Jets Preview: Troy Murray: Two Autographed Cards

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This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: I liked doing last year's format, so I'll be doing it the same way this season as well, partly because of that but also because as a father of a toddler and a baby, I just do not have enough time to write two separate posts per day on each blog. I'll copy these on each one instead. Like last year, 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 training camp being set to start, several players haven't found a team yet, many RFAs haven't signed with their respective teams, and a few clubs are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much maneuvering left to do.

Key exits: Mason Appleton (C), Mathieu Perreault (C/LW), Tucker Poolman (D), Laurent Brossoit (G), Derek Forbort (D), Nate Thompson (C), Trevor Lewis (C)

Key Arrivals: Nate Schmidt (D), Brendan Dillon (D), Riley Nash (C)

Top prospects: Cole Perfetti (C), Ville Heinola (D), Dylan Samberg (D), David Gustafsson (C), Kristian Vesalainen (LW), Chaz Lucius (C), Mikhail Bergin (G), Dmitri Kuzmin (D), Simon Lundmark (D)

Now that they've added to their blue line via the low-key Norris-level Schmidt and dependable Dillon, the Winnipeg Jets are once again a force to be reckoned with, with the best goalie in the world in Connor Hellebuyck, tremendous leadership in Blake Wheeler, star power in Mark Scheifele, the NHL's most underrated forward in Kyle Connor, and another potential first-line centre in Pierre-Luc Dubois, who underperformed last season after coming in a couple of weeks late due to Canadian Covid-19 protocols and never really getting enough time to catch up, but who has proven in the past that he can carry the load. And Schmidt's arrival will send Neal Pionk and Josh Morrissey in ideal slots (they were fine operating as the top-two defensemen but will be elite #2s and #3s).

What makes their odds look good:
A team with Hellebuyck between the pipes makes the playoffs. A team with him and Schmidt, Pionk and Morrissey might win a round. Add two potent offensive lines and a full cast on D (including Dylan DeMelo) and you may get a Conference Final.

Question marks: Eric Comrie is now in his 8th season trying to make it as the Jets' backup goalie. Will it work this time? He's a bit too good for the AHL and no longer has anything to prove there, he just needs to step up and have a save percentage above .905 to keep his head above water. This team is strong but not especially deep. A couple of key injuries could derail a lot of good things - and one to Hellebuyck would be deadly.

Outlook:
Don't sleep on the Jets. In a relatively weak Central Division where only the Colorado Avalanche are a powerhouse, there is a path to the third round that's wide open, and Winnipeg's talent level ranks on par with that of the St. Louis Blues, and above the Minnesota Wild, Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars.

Prediction:
Second in the Central Division.

Troy Murray was only a member of the Jets for a year and a half before the team - which had acquired him from the Chicago Blackhawks prior to the 1991-92 season - sent him back to the Hawks in February of 1993. The Jets ended up with the rights to Warren Rychel (who never played in Winnipeg) and Steven Bancroft while the Hawks landed Bryan Marchment (one of the meanest and dirtiest players of all time) and Chris Norton. Murray was by far the best player in any transaction, captaining the Jets for the duration of his stay in Canada and winning the Selke trophy in 1985-86 as well as the Stanley Cup in 1996 with the Colorado Avalanche alongside Rychel.

He was also captain of the Team Canada squad that took home the gold medal at the 1982 World Juniors.

After two stints with Chicago spanning 12 seasons and one year playing for the IHL's Chicago Wolves (posting 21 goals, 29 assists and 50 points as well as 63 penalty minutes in 81 games), Murray joined the Hawks' broadcast team upon retiring as a player, and it was announced just last week that he had been diagnosed with cancer. I wish him the best of luck in his fight for his life.

Here he is wearing the Jets' white (then-home) uniform, on card #215 from Pro Set's 1992-93 Series 1 collection:

And here he is in action pivoting in front of New York Islanders goalie (and fellow current broadcaster) Glenn Healy, with Jeff Norton in possession of the puck:

Both were signed in blue sharpie while he was in town with the Hawks, around 2015-2017.

Harold Snepsts: Two Autographed Cards

For all intents and purposes, the Vancouver Canucks look like they'll be eliminating the reigning Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues tonight, meaning a new champion will be crowned among the eight remaining teams.

The Boston Bruins last won it in 2010-11 but reached the Final last year; the Tampa Bay Lightning won it in 2003-04 and last reached the Final in 2014-15; the Colorado Avalanche last won it in 2000-01; the Dallas Stars last won it in 1998-99 and reached the Final the following season; the Philadelphia Flyers last won it in 1974-75 and last reached the Final in 2009-10; the New York Islanders last won it in 1982-83 and last reached the Final the following season; and the Canucks (est. 1970) and Vegas Golden Knights (est. 2017) have never won the chalice, but Vancouver has been to the Final three times (1981-82, 1993-94 and 2010-11).

The 1994 (versus the New York Rangers) and 2011 (Bruins) Finals each went the full 7 games while the 1982 one was a four-game sweep by the Isles, a series that could have dragged on longer if the usually-dependable Harold Snepsts hadn't made a crucial error in overtime, a turnover leading to Mike Bossy's game-winning goal.

Snepsts could by no means be mistaken for Denis Potvin or Ray Bourque, but defensively, he was very intimidating. He could fight, push, check (and cross-check!) with the best of them and his presence around the net meant the opposition thought twice about approaching goalie Richard Brodeur. That style of play would bring both Brodeur (1983) and Snepsts (1977 and 1982) to the All-Star Game.

