Flyers Preview: Keith Jones Autographed Card

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This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: Unlike in the distant past where I would post different texts on this collectibles blog and my personal one, I've been using a new format for the past couple of years, where I'll copy the same text on each one. As a father of two young kids, I just do not have enough time to write two separate posts per day on each blog. This year again, the entire scope of the analysis will take place first and the featured player will have a direct or perhaps indirect connection to what's written, below.

Caveats: At this point, despite training camps being set to start in a couple of weeks, several players haven't found a team yet and a few clubs are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much maneuvering left to do.

Key exits: Kevin Hayes (C), Ivan Provorov (D), Kevin Connaughton (D), James Van Riemsdyk (LW), Kiefer Bellows (LW), Tony DeAngelo (D), Brendan Lemieux (LW), and Justin Braun (D).

Key Arrivals: Marc Staal (D), Sean Walker (D), Garnet Hathaway (RW), Ryan Poehling (C), Cal Petersen (G), and Victor Mete (D).

Top prospects: Matvei Michkov (RW, 18 years old, in the KHL for at least three more years), Tyson Foerster (RW, 21 years old, had 48 points in 66 games in his AHL rookie season last year), Bobby Brink (RW, 22 years old, missed most of last season due to injury), Cutter Gauthier (C/LW, 19 years old, looked like a star in the NCAA as well as the World Juniors), Emil Andrae (D, 21 years old, impressed in the Swedish league and AHL last season), and Elliot Desnoyers (LW, 21 years old, 44 points in 65 AHL games last season).

What makes their odds look good:
There is a plan in place, and GM Daniel Brière will be stockpiling young players and draft capital for the next few seasons; head coach John Tortorella will instill good habits with the help of veterans he knows well, such as Staal. There might not be another generational talent to tank for in the next three or four drafts, but what matters is drafting talented players who work hard to have a competitive team when the time is right.

Question marks: Who will be kept as part of the core among young veterans like Travis Konecny, Carter Hart and Travis Sanheim?

Outlook:
This isn't an accidental bottoming out, this is a calculated move to turn over nearly the entire roster and hopefully contend when the current veteran cream of the Metropolitan Division - your Carolina Hurricanes, New York Rangers, and Pittsburgh Penguins - start to drop in the standings in four or five seasons, with just the New Jersey Devils remaining as a power, and even then, possibly in decline.

Prediction:
Eighth in the Metropolitan Division, bottom-five in the NHL.

The day Brière was announced as the new team GM, Keith Jones got the nod as the Philadelphia Flyers' new team President of Hockey Operations, a job for which his co-analyst on TNT NHL broadcasts, Ed Olczyk, was also up for; ultimately, as is their modus operandi, the team went with their alumnus.

A solid middle-six player with some power forward skills, Jones skated part-time with the likes of Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Eric Lindros and John LeClair in his day, and was a respected member of the dressing room. So much so that his good relations with just about everyone around the league will surely help the Flyers and Brière in their relationships with other teams.

I mostly remember Jones on the Colorado Avalanche; he was like a "clean" version of Tom Wilson, both having in common that they look like they should consistently score 30-40 goals, with neither having topped the 25-goal mark as of 2023.

Having watched Jones analyze the game and crack jokes for the past 10-15 years on TV (all within acceptable social standards), however, I am relatively confident that he can handle a front office job on one of the premiere rich organizations in the sport. I certainly wish him well.

Here he is sporting the Flyers' black (third / home) uniform on card #304 from Pacific's flagship 1999-2000 Pacific set, crashing into the New York Rangers' Mike Richter:

He signed it in blue sharpie as a guest at a card convention, back when one didn't have to pay extra on top of the entry ticket to get autographs at those events, circa 2005 or so.

Jason Spezza Autographed Card

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Two weeks after being put on waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs - with his agent using the "don't claim him or he'll retire" shtick - Jason Spezza scored a hat trick against the Vancouver Canucks.

Things seem to be going Toronto's way this season, as the team leads the NHL a month into an abridged 56-game season, and their decisions in handling Spezza's situation and cap hit is just one example of how fortunate they've been; any team could have claimed him off waivers, even the Ottawa Senators, whom he has captained in the past with the "C" currently vacant; at 37 years of age, ending his career with the team that drafted him would almost be as romantic as his current situation of suiting up for his hometown club. Except the Leafs truly believe they are Stanley Cup contenders - and as a fan, so does he. It's a mass delusion that's been ongoing since 1967.

The Sens went back to their original uniforms this season, and this is what he lookied like wearing the white (then-home) uniform, on card #577 from Pacific's 2002-03 Complete set:

He signed it in black sharpie via mail five years ago. The card itself is of the "Red" variant and is numbered 25/100; Complete cards were spread out randomly among packs of other Pacific sets (Crown Royale, Vanguard, Pacific, Quest For The Cup, Atomic), they were not available as a standalone product.

In 10 games this season, Spezza now has 8 points, spread evenly in goals (4) and assists (4).

Craig Conroy: Two Autographed Cards

Originally a Montréal Canadiens draft pick (sixth round, 123rd overall, 1990), Craig Conroy remained at Clarkson University until 1993-94, at which time the Habs had a bit of a logjam at centre, with Vincent Damphousse, Pierre Turgeon, Kirk Muller and Saku Koivu there during his first two seasons trying to make the team.

