Corey Crawford: 4 Autographed Cards

Let me start by saying I was very disappointed to see Corey Crawford not be nominated for the Calder trophy, as he put up elite-goalie statistics in his very first NHL season for a depleted Chicago Blackhawks team he nearly took to the second round  after casting former Olympian Marty Turco to the sidelines. I might even have nominated him for the Vezina instead of Pekka Rinne (although Tim Thomas is pretty much a shoe-in to win it).

''Crow'', as he is often called by teammates, had a longer-than-expected road to the NHL, considering how dominant he'd been at all levels: a 17-3-1 record and 1.92 GAA in Midget AAA leading to four exemplary Junior seasons in the QMJHL for the Moncton Wildcats where, apart from the first year, he always accumulated twice as many wins as losses, a GAA in the twos and a save percentage above .915 - including an incredible 2003-04 playoff run where he went 13-6, 2.15 and .940, showing the Hawks some promise after they'd made him the 52nd overall pick in the 2003 draft.

He holds quite a few Moncton records: best GAA (2.47 in 2004-05), most wins (35, in 2003-04), and most shutouts (6, 2004-05). He was twice named to the Q's second All-Star team (2004 and 2005).

With Nikolai Khabibulin and then Cristobal Huet with the parent club, Crawford was relegated to the AHL for his apprenticeship. His first stop was with the Norfolk Admirals, as evidenced by these 3 cards from In The Game:

The one on the left is from the 2005-06 Heroes And Prospects set (card #236); the one in the middle is from  the 2006-07 Heroes And Prospects set (card #72); and the one on the right is from the 2006-07 Between The Pipes set, the Future Stars sub-set (card #9).

When the Hawks changed their AHL affiliation to the Rockford Ice Hogs, Crow got to match his Hawks' jersey design with a logo reminiscent of the Iowa Chops - a superb combination, as can be attested by this 2007-08 Between The Pipes card (#8, the Future Stars sub-set):

I sent Mr. Crawford these 4 cards with a fan letter on March 29th and got them back on May 9th, all signed in black sharpie, all personalized ''À Sébastian'', in French, with his jersey number (29) added. It made my day, to say the least.

Roman Hamrlik: 4 Autographed Cards

Some of my friends, over the years, have complained about Roman Hamrlik's play, somehow expecting more out of the veteran's play but, in all honesty, in the past few years when a team leader such as Andrei Markov went down, The Hammer elevated his play, took charge and often played double the amount of minutes he should have.

When I sent Hamrlik these 4 cards on November 23rd, 2010, I was surprised to realize I didn't have any of him in the Montréal Canadiens' uniform. Seeing as he could leave as an unrestricted free agent this summer, I was hoping to have a signed memento in my local team's colours, but perhaps it was not meant to be. Ironically, in December, opening packs of different brands of 2010-11 cards, it seemed I got him in every other pack I opened. But I am happy with the cards I did send, which I received, all signed in black sharpie, on May 4th, 2011:

First, two depicting him with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who had made him the very first pick overall in the 1992 draft:

The card on the left, where the signature gets a little lost on the foil, is from Donruss' 1996-97 Leaf Limited set (card #4), while the one on the right is from Score's 1993-94 Score set (card #131). For a while, he was ranked second on the team's all-time assists list, in part due to his best year ever, in 1995-96, when he tallied 16 goals, 49 assists and 65 points. He spent six seasons with Tampa, his longest tenure in the NHL.

After leading the Edmonton Oilers' defense squad for 3 seasons at the end of the 90s, he moved on with the New York Islanders, where he would have 46- and 41-point seasons, and another 16-goal campaign.

The card on the left, seeing him sport the team's away uniform, is from Upper Deck's 2003-04 MVP set (card #268); it seems the autograph's ink didn't quite stick to the card on that one, which is odd, considering it wasn't all that glossy. The card on the right has him in the Isles' home uniform, from Topps' 2000-01 Stadium Club set (card #221).

After the Islanders, he spent the locked out 2004-05 season playing with his older brother for ZPS Zlin in the Czech league, and two seasons with the Calgary Flames before joining the Habs.

Ilya Bryzgalov Jersey Card

Here's one guy who put himself in the proverbial hot water recently: Ilya Bryzgalov said if his Phoenix Coyotes moved to Winnipeg, he wouldn't tag along, citing cold weather, nothing to do, and a lack of a Russian population:

You don't want to go to Winnipeg, right? Not many people live there, not many Russian people there. Plus it's cold. There's no excitement except the hockey. No park, no entertaining for the families, for the kids. It's going to be tough life for your family.

