Joe Murphy Autograph Card

I've featured Joe Murphy before, but at that time, I focused more on his time with the Edmonton Oilers, which was mostly rooted in success, including a starring role in the team's 1990 Stanley Cup championship as well as career-highs for goals (35), assists (47) and points (82) in 1991-92.

Today, I'd like to focus more on his, uh, eccentricities - if not just outright oddball behaviour. The 1999-2000 timeframe was particularly intense, as it started with his attending the New York Rangers' training camp, then signing with the Boston Bruins midway through camp without giving the Rangers a chance to match the offer, with someone from the team's staff allegedly throwing Murphy's equipment in the Hudson River in retaliation.

It didn't take long before he started telling his Boston teammates off, calling them "heartless" and "out of shape", and yelling at head coach Pat Burns in the locker room and on the bench, leading to the team suspending him for insubordination - which was actually negotiated down from having his contract terminated, as was the Bs' first reflex.

After a week on waivers, Washington Capitals GM George McPhee (now in charge of the Vegas Golden Knights' hockey operations) gave him his final chance to play in the NHL. He was so-so to finish the 1999-2000 season (13 points in 29 games in Washington), but 14 games into the 2000-01 campaign (1 goal, 5 assists and 6 points), he and a few teammates went out on the town after a team supper and Murphy got in trouble by insisting a specific lady get in his limousine and ride back with him to his hotel room, and - the lady refusing - probably out of fear of getting raped in the car in addition to just not wanting to; her male companion then struck Murphy with a blow to the head. With a bottle. Murphy was demoted to the AHL, refused to report, and went into a year-long legal battle, claiming Workers' Comp because the event happened while he was traveling for work. He lost both the case and the appeal.

He'd weirded out before, piling up his equipment into a pyramid with his sticks on top in a triangle shape, telling teammates and trainers not to undo his pile because "The mother ship's coming, and I want to make sure I'm ready to get on board".

Or when he told "Iron" Mike Keenan - of all coaches - "Joe-Joe is tired" when it was his turn to hit the ice. Yes, the guy who was calling the 1999-2000 Bruins (Joe Thornton, Anson Carter, captain Ray Bourque, Steve Heinze) lazy and out of shape was a flake and a sloth.

It's no wonder, really, that he had trouble finding work after a 25-goal season with the San Jose Sharks in 1998-99...

Speaking of which, this is what he looked like in teal:

That's the (silver) signed insert version of card #271 from In The Game's 1998-99 Be A Player set, which he signed on-card in thin black sharpie, adding his uniform number (17) at the end. That was not a good look for the Sharks, by the way.

Brandon Dubinsky Swatch Card

I love players who get under Sidney Crosby's skin. Granted, that's more than half the league's checking centers, but some do it better than others, often leading to his losing patience and dishing out some of the dirtiest hits or slashes in the modern-day game. And, with Maxim Lapierre gone, Brandon Dubinsky is the Van Gogh of that art form.

It helps that he's usually among the league leaders in face-offs won, gaining control of the puck so opponents - and mostly Crosby - have to chase it around the ice...

In recent years, however, Dubinsky has seemed content to just agitate Sid The Kid and forgot that he can also be pretty effective at producing points rather than just stopping opponents from racking them up - and against Crosby in particular, that hasn't stopped the Pittsburgh Penguins from totally owning the Columbus Blue Jackets in the past couple of years.

Dubinsky himself has gone from a 50-point threat to 41 last year and just 2 (two!!! - and both of them assists!) in 12 games this year. He hasn't scored 20 goals since doing it in back-to-back seasons with the New York Rangers (2009-10 and 2010-11), and head coach John Tortorella - who's known Dubs since his days in Manhattan and clashed with him once or twice at that time - made the difficult decision to remove the alternate captain's "A" from Dubinsky's jersey last week.

Torts' tough-love approach has worked with Dubinsky in the past, and with other stars as well (Vincent Lecavalier comes to mind, as does Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky). We'll see how this one pans out, but Dubinsky is 31 and has three more years to go on a deal that pays him $5.85M per, which means his production should be around 40, 40, 35 and 33 points for the last four years of his deal for it to be worth its value, with plus/minuses between +5 and +10 and a 52-55% face-off win percentage (he's at 48.8 this year and finished last season at 51.7).

Here he is wearing the blue jackets' beautiful third jersey from the past decade, on card #D-DU from Panini's 2013-14 Dominion set and Authentic Material sub-set:

It features a matching blue game-worn jersey swatch that could very well be from his days in New York. It's numbered 52-99.

André Racicot Autographed Card

The struggling Montréal Canadiens were facing the mighty Ottawa Senators tonight, in a game I thought would end 3-0 for Ottawa but instead turned into an 8-3 drubbing of the Sens. The Habs were so desperate to change the tide that they'd started backup Al Montoya in lieu of $84M-man Carey Price. Then again, with a 3-6-1 record so far this season, a .883 save percentage and a 3.64 goals-against average, the main man isn't getting it done for the bleu-blanc-rouge between the pipes.

The Silver Seven blog had a pretty hilarious recap of the game, including this gem:

We got Erik Karlsson not being fully healed from his injury and kind of sucking at defense, Craig Anderson leaving his net too many times, #TheSystem totally collapsing, Jean-Gabriel Pageau not scoring a hat trick to save the day and, of course, the Sens being embarrassed on home ice by a team so utterly devoid of hope and shame that it has resorted to starting Al Montoya in net. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m pretty glad I’m no longer living in an environment which requires that I interact with Habs fans on a daily basis.