Ironically, the Réjean Houle regime would solve that problem by sending both Conroy and Turgeon to the St. Louis Blues, along with Rory Fitzpatrick, for middle-six forward and bad influence Shayne Corson, defensive defenseman Murray Baron and a fifth-round pick. Turgeon would be a better-than-point-per-game player with the Blues (355 points in 327 regular-season games - with an 85-point output to begin his five-year run in St. Louis and an 82-point season to end it with in 2000-01, as well as 45 points in 50 playoff games in the heart of the Dead Puck Era) and continued his run of Selke and Lady Byng Trophy-level play while Conroy also had Selke-worthy seasons (he was actually a finalist in 1997-98 and fifth in votes the following season), but produced a little less offensively, with 151 points in 359 games.

Where Conroy became an offensive force was in his first three seasons with the Calgary Flames, playing alongside Jarome Iginla, where he posted 75-, 59- and 47-point seasons - the latter in just 63 games in 2003-04, where he also collected17 points in 26 games as the team made its way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

He then spent parts of two seasons with the Los Angeles Kings before this happened:

He was thus once again a member of the Flames, with whom he retired in the middle of the 2010-11 season, after being a healthy scratch for many games and going unclaimed on the waiver wire and opting to not report to the AHL. He did play his 1000th game that year, however.

Upon retiring, he was named Special Assistant to the General Manager and has officially had his title changed to Assistant-GM under Brad Treliving in 2014. Many believe he's next in line for the actual position unless a "huge name" comes along to take over.

Here he is wearing Calgary's white (the-home) uniform right after he was acquired from the Blues, on card #41 from Upper Deck's 2001-02 Vintage collection, one that strongly resembles old Topps and O-Pee-Chee sets:

He was named co-captain in his second year with the team and held the title by himself the following year, as can be attested by card #47 from Pacific's 2003-04 Pacific set, showing him wearing the team's then-away "Flaming Horse" black jersey:

He stepped down from the position himself so that Iginla could lead the team, which he did, straight to the Final, that very first year.

Conroy signed both cards while scouting the Habs on behalf of the Flames in 2016 or 2017.

Tony Hrkac: Two Autographed Cards

(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

The last time I featured two autographed Tony Hrkac cards, I purposely skimmed through his time with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim because I knew I had this post as a back-up.

His 140 games with Anaheim was the third-most he spent with any one organization, after the 201 with the St. Louis Blues and 160 with the Atlanta Thrashers. His 38 points with the Mighty Ducks in 2000-01 at age 34 is his fifth-highest total in the NHL, coming in the heart of the Dead Puck Era and his even (+0) plus/minus rating was tied for second-best on the team, with only Antti Aalto falling into the positives at +1, in only 12 games, mind you. The team's stars were all in deep minuses: Paul Kariya (67 points, -9), Teemu Selanne (59 points, -8), Oleg Tverdovsky (53 points, -11), Marty McInnis (42 points, -21) and Matt Cullen (40 points, -23) all brought forth a negative differential, making life difficult on goalies Guy Hebert (41 games, 12-23-4, 2 shutouts, 3.12 GAA and .897 save percentage) and Jean-Sébastien Giguère (34 games, 11-17-5, 4 shutouts, 2.57 GAA and .911 save percentage).

Card #5 from Pacific's  2001-02 Pacific series encapsulates his time in California very well:

The purple (technically "eggplant") and jade uniform was their main away gear from the team's inception in 1993 until 2006, when Disney sold the team and it changed its look and took the "Mighty" out of its name to not interfere with Disney's copyrights from the kids' film franchise, with the team opting to modify its brand and look at the same time.

However, I mostly tend to remember Hrkac as a member of the Blues and Québec Nordiques, as the early 90s were when I followed the sport and the NHL the most religiously, and I also have him sporting the Nords' beautiful blue (away) uniform from the late 80s/early 90s, before they started incorporating red on the contours of the numbers:

That's card #172 from Topps' 1990-91 Bowman set, which enables me to enter Hrkac as #28 in my Nordiques Numbers Project. You might recall he's also there as #40, and he is a rare player who went from wearing a "regular" (read: below #35) number in 1989-90 to a "high number" (40 and up) in 1990-91; back in the day, it was customary for goalies to wear #1, #20, #29, or a number between 30 and 35, while tough guys and goons were given available numbers between 30 and 39 and other skaters typically had lower numbers - except for stars, who could get "the doubles" (11, 22, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88 and 99). The numbers above 40 were typically reserved for rookies who had yet to "earn" their lower number.

Hrkac signed these in blue sharpie when he came out of retirement at age 42, from 2008 to 2010, with the Houston Aeros of the AHL. His 2008-09 playoff run was particularly impressive, as he posted 14 points in 19 games in a deep postseason run.

He's been a pro scout with the Tampa Bay Lightning since 2015, who have acquired the likes of Anton Stralman, Michaël Bournival, Gabriel Dumont, Peter Budaj, Louis Domingue, Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh, Mikhail Sergachev, Eddie Pasquale, Cameron Gaunce, Danick Martel, J.T. Miller, Curtis McElhinney, Jan Rutta, Luke Schenn, Kevin Shattenkirk and Pat Maroon via other means than drafting during his tenure, so either he is passionate about my blog or he travels from Montréal to New York a lot.

Johan Hedberg: Three Autographed Cards

The Pittsburgh Penguins, like the Montréal Canadiens, always seem to be able to find either a star goalie at every turn or at the very least someone who will hold the fort superbly well - and get recognition for it - while the Next One comes along.

Originally a Philadelphia Flyers draft pick (ninth round, 218th overall, 1994), Johan Hedberg was an up-and-coming Swedish goalie who looked like he needed seasoning but could become a reliable net-minder; the Flyers didn't quite agree, however, as they let him rot in Sweden and toil around in the minor leagues for four years before sending him to the San Jose Sharks organization without letting him earn even a call-up as a backup. In those years, the Flyers were considered "weak" in net, with the position often being cited as the weak link and reason why the Eric Lindros-led team didn't make it to the Stanley Cup Final more than once. Their revolving door of goalies in that era consisted of Ron Hextall in his second stint with the team (1994-98), hot prospect Dominic Roussel (1994-96), Garth Snow (1995-98) and Sean Burke as a trade deadline rental (1997-98).

