Kevin Dallman Jersey Card

Kevin Dallman is a star in the KHL; he was already the Barys Astana's four-year captain - i.e. for the duration of his stint, which included four All-Star berths and a Best Defenseman trophy - when his family was kicked out of Kazakhstan after his wife posted about country-wide corruption on her blog, a must-read in the Kazakh capital.

He'd been made a Kazakhstani citizen in 2010 so he could join the national team, but the regime doesn't take criticism too well.

And so he remained in the Russian-based league, playing with St. Petersburg SKA for two years before returning to Barys. Now in the fourth season of his second stint in the Kazakh capital, he has an astonishing 16 points (2 goals, 14 assists) in 24 games in the low-scoring league.

The club is 15-8-1-2, firmly entrenched in second place within its division, on the strength of productive seasons from Dallman and the likes of Linden Vey (32 points in 26 games), Nigel Dawes (24 goals and 30 total points in just 22 games), Matt Frattin (23 points in 24 games), Darren Dietz (16 points from the blue line in 15 games), and Martin St-Pierre (16 points in 23 games). Henrik Karlsson is the starting goalie, with a 13-7-2 record, 2.26 GAA and .923 save percentage with 2 shutouts in 24 games.

Although he was undrafted, the Boston Bruins are the team that signed Dallman to his first professional contract, although they traded him to the St. Louis Blues midway through his rookie season. After faring well in St. Louis, he signed a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Kings before being out of chances in North America and opting to move overseas.

Here he is wearing the Bs' black (home) uniform, on card #RU-KD from Fleer's 2005-06 Fleer Ultra set and Rookie Uniformity sub-set, manufactured by Upper Deck:

It features a yellow jersey swatch that was worn in a rookie photo shoot that peers through an R-shaped hole, for "Rookie".

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.

Mike Richards Jersey Card

Mike Richards, this year, is a case I've been wrestling with: so talented, captain of his team (the Philadelphia Flyers), but also guilty of one of the dirtiest hits in the NHL this season - and it's been a season riddled with cheap shots all over. I can deal with his teammate Chris Pronger being talented and vicious, but it's been hard to imagine Richards being made from the same mold. Oh well, the Broad Street Bullies are, indeed, back. He's made the Canadian Olympic team, and he'll join Pronger there, and we'll see how he fares. I don't know how to judge this Olympic team, either; it has enough talent to win the gold, but also the intangibles to finish 5th behind the Russians, Swedes, Finns and Slovaks. Mind you, I have the same hesitations about the Russian and Swedish teams.

Here's a card from when he was just a rookie behind a talented offensive cast with the Flyers- full of promise, far from the scrutiny and pressure he's under now. The year was 2005-06, the set was Fleer's Fleer Ultra, and the sub-set was Rookie Uniformity, where players pose for the camera on the ice and, seemingly, the jerseys worn are introduced on the card, at the time an inventive way to offer player memorabilia before anyone else, even if it's never actually been used in a meaningful setting. The thought process, at the time, was: if autographed cards have barely been in the athlete's hands, why would collectors complain about a jersey that was at least worn for a couple of minutes by the player. Times change, I guess.