Leafs Preview: Wendel Clark Autographed Card

This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: 2020 is a different beast and requires adaptability; in my case, it means the joint posts with my "main/personal" blog will not be in the "player here/analysis there" format but rather the entire scope of the analysis will take place here and the player will have some sort of direct connection to what's written. Two more caveats: at this point, the NHL has not even confirmed the division make-ups yet despite the season being set to start a month from now, and several impact players such as 25-to-30-goal scorer Mike Hoffman and 20-goal journeyman forward Anthony Duclair, among others, haven't found a team yet. And quite a few teams are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much maneuvering left to do.

That being said, let's start with the one division we're pretty sure is going to happen if only because of the border situation, the Canadian Division, and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

After three straight first-round eliminations at the hands of the Boston Bruins, the Leafs technically missed the playoffs altogether in 2019-20 after being ousted in the Return To Play by the Columbus Blue Jackets, despite a powerhouse offense that features Auston Matthews - who was on pace for 50 goals and 100 points - Mitch Marner, John Tavares, Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson but no defense to speak of. Gone are Kapanen and Johnsson, as well as Kyle Clifford, Cody Ceci, Frédérik Gauthier, Kevin Gravel and Tyson Barrie, replaced by grizzled veterans Joe Thornton (off a decent warm-up in the Swiss League), Wayne Simmonds, T.J. Brodie, Stanley Cup winner Zach Bogosian, Aaron Dell and former star U.S. College player Jimmy Vesey.

What makes their odds look good:
All that offensive firepower (minus the 40 goals provided by Johnsson and Kapanen) is still there and Morgan Rielly won't have to compete for ice time with Barrie and will be able to go back to accumulating points from the blue line.

Question marks:
Brodie will cover Rielly's back, but he is not a contributor like Barrie. Thornton, Simmonds and Bogosian are but shadows of their former selves, although the first two might get at least a temporary boost from playing in their hometowns. Goaltender Frederik Andersen no longer has the Toronto media hype machine to overrate, inflate and rate as great his performances and we can see him for what he is: a fine starter, but no Vezina contender.

Outlook:
As currently constructed, the Leafs' back end and depth is not made to withstand a condensed schedule, what with all those veterans in the middle of the lineup (Thornton, Simmonds, Jason Spezza, Jake Muzzin, Bogosian) and sudden drop-off in productivity up-front. Sure, there is something to be said about leadership, experience and character, but there's a reason why it's always the veteran who is two days from retirement who dies in all those cop movies and never the brash rookie: he just can't keep up and the gam has gotten past him. I also have a thing about Thornton and Tavares never winning a Cup and rooting for more of the same forever.

Prediction:
Fifth in the Canadian/North Division, a point shy of a playoff spot.

Which brings me to Wendel Clark, the only good forward not named Borje Salming the team had in the 1980s, who represents the team extremely well. Again, he was very good, a two-time All-Star Game participant (in his prime in 1986 and as a veteran prior to retirement in 1999), but no Hall Of Famer. Ask any Leaf fan and they'll tell you he was a multiple 50-goal scorer, when he in fact surpassed 40 only once (46, in 64 games, in 1993-94), although he did reach 30 four more times, three of them with Toronto. He collected over 200 penalty minutes twice and nearly did so a third time, and was a "minus" player for most of his career, doing worse than -20 four times, and worse than -10 three more.

Like Andersen, Tavares, Thornton, Rielly and nearly every player who dons the blue Maple Leaf jersey, Leaf fans overrate him and expect more than what he can provide - and whether he eventually does or not does not seem to matter.

He did captain the team from 1991 until 1994, as attested by card #325 from Topps' 1992-93 Topps set:

He signed it in black sharpie at a card show nearly a decade ago, between the time the Leafs honored his number (2008) and retired it (2016).

Jonathan Bernier Autographed Card

I really wasn't sure which story-line I wanted to purse tonight, with most recent results going the way I had hoped. After seriously considering featuring someone from the Columbus Blue Jackets (winners), Washington Capitals (winners), Boston Bruins (losers), Dallas Stars (winners) or St. Louis Blues (losers), I opted with a former member of the Toronto Maple Leafs (losers, eliminated), Jonathan Bernier.

A first-round draft pick (11th overall in 2006, Los Angeles Kings), he sat on the sidelines and watched Jonathan Quick win a Conn Smythe Trophy from the sidelines, awaiting his turn like he had in Juniors when he was slotted behind Jaroslav Halak only to take over upon the Slovak goalie's move to the professional ranks and lead the Lewiston MAINEiacs to a LHJMQ championship and Memorial Cup berth.

Except his turn would never come in L.A., so he asked for a trade anywhere to have a shot at a #1 spot, and the Leafs came calling, offering the Kings Matt Frattin, Ben Scrivens and a second-round pick for Bernier's services. The Toronto media wrote flattering pieces on him at first, but turned on him within three years despite very good statistics with the team:

from HockeyDB

I mean: a .922 save percentage over 55 games in 2013-14, with a 26-19-7 record while his backup James Reimer went 12-16-1 under Randy Carlyle; a 2.87 GAA, .912 save percentage and 21-28-7 record while Reimer was at 3.16, .907 and 9-16-1 in 2014-15, as the media got the 21-16-3 Carlyle fired and his replacement, Peter Horacek, went a lowly 9-28-5 to close out the year in agony; and get this, 3 shutouts in 38 games in 2015-16, Mike Babcock's first season with the team, which finished with a 29-42-11 record (Reimer and Garret Sparks combined for a single shutout in 49 combined appearances).

