Wings Preview: Keith Primeau Patch Card

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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.

GM Steve Yzerman was always going to come back to his Detroit Red Wings roots and try to build a contender in the city where he won three Stanley Cups as a player, and he will have to take action and make tough calls sooner or later, chief among which is when to fire head coach Jeff Blashill. There's something to be said about this roster needing to ride a few bad contracts out at the bottom of the standings and how next to no one would be able to pull off a miracle and get this team to a playoff spot, but at some point, you need an NHL-level head to make the calls and Blashill had not shown to be on that level at any time since taking over in 2015.

The problem with rebuilding teams is that they usually have a few terrific pieces they can build upon, who pour their heart and soul into bad seasons and produce some kind of result, but not enough to make a dent on their own; they need help, which is why you build around them. But sometimes, one has to realize the first-line centerpiece/possible captain (for the sake of argument, let's give that hypothetical player a name, Dylan Larkin) might actually be better suited for a second-line role on a contending team, a move that would be impossible if he's paid like a first-liner, a salary he has deserved for all the lean years in which he was clearly the best player there. But if he's the best, the team will always fall short of the ultimate goal, because other teams will have the better players. It's a Catch-22.

What makes their odds look good:
Larkin is good and is from Michigan; make him captain already. Anthony Mantha will be a perennial 30-goal scorer who might even hit 40 a couple of times. Filip Zadina (RW) will eventually develop, as will Moritz Seider (D) and Lucas Raymond (F). Joseph Veleno (C) and Jared McIsaac (D) should be able to contribute regularly in the middle of the lineup in three years as well. Robby Fabbri may have found his niche in Detroit, Tyler Bertuzzi seems to have shown some 30-goal potential as well (although diminshed ice time on a better team might keep him in the 20-goal range, which is still excellent), but the smart money remains on seeing most of these guys as projects that are still a couple of years away or currently playing one line too high.

Question marks:
Why make Larkin wait so long? Was Bobby Ryan hired to fill a middle-six role for one season or will his perennial comeback story make him an invaluable piece of the leadership group going forward? How does Thomas Greiss compare with the other #1 goalies in the NHL? Why do the Wings always go out of their way to not employ a true, in-his-prime, star goalie? What is with this defense?

Outlook:
Detroit may not be the worst team in its division - the Chicago Blackhawks will certainly give them a run for their money in that regard - and they will have the company of the New Jersey Devils as well at the bottom of the standings, but both of those teams have a true star defenseman to build around and are grooming young goalies for their rise, whereas the Wings employ soon-to-be-35-year-old Greiss and 32-year-old career backup Jonathan Bernier in net. Upgrades are needed throughout the back end.

Prediction:
Eighth in the Central Division.

Which brings me to Keith Primeau, an excellent hockey player whose career was cut short due to a lockout and post-concussion syndrome. If we had a re-do for the 1990 draft - one of the best of all-time - he likely wouldn't have been selected third overall, but he's definitely top-10 material.

Even though he was never exactly at the point-per-game mark or higher only hit the point-per-game mark once with 73 in 71 games in 2000-01, he was close pretty often, operating at above 0.75 PPG six times in 15 games, with two All-Star Games appearances and two top-10 finishes in Selke Trophy voting (1997-98 and 2003-04). He also suited up for Team Canada, falling short at the 1996 World Cup and 1998 Olympics and World Chapionships (he captained the team on the latter), and winning gold at the 1997 World Championships.

He captained two NHL teams, the Carolina Hurricanes (1998-99) and Philadelphia Flyers (2001-06), and his performance with the Flyers in the 2004 playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning - in a losing effort - had Hall Of Famer Phil Esposito saying it was the most dominating performance he'd ever seen, and inspired Bolts star Vincent Lecavalier to change his style of play from elegant (in the style of Jean Béliveau) to more of a power forward.

He officially announced his retirement on September 14th, 2006 - my 28th birthday.

Here he is wearing the alternate captain's "A" on the Red Wings' classic red (away) uniform, on card #PH-44 from In The Game's 2013-14 Motown Madness collection and Patch Of Honor sub-set:

It features "a piece of replica Steve Yzerman Retirement Night patch", so a manufactured, make-believe patch from a player who wasn't on the team when Yzerman retired after the 2005-06 season. As a matter of fact, Primeau's trade to the Hurricanes (with Paul Coffey and the first-round pick that became Nikos Tselios, Chris Chelios' nephew, for Brendan Shanahan and Bryan Glynn) helped shape Detroit into the team that won two Stanley Cups, while his trade to the Flyers (with a fifth-round pick, for Jean-Marc Pelletier, Rod Brind'Amour and a second-rounder) gave the Canes a big piece for their own run in 2006.

