Yann Danis Autographed Card

I wrote about Michael Leighton recently, who made AHL history by surpassing Johnny Bower for the most career shutouts; Yann Danis, however, made Albany Devils history this season, and fittingly represented the Capital District in the 2016 AHL All-Star Game.

He was also called up by the New Jersey Devils recently, after an injury to starter Cory Schneider. The former Brown University Bears standout had a 25-9-5 record with a 2.25 GAA and 6 shutouts with the A-Devils and may very well see some action for the offensively-challenged team.

Since turning professional in 2003-04, he has only had two sub-par seasons that combined a GAA over 3.00 and a save percentage under .900: in 2007-08, his final season in the Montréal Canadiens organization, where he went 11-19-4, 3.28 and .893 on a team where the three players with over 40 points were Corey Locke, Matt D'Agostini and Jonathan Ferland, and in 2013-14 with the Adirondack Phantoms where he went 9-11-4, 3.82 and .881 on a team where Jason Akeson was the lone player with over 40 points.

He's also part of the "first shutout in his first NHL game" club, a feat he accomplished with the Habs against the Atlanta Thrashers in October 2005.

I had featured him wearing the Hamilton Bulldogs' red (away) uniform back in 2009, after a trade with Calgary collector KC; here he is wearing their white (home) uniform, on card #36 from In The Game's 2006-07 Heroes And Prospects set, which he signed in blue sharpie roughly seven years ago:

You can check out his current Devils mask here.

Yann Danis Autographed Card

I thought it was time to update my Habs Numbers Project by including #75, Yann Danis, properly, with this 2005-06 Rookie Class card from Upper Deck (#39 in the set), signed in blue sharpie when he was with the New York Islanders:

Now seen as the very definition of a ''journeyman goaltender'', in my opinion, he is closer to a victim of there being too many great goalies out there and too few seats available while teams try to develop their prospects.

Case in point: he's currently with the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack, on a professional try-out contract, where he has a shutout to go with his 4-1-0 record, .912 save percentage and 2.56 GAA in 5 games, this after spending the first part of the season with the Norfolk Admirals, getting released when John Gibson was sent down from the Anaheim Ducks after Ilya Bryzgalov signed as a free agent when the Ducks' goalies all fell to injury. And yet, in 11 games with the Admirals, he'd stopped nearly as many shots as Jason LaBarbera's total, who'd played 16.

It seems that no matter the awards won in the NCAA, the fact that he hadn't been drafted made his way to the NHL that much harder, constantly having to prove himself even to the teams who agreed to sign him to contracts. Since graduating from Brown University in 2003-04, Danis has played for 4 NHL teams (the Habs, Islanders, New Jersey Devils and Edmonton Oilers), six AHL teams (three in the past 12 months), and one year in the KHL.

I didn't follow him for the whole time, but I did try to keep updated when he was with the Oilers' AHL affiliate Oklahoma City Barons, and there were many times where he was simply the best player on the ice, particularly in the playoffs (as can be attested here and here).

Assuming the NHL currently employs 65 of the world's 80 best goalies in the world, and that Europe is home to another 10 and that a few kids in Juniors are already that good, I think Danis still ranks among the top-100. Yes, in the world. It's an aberration to me that he isn't at least a backup on the type of team that would waive Evgeni Nabokov but yet isn't ready to bring up one of their kids to warm the bench for the rest of the season.

Hopefully this latest PTO will give him the chance he deserves - or at the very least a more stable contract offer.

Yann Danis Autograph Card

This one was sent to me a few months ago via snail mail by KC, of Hockey Freaks, in exchange for a Miikka Kiprusoff jersey card. Sure, it's a pretty uneven trade on all accounts (quality of player, monetary value), but he's a Calgary Flames fan and I'm a Montréal Canadiens fan - and I'm sure karma's pendulum will swing back my way eventually.

I didn't mention this card sooner because I already had a post about Yann Danis in February, but with news that he's going to the KHL next season, I thought it was timely to bring him back up. Oh, and he finished the 2009-10 season with a 2.05 GAA and a save % of .923 with the New Jersey Devils, further proof that it's the Devils' system more than Martin Brodeur that helps miracles happen in the swamp.

In any event, this 2005-06 Heroes And Prospects card (#A-YD) by In The Game complements my Tomas Plekanec card from the same set, and joins Jaroslav Halak and Maxim Lapierre in my collection of autographed Hamilton Bulldogs cards.

I wish him the best of luck in the KHL - and a contract in the NHL for 2011-12.

Two Yann Danis Jersey Cards

You might know him best as the guy who now watches Martin Brodeur play every night, but once upon a time not too long ago, Yann Danis was a top NHL goaltending prospect.

It started while he was in high school, in his rookie year in Junior A when he was named to the Rookie All Star Team and Academic All Star Team; then came Junior AAA and another All Star nomination, and a scholarship from Brown University, where he received just about every award imaginable (including for best goaltender and best player of the league), recording three seasons with a save percentage of .929 or higher, and two with a goals-against average under 1.90.

Undrafted, he was signed to a free agent contract by his hometown Montréal Canadiens, with whom he played 6 games in the 2005-06 season, going 3-2-0, with a very respectable 2.69 GAA and .908 save % - but he spent most of his time with their AHL affiliate Hamilton Bulldogs, where he spent 5 seasons. Tired of not getting a real chance with the Habs, he signed as a free agent with the lowly New York Islanders in 2008-09 (31 games, 10-17-3, 2.86, .910) before joining the New Jersey Devils for the current season (with a GAA under 2.00 and a save % over .925 in 8 games so far).

These cards are from the 2005-06 Upper Deck set, the Rookie Threads sub-set. For this sub-set, Upper Deck was in such a rush to be the first to produce rookie jersey cards that they set up a photo shoot to have pictures with the players, then cut their jerseys to pieces and put them on the cards. If the picture on the card matches the piece of memorabilia (i.e. if he was indeed wearing the Canadiens' white jersey), it would mean that the first patch, all red, would be from either the shoulder, wrist or waist of the jersey, a rare enough piece, while the two-colour blue and white patch would inevitably be from the waist.

The red patch goes for $10-20 on the open market, while the dual-coloured one can reach $30-40. Imagine if he had his chance at putting up those high numbers in more games - the sky is the limit.