The leading scorer for Babcock's Leafs? Nazem Kadri, with 45 points.

Bernier was made one of the scapegoats, but he was put in an impossible position, that of holding down the fort while the team was failing on purpose (i.e. "tanking") to put itself in position to draft high-level prospects and move on from the failed Phil Kessel era.

Carlyle took him on with the Anaheim Ducks for the 2016-17 season, and he was terrific, going 21-7-4 with a 2.51 GAA, a .915 save percentage and 2 shutouts in 38 games to restore his reputation as a dependable netminder, and the following season with the Colorado Avalanche was more of the same (19-13-3, 2.85, .913, 2 shutouts in 37 games).

Unfortunately, the starting jobs are pretty much taken everywhere, and with the salary cap, teams stick with their #1 guy even through bad seasons because they're stuck with the cap hit and term, so they brace themselves for a year and hope for the best the following season, a recipe that works (Craig Anderson) as often as it doesn't (Quick).

So, for the last couple of seasons, Bernier has been eating a ton of rubber in front of the Detroit Red Wings' net, staying in shape in case a contending team comes calling, making acrobatic saves to impress the few people left in the stands before GM Steve Yzerman turns things around.

Who knows, maybe a former employer like current Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland (who hired him with the Wings) will give him a call for next season?

Because no matter what the Toronto media says, he has yet to cost his team a season and is a fine stop-gap solution in front of the net. Furthermore, he's still just 32 and has two or three more good years in him.

Here he is in Leafs white (the "away" uniform), on card #76 from Upper Deck's 2013-14 SPX set:

It's a great-looking set, with enough foil to look classy and complementary colours to keep the theme running while keeping a classic "card feel". He signed it in blue sharpie after a 4-2 loss to the Habs while with the Avalanche, in January 2018.

After this season's failure to qualify for the "real" playoffs, my guess is the Toronto media will turn on goalie Freddie Andersen this summer, GM Kyle Dubas the next and team President Brendan Shanahan the one after that, forcing yet another rebuild on a team that hasn't won a Stanley Cup since 1967 (or a playoff series in 15 years).

Nikolai Antropov Autographed Card

(As per years past, this is a twin-post with my "regular" blog, where I predicted the Toronto Maple Leafs would finish second in the Atlantic Division in 2019-20).

The ultimate irony, in my case, is that the hockey player of whom I have the most "collectibles" of in terms of signed or jersey cards spent the bulk of his career playing on a team I despise - only one of two I feel strongly about in a negative spectrum, with the San Jose Sharks - the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It's 1967, it's the constant choking, it's the league bias in their favour for reviews done in their city, acting like they own the sport, cheating - whether it be pretending players are injured to save cap space or bullying their way past better teams only to do nothing with it in the end (see how they treated the Ottawa Senators in the playoffs in the early 00s) - and bending of the rules (see: using the injury list to go over the cap more than other teams during the summer, and front-loading contracts with signing bonuses to give themselves an advantage over small-market teams, who can't afford those practices), it's fucking up the RFA market by overpaying two young players who had zero leverage, caring more about turning a profit than icing a decent team for decades, always getting chosen for the outdoor games, and changing their uniforms too often. It's being in the goddamn NHL to begin with when the league was specifically designed to get away from Toronto.

It's the city where they play, which isn't even truly Canadian it's so Americanized - what with guns, a shitty subway system and an NBA team - yet they often get the lone non-U.S. dates on music tours; having the Hockey Hall Of Fame despite having less than 50% the amount of Stanley Cups of the Montréal Canadiens, who had an empty, legendary Forum to house it.

No, seriously, fuck the Leafs.

Which doesn't mean I disrespect everyone who's ever played there. Darryl Sittler, Doug Gilmour, Félix Potvin, Wendel Clark, Luke Richardson, Syl Apps, Johnny Bower, Jacques Plante, Lanny McDonald... lots of great people with great talent, most of which was wasted on Torontonians.

And, of course, there's also my favourite Leaf, Nikolai Antropov. Was he better than Sittler or Gilmour? Of course not. But he sent me six signed cards at once when I was getting back into the hobby, and was the first signed insert I ever pulled. He marked a turning point for me in collecting, where it was no longer just about the people I had played with in high school (Ben Guité, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, Mathieu Darche), international competitions (José Theodore) in Juniors (Jason Doig, Benoit Gratton, Georges Laraque, Edin Burazerovic, Sébastien Charpentier) or went out for drinks with (Marcel Hossa), but just regular humans whose job I dreamed of having when I was a kid who were extremely nice and willing to give a bit of their time.

After playing for the Leafs from 1999 until early in 2009, Antropov finished that 2008-09 season by suiting up with the New York Rangers for 18 regular-season games and a seven-game first round postseason, then spent the remainder of his four NHL seasons with the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets organization, playing two years in each city.

He then suited up for Astana Barys in the KHL for two seasons before moving back in the Toronto area so his son Danil Antropov could pursue his own hockey aspirations; Danil is currently in the OHL, and had 52 points in 66 games as a right winger for the Oshawa Generals last season; if he averages a point per game this year, he will likely at least get an invitation to an NHL rookie camp next summer, or even perhaps get drafted.