Further than fifth on the Sharks' depth chart and in danger of spending more time in the ECHL, he spent the 1998-99 with the Swedish League's Leksands Idrottsförening helping the team finish fourth overall. He came back to North America for the 1999-2000 season, playing for the AHL's Kentucky Thoroughblades, sharing the net with the best goalie in Sharks history, Evgeni Nabokov, and the best goalie in the world in the mid-00s, Miikka Kiprusoff.

It took a loan to the unaffiliated IHL team Manitoba Moose for him to gain visibility, enough for the 2000-01 Pittsburgh Penguins - in danger of missing the playoffs with Snow, Jean-Sébastien Aubin and Rich Parent in net (none of whom had a save percentage above .900) - despite an offence that boasted such talents as Jaromir Jagr (121 points in 81 games), Alex Kovalev (95 points in 79 games), Martin Straka (95 points in 82 games), Mario Lemieux (76 points in 43 games!), Robert Lang (80 points in 82 games) and trade deadline re-acquisition Kevin Stevens (23 points in 32 games), to make his acquisition and throw him directly to the wolved.

Indeed, Moose head coach Randy Carlyle had to redirect him to Pittsburgh, as Hedberg originally assumed he was going to their AHL affiliate to close out the season. Instead, Hedberg led the Pens with a 7-1-1 record in 9 games to close out the season, with a 2.64 GAA (34 points better than the next best goalie, Snow) and .905 save percentage.

Not only did the Pens finish third in the Atlantic Division but sixth in the Eastern Conference, qualifying for the postseason, in which Hedberg outplayed Vezina winners and Stanley Cup finalists Olaf Kolzig (Washington Capitals) and Dominik Hasek (Buffalo Sabres) and leading the team to the Conference Finals, where they lost to the defending champions New Jersey Devils. Because of Devils head coach Larry Robinson's system (strongly based on predecessor Jacques Lemaire's system, but perhaps even stronger defensively), the Pens only registered 99 total shots on Martin Brodeur in the entire five-game series.

Hedberg entered the 2001-02 season as the team's #1 goalie and did not disappoint, continuing on his run with similar numbers (2.75 GAA, .904 save %, 6 shutouts, nightly highlight-reel saves) , but without Jagr gone and with Lemieux being limited to just 25 games, Kovalev was the lone offensive weapon on the team (76 points in 67 games) as it missed the playoffs by finishing fifth in its division.

The 2002-03 season wasn't as good for Hedberg, however, as his GAA climbed to 3.14 and his save percentage dipped to .895, and in the next summer he ws sent to the Vancouver Canucks for a second-round pick. From then on, he would mostly be counted on as a reliable backup who was a great teammate in stints with the Dallas Stars, Atlanta Thrashers and New Jersey Devils.

I'll get to those in a later post because the more pressing matter is the San Jose Sharks cleaned house today and Peter DeBoer and his entire staff (save for Bob Boughner, who takes over as head coach on an interim basis) were let go, meaning assistant coaches Steve Spott and Dave Barr were also relieved of their duties, as was goaltending coach... Johan Hedberg.

You may recall from my annual pre-season predictions that I'm no fan of DeBoer, who I believe was in the bottom-five coaches in the NHL. And you'll see here I am fond of Hedberg, as a player and a person. However, before he took on the job in San Jose, the Sharks' net looked like this (all images courtesy of HockeyDB):

2014-15

That's Antti Niemi with 5 shutouts. Then DeBoer replaced Todd McLellan, Boughner replaced Robinson as the defense corps' coach, and the goaltenders also got replaced:

2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20

That's three goalies on a downward spiral - and the first one to drop, Alex Stalock, is arguably the guy keeping the Minnesota Wild in the playoff race so far this season.

The Sharks almost always have a contending-level roster, particularly on defence with two, three or four All-Star/Olympians at a time, so at some point the coaches have to be held accountable for the lack of results. The players too, mind you, and these guys do not seem to have it in them to reach the enxt level to win, mentally or physically - but the coaches have to at least get the statistics te remain on the level to keep their jobs.

The goalies in San Jose have been trending downwards for too long now, and the stagnation in the depths of the NHL rankings just cost Hedberg his job, whether the fault is his own or not.

Here he is in happier times, when he'd been recalled from the IHL and had the team's logo which would become his nickname, "Moose":

The card on the left is #76 from Pacific's 2001-02 Heads Up set, a beautiful bright foil card, while the one on the right is #42 from In The Game's 2001-02 Between The Pipes set, a darker foil card (not as dark as the scan, mind you) that is reminiscent of some Upper Deck Black Diamond sets. Both show him wearing the Penguins' 1995-2002 "futuristic" road (black) uniform.

And here he is wearing the Penguins 2002-07 black (then-home) jersey (which was also similar to their 2007-16 Reebok Edge jersey), on card #143 from Upper Deck's 2002-03 Series 1 set, stretching during pre-game warmups:

All three cards were signed in black sharpie when he was a member of the Devils (2010-13). He was very nice, and upon learning that I wasn't just a bald Simpsons comic book guy lookalike but had also been a goalie in my day, extended our talk from a five-second interaction to a couple of minutes as the team was packing to leave the area.

