Jacob Markstrom Autographed Card

Since taking over as the Vancouver Canucks' #1 goalie in 2017-18, Jacob Markstrom has done an admirable job, often standing as one of the lone bright spots on a team that looked desolate in present times and whose future was bleak.

Fast forward two years and the future is brighter with the likes of Elias Pettesson, Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes, and whether Thatcher Demko pans out or not in net, Markstrom is holding the fort admirably so far, having only surrendered more than two goals in a single game, a 3-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers to open the season.

At 29 years of age, he's got three more years of prime hockey and possibly two more of pretty good play after that, if he can mostly stay at or below the 60-game threshold per regular season (in addition to playoffs and international play).

Of course, he dons Team Sweden's Tre Kronor uniform on the world stage, so he already has gold (2013 World Championships), silver (2009 World Juniors) and bronze (2010 World Juniors, 2010 World Championships) medals and will be looking to add to that resume whenever he can; his team will be among the favourites every time.

Here he is from his silver medal days wearing Sweden's yellow (home) uniform, on card #200 from In The Game's 2010-11 Heroes And Prospects set and International Prospect sub-set:

He signed it in fading blue sharpie after playing great and stopping 31 of 33 shots in a 2-0 loss against the Montréal Canadiens last January.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson Jersey Card

Well, the World Juniors are under way, and what better pretext to feature one of the NHL's most underrated defensemen, Oliver Ekman-Larsson of the Arizona Coyotes. If this guy were playing in a hockey town - or anywhere on the East Coast - he'd no doubt be in the same conversations as Victor Hedman.

He's been on a 40-point pace each year since his sophomore season - again, with the Coyotes, a team who does have another big-minute defender in Keith Yandle but never really had top-notch talent up front to complete the plays started from the back end. He's often in the minuses (because the Coyotes) but still manages to get some Norris votes, finishing 7th in the race in 2012-13 (with three first-place votes) and 14th last year.

He has all the tools required to be among the elite at his position for a long time. His smooth and seemingly effortless skating hides dashing speed - not unlike Scott Niedermayer at a certain time. And his dazzling speed doesn't come on its own, as he can make plays at top speeds as well, not just blast forward and get lost in the moment.

Defensively, his style's closer to Nicklas Lidstrom's, though they're not on the same level. After all, Lidstrom's among the best of all time (definitely top-5 for me, with Doug Harvey, Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque and Larry Robinson), but Ekman-Larsson also has that near-perfect positioning and ability to just scoop the puck away from opponents at the right time.

Like Hedman, the 23-year-old already has extensive international experience, having won two silver (2011 World Championships and 2014 Olympics) and two bronze medals (2010 World Juniors and 2010 World Championships) with Team Sweden, with the swatch from this card seemingly from one of the latter two tournaments:

It's from In The Game's 2011-12 Canada Vs The World set (#IMM-18 of the International Material sub-set, the ''Black'' - or ''least rare'' variation), showing him wearing Sweden's classic blue uniform, with matching swatch.

Jonas Andersson-Junkka Autograph Card

Yet another twin post with Sal's ''NHL Busts'' series! This time around, Jonas Andersson-Junkka!

Drafted 104th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1993, Andersson-Junkka only played one season in North America, in 2000-01 for the AHL's Syracuse Crunch. He played until 2003-04 in Europe, collecting between 0.25 and 0.5 points per game, on average. He's seen here wearing an airbrushed version of Team Sweden's jersey, with the three crowns on the front of the jersey taken away, and a generic 'SWEDEN' taking their place; he has represented his home country in both the U-18 and U-20 (World Juniors) tournaments.

The card is from Signature Rookies' 1995-96 Draft 96 set (card #), and is numbered 198/4500 (Sal's is #1776). It can usually be found for cheap on Ebay, although some sellers dream about making $10 out of it.