The elder Antropov sent me this signed card (in black sharpie, with #80 tagged at the end, the number he started wearing during the 2002-03 season) this summer, and I'd been eagerly waiting to feature it here:

It's #55 in the 2017-18 Toronto Maple Leafs Centennial set by Upper Deck, showing him wearing the Leafs' blue (away) uniform from the end of the 1992-2000 era - "square" logo from the 1980s, old "more accurate" leaf as a shoulder patch, stylized numbering with extra white layer, and the NHL's "2000" patch on the chest. That's probably my favourite Leafs uniform, right there.

Craig Berube Autographed Card

I wasn't Craig Berube's biggest fan growing up, because he played on teams I didn't like back then (Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Washington Capitals), but there's something to be said about a player with 61 goals and 159 points in 1051 NHL games that makes you respect his body of work.

Then again, it could be the 3360 career penalty minutes (3149 in the regular season, plus 2511 in 89 playoff games) on a 6'1" frame for 205 pounds of angry beef.

Nowadays, I look at his playing resume and see an undrafted player who spent 17 seasons in the NHL on five different teams, including two stints each with the Flyers, Calgary Flames and Caps. I see determination and certainly respect and dedication to his teams and teammates.

He stands 7th on the all-time penalty minutes list and is short-listed for two other impressive feats, including being only the second interim head coach (after Larry Robinson) to win a Stanley Cup. He also made history with Ted Nolan on November 21, 2013 when they became the first pair of coaches to face off to be of First Nations descent, Berube being part Cree and Nolan being of Ojibwe descent.

Here he is wearing the Leafs' best-looking uniform, the 1980s white (home) uniform, on card #495 from Pro Set's 1991-92 Series 2 set, which also lists him as a member of the Flames:

 He signed it in blue sharpie in the early 00s, when he was coaching the AHL's Philadelphia Phantoms.

Upper Deck 2017-18 Maple Leafs Centennial Blaster Box Break

Way to market a set to kids who grew up in the 1990s, Upper Deck!

I was not going to buy a product from UD's commemorative 2017-18 Maple Leafs Centennial set unless it came at a huge bargain, but I decided a blaster box at $24.95 ($5 off) was a good enough deal for a little less than 50 cards, especially since I was guaranteed a numbered card in it that I could probably trade or try to get my money back on if gotten rid of wisely.

Let's see what I got...

38 base cards ranging from the team mascot Carlton to Hall Of Famers Charlie Conacher, Red Kelly and Grant Fuhr, including plenty from my youth (1986-95):

My favourite insert set has to be the Die-Cut cards, of which I pulled five: Jim McKenny, Red Horner, Gary Leeman, Ace Bailey and Auston Matthews:

A close second is this dual jersey card of Nazem Kadri and Connor Brown (of the Materials Duo variety):

Some cards honor Memorable Moments in Leafs history:

Others remember Trophy Winners past:

I pulled two Hockey Hall Of Fame players:

And one Retired Numbers card of Borje Salming:

... but NO CARD numbered to #99.

I'm not sure if these came on average per box or if they're guaranteed in the form of "floaters", but I didn't get one.

Still, there were decent pulls from a decent set that I'll rate as a 7.5/10. I preferred the numbers of autographs from the 2013-14 Edmonton Oilers set, and I thought the player selection was much better with the 2008-09 Canadiens Centennial set, but this one's still a winner.

Darryl Sittler Jersey Card

After taking a moment earlier today to predicting they'd finish third in the Atlantic this coming season, I thought I could honor the Toronto Maple Leafs by featuring Darryl Sittler, one of the five greatest players in team history, in a conversation with Dave Keon, Syd Apps, Charlie Conacher, Johnny Bower and Tim Horton, ahead of the likes of his best friend Lanny McDonald, Frank Mahovlich, Turk Broda, Doug Gilmour, King Clancy, Red Kelly, and hundreds more.

Ironically, Keon, Sittler and McDonald all had issues with then-owner Harold Ballard and were essentially run out of town, thrown under the bus, and/or made to suffer by the organization at one point or another.

Sittler, who replaced Keon as captain after Ballard not only decided not to re-sign him but also pretty much forbade any other NHL team to offer him a contract as a free agent (setting up a "compensation fee" so high for the then-35-year-old that it would essentially strip that team of any of its talent), set his sights on a few NHL records, starting by becoming the first Leaf to ever accumulate 100 points in a single season, then scoring the most goals in a single playoff game (5), scoring the game-winner for Team Canada in the first Canada Cup (now known as the "World Cup"), and, of course, the record for most points in a single game (10 points, from 6 goals and 4 assists).

As captain and player representative to management, Sittler was responsible for having coach Roger Neilsen re-hired after a Ballard outburst left him without a job; GM Punch Imlach had issues with the amount of power Sittler had built up in the locker room and inquired with other teams about his trade value, but Sittler had a no-trade clause, which his agent Alan Eagleson said he would waive for half a million dollars. Imlach instead traded his best friend and linemate McDonald to the Colorado Rockies, resulting in Sittler taking scissors and cutting the "C" off of the front of his jersey. Which just furthered his influence among his peers, while Ballard compared the move to "burning the Canadian flag". Canadians consider him a folk hero, as proven by this country song.