He was an extremely popular figure among Canucks fans for his pleasure at just being in the NHL, his joy and his superb moustache; most were angered when GM Harry Neale sent him to the Minnesota North Stars, a mistake his successor, Pat Quinn, promptly corrected by bringing him back for leadership in 1988. By that point he was an injury-prone #6-7 D, but he helped guide young guns like Trevor Linden and Adrien Plavsic into becoming the core that would lead the team to its next Final.

He played his final 61 games with the Blues.

I mostly remember his days in Vancouver with the "Flying V" uniform, as seen on card #344 from O-Pee-Chee's 1981-82 O-Pee-Chee set:

Of course, all hockey fans my age will also remember him with St. Louis because of Pro Set's 1990-91 Series 2 card, because we all spent our entire allowances on those packs of "the coolest cards on ice":

Snepsts was part of the last six NHLers to not wear a helmet.

After retiring, he took on coaching jobs in the AHL (head), NHL (assistant), IHL (head) and WHL (head), but spent the most time as a scout, first with NHL Central Scouting and now with the Canucks.

He is a member of the BC Sports Hall of Fame.

He signed both of these cards in blue sharpie at a convention of retired athletes.

Doug Smail: Four Autographed Cards

There was a time in the 1970s and early 80s where very good players from Saskatchewan didn't necessarily play in the WHL and instead went to American Colleges, which is what Doug Smail opted for when he signed up with the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks, posting three impressive seasons of 50 points in 38 games, 58 points in 35 games and a whopping 43 goals, 44 assists and 87 points in 40 games to finish out his WCHA/NCAA career in 1979-80.

He caught the eye of the Winnipeg Jets - not enough for them to draft him, mind you, but they did sign him as a free agent - and by the second year he was a full-time NHLer. He had a career year in 1984-85 with 31 goals, 35 assists and 66 points in 80 games, but he passed the 40-point mark four more times in the 'Peg before essentially spending his final two and a half seasons as a journeyman, spending 57 games with the Minnesota North Stars, and one season apiece with the Québec Nordiques and Ottawa Senators.

At one time, he shared the NHL record for quickest goal to begin a game at five second, tied with Merlyn Phillips, Bryan Trottier and Alexander Mogilny. It has since been broken by James Van Riemsdyk. He was extremely fast and swift, and because of the way he skated and his short size (he was 5'9" and 175 pounds and skated mostly bent forward), he looked like a bullet on the ice, as can be attested bt these two cards from Pro Set:

On the left is card #117 from the 1991-92 Series 1 set showing him wearing the North Stars' beautiful green (away) uniform; card on the right is #466 from the 1991-92 Series 2 set, where he's sporting the Nordiques' classic blue (away) uniform.

Here's another shot of the Nordiques' amazing blue uniform, showing Smail during a defensive zone face-off in front of goalie Jacques Cloutier, on card #124 from Upper Deck's 1992-93 Series 1 set:

And here he is wearing Québec's white (home) uniform - a rare sight in the early 1990s - on card #197 from Score's 1992-93 Series 1 (Low Numbers) collection:

It was thought after his lone season in La Belle Province with 28 points in 46 games and the subsequent season with the Sens where he posted 14 points in 51 games and even spent 9 games with the IHL's San Diego Gulls (3 points and 20 penalty minutes) that perhaps it was time for him to hang his skates up, but that was proven to be entirely wrong with his final three seasons, played in the British League:

From HockeyDB

Yeah. That's a 169-point season in 53 games. He was 20 points behind team leader Mark Morrison's 189 (in 57 games) for a team that went from last place to second overall on the strength of their Canadian imports that season. And two points per game the following two seasons for good measure also looks good on any resume.

Nowadays, he lives in Colorado and last I heard, he was coaching minor hockey. He's also the ideal #41 in my Nordiques Numbers Project.

Gerard Gallant: Two Autographed Cards

Full disclosure: I wasn't entirely certain how I wanted to handle this one, and I edited it until the wee hours of January 24th, more than a week after beginning writing. Gerard Gallant is a very good coach, and I was shocked not only that he was fired earlier today, but even more so that he was replaced this quickly by someone I feel is a lesser coach - former Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils and San Jose Sharks -bench boss Peter DeBoer, whose primary trait is to get offered stacked lineups and never getting any of them to a championship title.

He's also a very good guy, was always accommodating any time I met him, once signed seven (!) cards for me by mail, and always took his time with Montréal journalists who wanted to interview him.

In terms of coaching credentials, he's definitely in the top-5 of "active" NHL coaches factoring in every head coach of the past three seasons. He started off winning a Junior "A" championship with his hometown Summerside Capitals in 1996-97, then became an assistant in the IHL (Fort Wayne Comets, 1998-99), AHL (Louisville Panthers, 1999-2000) and NHL (Columbus Blue Jackets, 2001-04) before getting handed the reigns of the team and from the middle of the 2003-04 season to a month and a half through the beginning of the 2005-06 season.

When former Detroit Red Wings teammate Steve Yzerman was named Team Canada's GM for the 2007 World Championships - essentially an audition for a future Olympic managerial role - Gallant was added to the coaching staff and helped bring home the gold medal.

After two seasons as an assistant-coach with the New York Islanders, Gallant took on the job as head coach of the LHJMQ's Saint John Sea Dogs, winning two league championships (2010 and 2011), the 2011 Memorial Cup and twice getting named the CHL's Coach Of The Year (2011 and 2012).

