Steve Smith Autograph Card

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I've featured Steve Smith before, both with the Edmonton Oilers and Chicago Blackhawks, essentially glossing over the three seasons he played with the Calgary Flames after coming back from retirement in the late 1990s; I will not right that wrong today, instead featuring him shirtless during his time with Chicago, on card #S123 from Upper Deck's 1995-96 Be A Player collection:

It somehow seems fitting, what with his losing his job as assistant coach with the Buffalo Sabres, seemingly the short print in head coach Ralph Krueger's firing.

Most articles detailing the firing seem to celebrate it, deriding Krueger's previous job as president of a soccer team - the Southampton Saints of the Premier League - and minimizing his achievements as head coach in Austria as well as with the Swiss Team - oftentimes the only team to beat powerhouse editions of Team Canada - and Team Europe, which finished second to Canada at the 2016 World Cup (when most pundits didn't see them finishig in the top-four). I've even seem some mock his having written a book on motivation when he was fired in the midst of a 12-game losing streak.

I have no idea if Smith - a "classically-trained" NHL veteran and assistant-coach - fully endorsed Krueger's innovative methods (that seemingly work better with hard-working underdogs than overpaid, overhyped and over-rated underachievers), but at the very least he has probably learned a few new tricks to add to his arsenal, after working under Brian Sutter (Calgary, 1997-98), Tom Renney (Edmonton, 2009-12), Krueger (Edmonton, 2012-13), Dallas Eakins (Edmonton, 2013-14), Bill Peters (Carolina Hurricanes, 2014-18), and Phil Housley (Buffalo, 2018-19), though as I venture a guess that he may have learned the bulk of his knowledge playing a leadership role under Glen Sather and John Muckler while winning three Stanley Cups as a player with the Oilers, and Mike Keenan (Cup Final), Darryl Sutter (Conference Final) and Craig Hartsburg with the Hawks.

He's the type of guy whose pedigree will land him a new job next season, possibly perhaps under Darryl Sutter again, this time in Calgary.

Steve Smith Autograph Card

Ironic that I had written a 3-year late post on Steve Smith just last April and that he has now signed to be an assistant coach with the Carolina Hurricanes. Whether he's leaving the sinking Edmonton Oilers ship or if they felt they needed new blood is still left unsaid, but Smith had been an assistant coach there for the past 4 years, and they usually like to employ their alumni in important team capacities.

However, Smith had more impact than just with the Oilers, despite his three Stanley Cups in Edmonton; as a matter of fact, he took the Chicago Blackhawks to the Finals in his very first season there and also played for Team Canada at the 1991 Canada Cup, meaning a significant amount of ''hockey heads'' considered him to be among the six or seven best Canadian defensemen at that time.

And so it didn't come as much of a surprise that In The Game chose to picture him with the Hawks (and the alternate captain's 'A' prominently displayed on his chest) for their 2013-14 Decades - The 1990s set - it's card #A-SSM of the Autograph sub-set, hard-signed in thin black sharpie, though ITG used a low-resolution picture, as they often do:

Still, it's a nice headshot (and fine way to get around copyrights issues), with ample room to sign, and I like that the backs of the cards acknowledges the player depicted on the front:

I split of box of these with two other collectors a couple of weeks ago. I got the three autographs, which may not have been worth what I paid for them monetarily, but totally fit in with my card collecting and blogging, particularly my recent and upcoming posts. Product details and checklists can be found here. We bought ours here.

Steve Smith: 4 Autographed Cards

I came across these four cards I'd forgotten to write about when I originally got them...

I had sent them to Steve Smith with a fan letter on November 30th, 2010 - care of the Edmonton Oilers, where he is an assistant coach - and got them all back, signed in blue sharpie, on October 20th, 2011 - a 325-day return.

The 111th overall pick of the 1981 draft, Smith was a 6'3'', 210-pound rugged defenseman who often flirted with or surpassed the 200-penalty-minute mark, even once going as far as 304, in 1991-92. He won three Stanley Cups with the Oilers, though many remember him for an own-goal in a 1985-86 Game 7 that gave the Calgary Flames a 3-2 lead they would never relinquish; the Flames would end up losing in the Cup Finals against the Montréal Canadiens. The next season, when the Oilers won their third Cup, captain Wayne Gretzky made it a point to hand him the Cup before anyone else, showing the world there were no hard, lingering feelings.

The Oilers traded him to the Chicago Blackhawks for a similar type of defenseman, Dave Manson, to start off the 1991-92 season, and he would have his best offensive season the following year, with 47 assists and 57 points. He surpassed the 50-point mark three times in total, and scored 10 or more goals in each of those seasons.

Many thought a serious injury would bring an end to his career in 1996-97, but after sitting out the 1997-98 season, he made a comeback with the Flames - of all teams, though he had been an assistant coach with them during his year off - and played parts of three seasons with them to cap off a 72-goal,  375-point and 804-game career (plus 11-41-52 in 134 playoff games).

As an Oilers fan growing up, I was more than happy to add these cards of him wearing their blue (away) uniform:

The card on the left, an action shot, is from Pinnacle Brands' 1991-92 Score (American), card #11 in the set, while the card on the right, a pre-game warm-up shot displaying an awesome mullet-in-the-making, is from Topps' 1990-91 Bowman (card #200).

I was also happy to get him to sign two cards of him with the Hawks, an Original Six team:

The card on the left that sees him wearing the team's white (then-home) uniform - one fans have been familiar with since 1955 - is from Pro Set's 1991-92 Platinum set (card #27), and the card on the right is from Pinnacle Brands' 1992-93 Score (French Canadian Version), which is card #48 in the set, and sees him wearing the Blackhawks' third jersey of the NHL's 75th anniversary, which is the one they wore from 1941 until 1955. Such a beautiful design - like all the Hawks' jerseys.