Here he is the way he should always be remembered, wearing Leaf blue, with the "C" very visible for all to see, on card #GJ-SI from Upper Deck's 2009-10 Series 1 set and Game Jersey sub-set:

Keon may have won the Stanley Cup, Mahovlich may be the team's highest-scoring winger; Gilmour and Mats Sundin may have instilled hope and inspired a generation of Leaf fans during their respective reigns as captains, but only Sittler combined both talent and leadership to that high a level at the same time. He's the Top Leaf in my book.

Ed Olczyk Autographed Card

Ed Olczyk was drafted third overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in 1984, then went on to play in the NHL for 16 seasons. His career highlights include playing his first three and final two seasons with the Hawks, winning the Stanley Cup in 1993-94 with the New York Rangers, posting four point-per-game seasons, surpassing the 30-goal mark four times (with a career-high of 42 with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1987-88) and hitting the 90- and 88-point marks in 1988-89 and 1989-90 respectively, again with the Leafs.

He also suited up for the Winnipeg Jets (64 games over two seasons), Los Angeles Kings (67 games), and Pittsburgh Penguins (68 games over parts of two seasons), and infamously coached the Pens in 2003-04 and 2005-06, with an abysmal .354 showing (a 31-64-14-4 record).

He has since moved on to the broadcast booth, working as an NBC hockey analyst mainly for Hawks' games, as well as being a hair transplant advocate (and satisfied customer, apparently).

Today, however, I wanted to acknowledge his fight against colon cancer. Indeed, he had surgery last week and will undergo further treatment in the coming months. "Edzo" is expected back in the analysts' booth upon recovery. We wish him the best.

Here he is on card #222 from Upper Deck's inaugural 1990-91 Series 1 collection:

It shows him wearing the Leafs' 1980s blue (away) uniform; he signed it in blue sharpie a couple of years ago while working a game at the Bell Centre.

Mike Komisarek Autographed card

Mike Komisarek.

A defensive defeseman whose stay-at-home physical style complemented Andrei Markov the longest with the Montréal Canadiens, an All-Star Game participant both from Habs fans stuffing the ballots for the Centennial home-ice game and because Markov made him look much better than he actually was, whose career high was 4 goals (a total he reached in both 2006-07 and 2007-08) yet had the Toronto Maple Leafs knocking at his door with an unbelievable five-year, $22.5M deal (with a $4.3M cap hit), which of course the Leafs spent a compliance buyout on after four seasons. He did convince the Carolina Hurricanes to take a chance on him, but could only suit up for 32 games (4 assists, 14 PIMs) in 2013-14 before retiring and going back to University of Michigan to finish his degree.

Chances are he's finished with that, because the Buffalo Sabres announced earlier today he'd been named as a Player Development Coach, presumably with the organization's young defensemen.

Here he is from his days in Toronto, across the lake from Buffalo, wearing their classic blue (home) uniform, on card #345 from Upper Deck's 2011-12 O-Pee-Chee set:

He signed it in blue sharpie later that year.

Habs and Leafs fans like to rag on Komisarek - the former because he went to their team's long-time rivals as a free agent, and the second because of how disappointed they were that their prized free agent couldn't possibly live up to his contract's expectations - but both should keep in mind that he was, indeed, a hard-to-play-against defender, among the best in the league at shutting down the opposition and a fine defensive-zone checker... until he took on Milan Lucic in a fight and lost any hockey sense he ever had. And things only got worse when he tried to get his revenge, and again while playing for Toronto.

There are no two ways about it: Lucic ended this guy's career.

Daniil Markov Autographed Card

Daniil Markov was a steal by the Toronto Maple Leafs when they drafted him 223rd overall at the 1995 draft after the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season in which he had played alongside Pavel Bure and Alexander Selivanov on the famed Moscow Spartak team.

He was an okay point producer - 147 points in 538 regular-season NHL games, 14 more in 81 postseason games, and 36 points in 208 regular-season games in Russia, 8 more points in 34 playoff games in the old country - but his main strength was his defensive play and the fact that he was a total team player, willing to drop the gloves against much bigger and stronger opponents and blocking shots in an era where it wasn't a wide-spread practice.

But like many of Pat Quinn's Leafs (I'm thinking of Shayne Corson, Darcy Tucker, Dave Andreychuk, Ed Belfour and Gary Roberts in particular), he had a pack mentality where he felt much tougher than he was because he knew that any of the other 20 brutes playing on his team could step up if he ever got in trouble.

Which is why many mostly remember his time in Toronto for this move:

Sure, it's hard to imagine these days when he's the affable Father Time and the feel-good story of the post-Teemu Selanne years, but Jaromir Jagr was once considered a bit of an egotistical brat, a show-boater, and a bit of a dick; his post-goal salute enraged many, and Markov was one of them. What happened in the video above was that Jagr had tied the game - the series clencher - at the end of the third period and did his salute; the Leafs wanted to make him pay, and Markov made sure the move didn't go unnoticed. (Note to "Danny": if you have to repeat the move three times, the main effect has been lost).

What had to happen next did: the Leafs were eliminated in the next round by the Buffalo Sabres, a sight their fans may get more and more familiar with in the next few years. As we all know, Toronto has a knack for beating the Ottawa Senators up in the postseason and, well, little else. They haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1967 - the final season of the Original Six era, and the NHL's 50th anniversary; the league's gearing up for its 100th, next year.

