Sylvain Lefebvre: 9 Autographed Items (Part 1: The Habs)

There haven't been many returns so far this half-season (partly because I haven't sent out all that much stuff), and a few of them have been incompletes (where I sent more than I got back), but this 9/7 return probably makes up for all of them!

I'd sent Sylvain Lefebvre these 6 cards and one sticker on my mom's birthday - January 24th - and got them back just over two months later, on April 5th, 2013, all signed in black sharpie and bearing the correct jersey numbers, with two extra signed index cards.

Lefebvre started his career with the powerhouse Montréal Canadiens of the late 1980s, arriving the season following a Stanley Cup Finals berth (and loss to the Calgary Flames). All of these cards show him wearing the Habs classic red (then-away) uniform, first these two:

On the left, card #159 in Topps' 1990-91 O-Pee-Chee set, showing him duringa  pre-game warm-up; the card on the right is from Topps' 1990-91 Bowman set (card #48 in the set that stood out because the stats on the back were broken down by opposing teams), showing Lefebvre getting ready for a face-off. Both of these sets were considered lower-end cards at the time, but are now considered 'classics'.

Next are two are from then-middle-end sets, now not even worth the paper they were printed on:

The card on the left is from Pro Set's 1992-93 Parkhurst set (card #307 in the series, with the NHL's 75th anniversary patch on the jersey), a set that was so over-glossed the cards have become sticky with age; opening a pack today requires separating groups of 2 or 3 cards that may or may not lose ink in the process. The card on the right is from Score's inaugural 1990-91 Score Canadian (Bilingual) set (card #307).

And now another piece of history, a 1.5x2 inch sticker from Panini's 1990-91 Panini Hockey sticker set (#59 in the series):

For 4 or 5 straight seasons, I managed to complete the whole sticker book. My dream was to have the books signed by all the players - an impossible task now, not just because some of the players are deceased, but also because it's nearly impossible to get a Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky or Mark Messier autograph without resorting to murder, kidnapping, running a charity, or all of the above.

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Sylvain Lefebvre: 9 Autographed Items (Part 2: The Avs)

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Unfortunately for him, Lefebvre was traded prior the the Montréal Canadiens'  Stanley Cup-winning 1992-93 season, to the Toronto Maple Leafs, of all teams. I purposely avoided sending him any cards of the Habs arch-rivals. He would only spend two seasons in Hockey Purgatory, though, before being traded to my favourite team, the Québec Nordiques, who went on to become the Colorado Avalanche. I do have a record of his passage there:

The card on the left is from Donruss' 1995-96 Leaf set (card #292), while the card on the right is from Upper Deck's 1995-96 Upper Deck set (card #342, the Electric Ice sub-set). Both were issued the year he won the Cup with the Avs - his daughter was even baptized in it.

The back of the UD card is pretty cool - it shows him wearing the assistant captain's 'A', and has him defending against none other than Mario Lemieux:

Sylvain Lefebvre would again miss out on a Stanley Cup, signing with Hockey's Country Club (the New York Rangers) prior to the 1999-00 season as a high-priced free agent, becoming the era's poster-boy for over-spending, even spending time in the AHL. He would retire after winning a championship in Switzerland, for SC Bern, in 2003-04.

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Sylvain Lefebvre: 9 Autographed Items (Part 3)

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After his career ended, he went back into the Colorado Avalanche organization, starting as an assistant coach with their AHL affiliate Lake Erie Monsters, then following head coach Joe Sacco to the main club.

The Montréal Canadiens brought him back into the fold themselves prior to the 2012-13 season, to be the head coach of their AHL team, the Hamilton Bulldogs. I had my doubts at first, seeing a rookie coach entrusted with a full half roster of rookie AHLers, and while the team's closer to the bottom than the top of the standings, every single player called up by the Habs has had a significant opportunity to contribute - and the NHL team is in the top-3, proving their farm team is concentrating more on teaching (be it the team's system, perfecting player development, or developing the players into mature adults) than merely winning games.

I sent Sylvain Lefebvre the items care of the Bulldogs. Here are the (bonus) index cards: