Duncan Keith Jersey Card

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Colour me baffled once again by Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland, who traded promising young prospect Caleb Jones and a third-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks for the totality of Duncan Keith's remaining two years, $5.53M cap hit and all. Keith had shown a desire to play in Western Canada or with the Seattle Kraken, which left just the Oilers, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks as possible suitors, and the Canucks and Flames were reportedly not interested. It seemed like Hawks GM Stan Bowman had his hands tied, but he may actually have been in possession of pictures of Holland in the same position that he didn't want to see released to the public.

Don't get me wrong - I LOVE Duncan Keith. He's a first-ballot Hall Of Famer, a two-time Norris Trophy winner (in the Nicklas Lidstrom era no less), and a three-time Stanley Cup Champion whose Conn Smythe performance in 2015 was the most dominant performance I've ever seen by a skater during a playoff series - more so than Chris Pronger and Erik Karlsson's failed Cup runs, more than any forwards I remember (which admittedly, because I was too young and only started paying serious attention to hockey in the Spring of 1986, doesn't include Wayne Gretzky's two Smythe-worthy performances although it does include Mario Lemieux's).

But he's 37 and will turn 38 later this week, he has been trending downwards for eight seasons, with the last four being particularly painful in terms of possession statistics, though his "real" stats in 2018-19 were pretty good. Which means the Oilers should have gotten the Hawks to at least retain a couple of millions for each season, or half his salary in Year One and none for the last... anything, really.

Keith is no longer the first-pairing defenseman he used to be, he will have to get sheltered minutes with someone who can both keep up with and help him (fix his mistakes). There are rumours Ryan Suter, Keith Yandle and others might get bought out; perhaps waiting on these options to present themselves would have diminished the price paid or improved the return.

But let's harken back to when no one knew the heights he would reach after being drafted in the second round (54th overall) four years prior, on card #RT-DK from Upper Deck's 2005-06 Series 2 set and Rookies Threads sub-set:

It shows him wearing the Hawks' classic red jersey, with a matching swatch (possibly from the same photo shoot).

Braydon Coburn Jersey Card

I started this blog over a decade ago, and my 32nd post was about Braydon Coburn of the Atlanta Thrashers, so I thought it'd be nice to revisit his career.

The eighth-overall pick of the 2003 draft ranks 17th in games played for his draft class, is ninth in points by a defenseman (with 230) behind Brent Burns (20th overall, 682 points), Ryan Suter (7th overall, 575 points), Shea Weber (49th overall, 567 points), Dustin Byfuglien (245th overall, 525 points), Dion Phaneuf (9th overall, 494 points), Brent Seabrook (14th, 464), fellow Thrashers pick Tobias Enstrom (239th, 308 points) and future two-team teammate Matt Carle (47th, 283 points), and is fifth in penalty minutes at his position with 696, behind Phaneuf (1345), Byfuglien (1094), Shane O'Brien (250th overall, 916 PIMs) and Mark Stuart (21st overall, 722 penalty minutes). He's definitely had an impact, but if the draft had to be re-done, Phaneuf, Burns, Suter, Weber and Byfuglien would probably have been picked ahead of him, as would have forwards Ryan Getzlaf (19th), Patrice Bergeron (45th), Joe Pavelski (205th), Zach Parise (17th), Jeff Carter (11th) and possibly Corey Perry (28th) as well. The rest is pretty subjective.

Because whether or not one feels he was overpaid as a middle- or bottom-pairing defender with the Tampa Bay Lightning from the end of the 2014-15 season until signing a deal last summer that brings his cap hit down to a manageable $1.7M for this year and the next, he did get the job done against the middle and bottom of the line-ups of opposing teams (save for perhaps a more difficult 2016-17 season where he looked slower and over-matched), and he was without question one of the best defensemen on the Philadelphia Flyers - second only to Kimmo Timonen or Chris Pronger, depending on the season - from 2007 until 2014, save for an injury-riddled, lockout-shortened 2012-13.

That's not to say he'll join Pronger in the Hall of Fame some day, but he's far from the disaster many online commentators have made him out to be in the past five years. If the Bolts win the Cup in the next couple of seasons, he will have deserved to have his name engraved on it for all time with his colossal efforts in Philadelphia and Tampa.

Here he is wearing the Thrashers' blue (home) uniform on card #RT-BC from Upper Deck's 2005-06 Series 2 set and Rookie Threads sub-set:

It features a dark blue jersey swatch that was worn in a photo shoot. I kind of miss those jerseys now.

David Leneveu Jersey Card

David Leneveu. The goalie the Phoenix Coyotes made the 46th pick at the 2002 draft, ahead of Duncan Keith (54th), Matt Stajan (57th), Jiri Hudler (58th), Johnny Boychuk (61st), Tomas Fleischmann (63rd), Frans Nielsen (87th), Valtteri Filppula (95th), Tom Gilbert (129th), James Wisniewski (156th), Curtis McElhinney (176th), Paul Ranger (183rd), Jaroslav Balastik (184th), Ian White (191st), Maxime Talbot (234th), Dennis Wideman (241st), Yan Stastny (259th), and Jonathan Ericsson (291st).

He won silver at the 2003 World Juniors, backing up Marc-André Fleury, but then fell under the radar on Coyotes teams that featured established veterans such as Curtis Joseph, Brian Boucher and Mikael Tellqvist.