Markov played with the Leafs for four seasons and did well there, as I've mentioned, but it was in his next two seasons, with the Phoenix Coyotes, that he was a force, one of the best shut-down defenders in the West. He could not repeat the recipe for the rest of his time in North America, suiting up for the Carolina Hurricanes, Philadelphia Flyers, Nashville Predators and Detroit Red Wings in the next three seasons before returning to Russia, where he would play until 2013-14.

Here he is, wearing the Leafs' late 1990s blue (away) uniform with the 1998-99 patch commemorating the closing of Maple Leaf Gardens (the team moved to the Air Canada Centre mid-season), in a game against the Edmonton Oilers at what was then known as the Skyreach Center:

It's card #148 from Upper Deck's 1999-2000 SPX set, one which I hadn't purchased a pack of but fell upon some cards in repacks in 2002 or 2003.

Markov has won Olympic bronze (2002) and World Championship gold (2008) medals; it was at the 2008 Worlds in Québec that I would have had him sign it in blue sharpie, with his uniform number (55) tagged at the end. It's a beautiful all-foil card, save for the fact that it's a Leafs card.

Two (Similar) Autographed Luke Richardson Cards

You might have heard something about Mike Babcock opting to go to the Toronto Maple Leafs for the next 8 seasons... maybe. Buffalo Sabres fans are pretty angry and/or disappointed, and Detroit Red Wings fans are mostly just happy that the drama's over.

Which leaves one less option for the Sabres, with Todd McLellan having chosen the Edmonton Oilers yesterday. One AHL head coach who has NHL experience behind the bench as an assistant and 21 years as a player does have ties with Sabres GM Tim Murray, as both worked together in the Ottawa Senators organization who, like Buffalo, is rich in young talent. And the man responsible for making all the Sens' kids into adults who are ready to step in right away is none other than Luke Richardson, the former bruising defender who has accumulated over 2000 penalty minutes while suiting up for the Leafs, Oilers, Philadelphia Flyers (with whom he reached the Stanley Cup Finals), Columbus Blue Jackets (which he captained), Tampa Bay Lightning and Sens.

I think it's a no-brainer, because he's great with youngsters and can get them NHL-ready, is a terrific teacher, doesn't shy away from tough play, and wouldn't have to move far to get from Binghamton (the Sens' AHL affiliate) to Buffalo, a ride that takes roughly three hours. His family wouldn't feel too out of place.

I have met Richardson a few times in my life, and got him to sign cards for me on a couple of occasions. One of these is from my teens years (early 1990s), while the other was signed while he played for the Sens, in 2007:

They both show him wearing the Leafs' 1990s blue (away) uniform, battling for the puck with the Minnesota North Stars' Brian Bellows, and are from Upper Deck's 1990-91 Series 1 set (it's card #362 in the collection), signed in blue sharpie.

Nik Antropov Jersey Card

So it looks like the Toronto Maple Leafs are combining their yearly pre-playoff meltdown with a half-planned tanking to get in on the McEichel sweepstakes along with perennial bottom-feeders Carolina Hurricanes, Arizona Coyotes, Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers.

I, for one, hope Buffalo finishes last - which will ensure them of at least picking one of Jack Eichel or Connor McDavid, and that the Oilers or Colorado Avalanche win the lottery to get the first pick. I'd hate to see one of the two blue-chip prospects save a dwindling franchise when fans from other markets have been supporting their crappy teams through thick and thin.

The Leafs just haven't been the same since the days of Mats Sundin and Nikolai Antropov, where the two towering and tough centers plowed through the opposition and helped build the Bay Street Bullies identity that former GM Brian Burke loved so much.

Antropov was the only Leaf I liked, so I collect his cards even though he's mostly shown with a team I'd rather avoid, like here, where he's sporting their classic white (then-home) uniform, with a matching game-worn jersey swatch:

It's from Fleer's 2008-09 Fleer Ultra set (card #UA-NA of the Ultra Uniformity sub-set) by Upper Deck.

He's currently in the final season of a two-year contract with the KHL's Astana Barys club, so maybe he'll cross back to this side of the pond eventually - he is, after all, a Canadian citizen now, though he still plays for Team Kazakhstan internationally.

Vincent Damphousse Autographed Card

Tonight, as a nice gesture of solidarity in honour of the two soldiers slain in separate events in Canada this week, the Montréal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs will band together via video link and observe a simultaneous minute of silence followed by showing the national anthems sung in Ottawa.

I figured I could do my part by featuring a player who had a distinguished career in two of those cities, Vincent Damphousse. I had previously featured Damphousse in 2011 with cards of his with the Habs, Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sharks I'd sent him at the spa facilities he owns; I hadn't sent one of him with the Leafs because I already had this one:

It's from Upper Deck's 1990-91 Series 1 set (card #224) that he signed for me (in thin black sharpie) in the early-to-mid-1990s when he was dating one of my mom's friends... and several other women.

As far as skills go, Damphousse was a heck of a talent. He scored 38 goals or more four times (reaching 40 in 1993-94), hit the 50-assist mark six times (with a high of 61 in 1989-90), reached the 90-point mark four times (with a high of 97 in 1992-93) and the 80-point plateau another two times, including an 89-point season in 1991-92. He played in 4 All-Star Games (1991, 1992, 2001 and 2002) and was the Game MVP at the 1991 on the strength of 4 goals, tying an NHL record.