Like many coaches from the "Q" before him, he then "graduated" to the Montréal Canadiens organization, spending two seasons as an assistant-coach before obtaining the head coaching position with the Florida Panthers. His team missed the playoffs by 5 points in his first season despite going 38-29-15 but won the division the following season on the strength of a 47-26-9 record despite coaching a team analytics fans saw as massively flawed and way below average in shot differential. Unfortunately, in one of the weirdest moves of my lifetime, GM Dale Tallon was promoted to Team President, his analytics-based assistant Tom Rowe taking his place and getting rid of most of the team's grinders and pretty much its entire blue line. 22 games in, with a winning record of 11-10-1, Rowe dismissed Gallant, leaving him stranded on the side of the road. Rowe flubbed the season completely, the team missed the playoffs altogether and Tallon was brought back to fix things; the Panthers missed the playoffs by a few points last season and are among the better teams in the Atlantic this season.

 Meanwhile, Gallant was then hired by the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, a rag-tag team that built its first line with two Panthers outcasts - Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith - and took them to the Stanley Cup Final in his first year, then showed it wasn't a fluke by having the team make the playoffs again in Year Two last season, getting eliminated in Game 7 of the first round by perhaps the worst call in modern hockey history... by DeBoer's Sharks.

Gallant will definitely find work coaching in the NHL very soon. As the bets coach available, he can wait out the remainder of the season and see what happens with other teams in the off-season; if the Tampa Bay Lightning fail to go far in the playoffs, Jon Cooper's time there will probably come to an end and whoever inherits that roster will not only get the best line-up int he NHL - heck, with an Art Ross, a Rocket Richard, a Norris and a Vezina winner all playing on the same team, those guys would be good enough to contend for an Olympic gold medal - but will likely also have a say in tweaking it in his image for a better shot at a Cup in his first season.

He would likely also be among the top-two picks to coach Yzerman's Wings (with Cooper, whom Yzerman put behind Tampa's bench) if he wanted to go through a hard rebuild and might be the best man to take on a quick and somewhat talented roster like the Habs', if he could improve his French-speaking skills. There's also an expansion team in need of a coach (and a name...) in Seattle, but I wouldn't be interested in joining them if there were other options, myself, what with GM Ron Francis' handling of the Bill Peters/verbal and physical abuse situation when both were with the Carolina Hurricanes; Francis needs a three-year probation to show that he's learned from the situation and can make the correct adult calls in adult situations and not just sweep things under the rug like the Old Guard did for too long. (I repeat that they should have hired Sean Burke or Ron Hextall to run that team anyway).

Here's a card of his from his glory days in Detroit, wearing the Wings' beautiful white (then-home) jersey with the assistant-captain's "A", having just completed seasons of 72, 73, 93 and 80 points, on card #71 from Pro Set's inaugural 1990-91 Series 1 collection:

And here he is wearing the team's classic red (then-away) uniform, again with the "A", on card #402 from Score's 1993-94 Score set:

He signed them both in black sharpie, adding his jersey number (17) at the end. Edit: He was set to coach in the All-Star Game in late January but opted against it after being fired.

Robert Kron: Three Autographed Cards

There was a piece of news that flew a little under the radar last summer, a few days after the Carolina Hurricanes matched the Montréal Canadiens' offer sheet to Sebastian Aho, and it involved the man who was most responsible for drafting Aho, Robert Kron, an amateur scout when the young star was drafted in the second round (35th overall) in 2015, and for the past two years "Head European Scout": he is now Director of European Scouting.

I know a lot about hockey, but the only difference I can see between "Head" and "Director" is that there is also a "Head" of North American Scouting (Mike Dawson) on the Canes' staff, but no "Director", so Kron's probably got the last word in case of a difference of opinion.

Although I mostly think of him as a member of the Vancouver Canucks, he only played 144 games in British Columbia versus 272 with the Hartford Whalers and 237 with the Hurricanes for a total of 509 with the organization; he finished his NHL career by suiting up for 118 games over two injury-filled seasons with the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets, so it's no surprise that when he looked at option after his playing career, he would revert back to Carolina.

Here he is rocking my favourite Canucks uniform, the 1985-97 black (away) one that replaced the "Flying V" of the early 1980s:

These are both considered "Rookie" cards; on the left is #52 from O-Pee-Chee's 1990-91 O-Pee-Chee Premier collection; while the card on the right is from Upper Deck's 1990-91 Series 2 set and Young Guns sub-set.

And here he is sporting the white (home) version of that uniform on card #239 from Pro Set's 1991-92 Series 2 collection:

It's my second-favourite pale Canucks uniform, after the Markus Naslund-era ones from 1997-2007.

He signed all three cards in blue sharpie at the Bell Centre around the 2009 amateur draft, where John Tavares was selected first-overall. It was his first draft as a scout, and only two of the Canes' six picks taht summer played in the NHL: Brian Dumoulin (51st overall, second round, 81 points in 342 games) and Rasmus Rissanen (sixth round, 178th overall, 6 games). First-rounder Philippe Paradis, a bruising 6'2", 205-pound forward, mostly played in the AHL and is currently in Québec's LNAH - perhaps the most physical league in the world these days - where he has 8 goals, 5 assist, 13 points in 19 penalty minutes in 12 games with the Jonquiere Marquis so far this season.

Craig Wolanin: Three Autographed Cards

NHL scouts were adamant: "Craig Wolanin is a blue chip prospect. He may need a bit more time than a Craig Simpson (2nd pick of the 1985 draft) or a Wendel Clark (1st overall) but he'll be worth the wait." The thought at the time was that the 6'3", 215-pound defenseman would carve out a career that at worst would look like Dave Manson's (11th in the same draft) and at best be a positionally-strong, elite hard-hitting defenseman who makes the best use of a relatively limited offensive skill-set, like Scott Stevens (5th overall pick of the 1982 draft).

Ironically, the 1985 draft produced a single 1000-point producer, second-rounder (27th overall) Joe Nieuwendyk, and four defensemen who hit the 1000-game mark (Manson, 14th pick Calle Johansson, 32nd pick Eric Weinrich and 81st pick Fredrik Olausson).

