-card in thin blue sharpie.

Josh Ho-Sang Autographed Card

A little bit of weirdness yesterday, as the New York Islanders called up then re-demoted prospect Josh Ho-Sang in a matter of hours, without having played a single game.

Ho-Sang is a polarizing player, very skilled but with a debatable/questionable work ethic. He's been late to practice with every team he's been on, including on the very first day of his very first Islanders training camp after being drafted. He also has a temper, as signified by the fact that he's been suspended in Juniors for breaking an opponent's leg with a check from behind.

On the other hand, his skill level has been compared to that of a Johnny Gaudreau or a Mitch Marner, with a somewhat diminutive physique, standing at just 5'11" and 160 pounds. His self-confidence is akin to a P.K. Subban's, which is perhaps why he's letting a lot of it get to his head.

Of note that while he did dominate in the OHL, he is not yet a point-per-game player in the AHL, with 10 goals and 26 assists for 36 points in 48 games with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers so far. If there is a GM who will give him as many chances as possible, however, it's Garth Snow, who has been quoted saying: "He'll fit right in. They shit on me too. We get the players that we feel can help us win. And we don’t give a shit what anyone else thinks."

Let's just hope he matures into something closer to his childhood idol, Mario Lemieux. Here he is sporting the Windsor Spitfires' red uniform, donning #66 in honor of Lemieux, on card #36 from In The Game's 2012-13 Heroes And Prospects set and CHL Rookie sub-set:

He signed it in blue sharpie.