As excellent as his own career was, I'm sure he's just as happy these days being a spectator cheering on his son Cayden Primeau's own progression as a goalie in the Montréal Canadiens organization.

Jean-Sébastien Giguère Patch Card

Here's a pretend patch card manufactured by Upper Deck for their 2003-04 Trilogy set, featuring Jean-Sébastien Giguère of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks:

It's card #108 as per the back, probably a variant of the original.

I have featured Giguère many times before and will feature him many more times as well, as he was one of my regular pulls - and a goalie I admired very much. That Conn Smythe performance was one for the ages...

Vincent Lecavalier Patch Card

I remember when O-Pee-Chee Premier was a top card brand; Jaromir Jagr's rookie card, that first year, was worth $25 - and I had 10 of them! Then the market crashed, and I lost most of my cards in a flood stemming from the 1998 ice storm anyway.

But the brand was revived by Upper Deck a few years ago, I'm not entirely sure why, and they incorporated their bad card ideas into it, like manufacturing patches vaguely representing something having to do with a player, then making a card that seemingly has something the player may have worn, used, or at least known existed. In 2007-08, they made one for Jason Spezza, commemorating his being drafted second overall in 2001.

Two years later, exact same design, nothing changed, as this Vincent Lecavalier card can attest to, from the 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Premier set, Premier Stitchings sub set (card #PS-VL). My guess is that people liked it the first time; my question is whether any of the players who made it in the first time are also part of it this time around - I hope not, seeing as the patch's design is exactly the same.

Personally, I think Lecavalier deserves better. We're talking about the youngest captain of all time before Sidney Crosby beat him - except Crosby was named in May, after a season and way before the next, for the sole purpose of being the record-holder, while the Tampa Bay Lightning waited for the season to be about to start to name Vinny. Lecavalier is also a Stanley Cup winner, a World Cup winner, a Rocket Richard Trophy (most goals in a season) winner, a King Clancy winner for leadership and serving his community, a World Cup MVP, a perennial All Star, his team's record holder in most categories - and still a team captain.

Kurt Warner Patch Card

Football!

After last night's amazing Saints-Vikings game, I had to do another (American) football post. I looked in my stashes and boxes and closets for a Drew Brees card - or any other Saint, for that matter - and just couldn't find one, so I turned to Kurt Warner, the one guy I wanted to make a difference against New Orleans, even though I'm now rooting for them.

But before that, a little history. I could start with his accomplishments, or name the numerous obstacles he's faced on his way to Football Immortality - and I'll mix both. His story is so amazing, he'll probably end up being knwon as Mr. Second, because he always seems to achieve so much more than expected, yet rarely actually break records. Well, that's not true, he has broken a few, but still...

First off, coming out of College (Northern Iowa), Warner went undrafted. Sure, the Green Bay Packers gave him a tryout in 1994, but they had Brett Favre, so they were set - and they didn't think Warner was ready for the NFL.

So he returned to Iowa, where he (now famously) work as a sales clerk, stocking shelves at the local Hy-Vee grocery store in Cedar Falls, for $5.50 an hour - and went back to his alma mater to serve as assistant coach. With no NFL team willing to give him a shot, he accepted a job as quarterback in the Arena Football League, with the Iowa Barnstormers, starting 1995, which he kept until the end of the 1997 season. He was a First All Star Team member for both 1996 and 1997.

When 1998 came along, the St. Louis Rams offered him a contract and immediately sent him to the Amsterdam Admirals of the NFL Europe league, formerly known as the World League Of American Football, which included the Montréal Machine, of whom I have seen every home game in person. It didn't take long for Warner to make an impact on the league: he ended the season as the league leader in touchdowns and passing yards.

The Rams didn't really have a choice to bring him back to North America, and he was named the team's third-string quarterback. When the first two QBs were released by the team before the start of the 1999, they even went so far as to sign another #1 quarterback, thus 'half-promoting' Warner to second-string, but not showing enough confidence in him to give him the reins. Nevertheless, when Trent Green got injured in a preseason game, despite coach Dick Vermeil's reticence, Warner was given his chance, and he did not disappoint, putting together one of the best seasons in NFL history, with 4353 passing years, a completion rate of 65.1%, and 41 touchdown passes - including three in each of his first three games, a league record. He was named NFL MVP before the year ended, and won the Super Bowl (and, yes, he was the game's MVP).

Warner has a knack for records, so he started the 2000 campaign tying another one (held by Steve Young) - six straight games with at least 300 passing yards in each one. An injury and a poor defensive unit killed any hopes of a repeat championship, but 2001 again led the league in touchdown passes (36) and passing yards (4830, third all-time behind Dan Marino and Brees). Oddly enough, while he completed a terrific (amazing?) 68.7% of his passes, he threw a whopping 22 interceptions - Favre-like numbers. He again was named NFL MVP, got another team record under his belt (first team ever to be 6-0 to start a season three years in a row) and again led his team to the Super Bowl, throwing for 365 yards (second-highest total in history) but losing to the New England Patriots on a time-expired field goal by Adam Vinatieri.