Obviously, Wolanin was none of those. He showed glimpses of a Stevens-like path in his third season, when he scored six goals with 25 assists for 31 points - the only time he would hit that mark - and a whopping 170 penalty minutes, 61 more than his second-highest total, the 109 from his previous season, and more than double his usual career fare, which usually hovered around the 80-mark.

Part of the deal that sent Hall Of Famer Peter Stastny from the Québec Nordiques to the New Jersey Devils, Wolanin was a second-unit, 15-point defenseman in his time in Québec and won the Stanley Cup when the franchise became the Colorado Avalanche for the 1995-96 season, although he was scratched for the final 13 games of the playoffs after losing a puck that led to a goal against.

He was then sent to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a second-round pick, and they eventually flipped him to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a third-rounder. After injuries started taking their toll, the Michigan native moved back to Detroit to work in construction. His son Christian Wolanin is now an Ottawa Senators prospect.

Here he is wearing the Nordiques' classic blue uniform:

The card on the left is #40 from Topps' 1990-91 Topps set while the one on the right is from Pro Set's inaugural 1990-91 Series 2 collection. They are considered his "rookie" cards, because even though he'd been in the league for six years at the time, these were the first time he was included in official card sets.

He was also shown wearing Québec's home (white) uniform on card #217 from Score's 1991-92 Pinnacle (French Canadian Edition) set:

He signed all three in black sharpie a couple of years ago. They fit in nicely as the entry for #6 in my Nordiques Numbers Project.

Internationally, he's suited up for Team USA four times, finishing fourth at the 1987 World Juniors and 1991 and 1994 World Championships and second at the 1991 Canada Cup. Ironically, his point production playing for the American team (4 goals, 5 assists and 9 points in 25 games, for 0.36 points per game) are even better than his NHL average (0.2489), even his average during his prime, at ages 23-28 (0.25).

Doug Wilson: Two Autographed Cards

Doug Wilson was one of the better defensemen of the 1980s, winning the Norris Trophy for the 1981-82 season in the era of Denis Potvin, Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey, Larry Robinson, Rod Langway, Borje Salming and Mark Howe, and earning top-five votes until 1989-90 in the era of Bourque, Al MacInnis, Coffey, Phil Housley, Brian Leetch, Chris Chelios and Al Iafrate.

And yet, no Hall of Fame nod on his resume so far, and no Stanley Cup.

Both may change eventually, as he's a better HoF candidate than many recent additions (Eric Lindros in general, Larry Murphy in particular at the same position), and he has been one of the NHL's best General Managers for the past 10-15 years, keeping the San Jose Sharks into contention year in and year out, rotating veterans out and bringing new blood in, usually all on affordable contracts that fit well under the cap.

And yet, this season seems like he's suddenly realizing Peter DeBoer doesn't have what it takes o coach this team over the hump and all of his moves seem panic-based, from re-signing Erik Karlsson to a maximum-term deal near the maximum salary (on a team that was already dangerously close to the cap if it wanted to keep everyone) to specifically saying he wouldn't sign former captain/current free agent and career leader in most offensive categories Patrick Marleau on September 4th to, well, signing him on October 8th when the team was 0-4 to start the season.

He could have easily saved face and said nothing in September, or even just take a "let's wait and see" approach. As someone who really doesn't like the team in teal, I was glad this blew up in their face, I'm just sad that it comes at the expense of a player I respected in his time - and the team's very first captain, to boot, which is ironic considering the Sharks' captain history since Wilson's been in the GM chair:

2003-04: Mike Ricci
2005-09: Marleau
2009-10: Rob Blake, playing on a one-year deal (Marleau still on the team)
2010-14: Joe Thornton (Marleau still on the team)
2015-19: Joe Pavelski (Thornton still on the team, Marleau leaves as UFA in 2017-18)
2019-20: Logan Couture (Thornton still on the team, Marleau back) 

It's like he gives his coaches too much leeway - or doesn't give the title the decorum it deserves.

Here he is the way most fans my age will always remember him, wearing the Chicago Blackhawks' classic red (then-away) uniform, on card #52 from Pro Set's 1991-92 Series 1 set:

And here he is wearing the Sharks' best white (then-home) uniform, their first, on card #551 from Score's 1991-92 Series 2 (High Numbers) collection:

He signed both in blue sharpie last year.

Steve Bozek: Three Autographed Cards

(As per years past, this is a twin-post with my "regular" blog, where I predicted the Vancouver Canucks would finish fifth in the Pacific Division in 2019-20).

Those were my favourite Vancouver Canucks jerseys by far. The predominant black, the golden-orange that stands out, and just a bit of red to accent both. I miss them dearly.

Steve Bozek had 89 points in 41 games in his draft year playing for the NCAA's Northern Michigan University Wildcats, so it was a bit of a surprise to see him fall to 53rd overall, which is when the Los Angeles Kings called his name out. To prove he was no fluke, he led all College players the following year with 90 points in 44 games, a team record that still stands.

He had an immediate impact with the Kings, as an injury to Charlie Simmer gave him the opportunity to line up with Marcel Dionne and Dave Taylor on the first line; his 33 goals were a team record for a rookie at the time, but have since been surpassed by Luc Robitaille (45 in 1986-87).

It would be short-sighted to not at least put a caveat to the fact that his rookie season was his best, statistically, what with his 33 goals, 23 assists and 56 points all being career highs; the fact of the matter is he's missed 10 to 25 games to injury in most following seasons, sometimes over 40, and he still put up point-per-game averages close to 0.5 seven times, including in his penultimate season, in 1990-91, which was his last one with the Canucks.