As far as being a team player, he captained the Habs from 1996 until 1999, and won the Stanley Cup with the team in 1993. He was also on Team Canada at the 1996 World Cup, a depth center behind Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Eric Lindros and Steve Yzerman. Also centers on that team but usually playing out of position were Joe Sakic, Trevor Linden, Keith Primeau, Rod Brind'Amour and Adam Graves.

When he was with the Habs, though - and especially after he got the captaincy - something started bothering me about his play. Despite finishing 4th in Selke voting in 1995-96, I noticed every time he would move on the opposing team's center or defenseman when they had the puck, he would slash them with his stick, right above their gloves, essentially trying to injure their wrists. It wasn't very sportsmanlike, and was probably the main reason why he garnered 559 penalty minutes in 519 games in Montréal. But on a team with historically gentlemanly captains such as Jean Béliveau, Henri Richard, Émile 'Butch' Bouchard and Guy Carbonneau (and, later, Saku Koivu and Brian Gionta), I deemed it unacceptable.

Nikolai Antropov Autograph Card

I don't know if all collectors/bloggers can pinpoint the exact moment or exact card that either brought them back to collecting or made them take it that step farther than they were at before, but in my case, it was this card, from Topps' 2000-01 Stadium Club (#LS5 of their Lone Star Signatures sub-set, signed on-card in thin blue sharpie with his uniform number - 9 - tagged at the end):

Sure, it shows Nikolai Antropov with the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team I would repeal from my collection altogether, but it's also the first ''quality insert'' card (autograph or swatch card, not just a ''league leader'' or ''All-Star'' or whatever card) I ever pulled from a pack, and it was at a time where I'd stopped paying attention to hockey (and pretty much all sports) but would still buy a pack or two per year at a dollar store to keep up with where it was and, mostly, for old times' sake and to reconnect with my inner child.

I'd spent a lot of my childhood bringing hockey cards to Montréal Canadiens' games in the hopes of getting one signed, and here was one where someone else had gone through all that trouble for me and all I had to do was open a pack of otherwise beautiful, thick and sturdy cards.

A couple of years later, the Habs would hold preseason jamborees/fan jams where you could meet-and-greet players of an otherwise forgettable era for the team, which brought that extra spark to my collecting because I realized I still had ''ins'' to get stuff signed throughout the organization (before I got into TTMs) to frame and hang on the walls all over my apartment.

And so it is with great irony that the one card that I can pinpoint to getting the ball rolling in that direction is not only of a Leafs player, but its ultimate Habs-killer in Antropov who would have won Art Ross and Hart trophies if half (or even a quarter) of all Leafs' games were against my hometown Canadiens, with Tomas Kaberle a shoe-in for the Norris.

After obtaining a Canadian citizenship in 2007 and playing for the Winnipeg Jets until 2012-13, Antropov spent the last season with the KHL's Barys Astana, with whom he'd also played during the lockout. He is signed through next season, and plays with other former NHLers Cam Barker, Nigel Dawes, Ari Ahonen, Mike Lundin, and Dustin Boyd.

Gary Leeman: 6 Autographed Cards (Part 1)

So my last three returns involve former Calgary Flames... I had sent Gary Leeman these 6 cards on April 1st, 2014, and got them all back, signed in blue sharpie with his jersey number (11) tagged at the end, Tuesday, April 15th (2014) - a 14-day return!

Leeman had an extraordinary career in which he played just about every possible role on the ice (though fairweather fans always ''blamed'' him for not repeating his high-scoring prowess from his days with the Toronto Maple Leafs).

And I get that, really I do. I mean, improving from 21 goals (52 points) in 1986-87 to 30 goals (61 points) in 1987-88 to 32 goals and 75 points (in just 61 games!) in 1988-89 to an astonishing 51 goals and 95 points in 1989-90, Leeman looked like he could compete with Brett Hull for a long time. But after struggling through injuries and an ever-changing cast of teammates for the following year and a half, he was sent to the Flames in the largest trade of all time, as 10 players changed teams, with Doug Gilmour, Jamie Macoun, Kent Manderville, Ric Nattress and Rick Wamsley headed to Toronto, and Leeman, Alexander Godynyuk, Jeff Reese, Michel Petit, and Craig Berube going to Calgary.

But the Flames only gave Leeman two half-seasons before shipping him off to the Montréal Canadiens to finish off the 1992-93 season, and his 18 points in 20 games were impressive, particularly when one considers he wasn't even on the team's top two lines. As a matter of fact, on that Stanley Cup-winning team, he came after 40-goal right winger Brian Bellows, center-turned-winger Denis Savard, checking winger Mike Keane, 97-point center Vincent Damphousse, 94-point center Kirk Muller, sniper Gilbert Dionne, and future 50-goal man John LeClair on the depth chart. Oh, and the best defensive center of all time in Guy Carbonneau, who needed his 20 minutes of ice time per game to check the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Mats Sundin and Pat Lafontaine.

So Leeman succesfully went from go-to sniper to ''cog in the machine'', but too many people still wanted him to be the 50-goal man even well into his 30s, so the Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues miscast him themselves, forcing him to expatriate himself to Germany to end his career; he did end up with 15 goals and 56 points in 54 games with the Hannover Scorpions over two seasons to finish in style.

