Adam Erne Autographed Card

In the next few hours, many free-agents-to-be will switch teams, going from pretenders to contenders as teams try to stack up to face the top teams in their divisions. With Kevin Shattenkirk off to the Washington Capitals and Ben Bishop now with the Los Angeles Kings, the top two available players are currently off the market, but many more are left.

Speaking of Bishop, the Tampa Bay Lightning have also sent Brian Boyle to the Toronto Maple Leafs, meaning they may have decided to forget about their dwindling playoff hopes and instead focus on next season, meaning they will either make room for their prospects right away or use one of them to acquire players who have some term remaining on their contracts, such as the Colorado Avalanche's Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog. Should they go that route, power forward Adam Erne might be one player who'd go the other way, seeing as he has yet to make a dent on the score sheet in 5 NHL games this season, but has 14 goals and 13 assists for 27 points in 39 AHL games with the Syracuse Crunch so far.

The American youngster was an alternate captain with the Québec Remparts team that lost in the 2015 Memorial Cup Final against the Kelowna Rockets, winning the LHJMQ's playoff MVP award in the process.

He reminds me of Keith Tkachuk, a speedy, super-strong winger with a knack for finding the hole to score through. I expect him to be a force within three years.

Here he is wearing the Remparts' white uniform on card #246 from In The Game's 2011-12 Heroes And Prospects set and CHL Rookie sub-set:

He signed it in thin blue sharpie in 2015; the signature has since faded a bit.

Mikhail Grigorenko: Two Autographed Cards

Mikhail Grigorenko signed a one-year "show-me" contract with the Colorado Avalanche yesterday, after a season that Buffalo Sabres fans will call disappointing ("27 points in 74 games, unfit for a 12th overall pick, what a bust! Glad we got Ryan O'Reilly!"), whereas Avs fans, while unsure at the beginning of the season with the healthy scratches, under 10 minutes of ice time and looking out of shape, are happy with how he progressed throughout the year and looked worthy of a top-6 role on a very skilled team offensively.

What happened was the Sabres stalled his development, first by keeping him in the NHL but sitting him in half the games in 2012-13, then by sending him to Juniors midway through his sophomore season whist burning a year on his entry-level deal, and finally by demoting the disgruntled forward to the AHL and never really giving him a shot at showing what he can do.

This is, after all, a guy who had 70 goals and 139 points in 92 regular-season games with the LHJMQ's Québec Remparts (plus another 24 points in 22 post-season games) before even being drafted. And that time the Sabres sent him back against his will? He still put up 15 goals and 39 points in 23 games, plus 9 more in 5 playoff games.

The game that brought him to life last year - the first time he played over 15 minutes in a game in 2015-16 - was at the Bell Centre, against the Montréal Canadiens, in November, where he had a goal and two assists, which also sparked the Habs' downfall.

It was after that game that he signed these two cards in blue sharpie, first the one showing him with the Remparts, on card #100 from In The Game's 2011-12 Heroes And Prospects card (and CHL Rookie sub-set):

And a card from the dark days of the Sabres not knowing what to do with him, on card #213 from Panini's 2013-14 Prizm set and Dual Rookie Class sub-set (the regular silver version):

His second half was terrific; it was where he posted 15 of his 27 points and became a fixture on the ice, more often than not hitting the 15-minute mark, including seven games at or near the 20-minute mark.

Essentially, he should be getting second-line minutes and second-unit powerplay time next season, which should at worst get him in line to sign a long-term deal (five or six years) at $4-5M per; at best, he could become the team's second-line center if Matt Duchene becomes expendable and gets traded for a good defenseman, which the team sorely lacks behind Tyson Barrie and Erik Johnson.

Anthony Duclair Autographed Card

Sure, Oliver Ekman-Larsson was a huge piece of the Arizona Coyotes thumping the Montréal Canadiens tonight, but Anthony Duclair's goal and assist in the first period really set the tone for an offense that would plow through goalie Mike Condon, with captain Max Pacioretty doing nothing but watching idly, managing a mere shot on goal and a -3 rating in the process.