Between his time in L.A. and all the way up the coast to Vancouver, he spent the bulk of five seasons with the Calgary Flames earning praise for his two-way play and helping them reach the 1986 Stanley Cup Final, and 7 games with the St. Louis Blues. His final NHL season was in 1991-92, as he signed a one-year deal as a free agent with the San Jose Sharks before playing one year in Italy (11 points in 15 games in 1992-93) and one game in Slovenia in 1993-94.

But I remember him best from his days with the Canucks, where he proved to be a strong penalty killer. Here he is on a slightly blurry picture with card #293 from Pro Set's 1990-91 Series 1 set:

And here he is on two cards from Topps:

On the left is card #325 from the 1991-92 Bowman collection, while the one on the right is #28 from the 1991-92 Stadium Club set, with the mention that he's now with the Sharks.

He signed all three cards for me in black sharpie at a card show in Toronto a couple of years back; I think he lives there now and works as a financial advisor.

He won a silver medal with Team Canada at the 1991 World Championships.

Don Sweeney: Two Autographed Cards

(As per years past, this is a twin-post with my "regular" blog, where I predicted the Boston Bruins would finish fourth in the Atlantic Division in 2019-20).

Nowadays, people see Don Sweeney as an executive - the reigning GM Of The Year - but he's also a 16-year former NHLer who spent the vast majority of his career with the Boston Bruins (15 years) as the great Raymond Bourque's defensive partner.

You learn a thing or two in such circumstances, including the need to keep a winning/contending team together so the star players don't have to leave to win that elusive Stanley Cup. And not only was he able to do so with his current roster, he also re-signed RFAs Charlie MacAvoy and Brandon Carlo to team-friendly bridge deals that fits right under the cap, with the understanding that they'll cash in on their next deals, when Zdeno Chara, David Krejci, David Backes and even Patrice Bergeron will no longer be on expensive deals.

It's ironic that what he does best - managing the salary cap - was his predecessor Peter Chiarelli's biggest weakness. Then again, Sweeney spent four years at Harvard while honing his skills instead of trying to play in Canadian Juniors.

While the Bruins' uniforms always remain close to their roots, my favourites were the ones from 1969-1995, which are the ones he's featured in on the cards he signed for me in black sharpie last year, starting with the white (home) ones:

That's card #244 from Pro Set's 1992-93 Parkhurst collection, and it's unclear if he's falling from being checked, from attempting to check an opponent or attempting some odd defensive maneuver in which he'd clear the puck with his hand whislt tripping.

There is also card #91 from Upper Deck's 1995-96 Collector's Choice set, showing him wearing their black (away) uniform, taking control of the puck in his own zone in front of journeyman goaltender Vincent Riendeau and New Jersey Devils forward Randy McKay:

Those are simply classic - simple and beautiful, perfect colours and stripes.

Craig Berube Autographed Card

I wasn't Craig Berube's biggest fan growing up, because he played on teams I didn't like back then (Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Washington Capitals), but there's something to be said about a player with 61 goals and 159 points in 1051 NHL games that makes you respect his body of work.

Then again, it could be the 3360 career penalty minutes (3149 in the regular season, plus 2511 in 89 playoff games) on a 6'1" frame for 205 pounds of angry beef.

Nowadays, I look at his playing resume and see an undrafted player who spent 17 seasons in the NHL on five different teams, including two stints each with the Flyers, Calgary Flames and Caps. I see determination and certainly respect and dedication to his teams and teammates.

He stands 7th on the all-time penalty minutes list and is short-listed for two other impressive feats, including being only the second interim head coach (after Larry Robinson) to win a Stanley Cup. He also made history with Ted Nolan on November 21, 2013 when they became the first pair of coaches to face off to be of First Nations descent, Berube being part Cree and Nolan being of Ojibwe descent.

Here he is wearing the Leafs' best-looking uniform, the 1980s white (home) uniform, on card #495 from Pro Set's 1991-92 Series 2 set, which also lists him as a member of the Flames:

 He signed it in blue sharpie in the early 00s, when he was coaching the AHL's Philadelphia Phantoms.

Petr Nedved Autographed Card

The 1990 NHL draft caught my generation's imagination, in part thanks to it happening just prior to the league expanding its card licensing to allow for multiple manufacturers to produce cards, which in turn stimulated manufacturers to find innovative ways to feature more players, trying to be one step ahead of the competition, usually by trying to get an exclusive on the next "big" rookie...

And so the 1990-91 sets were the first to feature cards of first-round picks from the draft. Only two of them never played an NHL game: Michael Stewart (New York Rangers) and Scott Allison (Edmonton Oilers).

Heck, only six players drafted in the second round never played in the big show. 98 made it to the NHL in total.

15 players suited up for more than 1000 regular-season games. 71 played in over 100 games.

Three players posted more than 1000 career points: Jaromir Jagr (1921), Keith Tkachuk (1065), and Doug Weight (1033).

Seven scored more than 300 goals: Jagr (766), Tkachuk (538), Peter Bondra (503), Owen Nolan (422), Vyacheslav "Slava" Kozlov (356), Geoff Sanderson (355), and Petr Nedved (310).

Eleven had over 1000 penalty minutes: Gino Odjick (2567), Brad May (2248), Tkachuk (2219), Chris Simon (1824), Nolan (1793), Derian Hatcher (1581), Keith Primeau (1541), Enrico Ciccone (1469), Chris Tamer (1183), Jagr (1167) and Paul Kruse (1074), with Mike Ricci (979), Weight (970) and Turner Stevenson (969) falling just short.

Team captains? Jagr, Nolan, Tkachuk, Weight, Hatcher, Primeau, Alexei Zhamnov, and Craig Conroy.