While 2002 and 2003 were riddled with injuries (a broken hand that never healed properly), he signed with the New York Giants in 2004, winning 5 of his first 7 starts. Then he lost two more (for a 5-4 record) and the Giants decided it was time to groom Eli Manning for the starting position, and they remained with the youngster despite being 1-6 with him.

2005 saw him signed to the Arizona Cardinals, but again injuries got the better of him. By 2006, however, Warner reached the 20,000-yard milestone in his 76th career game - one game more than NFL record-holder Dan Marino. He struggled for most of the season, though, and had to share time with Matt Leinart. In 2007, despite again sharing duties with Leinart, Warner threw 27 TD passes, just one shy of the team's record.

He made up for that in 2008 when he threw 30, with 4583 passing yards and a completion rate of 69.9%. Then post-season time came, and he really got into a groove. He led his team to the Super Bowl and, again, fell just short, losing 27-23 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, despite throwing for 377 yards - yep, you guessed it - the second highest total in history.

2009 came along and, once again, it was record-breaking time: a week after my birthday, he broke the NFL’s single-game record for completion percentage in the regular season, completing 24 of 26 passing for 243 yards and two touchdowns. Yes, you read right - 26 attempted passes, his receivers caught 24 of them; neither the receivers nor the QB made any mistakes. That's a completion rate of 92.3%, kiddos, it's ridiculous. He then started the month of November passing his 14,000th yard for the Cardinals - becoming the only QB in league history to throw for over 14,000 yards for two different teams. In early December, he registered his fourth consecutive game with a passer rating of 120 or better, making him... the second quarterback in NFL history to accomplish the feat. And later that month, he became... the second quarterback in NFL history to throw 100 touchdown passes with two different teams.

Earlier this month, his Cardinals defeated the Packers 51-45, the highest-scoring game in NFL playoff history. He accomplished a rare feat - having more TD passes (5) in a playoff game than incompletions (4), and finished the game with the... second highest quarterback rating in NFL playoff history, at 154.1.

And just last week, his team had a shot at beating the Saints, but he was injured early on and the Saints' lead was unreachable, despite Warner attempting to come back in the final (second, of course) half.

At age 38, he's closer to the end of his career than he was 15 years ago. Unfortunately, his career seems to follow a pattern of long good and bad streaks, and is that's correct, the next couple of seasons could be riddled with injuries, which could lead him to retiring a broken old man rather than a winner . But he'll always be a fighter, a beater of odds, a guy who achieves things on grandiose levels, maybe even in that category the... second one you'll think about, after Tom Brady.

This card, a 2009 Topps Historical Commemorative Patch card (card # PPR43), despite being released while Warner is a Cardinal, actually sports him as a Ram, commemorating his Super Bowl XXXV appearance. The only downside to it is that it's not an actual, official patch, and I quote Topps from the back of the card:

Featured on the front of this card is a patch commemorating Super Bowl XXXV which featured Kurt Warner.

The commemorative patch embedded in this card is a replica of a logo of either a historic NFL Pro Bowl game or a classic NFL Super Bowl. The relic contained in this card is not from any game or season.

I kind of wish I had known that before I bought it on Ebay, but it's also nice to have a special Warner card in my collection.

Jason Spezza Patch Card

Here's another useless specialty card Upper Deck tried to pass off as special: a card incorporating a patch commemorating the choice of Jason Spezza as the second overall pick of the 2001 draft. Not a patch he wore, not one that was on the jersey he was given on that day, nope...

As it states on the back of card #PS-JS from Upper Deck's 2007-08 O-Pee-Chee Premier set:

You have received a manufactured patch hockey card. On the front of this card is a manufactured patch. Enjoy your card!

Wow, thanks. And they went as far as to number the damn thing, 044/199.

So they went through the trouble of having 199 of these patches made for Spezza alone, and who knows how many other players too...

They could have saved themselves the trouble of doing that and just produced a card that was blank in front, and read, in the back:

You have received a blank-fronted Jason Spezza card representing every time he's backchecked last year. That's why your card is blank. It was that, or have people in Asia sow a patch that has barely anything to do with the player involved, who likely will never know it ever existed, and passing it on to you as a collectible. We chose not to be jackasses, we hope you enjoy our honesty!

The Ottawa Senators' forward, one of the best playmakers in the league, deserved better. So did the once-amazingly valuable O-Pee-Chee Premier set.