This is the game that finally got the first Canadian sports news outlet (in this case, Sportsnet) to call out for head coach Michel Therrien's head, though I don't agree with some of their points, namely that Andrei Markov, P.K. Subban and Tomas Plekanec had abandoned because they combined for a -1 rating; I mean, come on, minus-one playing over 20 minutes (i.e. a combined 60-plus minutes...) in a 6-2 thumping? That's practically a miracle, right there.

With GM Marc Bergevin already stating Therrien's job was secure until the summer, it falls on him to either provide the coach with players who can reinvigorate this team, or to go in full tank mode; unfortunately, both he and the coach subscribe to the generally-accepted notion that this team is centered around goalie Carey Price and that all hope is lost when he's out, a dubious claim at best.

For starters, he has yet to score an NHL goal, meaning if it was all up to him, the best the Habs could hope for would be 0-0 ties going into the shootout. Also, as a starting netminder, he's set to appear in some 60-to-65 games, leaving 20-25 to someone else in the best-case scenario, which means you need to give that time to someone capable, lest you deliberately choose to forego a quarter of your season.

And preparing for injuries to your starting goalie goes two ways: first, your defensive system must allow for some protection that suits your backup (see: the Los Angeles Kings, who made Ben Scrivens look like Jonathan Quick), and secondly, the backup must be ready to take on a larger workload on a whim (case in point: Cam Talbot posting better numbers than Henrik Lundqvist - the actual best goalie in the world, by the way - when The King went down last season with the New York Rangers).

But the Habs' defeat to the Coyotes wasn't just about their own failings; Arizona's young stars played a terrific game, though I see Max Domi inherited his father's dislike of Montréal and temper, which might be costly later in his career (see Milan Lucic somehow always costing his teams games against the Canadiens).

So here's a card featuring speedster and scorer extraordinaire Duclair, who will definitely be an All-Star someday, from In The Game's 2012-13 Heroes And Prospects collection (card #245, part of the CHL Rookie sub-set):

It shows The Duke wearing the Québec Remparts' classic red uniform, and he signed it in (fading) blue sharpie last Spring, making sure to add his jersey number (10) at the end.

Louis Domingue Autographed Card

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I would like to congratulate Louis Domingue on obtaining his first NHL shutout against the New York Islanders last night, at a time when the Arizona Coyotes really needed it.

It was his first start this season. He'd also won in his first-ever start against the Montréal Canadiens, when he signed this card for me (and two others) in blue sharpie:

It's card #49 from In The Game's 2009-10 Between The Pipes set (and Future Stars sub-set), showing him wearing the Québec Remparts' classic red uniform.

Domingue plays a sound positional game that is made for his size (a smaller-than-his-contemporaries 6'2'', clocking in at 200 pounds of muscle), and he's relatively agile and has quick lateral movements from his strong legs. I foresee him being a starter some day, following in the footsteps of Jake Allen, another former LHJMQ standout currently starring for the St. Louis Blues. Allen was a 2008 draft pick, Domingue was drafted in 2010.

Louis Domingue Autographed Card

For a while there, it looked like Arizona Coyotes goalie Louis Domingue was headed to Europe next year, after GM Don Maloney signed no less than three other goalies (Anders Lindback to a one-way deal, as well as Niklas Treutle and Tyler Beskorowany to AHL deals, after both had played in Germany last year) in addition to having albatross Mike Smith already penciled in for the #1 spot.

But instead, he was released and accepted a two-way deal with the team, so he'll be staying in North America after all. I'm not sure why the Coyotes chose Lindback over him, or why they went with a two-way deal, considering Domingue had a respectable 2.73 GAA and .911 save percentage in the NHL last year, going 1-2-1 with the Coyotes, the second-worst team in the league.

His win came in his first start, too, against the Montréal Canadiens (who finished second overall, by the way), at the Bell Centre, no less. In February, not as they were shaking off some rust in early October. Alex Galchenyuk was the only player on the Habs to score on him, scoring twice in the first period.

It was at that game that I got three of his cards signed, but two are currently missing from my stash, so here's the one I could find:

It's card #56 from In The Game's 2010-11 Heroes And Prospects set, signed in blue sharpie. He's seen in the modern goaltender's stance, glove high up and little space between the blocker and pad when seen from the front, wearing the Québec Remparts' classic red uniform.