#1 goalies? Martin Brodeur, Félix Potvin, Roman Turek. Solid backups? Trevor Kidd, Mike Dunham, Corey Schwab, and Tommy Soderstrom.

To put it simply, it was one of the best draft classes of all time.

And the second overall pick, who modeled his game after Wayne Gretzky from the way he tucked in his jersey in his pants to the bent over stance when skating forward to the pass-first attitude on two-on-ones was Nedved, a lanky Czechoslovakian defector who stood at 6'2" and only weighed 178 pounds at the time (he would grow to 6'3" and 205 pounds in his later years).

Nedved posted 65 goals, 80 assists and 145 points (with 80 penalty minutes) in just 71 games in his draft year for the WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds, despite playing away from his friends and family, before the internet, back when long-distance phone calls would cost a fortune, and while on the receiving end of racist taunts as a "commie" and "job thief", skating in Western Canada.

He went on to acquire his Canadian citizenship in 1993, even suiting up for Team Canada at the '94 Olympics whilst in a contract dispute with the Vancouver Canucks, earning a silver medal in the process, proving those kids wrong in their assessment of his true intentions when leaving Czechoslovakia; he won bronze representing the Czech Republic at the 2012 World Championships to bring things back full circle and to this day still spends half his time in Liberec and the other half in Vancouver.

What's impressive is his longevity and production even past his peak; his last 25-goal season in the NHL came in 2002-03 with the Rangers when he scored 27, yet two years later he scored 22 in just 46 games for Praha Sparta during the season-long 2004-05 lockout; and in his final six seasons in the Czech League, playing for his hometown Liberec Bili Tygri HC, he was still a point-per-game player:

from HockeyDB

He retired a month after the 2014 Sochi Olympics, although he hinted at a return at age 46 last year so he could play against Jagr.

He signed this card for me in blue ballpoint pen when I was a kid, probably in the early 1990s:

It's his first rookie card, #402 from Pro Set's 1990-91 Series 1 set, wearing the team's white (home) jersey from the draft. He wore #19 with the Canucks (1990-93) but mostly wore #93 (in honour of the year he received his Canadian citizenship) for the remainder of his career, with the St. Louis Blues, Pittsburgh Penguins, Rangers, Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, and Oilers.

Jamie Macoun: Two Autographed Cards

It feels good to finally see the Calgary Flames near the top the NHL standings, 30 years after their last Presidents Trophy (and Stanley Cup) in my youth.

One of the important members of those strong 1980s Flames was Jamie Macoun, who could have had a stellar career as a point-collecting defenseman due to his size, speed and strength, but instead forged himself a reputation as one of the best shut-down defensemen in the league on the team's second pairing, with Ric Nattress. Between 1986-87 and 1990-91, his plus-minus read as follows: +33, +40, +34, and +29.

He missed the entire 1987-88 season after a car accident that first responders initially thought had been fatal, as he lost control of his vehicle, swerved into oncoming traffic on the other side of the highway, initiated a head-on collision, turned upside-down and skidded the length of a hockey rink (some 200 feet) on its roof; it took 45 minutes to get Macoun out of the vehicle because his arm was pinned underneath it, and the nerve damage was so bad that doctors gave him a 50-50 chance of ever being able to use it again - playing hockey was pretty much out of the question at that point, yet he returned. He pleaded guilty to charges of reckless driving and was fined.

The 1989-90 Flames team was probably the best team the franchise ever iced, although it finished second overall, a year after finishing first and winning the Cup. Its top two centers each passed the 90-point mark (Joe Nieuwendyk had 95, Doug Gilmour was a close second with 91); one of the greatest Russian forwards of all time (Sergei Makarov) won the Calder Trophy as Rookie Of The Year with 86 points after crossing the Atlantic Ocean; Gary Roberts (39), Joe Mullen (36) and Theoren Fleury (31) each passed the 30-goal mark; Paul Ranheim (26) and Brian MacLennan (20) each reached the 20-goal plateau; Joel Otto and Jan Hrdina's two-way play were both Selke-worthy; Al MacInnis (90) and Gary Suter (76) both posted point-per-game performances from the blue line; Macoun (+34), Dana Murzyn (+19) and Brad McCrimmon (+18) were all tremendous on the penalty kill; and Mike Vernon and Rick Wamsley were both dependable between the pipes, with Vernon coming off a Conn Smythe-worthy performance in the previous playoffs.

His career took a turn when he was part of one of the biggest (and lopsided) trades of my lifetime, as he was sent to the Toronto Maple Leafs with Gilmour, Nattress, Wamsley and prospect Kent Manderville for Craig Berube, Alexander Godynyuk, Gary Leeman, Michel Petit and backup goalie Jeff Reese. He helped the Leafs (along with Gilmour and a young Félix Potvin) reach the 1993 Conference Finals, falling to Wayne Gretzky's Los Angeles Kings, who themselves ultimately lost to the Montréal Canadiens.

He ended his career by playing just over a season for the Detroit Red Wings, who won the Cup in his first quarter-season with the team and finished first overall for his final season.

He returned to Calgary after retiring, running and co-owning a real estate firm; he also owned a stuffed toy store with his wife early in his career, and a Ford dealership in Ontario in his Leaf days. He is smart and business-savvy, but also affable, a quality that comes in handy as the head of the Flames' Alumni Association.

He was also an unquestioned leader, and was part of a rotation of team captains in 1990-91, as can be attested by the two cards below, starting with #38 from Pro Set's 1991-92 Series 1 set:

And there is also card #504 from Score's 1991-92 Score (Canadian Edition) set:

Both show him wearing the team's classic red (then-away) uniform and sporting the captain's "C". He signed them in blue sharpie at an NHL Alumni game.

