Vincent Damphousse Jersey Card

Eric Lindros entering the Hockey Hall of Fame definitely put the final coffin on how dominant a player must be and cemented its reputation as the Hall of Very Good Players. The institution, already a bit of a joke for not being located within the walls of the old Montréal Forum, now has to include everyone who's played in All-Star Games, won just one piece of hardware, and/or had two or three terrific seasons - especially those who "might have been even better" had they not gotten injured.

That means Jose Theodore - he of a Vezina and a Hart - is a shoe-in when it should've been a five-year debate; that means Chris Osgood gets a realistic shot, what with his three Stanley Cup wins; that means 1000-point players (of which Lindros was not) now must be included, notably Pierre Turgeon and Vincent Damphousse.

I mean, hey: Damphousse got to 1205 regular-season points (46th all-time), 432 of them goals (68th) and 773 assists (37th), despite never reaching the 100-point single-season mark, though he surpassed 90 four times. He's won a Stanley Cup and captained the most decorated team in hockey - the Montréal Canadiens.

He has 41 playoff goals and 104 playoff points.

Not only was he selected to play in four All-Star Games, he was its MVP in 1991 on the strength of an NHL-record 4 goals.

I wasn't a big fan; I particularly didn't like how he would hit opponents' wrists with his stick when defending against and trailing them, despite the fact that it earned him a fourth-place finish in Selke voting while playing for my hometown Habs. The fact that he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and San Jose Sharks was also too dark a mark to be evened out by playing for the Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers.

Speaking of the Sharks, here is, wearing their teal (then-away) end-of-the-90s uniform, on card #91 from Private Stock's 2000-01 Titanium Draft Day set (the Authentic Game-Worn Jerseys sub-set), manufactured by Pacific:

It features a red game-worn jersey swatch from his days in Montréal; the back of the card specifies that it's from a home jersey (which was white at the time), which would make this either part of the shoulders, wrists or waist parts of the jersey.

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.

Vincent Damphousse: 5 Autographed Cards (Part 2)

       (continued from the previous post)

And finally, a card from his days with the Sharks:

He played five and a half seasons in San Jose, never again reaching an average of a point per game on a powerhouse team led by Owen Nolan. As for the current crop of Sharks, they had triumphant regular seasons that inevitably led to early post-season exits. This particular card is from Topps' beautiful 2000-01 Stadium Club set (card #183), which were being sold in dollar stores at the time in Montréal, when hockey went through a short phase where no one cared for it in the city.

He signed a free agent contract with the Colorado Avalanche prior to the 2004-05 lock-out, but never got to play with them, as he announced his retirement when play resumed a year later. He was always very active with the players' association, even serving as vice president under Trevor Linden at one point. He was one of the few visionaries during the lock-out who realized that a salary cap tied into the revenues with more than half of it going to the players might actually benefit the players more in the long run - which it did, nearly doubling their salaries five years into the deal.

Vincent Damphousse: 5 Autographed Cards (Part 1)

I was hoping March would be different from February for many reasons - tremendous back pain and frozen bank accounts being the two main issues that have crippled me. But if it means getting more mail from former captains, I'll endure a bit more pain.

I sent Vincent Damphousse these 5 cards and a fan letter on November 30th, 2010, and received them all back, signed in black sharpie, on March 2nd. He added his jersey number at the tail end of his distinctive signature - 21 for the Edmonton Oilers, 25 for the San Jose Sharks and Montréal Canadiens.

Drafted 6th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Damphousse's single greatest individual moment came when he represented his first team in the 1991 All Star Game, where he tied Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy for most goals in a game, with 4.

His greatest team moment, however, would come as a Hab, as part of the team that won the 1993 Stanley Cup. Of course, I had to send cards depicting him in both Canadiens uniforms:

The card on the right - in the red, 'away' jersey - even has the 1992-93 Stanley Cup Finals patch on the jersey; it's from Topps' 1993-94 Stadium Club set (card #240). He had 39 goals and 58 assists - good for 97 points - the year he won the Cup. The card on the left - the white 'home' jersey - is card #110 in the 1995-96 Parkhurst set, one of only two NHL seasons in which the Parkhurst brand emitted its own series since its revival in the early 90s.

He served as team captain from 1996 until 1999; he was a huge star in Montréal: he was a hit with the ladies (at one time even dating one of my mom's friends), and appeared in TV commercials, such as this one for Head & Shoulders:



Before the Habs, Damphousse had a one-season stint with the Edmonton Oilers during which he scored 38 goals and got 89 points in 80 games, as can be seen in these two cards:

The card on the left is from the 1992-93 Topps set (card #55), which used foil on the front, something collectors were more used to from Upper Deck; the card on the right is from the borderless 1991-92 Pro Set Series Two, by Pro Set - card #381 - which featured all the players who had been traded since the release of the first set, and rookies it had missed.

(to be continued in the next post)