Ruslan Fedotenko: Two Autographed Cards

I didn't realize how many autographed cards of Ruslan Fedotenko's until I went in my as-yet-unfeatured cards to try to plan my posts from the next couple of months (while leaving some leeway to "news of the day"-type stories). You'd think he was my favourite player ever or that we shared a birthday. Upon verification, not only do we not, but I'm four months older than he is, and he retired four years ago. I feel old.

Fedotenko had two stints with the Philadelphia Flyers, and between them spent time with the Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders. Today, I will focus on the Ukrainian hockey star's time in Tampa, connecting with the Bolts' two wins in Sweden this weekend, a two-game series against the Buffalo Sabres that may have re-launched their season... and sent Buffalo's down the drain.

He was acquired for a first-round pick that became Joni Pitkanen, a serviceable defenseman who played ion over 500 NHL games and suited up for Team Finland internationally, but made the risk worthwhile by leading the team in game-winning goals with 6 in his first season, and then again a year and a half later when he scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal in Game 7 of the 2004 Final. As a matter of fact, he scored both goals in a 2-1 win against the Calgary Flames - the team I was rooting for to win.

This is what the Lightning's away jerseys looked like at the time, as attested from card #305 from Pacific's 2003-04 Pacific set:

And here is their white jersey from the same period, on card #572 from In The Game's 2003-04 In The Game Action collection:

He signed both in blue sharpie, which to me dates it around 2012 or 2013. He tagged them with his jersey number - 17 - at the end; of note, his preferred number was 26, but Martin St-Louis had first dibs on that one in Tampa.

Jason LaBarbera Autographed Card

Former journeyman goaltender Jason LaBarbera is currently in his third season as the WHL Calgary Hitmen's goaltending coach. My first reflex would be to say that that's the type of consistency that has eluded him in his professional career, considering he played for 13 teams in three leagues in 16 seasons (plus three teams in four WHL seasons in Juniors), but the truth of the matter is he had two relatively solid residencies, the first with the New York Rangers organization (though mostly with their AHL affiliate Hartford Wolf Pack), which was a five-year relationship from 2001 until 2005, and the second with the Phoenix Coyotes where he was the main NHL backup for four straight seasons under the tutelage of Sean Burke, yielding three fairly good seasons:

from HockeyDB

That's twice with save percentages above .920, three times with a GAA under 3.00, with 2009-10 being particularly spectacular at 2.13 and .928.

As a matter of fact, his AHL statistics are pretty impressive overall, with a 162-121 record, a 2.33 GAA and .922 save percentage. These two seasons are impressive regardless of caliber:

That is dominance right there, which is why I mostly have memories of him playing for the Wolf Pack, like on this card, which he signed in blue sharpie in 2013-14:

That's card #33 from Pacific's 2003-04 Pacific Prospects - AHL Edition set, showing him wearing Hartford's beautiful blue (away) uniform, based on the Rangers' "Liberty" jersey.

He won the AHL awards for best goalie twice (2004 and 2007) - earning First Team All-Star nods both times - as well as the league MVP award in 2004, and the trophy for lowest goals-against average in 2004 and 2007.

Time will tell if he'll be successful following in Burke's footsteps - so far, eight goalies have crossed his path with only one signing with an NHL team - but these young men will have a wealth of experience to learn from, including how to handle the long bus rides and earning your way to the NHL.

Chris Drury Autographed Card

Only one player in NHL history can claim to have won the Calder Trophy ahead of future Hall of Famer Marian Hossa, and that's Chris Drury. He's also the only player in history to win the Calder after the Hobey Baker... so far.

Nearly half a decade removed from his last NHL shift, we tend to forget just how good and clutch he was; during his tenure with the Colorado Avalanche, which included a Stanley Cup in 2000-01, he was pretty much the best third-line center in the league, behind Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg. And, beause Forsberg had a knack for getting injured, Drury had many chances to shine on the Avs' second line, like when he scored 11 playoff goals on route to the 2001 Cup, which also happened to catch the eye of Team USA, who named him to the 2002 Olympic team, where he won the silver medal.

He was dealt to the Calgary Flames in exchange for defensive depth, in the form of Derek Morris; after one sub-par season in Calgary (23 goals, 30 assists, 53 points), he was sent to the Buffalo Sabres (with Steve Bégin, for Rhett Warrener and Steven Reinprecht), on a team that didn't make the playoffs, enabling Drury to compete in the World Championships and earn a bronze medal.

He was so important to the Sabres' success that he was named the team's co-captain with Daniel Brière, a title both held together until they left as free agents the same summer Drury with the New York Rangers, Brière with the Philadelphia Flyers. He would win another Olympic silver medal at the Vancouver Games in 2010.

Here he is as captain of the Sabres, wearing the team's black-and-red "prequel to Buffaslug" uniform:

That's card #31 from Pacific's 2004-05 Pacific set, which he signed in (someone else's) silver sharpie. It was the final year that Pacific would produce an NHL product, as the league signed consecutive exclusivity deals with Upper Deck after each of the last two lockouts. Panini was the only brand who took advantage of a small window between both deals to produce a few years' worth of sets.

Martin Brodeur Net Fusions Card

Hopefully, I'm not walking down a dangerous path by making an exception for Martin Brodeur - something I've accused the NHL of doing time and time again by awarding him four Vezina trophies when he deserved one at best - by featuring him on a card that is neither signed nor one including a swatch/patch of some kind.

Instead, the Glove-Side Net-Fusions card features a pretend glove netting filling the space between the goal posts:

That's card #12 from Pacific's 2000-01 Paramount set, showing him wearing the New Jersey Devils' red (then-away) uniform. I've seen it selling for $12-15 on Ebay, however, and it's tempting to not shit on it too much so I can pass it on to someone else.