He also suited up for Team Canada four times, winning silver medals at the 1985 and 1991 World Championships.

Rick Tocchet Autographed Card

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I thought we could take the opportunity, during the NHL All-Star break, to look at Rick Tocchet's job as head coach of the Arizona Coyotes midway through his second season - possibly midway through his tenure, who knows?

Last season, the Coyotes finished with a 29-41-12 record, "good" for the eighth and final spot in the Pacific division. This was whiz "fancy" stats kid GM John Chayka's second full season with the team - a second major overhaul.

This year, so far, the team stands at 23-23-4, in sixth place in the league's weakest division, just one point ahead of the Edmonton Oilers, and six ahead of the Los Angeles Kings. Its leading scorer is sophomore Clayton Keller who, at 35 points in 50 games, places 90th in the league, meaning there are on average three players (an entire line!) per other team ahead of him. Keller is also -14, one better than star defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson (-15). That puts Keller 598th in the NHL, and OEL 806th. Out of 825 players who have suited up for at least a game this season.

Star goaltender Antti Raanta is out for the season having just played 12 games (5-6 record with a 2.88 GAA and .906 save percentage, middling backup numbers anyway), leaving Darcy Kuemper and Calvin Pickard to shoulder the workload.

Compared to the two teams within their reach - the Vancouver Canucks with Jacob Markstrom and the Anaheim Ducks with the best goalie this year in John Gibson - it seems like the 'Yotes are bringing a plastic spoon to a gun fight.

I'm not sure if Tocchet has what it takes to compete with the best head coaches in the business - the likes of Barry Trotz, Jon Cooper, Peter Laviolette, Ken Hitchcock, Claude Julien, John Tortorella, and Guy Boucher, heck even the unemployed Alain Vigneault and Darryl Sutter, or the KHL-exiled Bob Hartley - but I do feel like he's not given the best tools to give it his best shot, unlike his days coaching the Tampa Bay Lightning when he had a Hall of Famer (Martin St-Louis) and three perennial All-Stars and award-winners (Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards and a young Victor Hedman).

We'll see in due time how he fares.

In the meantime, here's a blast from the past, Tocchet wearing the alternate captain's "A" while playing for the Prince Of Wales Conference at the 42nd All-Star Game in Chicago:

That's card #311 from Pro Set's 1991-92 Series 1 set (the entirely French Canadian version). Those were nice All-Star Game uniforms!

Of note, Tocchet had a goal (assisted by Pat Verbeek and Joe Sakic) and an assist (on a goal by Kevin  Stevens) in an 11-5 loss to the Clarence Campbell Conference in that game, which was his third of four All-Star Games (1989, 1990, 1991 and 1993).

Doug Lidster Autographed Card

Doug Lidster was the Vancouver Canucks' seventh-round pick (133rd overall) at the 1980 draft, and he proved to be worth it, as his 63-point season in 1986-87 still stands as the team's highest mark for a defenseman in a single season.

He played 666 games with the Canucks, accumulating 307 points in the process and sharing the captaincy with Trevor Linden and Dan Quinn in 1990-91, before Linden took the reigns by himself the following season, Lidster keeping the "A" as proof of his leadership skills. I mostly remember a quick and agile skater with a decent pass and good if unspectacular shot who didn't feel the need to use his size, kind of like Patrice Brisebois later on.

He twice won the Stanley Cup as a trade deadline addition, in 1994 with the New York Rangers (against the Canucks, who had traded him two months prior, prompting Lidster to mention in a post-series interview: “Once we won (the Stanley Cup) and we were shaking hands, I realized that I knew the Canuck players better than I knew my own teammates”), and in 1999 with the Dallas Stars (after spending most of the 1998-99 season with the Canadian National team).

He retired following that Cup win and went into coaching, which included a short stint as head coach for the OHL's Saginaw Spirit, a story that ended as quickly as it was sour for him (with an accusation of "abuse" for apparently poking the goalie in the chest with his index finger while trying to teach him how to take responsibility for his actions). He moved on from that adventure by winning two gold medals with the Women's Canadian team in 2002 and 2010 as an assistant coach.

As a player, in addition to during the 1998-99 season, he had suited up for Team Canada at the 1984 Olympics (to a fourth-place finish) as well as the 1985, 1990 and 1991 World Championships, winning silver twice.

Here he is sporting the "C" for the Canucks on card #247 from Pro Set's flagship 1991-92 Series 1 set, which he signed in black sharpie when he was an assistant coach with the team (2014-17):

I should have others from my youth as well, most likely signed in ball-point pen. I hope I find them in the near future.

Fredrik Olausson Autographed Card

When I think of the best defensemen of the first iteration of the Winnipeg Jets, three names come to mind: Phil Housley, Teppo Numminen, and Fredrik Olausson. Obviously, Housley has since been named to the Hall Of Fame, but the latter two were also important in making the Jets one of the three best teams in the Clarence Campbell Conference.

Unfortunately for them, the best two - the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames - also played in the same division, so the Jets were, essentially, doomed to never have playoff success, and their defensemen were doomed to finish in the minuses, despite having boasted some of the best offensive talent of all time in the likes of Dale Hawerchuk and Teemu Selanne.

Although I associate Olausson and Numminen mostly with Winnipeg, the former did play for many more teams, having also suited up for the Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Anaheim Mighty Ducks (three stints for parts of five seasons in total) and one year with the Detroit Red Wings, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2001-02.

He also played in the Swedish League, winning championships with Karlstad Farjestads BK (1985-86) and Jonkoping HV71 (2003-04). He returned to his original team, Farjestads BK, in 2006-07, but was forced to retire due to a failing liver, which required two operations and a transplant.

