Alexandre Daigle Autograph Card

When word got out this weekend that Nail Yakupov had requested a trade from the Edmonton Oilers, I found it hard to believe, considering he was doing well with Connor McDavid earlier this year and had found his game last year alongside Derek Roy as well; it turns out the main reason would be his relegation to third line duties and lack of decent playing time, so we'll see how that develops.

But the comments section on many websites were getting rather mean, going to great lengths to insult him; one such comment was that he was "the biggest choke job since Alexandre Daigle", which I thought was disingenuous for more than one reason, attacking two players who did not deserve it.

Let's compare a bit, shall we?

First off, let's go on "pure stats":

Daigle: 129 goals, 198 assists and 327 points in 616 games. Got a fair amount of Lady Byng votes in 2003-04. Not numbers that scream "First Overall Pick", and not close to the second pick of the 1993 draft, Hall Of Famer Chris Pronger, but still a player I'd choose ahead of the third pick, Chris Gratton. Thus, NHL material, for sure. Add to that 166 points in 164 Swiss League games and 71 points in 72 AHL games, and the fact that his entire NHL career took place in the Dead Puck Era (1994-2004) and you've got a case that he isn't the worst pick one could make, though he's not a game changer per se.

Yakupov, so far: 48 goals, 59 assists and 107 points in 248 games. He's barely 22. He was chosen ahead of the likes of Ryan Murray (2nd), Alex Galchenyuk (3rd), Morgan Rielly (5th), Hampus Lindholm (6th), Mathew Dumba (7th), Jacob Trouba (9th), Slater Koekkoek (10th), Mikhail Grigorenko (12th), Cody Ceci (15th), Teuvo Teravainen (18th), Olli Maata (22nd), Mike Matheson (23rd), Malcolm Subban (24th), Colton Sissons (50th), Dalton Thrower (51st), Joonas Korpisalo (62nd), Shayne Gostisbehere (78th) and Matt Murray (83rd).

And, no offense to all of these guys who have already achieved more in hockey than I ever did, but I don't see any of them knocking on the Hall Of Fame's doors, save perhaps for Murray if he keeps improving and dominating at every level.

So Yakupov was part of a weak draft, which means his being the #1 pick isn't entirely his fault to begin with.

In terms of first-overall busts, one might be more inclined to look at Patrik Stefan, however, the first pick in 1999, whose career stats in the NHL read: 64 goals, 124 assists and 188 points in 455 games, numbers that Yakupov could surpass in two decent years or three average-to-mediocre ones.

And just to dig further in, here are five others from the Class of 1999: Daniel Sedin (2nd), Henrik Sedin (3rd), Martin Havlat (26th), Mike Comrie (91st), and Henrik Zetterberg (210th). That's three Hall Of Famers and two All-Stars. Those are mistakes a GM pays for dearly. In this case, Don Wadell was given the chance to mess the franchise up again, enough to only make the playoffs once in its entire history, but also to get pretty much nothing in return for Marian Hossa to ensure they never make the post-season ever again. He now works in the upper echelons of the Carolina Hurricanes' parent company, so he'll have a chance to move a second team to Canada in a matter of weeks (or months).

But back to Daigle, whose trade value went from Pat Falloon and Vaclav Prospal to Andrei Kovalenko to Alexander Selivanov to cash. He became a decent two-way player under Jacques Lemaire with the Minnesota Wild, even leading the team in scoring with 51 points (20 goals and 31 assists) in 2003-04.

He has suited up for Team Canada three times: twice at the World Juniors (1993 and 1995, with 16 total points in 14 games, winning gold both times) as well as the 2009 Spengler Cup (2 goals on a team that was ousted by the champs Minsk Dinamo in the semifinal), an event he'd played in previously three times with HC Davos, with whom he also won three Swiss league championships.

Here he is wearing his country's white ("home") uniform from the 1995 World Juniors, from Upper Deck's 1995-96 Be A Player set (and World Class sub-set):

It's card #S188, the signed insert version of card #188, which he autographed on-card in black sharpie.