Now you've heard me attack his Vezina Trophy record, but one thing that led to those awards as well as his three Stanley Cups was the Devils' defensive system devised by Jacques Lemaire, which was so effective that not only did it bring about the Dead Puck Era, but gave the team five Jennings trophies, which reward the goalie(s) from the team with the lowest goals-against average - which he's shared with the likes of teammate Mike Dunham but also Philadelphia Flyers goalies Roman Cechmanek and Robert Esche. Ties in this category are uncommon but do happen, as was the case with the Montréal Canadiens (Carey Price) and Chicago Blackhawks (Corey Crawford) sharing it in 2014-15.

Is Brodeur Hall Of Fame material? Of course he is.

Should he be considered on the same plane as Dominik Hasek and Patrick Roy in his era, and Terry Sawchuk, Jacques Plante, Georges Vezina, Ken Dryden or Tony Esposito in the broader spectrum of NHL history? Absolutely not. He did not dominate at any point, hidden between the defensive fortress of Scott Stevens and Ken Daneyko, although he was the best at moving the puck in his time, even forcing the NHL to change its rules bout goaltenders leaving the crease to play the puck. But as far as him being the stopping force that brought his team to the promised land, despite three Cups, he has no Conn Smythe to his name; also, the only time he faced Roy in a Final, he lost while watching Roy get the shut out, which should have been the ultimate mic drop.

And with Team Canada, he was sad to look at in the 2010 Olympics when Roberto Luongo was forced to take over.

Mariusz Czerkawski Jersey Card

If you didn't know anything about hockey and read about Mariusz Czerkawski's career on Wikipedia or something of that ilk 100 years from now, you'd think he was Brett Hull.

We're talking about the first Polish player to play in the NHL, a guy who, when playing for his national team, accumulated 39 points (27 goals, 12 assists) in 25 Juniors-level games and 34 points (17 goals, 17 assists) in in 36 mens' teams games, despite often being the only NHLer on the roster, more often than not playing against teams made up entirely of stars and semi-stars. He was doing it by himself.

And if, again, you didn't know anything about hockey and read up on the NHL, some teams would would appear as more important than the others, namely the Original Six, and perhaps the 1980s dynasties Edmonton Oilers and New York Islanders. Well, Czerkawski played for both the Oil and the Isles, as well as three Original Six teams: the Montréal Canadiens, Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs. If you didn't have the context that we do - how they all sucked at the end of the 1990s and early 00s - you'd think he may be the link, the one common thread, between great and historical teams.

And he had two 30-goal seasons, and two more over the 25 mark - in the Dead Puck Era. Heck, his All-Star game participation, in the midst of a 70-point season, was probably fully warranted, seeing as he led the Isles with nearly 30 points more than the team's second-best scorer and the fact that the goalie they used the most that year was Kevin Weekes, with 32 games played (Roberto Luongo followed with 24, and Félix Potvin appeared in 22; Luongo had the best save percentage of them all at .904).

Those of us who followed the latter stages of his career, however, feel he fizzled greatly at the end, putting a damper on a relatively fine career, not unlike Sergei Berezin or Sergei Samsonov.

Here is a card showing him wearing the Habs' white (then-home) uniform, which is #14 of Pacific's 2003-04 Exclusive collection and Authentic Game-Worn Jerseys sub-set:

The back is even super-specific as to where the blue game-worn jersey swatch is from:

It's from his days with the Isles, with a matching picture on the back! That's what I call attention to detail!

Jarome Iginla Jersey Card

Jarome Iginla was playing in his 1500th NHL game earlier tonight, but the Colorado Avalanche turned in their worst performance ever and lost to my hometown Montréal Canadiens, 10-1.

People criticized Patrick Roy for jumping ship this summer when he left his head coaching position because he felt he didn't have a big enough say on roster decisions despite also being VP of Hockey Operations, and now we see why: Jared Bednar may have been the best coach in the AHL, the Avs are still stuck in last place in the standings.

Iginla would probably among the players Roy kept, but he surely would have sent hot-dogging Matt Duchene packing in an effort to consolidate team leadership and hopefully bolster the defense.

Now in his 20th season, Iginla has captained the Calgary Flames to within a goal of a Stanley Cup championship, was a Calder Trophy runner-up (to Bryan Berard), is a three-time First Team All-Star and one-time Second Team All-Star, a Rocket Richard Trophy (best goal scorer) and Lester B. Pearson (now Ted Lindsay) Award (most valuable player as chosen by his peers) winner, as well as a King Clancy winner for leadership and humanitarian contribution.

He has 614 goals and 665 assists so far, and is 21 points away from the 1300 mark. He is also a highly-decorated member of Team Canada, having won gold at the 1996 World Juniors, the 1997 World Championships, the 2004 World Cup as well as the 2002 and 2010 Olympics.

Because he played hard but never dirty, his name is the one that sticks out in my mind when people talk about "greatest leader", not Mark Messier's.

Here he is climbing up the Flames' leadership ranks, wearing the alternate captain's "A" on their former black "flaming horse" jersey, on card #107 from Pacific's 2003-04 Prism set and Authentic Game-Worn Jersey sub-set, with beautiful gold foil:

It features a matching (black) game-worn jersey swatch and is numbered 1026/1185.

Jocelyn Thibault Jersey Card

The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Montréal Canadiens tonight, and I thought I could I'd feature a goalie who has played for both teams, Jocelyn Thibault.

