Chris Longo Autographed Card

Chris Longo won Rookie Of The Year honors in the OHL in 1989-90, leading to his selection in the NHL draft by the Washington Capitals (third round 51st overall in 1990).

He would never play in the NHL but spent 11 seasons in pro hockey, with stints in the AHL (Baltimore Skipjacks, Portland Pirates, Springfield Falcons, Cleveland Barons), ECHL (Jackson Bandits and Toledo Storm), IHL (Cleveland Lumberjacks) and in Italy (Asiago HC, a common destination for former NHLers, as players such as Stéphane Quintal, Ken Linseman, Blaine Stoughton, Mario Brunetta, Greg Hawgood, Doug Wickenheiser, John Tucker, Frank Pietrangelo, Mike Torchia, Christian Proulx, Michel Mongeau, Martin Gendron, Éric Houde, Matthieu Descoteaux, Mathieu Dandenault, Rico Fata, David Cooper, Fernando Pisani, Ralph Intranuovo, Adam Henrich, Drew Fata, Chris DiDomenico, Tyler Plante, and Alexander Galchenyuk - Alex's father - have also suited up for the team).

Nowadays, he is a Development Coach with the OHL's Kingston Frontenacs, a position he previously also held with his alma mater, the Peterborough Petes. He also works for a hockey school in the summer.

Here he is sporting the Pirates' white (home) 1990s uniform on card #89 from Classic's 1993-94 Pro Hockey Prospects set:

He signed it in blue sharpie for me a couple of summers ago, when I was still teaching goaltending in the Ottawa region and could trek down to other schools on Sundays.

Nathan Marsters Autograph Card

Posting about Jean-Sébastien Giguère last night got me thinking about this former prospect, Nathan Marsters, seen here wearing the AHL's Portland Pirates' beautiful red (away) uniform, from In The Game's 2005-06 Heroes And Prospects Series 2 set:

It's card #A-NM in the series, with a black-sharpied on-sticker autograph affixed to it.

Masters was picked 165th in the 2000 draft by the Los Angeles Kings but they let him go a few years later and he signed on as a free agent with the Anaheim Ducks. He never got to play in an NHL game, but he did suit up for one when Giguère fell to injury in practice in 2005-06.

His 23-9-2 record (with a 3.10 GAA and .900 save percentage in 37 games) with the Pirates that year would prove to be his best professional record, save for a .917 and 2.61 performance in an 8-game stint with the CHL's Laredo Bucks the following year.

After a couple of seasons with a GAA near 4.00 in the ECHL, he tried his luck in Germany in 2007-08, playing 9 games for the Krefeld Penguins.

We'll never know if he would have pulled an Andrew Hammond on the hockey world, because he died in the summer of 2009, his truck being the second that hit a deer, which crushed his windshield and hit him directly.

He is survived by his wife, Olivia.

Kyle Chipchura Jersey Card

Yes, the Arizona Coyotes are in panic mode.

After buying out their lone #1 center Mike Ribeiro last summer, then claiming to go through a youth movement before back-tracking and claiming veterans will help the team make the playoffs, the Coyotes saw their backup goalie Devan Dubnyk outplaying starter Mike Smith, the team is starting to hold post-game meetings, GM Don Maloney threatened to trade all of his players, including those with no-trade clauses - and he got on that by sending Rob Klinkhammer - a winger who had 20 points last season - to the Pittsburgh Penguins, then putting Kyle Chipchura (a shut-down, penalty-killing center who also had 20 points last season) on waivers earlier today.

At this point, I'm probably more confident to see the Edmonton Oilers bounce back before Arizona...

Getting rid of your ''sure things'' isn't the way to build a contender, it's a sure-fire way to tank. Within just a few months, Maloney got rid of his best offensive weapons (Ribeiro at center, and he let goal-scorer Radim Vrbata walk as well), and his penalty-killing center, because who need centers, passers and scorers, right?

Don't misunderstand me on the importance of Chipchura: he's slow for the NHL, and his 20 points last year were a career-high - an attainable goal, but far from a guarantee. What he can give you, though, is leadership (he captained Team Canada at the World Juniors and was drafted by the Montréal Canadiens in the first round on his leadership skills alone), ability in the face-off circle (i.e. ''initial possession''), and decent defensive play, particularly on the PK. And all teams need that, particularly teams who cannot replace that skill at a higher speed.

For my complete view and evaluation of his skill set, I'll refer you to this post I made in September, which I still stand by; the only thing that's changed since that post is I no longer keep contact with my ''new friend''.

But I thought the news of his being waived, and likely return to AHL play, warranted I talk about this terrific card, from In The Game's 2011-12 Heroes And Prospects set (#M-10 of the Game-Used Jersey sub-set, the ''Black'' variant):

As you can see, it contains a rare jersey swatch with a stitch from both the red and white parts of the Hamilton Bulldogs' jersey, though it shows him wearing the Portland Pirates' red (away) uniform - and the alternate captain's ''A'' sewn on his chest. Either it was a mistake, or they used an old swatch, as Chipchura hadn't played for the Bulldogs since the 2008-09 season; then again, he hadn't played in the AHL at all between that season and 2011-12, and he was only there because of the lockout, as he played in 46 of the Phoenix Coyotes' 48 games when play resumed.