Alexei Kovalev Autograph Card

In a repeat performance, Team Russia will face Team USA in the World Championship semifinal in Prague on Saturday after beating Sweden, which was arguably missing the best goalie in the world (Henrik Lundqvist, whose New York Rangers are still in the NHL playoffs).

It is believed the Russians will have Alex Ovechkin for the game, which will be a boost, and reminds me of when another Russian Alex was viewed as All-World and could have a tremendous impact on games, Alex Kovalev.

Easily the best forward to play for the Montréal Canadiens in the past 25 years whenever he decided to ''turn it on'', ''Kovy'' was named the All-Star Game MVP in front of the home crowd at the Bell Centre as he dominated a game that featured Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Carey Price and the rest of the league's star players.

As I wrote nearly a year ago:

Did he have a tendency to take two or three nights off per week? Short answer: yes. In fact, though, the more honest answer would be this: never in important games, never in the playoffs, never when sporting a letter (be it the captain's 'C' or the alternate's 'A') on his chest, and never in front of an adoring hometown crowd cheering him on. And never when he could take center stage.

If there was a spotlight, he wanted it shined on him, no matter who else was there. The only time it didn't happen was during his rookie season, on a Stanley Cup-winning Rangers team, where Mark Messier stole the show; any other time, even playing alongside Mario Lemieux or Jaromir Jagr, Kovalev looked like the best player on the ice... (exactly) half the time.

Here he is deking and going through a Finnish goalie to score a goal while playing for the Soviet Union (notice the CCCP letters on his jersey, which no longer existed when the card set, Upper Deck's 1995-96 Be A Player collection, from which this is card #S182 - the S stands for ''signed insert version'' - featuring an on-card thin black-sharpied autograph, was released):

The card is part of the set's World Class sub-set, where they could use a player's picture while suiting up for his national team.

Jim Carey Autograph Card

It had been a while, but I do have plenty of autograph cards from the worst set of all time, Upper Deck's 1995-96 Be A Player series, of which I have already profiled Petr Nedved, Pierre Turgeon, and Brian 'Mr. October' Savage. This time, what many people have come to dub ''goaltending's one-hit wonder'', Jim Carey.

We all know how he was a rookie with the Washington Capitals and won the Calder and Vezina trophies before getting traded to the Boston Bruins and pretty much falling off the face of the earth, but that's not really how things went down.

Being an American, he played College hockey in the WCHA for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers, with whom he was a WCHA All-Rookie, member of the Second All Star Team, and Rookie Of The Year for the 1992-93 season. He was just as good the next year.

In 1994-95, with the NHL lock-out under way, he went to the AHL to play with with the Portland Pirates. The result? Rookie Of The Year, First All Star Team, and Goalie Of The Year, despite the Capitals calling him up to finish the season in the NHL, where he dominated the opposition, going 18-6-3, which pretty much ensured he'd be the Caps' starter the following year, where he was Rookie Of The Year, Goalie Of The year, and a member of the First All Star Team. Sound familiar?

Unfortunately, the team under-performed in 1996-97, and despite his decent individual statistics (2.75 GAA), he lost more than he won (17-18-3) and was sent packing to Boston, as the Bruins thought they could reboot the Massachussets native's career, but Pat Burns elected to go with Byron Dafoe instead. Carey was sent to the Providence Bruins

, in the AHL, and made enough of an impression for the St. Louis Blues to pick him off waivers; unfortunately, a serious inner-ear concussion playing with their AHL affiliate ended his career.

As of now, Carey is the CEO and President of OptiMED Billing Solutions, a medical billing company in Sarasota, Florida. There is an even more complete blog entry on his career here.

This BAP card (# s189) depicts him wearing Team USA's uniform with the ''World Class'' mention, as he was slated to be Mike Richter's backup in the 1996 World Cup. He is sporting a Shark-like mask, holding a Titan stick high, and his trademark Brian's equipment - all reasons to like him at least a bit (I had a similar setup myself).