All in all, we're talking about a guy who played nearly 700 NHL games, played for three different Canadian teams (and two more in the AHL - the St. Catharines Saints and Fredericton Canadiens), was one goal short of the 200 mark, put up 466 points and 24 more in 36 playoff games, and has his name on the Cup. He can be proud of himself every time he looks in the mirror, because he has accomplished a lo during his career. Enough to warrant my featuring three cards of his with the despised Leafs...

And here they are, all showing him wearing their classic blue (away) 1970s-1980s uniform:

On the left, from Pinnacle Brands' 1990-91 Score (American) set (card #40); at center, from Upper Deck's 1990-91 Series 1 (French Canadian Version) set (card #243); and on the right, from Topps' 1989-90 O-Pee-Chee (card #22), during a pre-game warm-up with Ken Wregget behind him.

                           (continued in the following post)

Lanny McDonald Jersey Card

Regular readers of this blog know the tremendous amount of respect I have for Lanny McDonald, first and foremost because he was a great hockey player who made it into the Hall Of Fame, and because he was a tremendous leader for the Colorado Rockies and Calgary Flames. And because he left the Toronto Maple Leafs on bad terms.

Unfortunately, since I can never get swatch cards of him with the Rockies or Flames (though I came close once), this will be my third jersey card of him with the Leafs:

Like the Jacques Lemaire card from a couple of days ago, it's from Upper Deck's 2013-14 Series 1 set (card #GJ-LM from the UD Game Jersey sub-set). It contains a plain white swatch, which probably explains why my winning bid was under two bucks.

Still, we're talking about a player who made it to the Hall, won a Stanley Cup as part of the only visiting team ever to win on the Montréal Canadiens' home ice with the Flames in 1989, has 500 goals, over 500 assists and over 1000 points in over 1100 NHL games (plus another 44-40-84 in 117 playoff games with two trips to the Finals playing in an era with no less than three dynasties: the 1970s Habs, the 1980s New York Islanders, and the 1980s Edmonton Oilers).

And, of course, the card comes with this season's ghost guarantee (Richard McWilliam died early last year) that the jersey is game-worn:

Rob Ramage Autographed Card

I figure I should get it out of the way as soon as possible: yes, Rob Ramage was found guilty of impaired driving causing death and dangerous driving causing death (doing the same thing, which should be one offense, really) that killed former NHLer Keith Magnusson. In an odd turn of events, the Magnusson family had forgiven him and wanted to have him speak to teens about the dangers of drinking and driving rather than serve prison time (he would get 4 years - the harshest penalty ever in Canada for someone with no previous record of drinking and driving, possibly because he was a celebrity), but were granted over 9 million dollars in a civil case against both Ramage and the car rental company (National Car Rental Of Canada)...

Ramage was granted parole in 2011. In December, he was made assistant coach of the OHL's London Knights as Dale Hunter went on a short coaching stint with the Washington Capitals.

Before all of that, he was considered a terrific team player who got 48 points in 80 WHA games, and 564 points (139 of them goals) in 1044 regular-season NHL games to go with 50 more points in 84 playoff games and two Stanley Cups, one in which he played a large role (1988-89 with the Calgary Flames) and one in which he did very little (1992-93 with the Montréal Canadiens).

He captained two teams: the Colorado Rockies (he was, in fact, their last captain before they became the New Jersey Devils) and the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1989 until 1991. and it's representing the Leafs with the 'C'' on his chest on this 1990-91 Bowman card from Topps (card #162 in the set) that I had him sign in blue sharpie:

It was signed in the late 1990s or early 2000s at a team function with several retired members of the 1993 Habs, and shows him wearing the Leaf's blue (then-away) uniform. Ironically, the Habs are the Leafs' biggest rivals; the feeling is not mutual, though, as Montréal has a much more intense rivalry with the Boston Bruins, which probably explains why the Leafs usually massacre the Habs when they play on national telecasts on Saturdays.

Luke Richardson Autographed Card

Luke Richardson was chosen in the first round (7th overall) of the 1987 NHL draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs, ahead of Joe Sakic (15th), Andrew Cassels (17th), John LeClair (33rd), Jeff Hackett (34th), Éric Desjardins (38th), Mathieu Schneider (44th), Guy Hebert (159th), and Theoren Fleury (166th).

Sarcastic people might say that explains why the Leafs were so bad for so long, foregoing such quality offensive leaders and steady #1 goaltenders in favour of a defensive defenseman, but not only was Richardson one of their better picks of the late 1980s, he was also a true leader, having even captained the Columbus Blue Jackets later in his career.

He played for an astonishing 21 NHL Seasons (surprising not just because it proves his value on the blue line and in the dressing room, but also because of his tough and bruising style of play), during which he played 1417 regular-season games (201 points, 2055 penalty minutes) and 69 playoff games (8 assists, 130 PIMs), during which he came close to a Stanley Cup championship, losing in the Finals, in 1999-2000 with the Philadelphia Flyers.

I got him to sign this card (and another one I can't seem to find at the moment) during the 2007-08 season when he was with the Ottawa Senators, from Upper Deck's 2005-06 Parkhurst set (card #463), signed in blue sharpie, representing him with the Leafs' white uniform:

Famously physically tough, he overcame a terrible Dino Ciccarelli clubbing to the head in his rookie season - one which earned Ciccarelli some prison time - but it's his mental toughness and resilience that has shown of late, particularly when his daughter committed suicide in late 2010, which I'm only mentioning to show this video, at a time when mental illness is at the forefront of many social discussions in Québec, Canada, and the U.S.:


Now the head coach of the Binghamton Senators, he is the one mostly responsible for Ottawa's quality NHL youngsters, which he not only helps become better hockey players, but better people, and good human beings. (I really like the string of kids making their way to the Sens' line-up these past couple of years).