A Montréal native, Thibault had a so-so career in Juniors that was rich in controversy, including accusations that his father issued his head coaches threats if they didn't play the diminutive goalie enough; all those efforts may have worked, however, as the Québec Nordiques made him the 10th overall pick in 1993, ahead of such players as Brendan Witt (11th), and All-Stars Kenny Jonsson (12th), Adam Deadmarsh (14th), Jason Allison (17th), Finnish legend Saku Koivu (21st), Todd Bertuzzi (23rd), Janne Niinimaa (36th), Bryan McCabe (40th), Éric Dazé (90th), Miroslav Satan (111th), Tommy Salo (118th), Patrick Lalime (156th), Manny Legace (188th), Pavol Demitra (227th), and Kimmo Timonen (250th).

The Nordiques really wanted to hand Thibault the net, often playing him ahead of Stéphane Fiset although Fiset was better and readier; plans changed a bit when the team moved to become the Colorado Avalanche in 1995, and even more so when the Habs made Patrick Roy available on the trade market following an infamous game against the Detroit Red Wings.


At the time, Avs GM Pierre Lacroix went back to an offer previous Habs GM Serge Savard had made him a couple of months earlier, (Roy for Fiset and power forward Owen Nolan), but new (and newbie) GM Réjean Houle insisted on receiving Thibault as well as two forwards who would become disappointing, Martin Rucinsky and Andrei Kovalenko. Oh, and Houle threw in Habs captain Mike Keane in there as well, to avoid a controversy with his refusal to learn French to appease the team's fanbase.

So instead of trading the best goalie in the world for another #1 netminder and an All-Star winger, Houle gave away said best goalie as well as his captain and top penalty-killer for an unproven kid in nets and two wingers who wouldn't close out the decade with the team.

Poor Thibault, who had tremendously huge pads to fill with his frail 5'11", 170-pound frame - and never could. As a matter of fact, it's only when he was traded out of Montréal's pressure-cooker to the Hawks that he finally met the expectations that had been put on him, earning an All-Star Game nod in an 8-shutout season in  2002-03; indeed, he has more shutouts with the Hawks (28, in parts of six seasons) than all other teams he played for combined (11 with five teams over parts of 10 seasons).

It's fitting, then, that I first feature him wearing the Hawks' red (then-away) uniform, on card #10 of Pacific's 2001-02 Atomic collection and Authentic Game-Worn Jerseys sub-set:

It features a white game-worn jersey swatch.

Tony Amonte Jersey Card

For Day Three of my Tough Guys month, I decided I could feature Tony Amonte again, what with Team USA having had an awful last-place showing at the World Cup, on a team that was supposed to resemble the seminal 1996 group that had won it, with Amonte scoring the deciding goal against Team Canada on September 14th - my birthday - at the then-Molson Centre.

Drafted by the New York Rangers, Amonte scored 35 goals in his rookie season to finish third in Calder Trophy voting, behind Pavel Bure and Nicklas Lidstrom, and ahead of the likes of Pat Falloon, Donald Audette, Kevin Todd, Benoît Brunet and Derian Hatcher. He accumulated 76 points the following year, but had a disappointing 1993-94, leading the Rangers to trade him to the Chicago Blackhawks, essentially for Stéphane Matteau.

It was with the Hawks that the five-time All-Star would become the pre-eminent power forward in the NHL, hitting the 40-goal mark three times, with 35- and 31-goal seasons as well. Like Charlie Sheen, he had one speed: "Go!", and made the opposing goalie's crease his home, fighting off cross-checks to the back to stay in position.

Perhaps not as talented as the likes of John LeClair and Keith Primeau, and certainly not as mean as Keith Tkachuk or Mark Messier and Eric Lindros, he still willed his way into a 900-point career (416 of them goals), and played in four deep playoff runs (i.e. more than 10 games played).

In addition to his World Cup title, he also has a silver medal from the 2002 Olympics. He also captained the Hawks from 2000-02, between Doug Gilmour and Alexei Zhamnov, as can be attested by card #8 of Pacific's 2001-02 Atomic collection and Authentic Game-Worn Jerseys sub-set:

It contains a red game-worn jersey swatch while showing him in the Hawks' black uniform.

Vincent Damphousse Jersey Card

Eric Lindros entering the Hockey Hall of Fame definitely put the final coffin on how dominant a player must be and cemented its reputation as the Hall of Very Good Players. The institution, already a bit of a joke for not being located within the walls of the old Montréal Forum, now has to include everyone who's played in All-Star Games, won just one piece of hardware, and/or had two or three terrific seasons - especially those who "might have been even better" had they not gotten injured.

That means Jose Theodore - he of a Vezina and a Hart - is a shoe-in when it should've been a five-year debate; that means Chris Osgood gets a realistic shot, what with his three Stanley Cup wins; that means 1000-point players (of which Lindros was not) now must be included, notably Pierre Turgeon and Vincent Damphousse.

I mean, hey: Damphousse got to 1205 regular-season points (46th all-time), 432 of them goals (68th) and 773 assists (37th), despite never reaching the 100-point single-season mark, though he surpassed 90 four times. He's won a Stanley Cup and captained the most decorated team in hockey - the Montréal Canadiens.

He has 41 playoff goals and 104 playoff points.

Not only was he selected to play in four All-Star Games, he was its MVP in 1991 on the strength of an NHL-record 4 goals.

I wasn't a big fan; I particularly didn't like how he would hit opponents' wrists with his stick when defending against and trailing them, despite the fact that it earned him a fourth-place finish in Selke voting while playing for my hometown Habs. The fact that he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and San Jose Sharks was also too dark a mark to be evened out by playing for the Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers.