He returned to HV71 for the 2009-10 season as an assistant coach.

Internationally, he won a silver medal with Team Sweden at the 1986 World Championships and was part of the team that finished fifth at the 2002 Olympics.

Here he is wearing the Jets' 1990s blue (away) uniform, on card #264 from Pro Set's 1991-92 Series 1 collection:

He signed it in blue sharpie, which should place this signature as being from the 2002-03 season.

Igor Larionov Autographed Card

The last time the Vancouver Canucks were irrelevant for this long, they were wearing their finest uniforms (the "spaghetti skate"), the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames were dominating their division, they had a good group of young players to build around (including captain-to-be and current Team President Trevor Linden) but needed one spark-plug that came in the form of Pavel Bure.

Right now, they have potentially-good youngsters like Bo Horvat, Markus Granlund, Sven Baertschi, Brock Boeser, Troy Stetcher, Olli Juolevi, Thatcher Demko, Jonathan Dahlen, Elias Pettersson and Jacob Markstrom, but I don't see their savior anywhere yet, so I predicted they would finish 8th in the Pacific Division this year.

Two years before the Canucks plucked Bure away from the Central Red Army team, they had already brought him a mentor in Igor Larionov, one of the best players in the world in the 1980s, of whom Wayne Gretzky - the best player of all time and a part-time teammate of Mario Lemieux's on Team Canada - once said was the "best center in the world".

It's easy to see why, too: Larionov won two Olympic gold medals (1984, 1988) with the Soviet Union, and one bronze for Team Russia (2002), but it was at the World Championships that the Big Red Machine really took its domination to the world stage, winning four gold medals (1982, 1983, 1986, 1989), one silver (1987), and one bronze (1985). The Soviet squad also won the 1981 Canada Cup, which was the first time Larionov was paired with Vadimir Krutov and Sergei Makarov to form the "KLM Line". He also played in the 1984 and 1987 Canada Cups, as well as its replacement, the inaugural World Cup of Hockey, in 1996.

Then came his turn in the NHL, starting in Vancouver, where he posted 52 goals, 92 assists and 143 total points in 210 games, followed by a decent stretch with the San Jose Sharks (82 points in 97 regular-season games, plus 27 points in 25 playoff games), the better part of 8 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings (three Stanley Cups, 397 points in 539 regular-season games and 59 points in 105 postseason games) interspersed by 26 games with the Florida Panthers (11 points), and 49 games (11 points) to close off his career with the New Jersey Devils. As a veteran leader on the Wings, he earned the nickname "The Professor".

Of course, with all those championships, he's one of the 27 members (to date) of the famed Triple Gold Club (Olympic Gold, World Championship Gold, a Stanley Cup). Better yet, though, with Joe Sakic, Scott Niedermayer and Viacheslav (Slava) Fetisov, he's one of four Quintuple Gold Club members, which adds Canada/World Cup titles and World Juniors gold to that feat. Sakic and Niedermayer also have Memorial Cups as well.

It was no surprise when he was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2008.

Post-retirement, he served as Director of Hockey Operations for SKA Saint Petersburg (KHL) and is now a player agent (notably for Nail Yakupov, for whom he laid out a map for success) and a wine maker.

Here he is sporting the Canucks' superb 1980s white (home) uniform, on card #246 from Pro Set's 1991-92 Series 1 set, which he signed in blue sharpie:

While he mostly wore #8 or #9 in his NHL career, he wore #18 in Vancouver, which fits him perfectly in my Canucks Numbers Project.

Mike Ridley Autographed Card

Ealier today, I wrote that I thought the Washington Capitals would finish third in the Metropolitan Division, which leads me to card #320 from Pro Set's 1990-91 Series 1 set:

Once again, I loved this set. A nice, big action picture, huge borders that matched the team's uniform's colours, the player's position and jersey number on the front of the card... this was the height of card sophistication, in my book. Unfortunately, Pro Set made too many error on them, then they made too many of them, all the other manufacturers followed suit, and for a white they worth less than the money you'd get by taking them to a recycling plant, because (yes, kids) there was a time when they paid you to do that.

Still, it's a beauty, and Mike Ridley's black-sharpied signature on it, complete with his uniform number (17) tagged at the end, just adds to it.

Although Ridley was never drafted and spent some time in Tier II Juniors and the Canadian Collegiate system, he made an impact the second he was invited to a New York Rangers training camp, instantly becoming the team's second-line center and contributing 65 points, finishing fourth in Calder voting although he garnered 20 more points than the second-place Wendel Clark; Gary Suter is the one who won the Rookie Of The Year award that year. He followed that with 14 points in 16 playoff games, and a Stanley Cup Final may have been in the cards had it not been for Patrick Roy's heroics single-handedly winning the Montréal Canadiens the Cup.

Midway through his sophomore season, the Rangers sent him to the Washington Capitals, where he would shine for seven and a half years, accumulating 547 points in 588 games, including a 41-goal season in 1988-89.

He followed that up with a short tenure with the Toronto Maple Leafs, where head coach Pat Burns didn't like smooth and skilled players, preferring brawn, and he was promptly shipped to the Vancouver Canucks for rugged veteran Sergio Momesso. It was Ridley who scored the Canucks' first goal at General Motors Place (now Rogers Arena).

Although his time in Vancouver was synonymous with herniated disks and back pain, he still managed to put 26 goals, 47 assists and 73 points on the scorecard in 112 games with the team, and 4 more points in 4 games with their AHL affiliate Manitoba Moose when giving it a final go in 1997-98.

Throughout his career, he garnered Selke and Lady Byng votes, proving his two-way gentlemanly play was respected by everyone in the game.