Lanny McDonald Swatch Card

As many of you know, I'm a big fan of Lanny McDonald - both the player and the mustache. I received a TTM answer from his last year, resulting in these three signed cards; I also pulled this jersey card a year or two ago.

I also got this one around the same period, perhaps in 2011, from a pack of Upper Deck's 2009-10 Trilogy set:

It's card #HS-LM in the set (the Honorary Swatches sub-set), and features two decent-sized swatches of ''NHL game-used memorabilia'', one blue and one white, obviously from his days with the Toronto Maple Leafs, despite picturing him with the Calgary Flames on the card. And since it was released the same year as the Champs card I mentioned earlier, it's probably from the exact same jersey.

I don't mind that UD would use the same jersey to stock cards from different sets, but I really don't like their habit of not associating the player with that team on their card. It makes you doubt the validity of their white swatches at all... say they purchase a white Atlanta Thrashers jersey of Chris Chelios, likely at a bargain price, but insert pieces of it in cards of his with teams in which he mattered, like the Montréal Canadiens (Stanley Cup, Norris, co-captain, first American-born captain), Chicago Blackhawks (captain, Norris, hometown hero) or Detroit Red Wings (multiple Stanley Cups), wouldn't it alter the intrinsic value of the cards themselves? Doesn't the guarantee of being ''game-worn'' lose a tad of its credibility, since it wasn't worn with the team labeled on the card? How far do they have to stretch the truth before it becomes a lie?

I really didn't want to use a Lanny McDonald card to make this point, because I respect him so much, as one of the two Flames I identify as their all-time best captains (along with Jarome Iginla, of course). But I've been siting on this card for so long because of that exact point, so I figured I might as well get it off my chest.

Jeff Brown Autograph Card

While a member of the Québec Nordiques, Jeff Brown was one of my favourite NHL defensemen. A powerplay specialist with a killer, hard shot, he was kind of his generation's Sheldon Souray. His plus/minus stats weren't all that great, though, and not all of them can be blamed on the lowly Nordiques: he even managed to be -6 while recording 25 goals for the St. Louis Blues in 1992-93, and -11 the following year, split between the Blues and the Vancouver Canucks while scoring 14. That season, though, he did go 6-9-15 for the Canucks on route to a Game 7 loss in the Stanley Cup Finals.

As a matter of fact, he was almost a point-per-game player in the post-season, with 20 goals, 45 assists and 65 points in 87 playoff games, including 12-in-12 in 1989-90, 12-in-13 in 1990-91, and 11-in-11 in 1992-93.

This is one of the rare cards depicting him in the Carolina Hurricanes' uniform, since he completed the 1996-97 season playing for the Hartford Whalers (who became the Canes during the summer), and was traded mid-season in 1997-98 to the Toronto Maple Leafs:

It's from Pinnacle Brands' 1997-98 Be A Player, a signed (in black sharpie) insert version of card #89. Released mid-season (Pinnacle had a habit of preferring to release products in calendar years rather than right before seasons started), it bears a mention on the back that he was sent to the Leafs on January 2nd, 1998.

He had to retire from the NHL due to concussions, but is still in the game as the head coach of the USHL's Indiana Ice, where I might send him a TTM request this year, after having won a championship coaching the NAHL's St. Louis Bandits.

Nik Antropov Dual Jersey Card

In the trade that netted me this Montréal Canadiens triple-swatch and this Detroit Red Wings dual swatch, one card I made sure to keep was this Nikolai Antropov card:

Sure, it's a card of him with the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team I try to avoid at all costs. In my hierarchy of teams, it's Habs first, then a thought for my former-favourite Québec Nordiques, then teams Wayne Gretzky played for in chronological order, then the American Original Six teams plus the Colorado Avalanche, then the Canadian teams except the Leafs, then the rest of the American teams, followed by the AHL teams, the KHL and all European teams, the ECHL teams, the LNAH, Junior teams, beer-league teams, then people who don't play but watch on TV, then those who don't watch but read some box scores in the papers, then (...), then golf, then cricket, then (...), then lawyers, then politicians, then insects, then, perhaps the Leafs.

But my first 'hit' after nearly a decade of not purchasing cards was of this gentle giant - and I'll feature it as soon as I unpack it. But I decided to collect him despite the Leafs thing.

He signed a two-year deal with Astana Barys of the KHL last weekend. As a Habs-killer, I'm not so sad to see him leave, but it's too bad it had to be the way he did - after a season misused as sometimes the third-line center (a role that should have been reserved for under-producing Olli Jokkinen), gathering 18 points in 40 games with the lowly Winnipeg Jets. He didn't get the offers he was expecting on this side of the pond, so he went to Russia with the hopes of reviving his career - perhaps with an Olympic medal in tow.

I got a six-card return from him a year ago.

This card was from Upper Deck's 2005-06 SPx set (card #WM-NA of the Winning Combos insert set, numbered 177/350); it features a nice, dark blue swatch and a white one, both official Leafs colours.