Speaking of the Sharks, here is, wearing their teal (then-away) end-of-the-90s uniform, on card #91 from Private Stock's 2000-01 Titanium Draft Day set (the Authentic Game-Worn Jerseys sub-set), manufactured by Pacific:

It features a red game-worn jersey swatch from his days in Montréal; the back of the card specifies that it's from a home jersey (which was white at the time), which would make this either part of the shoulders, wrists or waist parts of the jersey.

Tomi Kallio Jersey Card

By not following hockey from pretty much 1997 until 2002, I missed out on a few things, such as having any sympathy for Todd Bertuzzi, having any sympathy for Eric Lindros, and realizing how decent Tomi Kallio's career was.

After a 53-point 1999-2000 season (in 50 games) with his hometown TPS Turku, Kallio made his way to the Atlanta Thrashers, after they plucked him from the Colorado Avalanche at the 1999 expansion draft. The Avs had made him a fourth-round draft pick in 1995.

He had a decent rookie season with the Thrashers, scoring 14 goals with 13 assists for 27 points in 56 games in 2000-01 in the heart of the Dead Puck Era and followed it with a 22-point outing in 60 games in 2001-02 before suiting up for three teams - Atlanta, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Philadelphia Flyers - in 2002-03.

That was enough uncertainty for him, and he made the move to the Swedish League, where he would play for the next 13 seasons - nine with the Frölunda Indians and four with the Växjö Lakers. He scored the winning goal in the Indians' 2013 league championship game.

He went back to Finland for the 2015-16 season, again with Turku, leading the team with 44 points in 60 games, ahead of former NHLers Éric Perrin (third, 34 points), Henrik Tallinder (sixth, 21 points), and Petteri Nummelin (seventh, 19 points).

He is a decorated international skater, having won three silver (1999, 2001 and 2007) and two bronze (2000 and 2006) World Championship medals with Team Finland; he also played for his country at the 2002 Olympics.

Here he is in the Thrashers' best-looking uniform, the dark blue (away) garbs from their early days, on card #1 from Pacific's 2002-03 Exclusive set and Authentic Game-Worn Jerseys sub-set:

It features a red game-worn jersey swatch that matched the jersey's arms and hips.

I hear he was a fast skater who liked to shoot more than to pass and liked playing in traffic in front of opponents' nets, but he may have lacked the sniper's finishing touch that would have been required for him to be the impact player at least four NHL teams had hoped he'd be. Still, his 211 goals and 464 points in 637 Swedish League games are a decent total, particularly when you add his 34 goals and 87 points in 108 playoff games. His Finnish totals are also good, as he posted 176 points in 266 regular-season games and 31 points in 45 playoff games in his native country.

André Lacroix: Two Autographed Cards

Here's one to fit with the Saint-Jean Baptiste, Québec's national holiday: Lauzon, Québec-born André Lacroix may be the most productive player in the history of the WHA. After all, he does hold the career marks for assists (by nearly two hundred) and points (by over a hundred) and posted six consecutive 100-point seasons. That's 251 goals, 547 assists and 798 points in just 551 WHA games (plus 14-29-43 in 48 playoff games) and 79 goals, 119 assists and 198 points in 325 NHL regular season games (plus 2-5-7 in 16 playoff games).

After playing for the Québec Aces in the AHL for three and a half seasons, he made the Philadelphia Flyers on a "French Line" with Jean-Guy Gendron and a rotation of Richard "Dick" Sarrazin and Simon Nolet, but at 5'8" and 175 pounds, he was a bit small for the Broad Street Bullies, despite having what many people later described as Wayne Gretzky-like hands.

He did get around, though, through no fault of his own; after a season with the Philadelphia Blazers who moved to Vancouver, he was traded to the New York Golden Blades, who became the New Jersey Knights halfway through the season and became the San Diego Mariners after relocating, with whom he won his second scoring title and was the second pro player ever to hit the 100-assist mark (after Bobby Orr).

He then played one year with the Houston Aeros before joining Gordie Howe and sons Mark and Marty with the New England Whalers, who then merged with the NHL, becoming the Hartford Whalers.

Here are two identical cards of his I got in a repackaged "guaranteed-hit" envelope a few years ago, both signed in silver sharpie and consecutively numbered (883 and 884) to 1972:

They're from Pacific's 2004-05 WHA Autographs and WHA Legends sub-sets, showing Lacroix wearing the WHA's All-Star uniform.

Michal Rozsival Jersey Card

Michal Rozsival won two Stanley Cups with the Chicago Blackhawks, but it's the team that initially drafted him - the Pittsburgh Penguins, 105th overall in 1996 - who are still in the running this year.

He'll be an unrestricted free agent for the third time in his four seasons with the Hawks, but they probably need him back, as his 16-17 minutes of ice time are pretty much the only thing stopping Duncan Keith from averaging over 30 himself, as he did when Rozsival broke his leg in last year's playoffs; sure, it enabled Keith to star in one of the most impressive performances in NHL playoff history, but it's not something one can replicate every year.

The Czech defender has lost a step, however, but can be counted on for steady defensive play with a good partner and 10-15 points in 45-55 games on a second pairing, probably for one more year, before becoming a third pairing player for his last season or two, health permitting.

Here he is wearing the Pens' turn-of-the-millennium black (then-away) uniform, from Pacific's 2001-02 Private Stock set (card #83 of the Authentic Game-Worn Jersey / Game-Used Gear sub-sets):

It features a white game-worn jersey swatch.

Sean Burke Jersey Card

Sean Burke had been quoted as saying he was interested in becoming an NHL General Manager this summer, but the vacant spots have mostly been filled - apart from the three-headed monster over at Toronto Maple Leafs headquarters, which I'm sure he wanted no part in, having to be the lame duck while Kyle Dubas, Brendan Shanahan and Mike Babcock made the actual personnel calls.

