Stan Smyl: Two Autographed Cards

Last month, the Vancouver Canucks introduced their new captain, Bo Horvat, and while I do not currently have any of his memorabilia, I did have a couple of signed Stan Smyl cards I could feature, so here we are.

By the time I got really interested and invested in following hockey - and I dove right in, learning the current and career statistics of every player in that era as well as those of a select few Hall Of Famers by reading the daily stats before going to school from 1987 until 1995 - Smyl was past is 60-, 70- and 80-point seasons and settling into the role of a checking elder statesman who ran into injury trouble, prompting three consecutive nominations for the Masterton Trophy, but also bringing his points-per-game average from the 0.85-0.90 range to a still-respectable 0.75.

He's the one from whom Trevor Linden learned to supplement his talent with the will and ability to also take on a leadership role, a skill set that enabled him to be the team's President of Hockey Operations for a little over four years.

"Steamer" also embodies the "classic Canucks" look, in my opinion, with the black "skate" logo uniform, pretty much with this pose and picture, on card #283 from O-Pee-Chee's 1989-90 O-Pee-Chee set:

And what about this picture, taken 20 years ago (notice the team's 20th Anniversary patch on the left shoulder), still playing close to the net in the danger zone at age 32, a year before retiring, on card #374 from Score's 1990-91 Score Canadian (Bilingual Edition) collection:

That's a young Mark Fitzpatrick he's about to come into contact with.

He sent me these two cards at an old address I forwarded my mail from about a year ago, and I just fell upon them last weekend.

Stan Smyl: 3 Autographed Cards

Welcome to my childhood! Stan Smyl was already the Vancouver Canucks' captain when I started paying attention to the NHL in the mid-80s. He was viewed as the Canucks' best player for most of his time, and held many team records, most of which have since been surpassed.

Among them: most points in a single season (88), most points in a single month (31), and the career leader in goals, assists and points. The goals and points marks were beaten by both Trevor Linden and Markus Naslund - his successors as captain - while the assists mark has been bested by Henrik Sedin.

Still, as the original Captain Canuck, he wore the classic Canucks uniforms I thought defined the team - I always hated the blue and green ones they brought back from purgatory a couple of years ago:

I barely knew the 'V' jerseys and, quite honestly, I always found them rather repulsive - and the yellow 'home' jersey was the worst of all. I like the black 'V' more than the retro/current/first ones, though. This one is from the 1982-83 O-Pee-Chee set (card #356) by Topps.

These two, however, to me, are the quintessential Canucks uniforms, as well as those I identify with the most from my childhood. The card on the left is from the first set I ever collected seriously, Topps' 1986-87 O-Pee-Chee (card #50), where my parents would let me buy a 35-cents pack of 7 cards for every errand I ran for them at the convenience store. Notice the patch on the jersey - it commemorates the city of Vancouver hosting the World's Fair in 1986. The card on the right is from the 1987-88 Topps set (card #4).

I sent Smyl these three cards and a fan letter care of the Canucks, where he is currently the assistant general manager, on January 27th, 2012, and got them all back signed in a fading black sharpie on February 16th - the same day I got these Guy Lafleur cards.