At least he gets points for being honest, and it reminds the rest of us who would prefer more Canadian teams in the NHL that it wasn't always easy for Winnipeg and Québec - even Calgary and Edmonton, actually - before those teams were forced to move in the mid-1990s: free agents shunned them, the smaller cities didn't have much corporate support, and the weather was becoming an issue, what with Gary Bettman establishing teams in warm, non-traditional markets.

So hockey players will have this dilemma: will they want to play for higher salaries in sold out arenas and perhaps have a summer home elsewhere, or will they want to play in non-hockey climates to empty arenas for mid-range salaries?

And with the playoffs he's had, letting in soft goals in each game, Bryzgalov may be looking at something even lower than mid-range in pay. For millions, he might have to go to the KHL, despite another terrific NHL regular season, in which he tallied 36 wins to go with his 2.48 GAA and .921 save %. And the season before that, he crushed the team record for wins (formerly of 33) by getting 42, with a 2.29 GAA and .920 save % in 69 games to garner a Vezina nomination.

That was odd, considering he is third of all time for longest shutout streak in playoff history, a feat he achieved with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 2006 - the year before they won the Cup.

This card (#36) is from Panini's 2010-11 Limited set, and is numbered 012/199; it sports a burgundy patch at the perfect spot right on his crotch at the bottom of the jersey, letting a bit of the team's logo pass through above it.

Kevin Lowe: 3 Autographed Cards

Obviously, I'm still learning when it comes to collecting autographs, and some lessons include how many of what to send to whom.

I sent Kevin Lowe - now the Edmonton Oilers' President - a fan letter along with the 5 cards pictured above on November 17th and got them all back today - 3 signed in thick black sharpie, and these two unsigned:

Then again, it's not like he'd worn a different uniform on all those cards, just that he has an 'A' on one and nothing on the other, compared to the 3 cards he signed on which he's wearing the captain's 'C'. And, as the guy who looks over the day-to-day operations of a hockey team in a hockey-mad town, I'm sure he had better things to do than respond to all autograph inquiries.

In that respect, I'll focus instead on the cards he did sign... and on the man himself.

From the get-go, Lowe was a prodigy. In Juniors, he was named the first English-speaking captain in QMJHL history (with the famed Québec Remparts) before becoming the Oilers' first NHL draft pick - ever. He went on to score their first NHL goal, too.

The QMJHL introduced a trophy named in his honour in 2005, which is to be awarded to the league's best defensive defenseman, but I've always found it unfair to catalog a defenseman with 432 NHL regular-season points and 58 playoff points (in 214 games) as ''defensive''. Sure, those aren't Paul Coffey-like numbers, but they sure are Hall Of Fame numbers, and ''jersey retirement'' numbers.

Which is why I was shocked to learn the Oilers hadn't retired it yet. And I only found that out when I watched an Oilers game and saw last year's #1 pick Taylor Hall wear the famed #4 jersey. How a guy with 7 All Star Game appearances, 6 Stanley Cups (5 with the Oil, one with the 1994 New York Rangers which consisted of most Oilers' dynasty players), holding team records for games played in the regular season (1037) and playoffs (172), a past captain on a team overflowing with leadership, who coached them to a 2nd place finish then as general manager got them to a Cup Finals doesn't get his jersey retired is beyond me, but maybe they're just waiting for him to no longer be involved with the team to thwart accusations of nepotism - I don't know.

Growing up, I was a huge Oilers fan. And the way I saw it, Wayne Gretzky was the offensive catalyst, of course, but my second favourite skater was Lowe - not Mark Messier, not Jari Kurri, not Glenn Anderson (who later became a Leaf), Coffey, Steve Smith or Craig MacTavish (the last player to play without a helmet). It was Lowe - the guy who could score the opportune goal from the point but would also always shut down the opposing team. And I loved both goalies - Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog, not so much Bill Ranford, who was traded for Moog.

Let's have a look at the cards he signed:

On the left, from Pro Set's 1991-92 Parkhurst set (card #51), we have him wearing the team's blue (away) uniform, augmented by the captain's 'C'; in the middle, from Score, a 1992-93 Score (card #39) depicting him in the team's home uniform, again serving as captain; and on the right, from Upper Deck's 1991-92 Series 1 set (card #186), again in the away uniform, this time sporting the assistant captain's 'A'. And what a distinctive signature!

All in all, I'm extremely happy to have gotten these cards back. I think Kevin Lowe is one of the most important players in the Oilers' dynasty and, thus, in NHL history. I view him as no less than the Oilers' own Larry Robinson. To have worn a letter on his jersey in the Gretzky/Messier years before inheriting the 'C' for himself shows just how highly his teammates regarded him, and the measure of the man can also be attested from his numerous appearances on French Canadian TV, where he always accepts to be interviewed in French, not only showing respect to Quebecers, but reminding us he'll always be one of us - he just happens to have become successful a little further West.