His path led him to the AHL (eight teams, including the Hartford Wolf Pack twice), Austria (twice in non-consecutive years), the ECHL and the KHL. He appeared in 21 games for the Coyotes split over 2005-06 and 2006-07 as well as a period for the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2010-11. He was also a backup to Henrik Lundqvist as the New York Rangers made their way to the 2014 Stanley Cup Final.

Here he is wearing the Yotes' burgundy attire, on card #RT-DL from Upper Deck's 2005-06 Series 2 set and Rookie Threads sub-set:

It features a white swatch from a jersey that was worn in a photo shoot.

Nowadays, Leneveu is a financial advisor and insurance salesman; he's kept in touch with the game as co-owner and goaltending coach of the BCHL's Nanaimo Clippers.

Brad Winchester Jersey Card

After Simon Gagné yesterday, it's now time to bid farewell to another retiree, Brad Winchester, who I had featured last November.

The 35th pick of the 2000 NHL draft, he wrapped up his career after playing in 390 regular-season NHL games with the Edmonton Oilers, Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues, Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks. Not only are the Blues the team he's played the most games with, they're also the only team he's scored over 10 goals in a season with (13, in fact, in 2008-09).

He had spent the last 3 seasons playing exclusively in the AHL, with five different teams - the Milwaukee Admirals, Rockford IceHogs, Iowa Wild, Norfolk Admirals, and Oklahoma City Barons. By finishing with the Barons, he book-ended his career with stints in the organization that had initially drafted him, the Oilers.

The 6'5'', 230-pound winger's career AHL numbers are pretty good, with 74 goals, 58 assists and 132 points in 232 games, with an astonishing 460 penalty minutes, meaning his contributions came with relatively limited actual ice time...

He had led the Edmonton Roadrunners in goals in 2004-05 with 22, and had 26 more (and 40 total points) in 40 games the next year with the Hamilton Bulldogs, a season in which he finished the year up in Edmonton, where his burly play and all-effort game-winning goal against the Detroit Red Wings in the playoffs turned many a head and led some to believe he might turn into an elite power forward.

This is what he looked like when everything seemed so promising, from Upper Deck's 2005-06 Series 1 set (it's card #RT-BW from the Rookie Threads sub-set, featuring a photo shoot-worn dark blue jersey swatch):

He himself is wearing the team's late-1990s, early-2000s white (home) uniform, with the "oil driller" shoulder patches.

Andrew Alberts: 3 Jersey Cards

Andrew Alberts was in the news this week, for having been sucker-punched by the Philadelphia Flyers' Jody Shelley, resulting in Shelley being suspended for the NHL-habitual two games. It marks the second time Alberts misses a long period after being injured by a Flyer, as he was limited to 35 games in 2007-08 after a nasty hit by Scott Hartnell, who received... a two-game suspension.

Ironically enough, Alberts played for the Flyers in 2008-09 and had his career-best season patrolling their blue line, with 13 points; he also accumulated 61 penalty minutes that season, his second-highest career total, behind his 2006-07 campaign of 124 penalty minutes while playing for the Boston Bruins.

He has also twice represented Team USA at the World Championships, both times playing in 7 games, both times accumulating 1 point and 14 penalty minutes, for a record of 1-1-2 and 28 PIMs in 14 international games.

All 3 of these cards are from photo shoots and were manufactured by Upper Deck for the 2005-06 season; what I like the most about them is that between them, I have all three colours of the Bruins' jersey: black, yellow, and white/yellow. The card on top is from the 2005-06 Hot Prospects set, Hot Materials sub-set, and is card #HM-AA, licensed for use by Fleer. The card in the middle is from the 2005-06 Upper Deck Series 2 set, the Rookie Threads insert set (card #RT-AA); there is an autograph variant, but I have never seen it. Finally, the card on the bottom is from the 2005-06 Fleer Ultra set, the Rookie Uniformity sub-set, and is card #RU-AA.

Two Yann Danis Jersey Cards

You might know him best as the guy who now watches Martin Brodeur play every night, but once upon a time not too long ago, Yann Danis was a top NHL goaltending prospect.

It started while he was in high school, in his rookie year in Junior A when he was named to the Rookie All Star Team and Academic All Star Team; then came Junior AAA and another All Star nomination, and a scholarship from Brown University, where he received just about every award imaginable (including for best goaltender and best player of the league), recording three seasons with a save percentage of .929 or higher, and two with a goals-against average under 1.90.

Undrafted, he was signed to a free agent contract by his hometown Montréal Canadiens, with whom he played 6 games in the 2005-06 season, going 3-2-0, with a very respectable 2.69 GAA and .908 save % - but he spent most of his time with their AHL affiliate Hamilton Bulldogs, where he spent 5 seasons. Tired of not getting a real chance with the Habs, he signed as a free agent with the lowly New York Islanders in 2008-09 (31 games, 10-17-3, 2.86, .910) before joining the New Jersey Devils for the current season (with a GAA under 2.00 and a save % over .925 in 8 games so far).

These cards are from the 2005-06 Upper Deck set, the Rookie Threads sub-set. For this sub-set, Upper Deck was in such a rush to be the first to produce rookie jersey cards that they set up a photo shoot to have pictures with the players, then cut their jerseys to pieces and put them on the cards. If the picture on the card matches the piece of memorabilia (i.e. if he was indeed wearing the Canadiens' white jersey), it would mean that the first patch, all red, would be from either the shoulder, wrist or waist of the jersey, a rare enough piece, while the two-colour blue and white patch would inevitably be from the waist.

The red patch goes for $10-20 on the open market, while the dual-coloured one can reach $30-40. Imagine if he had his chance at putting up those high numbers in more games - the sky is the limit.