René Corbet Autographed Card

Bonne Saint-Jean!

Indeed, what better way to celebrate Québec's National Holiday than by featuring one of its national capital's former second-round draft picks for the second time in just over six months?

Sure, René Corbet didn't put up the same point-per-game numbers with the Québec Nordiques as he did with the Cornwall Aces, nor did he put up spectacular numbers like he did with the Drummundville Voltigeurs (like the 79 goals, 69 assists, 148 points and 143 penalty minutes he posted in 1992-93), but as the kids would probably say these days, "he could hockey" very well.

The former AHL Rookie Of The Year (1993-94) and Stanley Cup winner (1995-96, Colorado Avalanche) spent his final seven seasons in Germany with Mannheim Adler (Eagles), whom he helped to a league championship in 2006-07 alongside other former NHLers Jean-Marc Pelletier, Blake Sloan, Sven Butenschön, Pascal Trépanier, Nathan Robinson, Jason Jaspers, Colin Forbes, Rico Fata, Jeff Shantz, François Méthot, and Rick Girard.

He will no enter as #55 in my Nordiques Numbers Project with card #193 from Upper Deck's 1994-95 Parkhurst set:

It shows him wearing the Nordiques' white (home) uniform. He signed it in thin black sharpie at a card show around 2012.

René Corbet Autograph Card

René Corbet had the pedigree the Québec Nordiques had always made work when the team selected him 24th overall in the 1991 NHL draft: he was a French-speaking Quebecer who had been an offensive dynamo at the Midget and Junior levels.

Réal Cloutier, Michel Goulet, Marc Tardif, Wilfrid Paiement, Jacques Richard, Jean-François Sauvé... the Nordiques had a knack for putting local boys in positions to succeed. Corbet was going to be part of that history, but as the team moved to Denver to become the Stanley Cup-winning  Colorado Avalanche, developing Quebecers to stick it in the face of highway rivals Montréal Canadiens was no longer an issue the team had to deal with; they could just aim at icing the best team possible in the hopes of beating the Detroit Red Wings in the Conference Finals to advance to the Cup Final, which meant it was easy to send Corbet - an AHL Rookie Of The Year recipient - packing (along with Wade Belak and Robyn Regehr) and have the Calgary Flames send Theo Fleury and Chris Dingman the other way.

He spent a total of 68 games spread over parts of two seasons with the Flames before they sent him to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who also used him sparingly. He then spent eight seasons in Germany, playing for the Mannheim Eagles, producing at nearly a point-per-game pace, save for a disappointing 2002-03 season (4 goals and 12 points in 29 games).

He retired following the 2010-11 season, following two years in Norway, playing for the Frisk Tigers, where he was again fairly productive: 41 goals, 42 assists, 83 points and 148 penalty minutes in 72 regular-season games, and another 5 points and 8 penalty minutes in 5 playoff games.

Here he is wearing the Drummondville Voltigeurs' white (home) uniform on a signed insert card from Classic's 1991-92 Draft Picks set:

It's signed in blue sharpie, and numbered 124/950, which to some qualifies as "Extremely Limited".