When the Phoenix Coyotes drafted him with the 138th pick of the 2010 draft, he was a typical goalie of his era, standing at 6'3'' and 191 pounds. He's almost smallish by current-day NHL standards, with the likes of giants such as Lindback and Ben Bishop.

Anthony Duclair Jersey Card

After being a healthy scratch two games, Anthony ''The Duke'' Duclair was back in the line-up last night as the New York Rangers faced the Montréal Canadiens; playing in front of friends and family in his hometown, Duclair was named the game's third star, not really having dominated the game, but having played well enough in it, displaying speed and impressive abilities.

As a matter of fact, Duclair's force is that he can make jaw-dropping plays at his amazing speed - not unlike Nathan MacKinnon, whose talent for that has been praised recently. Their paths have crossed many times since they both entered Major Juniors at the same time at the tender age of 16, and their confrontations against one another were memorable even then. Put them on the same line - say in an All-Star context or on Team Canada at a World Championship - and you will see some of the fastest, most beautiful plays ever in adult hockey.

And yet he still fell to 80th overall at the 2013 NHL draft, teams fearing he may have ''behavioral issues'', like so many gifted players from the ''Q'' before him (oh, hello, Mike Ribeiro). But 17-year-olds will be who and what they are; the kid still managed to score 50 goals in 59 games last season, and you can watch them all right here.

I don't want to over-sell him or put undue pressure on his still-frail shoulders (he stands at just 5'11'' and 180 pounds but looks much bulkier on the ice), but in an era where the NHL has never been so quick, he's still one step ahead of almost everyone else. That alone should keep him in the league for the next 15 years.

I had actually pulled the same card as this one in a pack of In The Game's 2013-14 Heroes And Prospects (#M-26 of the Game-Used Jersey sub-set), but with a one-colour swatch, which I traded for this one - which has additional red and stitching from the sleeve - by adding a couple of extra cards to the deal:

The vertical line in the middle is from the penny sleeve, the swatch itself is pristine.

Alexander Radulov Autographed Team Postcard

Ah, the enigmatic Alexander Radulov! Like fellow Russian Alexei Kovalev, he has all the talent in the world, but has trouble not igniting controversy.

He came to the Québec Remparts of the LHJMQ to get acquainted with the North American style of play (and a higher draft position) while in Juniors, and he posted a 75-point season as a rookie (in 65 games) in 2004-05, but what knocked everything out of the park and led to unbelievable expectations towards him was his sophomore season, where he scored 61 goals and got 91 assist for 152 points in 62 games (an additional 55 points in 23 playoff games and 9 points in 5 Memorial Cup games as the Remparts won it all that year), leading all Canadian Juniors that year.

He even managed to put together a 50-game scoring streak (second of all time to Mario Lemieux's 62) and to have an 11-point night at some point.

In both of his junior seasons, he won silver at the World Juniors with Team Russia.

After two seasons in the Nashville Predators' system (one spent completely in the NHL, one with an 11-game stint in the AHL), he bolted to the KHL to play with the Ufa Salavat Yulaev, where there is no cap on rookie salaries (he was said to earn roughly $5M per year, tax-free, in Russia). But it wasn't all about the money - he stands as the KHL's all-time leading scorer with 254 points in 210 games (it's a low-scoring league).

As an adult, he's represented his country on many occasions, finishing 6th at the 2010 Olympics, but winning two gold World Championship medals (2008 in front of a loving crowd in Québec, and 2009) and a bronze (2007).

He sparked controversy last season by joining the Preds for the final 9 regular-season games (7 points) after his KHL season ended, thus ''fulfilling'' his rookie contract and no longer being under the ''rookie cap'' of roughly $1M; should he feel like playing in the NHL again, he could ask for a salary similar to the one he gets in the KHL, without having actually played 3 seasons in North America.

Not only that, but he did make headlines after partying too hard with Andrei Kostitsyn and missing a curfew in the playoffs, and was suspended by the team for 2 games. He did manage to gather a team-leading 6 points in 8 playoff games in what was widely considered a disappointing turn.

This team-issued postcard was signed in black sharpie to a reputable collector from Québec City, who traded it to me for a few jersey cards. I'm not sure if he got it during Radulov's run with the Remparts or at the WC, but it was at the Colisée after a game, that's for sure - he has quite a few of these.