Instead, I have a hunch that he may take over for his current boss when Arizona Coyotes GM Don Maloney inevitably gets canned; sure, Maloney has another assistant who has actual GM experience, but that man is Darcy Regier, who turned the Buffalo Sabres into a joke and cut corners in their scouting and drafting departments large enough that years of futility are still years away from bearing any fruit.

The ideal job for him would have been with the Edmonton Oilers, in my opinion. He knows the Western Conference extremely well, having been with the Coyotes in either a coaching or managerial role since 2008. He's also the goaltending coach who ''made'' #1s out of Ilya Bryzgalov, Mike Smith and Devan Dubnyk, and made Chad Johnson (1.21 GAA, .954 save percentage, undefeated in 4 games with 1 shutout), Jason LaBarbera (2.64 GAA and .918 save percentage over 4 seasons), Curtis McElhinney (1.64 GAA and .944 save percentage), Matt Climie (1.88 and .938), and Al Montoya (2.08 and .925) look the part - and the Oilers kind of need an eye for goaltending, and someone who can provide valuable tips.

In today's NHL, Burke is that guy, ahead of even Patrick Roy.

So I guess it's fitting that I feature him as a member of the Phoenix Coyotes, with this card from Pacific's 2000-01 Private Stock Titanium Draft Day set (card #75 of the Authentic Game-Worn Jersey sub-set, mentioning he was drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the second round in 1985):

I'm particularly fond of the back, which specifies that the jersey swatch is from a Coyotes game in 1999-2000; it's also numbered 134/1010.

I've mentioned it before, but Burke was one of my favourite goalies growing up. Roy was the unattainable God, and Burke was the best underdog. Roy may have his (record) three Conn Smythes, and his Vezinas (while Burke has one nomination and three top-10 finishes), but Burke has an Olympic medal (silver, 1992) with Team Canada.

Eric Weinrich Jersey Card

Sometimes I like to mess with people's minds. Acquaintances of mine over at La Vie Est Une Puck undertook the task of listing every captain from every NHL franchise, and when they got to the Montréal Canadiens, I blew their minds with this card of Eric Weinrich:

The card, from Pacific's 2001-02 Pacific set (#2 of the Authentic Game-Worn Jersey insert sub-set, numbered 69/510), shows him wearing the captain's ''C'' in the Habs' classic red uniform, with the Boston Bruins' logo at the bottom, which is fitting because he ended the previous season with the Bruins, but also kind of not because he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers the summer before the set was even printed.

But out of respect for the accuracy of the swatch, Pacific opted to show him as a member of the Canadiens, because that's where the white jersey swatch was from (and the back picture shows him as a Bruin, making for the ultimate Frankencard):

For those of you who are wondering, Weinrich was one of many interim captains during the Saku Koivu captaincy (1999-2009), as Captain Courage was often injured; Weinrich served for a few weeks, early in the 2000-01 season. Much has been said about Koivu's 10-year/9-season tenure as captain, and I will never diminish anything he accomplished and everything he inspired and brought out of people, but unlike the person whom he shares the Habs' longevity record for the position (Jean Béliveau, 10 full seasons), the season lost to the lock-out and his numerous injuries that brought forth countless part-time replacements might warrant putting an asterisk next to his name in the team's record books.

But back to Weinrich, the 32nd-overall pick of the 1985 NHL draft who was a solid prospect in the New Jersey Devils organization for six years before becoming a full-time NHLer, even going as far as posting a point-per-game average with the AHL Utica Devils in 1989-90 and winning the Eddie Shore Award as the league's best defenseman, prompting every card company to feature him in their rookie sets for the following season.

He had two solid seasons in the 30-plus point range with the Devils before being packaged with Sean Burke in a deal that led them to the Hartford Whalers, where he again had another solid season (7 goals and 36 points in 1992-93), before getting traded to the Chicago Blackhawks, where he took an alright offensive game and added near-perfect positioning and shot-blocking to his arsenal, which would come in handy when age caught on and he slowed down a little.

Not that he wasn't a decent player, he had some speed despite not being spectacularly fast, he made hard wrist-shot-type passes that were pretty accurate, and he kept his game simple enough to earn some powerplay time (decent passing, and a low shot through traffic in front of the net) and eventually the penalty-kill as well, where blocking shots and passes became his specialty.

All of those skills were put to use when the Hawks sent him to Montréal with Jeff Hackett for Jocelyn Thibault and Dave Manson. God those Habs teams were terrible. 1998-2001 were awful years to be a Habs fan, and for the first time in 60 years, not every game was sold out at the then-Molson Centre. Season-ticket holders were giving away their tickets. It was the Dead Puck Era, the last Expansion Era, and the local team (owned by an American) sucked - had those factors lasted just a little bit longer, we may have seen a decline in the team's religious-like following, popularity, who would have perhaps even contemplated a move to Cleveland again (the article herein reads even better when doing it with the voice and accent of a 1930s newscaster in your head).

After the Habs came the Bruins, in a trade between the league's two most storied rivals - and Weinrich's favourite team growing up. Unfortunately for him, his stay in Boston barely lasted 22 games, followed by two and a half years with the Flyers, roughly a year with the St. Louis Blues, and the same amount of time with the Vancouver Canucks.

After his time in Vancouver, he signed on as an assistant coach with the AHL's Portland Pirates, only to suit up for them for two seasons, then resume his coaching duties for three years after that. The guy kept his passion alive until the very end.

He's currently very busy as a pro scout with the Buffalo Sabres, who are likely in the process of trading their veterans for youngsters, so their scouts are probably the hardest-working bunch in the league at the moment.