Ville Leino Swatch Card

Ville Leino will be playing for the Swedish League's Växjö Lakers next season, whose captain is Tomi Kallio.

It's been a while since his two most successful seasons in North America, namely the 2008-09 season that was split between the Grand Rapids Griffins (15 goals, 31 assists and 46 points in 57 games, plus another 13 points in 10 playoff games) and the Detroit Red Wings (5-4-9 in 13 regular-season games and two assists in 7 playoff games) and the 19 goals, 34 assists and 53 points in 81 games he posted with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010-11, not to mention his 21 points in 19 postseason games the previous season as Philly lost in the Stanley Cup Final (an NHL rookie record he shares with Dino Ciccarelli).

His huge free agent contract with the Buffalo Sabres - which made him the league's most overpaid forward not named Scott Gomez - led to a buyout, and after failing to make the Boston Bruins out of training camp, made his way to the KHL's Zagreb Medveščak, the Swiss League's Kloten Flyers, and the KHL's Riga Dinamo before making his way to Sweden.

The well-traveled Finn failed to make Team Finland's upcoming World Cup roster, what with the likes of rookies Patrick Laine and Sebastian Aho making the cut (the fourth-overall pick of the last draft, Jesse Puljujarvi, also mysteriously failed to make the cut).

Here is Leino in what were undoubtedly better days, wearing the Flyers' current/retro orange (now-home) jersey, on card #VI from Panini's 2010-11 Zenith set and Winter Warriors sub-set:

It features a black-and-white stitch piece of Prime Jersey game-worn material (dual-coloured, triple-stitched).

Sam Gagner Prime Jersey Card

Sam Gagner already had a bizarre career, starting when the Edmonton Oilers made him the 6th-overall pick 2007 to five consecutive 40-point seasons with many observers thinking he maybe should have produced 20 points more per, to holding or sharing three team records - most points in a game (8, tied with Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey), most points in a period (5, tied with Jari Kurri), and most consecutive points (11) - to 38 points in 48 games in the locked-out season to an underwhelming 10 goals and 37 points in 67 games this past season.

Which might explain why the Oilers felt sending him to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Teddy Purcell was a good thing, but it's kind of disappointing to see that sending him to the Phoenix Coyotes for a sixth-rounder also cost Tampa B.J. Crombeen...

At least he gets a fresh start, and a real shot at a #1 center role.

Here he is wearing the Oilers' mid-00s pyjama-like sub-par blue (home) uniform:

It's from Panini's 2010-11 Luxury Suite set (card #28 in the set, featuring a regular jersey swatch and a ''prime'' one with two colours and stitching, numbered #138/150). It fits well with this Jason Spezza Prime Jersey card...

Jason Spezza Prime Jersey Card

The Vancouver Canucks took one step back in their playoff race after losing today's Heritage Classic at the hands of the Ottawa Senators - but perhaps one step in correcting past mistakes. While head coach John Tortorella said he'd choose Eddie Lack over Roberto Luongo if he had the chance to do it again, any move that brings the team closer to its post-Mike Gillis days could end up positive for the team in the long run.

And the Sens needed those two points in their own playoff race, spearheaded by their energy line and Clarke MacArthur's two-point night. One of my favourites, Jason Spezza notched an assist on the game-winning goal, his 31st this season despite a sub-par year from his go-to winger Milan Michalek (only 10 goals so far, after notching 35 in 2011-12).

Which brings me to this card, the third from my trade with Dave:

Look at that! Two swatches, one being a regular red one, the other a ''prime'' piece of jersey, complete with stitching and three colours, probably from a number on the arms or the logo on the shoulder. It's from Panini's 2010-11 Luxury Suite (card #49, numbered 121/150).

How much do I like Spezza? Here's my Dream-Yet-Feasible-Team for this season, with their salaries to fit under the $64M cap:

David Perron (3.5) - Jason Spezza (5) - Mike Cammalleri (6)
Alex Galchenyuk (1.1) - Tomas Plekanec (5) - Milan Lucic (5.5)
Guillaume Latendresse (0.75) - Saku Koivu (2.5) - Alexandre Burrows (4.5)
Brandon Prust (2.5) -  Maxim Lapierre (1) - Jordin Tootoo (1)
Michael Bournival (0.75), Gabriel Dumont (0.5)

Andrei Markov (5.75) - Alexei Emelin (2)
Chris Phillips (3.1) - P.K. Subban (3.75)
Braydon Coburn (4.5) - Jarred Tinordi (0.9)
Paul Postma (0.7)

Jaroslav Halak (3.75) - Peter Budaj (1)

Captain: Koivu; Assistants: Spezza, Markov (away); Plekanec, Subban (home).

Yup, one is retired and another one's in the AHL. Five are Olympians, five more easily could have been.

In real life, though, I'll keep watching the Sens because Spezza is a genius at passing, and his play opens up Kyle Turris who is having a terrific season and should be ready to take over the official first-line duties the season after next and, as the leader he is, I'm sure Spezza will be more than happy to slide into the ''luxury second-line'' role when the time comes.