A score worthy of the early 1990s, which brings me back to this card of André Racicot wearing the Canadiens' white (then-home) uniform and signed in blue sharpie:

That's card #11 from O-Pee-Chee's 1992-93 O-Pee-Chee Premier set, a collection that became less and less "premium" as he years passed due to increasing over-production and lesser-quality rookies as time went on.

Racicot gets a bad rap. I remember telling my street hockey friends one night I wanted to call him "Red Light", because compared to Patrick Roy, the goal-scoring light would tun red far more often with the 5'11", 165-pound guy from Rouyn-Noranda than with the future Hall of Famer; it was a (mean) joke. I was a bit shocked to learn, a decade later, that the nickname had stuck. Then again, The Gazette's Red Fisher (and many others) lived in my neighbourhood, so perhaps they heard us use it on Marcil Avenue or at NDG Park...

He wasn't great, but he wasn't close to being the worst of his era either. During the Habs’ (last) Cup year in 1992-93, Racicot's statistics were actually pretty even with Roy's during the regular season: Roy went 31-25-5 with an .894 save percentage and 3.20 GAA, while Racicot went 17-5-1 with an .881 save percentage and 3.39 GAA. And, remember, Roy finished sixth in Vezina voting that year.

As a matter of fact, according to Grantline:

(Among) every goalie who played 40-plus games during Racicot’s five-year career, Racicot ranks 43rd out of 68 guys in save percentage; that isn’t great, but it certainly isn’t close to “worst ever” territory. He’s right in that dependable backup range with guys like Reggie Lemelin and Rick Wamsley, and not even all that far off from guys like Sean Burke and Mike Vernon, who were considered stars.

So it's not like he would have been in Antti Niemi/Kari Lehtonen/Ondrej Pavelec territory in current-day talk...

But there were times when scouts (Winnipeg Jets, Québec Nordiques) would come to my games and tell me that just from the fact that I wouldn't make these kinds of mistakes, I had a real shot at making the NHL one day:

Then I got to Juniors, and the Laval Titan wanted to turn me into a fighter...

But I digress.

What probably killed Racicot's chance at being a long-time NHL backup was his 1993-94 season, where he went 2-6-2 in 11 games with a 4.44 GAA and .850 save percentage with the Habs and 1-4-0 in 6 games with their AHL affiliate Fredericton Canadiens, with a 3.28 GAA and .863 save percentage.

This led to years toiling in the minors, appearing in the AHL, IHL, ECHL, WPHL, the BISL (British League), the Russian League, the WCHL and five seasons in the LHSPQ/QSCHL (now the LNAH) before he hung the pads up after the 2004-05 season.

He still plays in beer leagues, but as a skater. Mostly, though, he works for a mining company called Agnico-Eagle, operating out of the Laurentians.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard Dual Jersey Card

The Minnesota Wild are going through a rough patch, particularly in terms on injuries. Their 4-3-2 record (10 points in 9 games, which would mean a 91-point season over 82 games) isn't too bad, but it still puts them tied for last with the Winnipeg Jets in a strong Central Division.

However, that's 9 games in, and they've already lost 31 man-games between Marcus Foligno (1, facial fracture, returned on the 20th), Mikael Granlund (5, groin, returned last week), Zach Parise (9, no idea when he'll return), Charlie Coyle (6, operated for a right fibula fracture, out six-to-eight weeks), Nino Niederreiter (6, high left ankle sprain, expected back in mid-November), and Landon Ferraro (4, hip, day-to-day).

All of this is reminiscent of Pierre-Marc Bouchard's prime years where, as he had gone three straight seasons at or near the 60-point mark, the cheap boarding hits and elbows to the head just added to a litany of concussions, turning a once-promising career into more of a cruel joke. But unlike Parise's contract, this cruel joke made no one happy.

Bouchard did redeem his worth by the end of his career in the AHL and in Switzerland, but from age 28 onward, no one was willing to give him a true shot at the NHL level. Still, these are nice statistics to post before retiring at the age of 31:

From HockeyDB

Here he is sporting the Wild's white uniform on card #HS-PM from Upper Deck's 2008-09 Trilogy set and Honorary Swatches sub-set:

It features two matching game-worn swatches that are clearly from different parts of the jersey.

Rollie Melanson Autographed Card

Many thought Roland Melanson would take the 2016-17 season off completely when he announced he wanted to spend more time with his mother and fiancée, but he eventually reached an agreement with the Vancouver Canucks where Dan Cloutier would take over as goalie coach in the NHL and Melanson would be more of a consultant dealing with the prospects and AHLers, traveling from Utica to Montréal to Moncton by car when required.

Then he left the Canucks' organization altogether and joined the New Jersey Devils this summer, reuniting him with former Vancouver prospect Cory Schneider.

Today, I'd like to focus on the short time he spent with the Montréal Canadiens - as a player, that is. It started off with a lop-sided trade by GM Serge Savard, who receive "Rollie The Goalie" and the Devils' captain, Kirk Muller, in exchange for two-time 50-goal scorer Stéphane Richer and Tom Chorske. While both teams would win a Stanley Cup in the next five years, the Habs won it first (1993 vs 1995), and Richer never again reached even the 40-goal mark, while Muller was almost a point-per-game player in Montréal, culminating in a 94-point season in 1992-93.

For his part, Melanson stole the backup job away from prospects André Racicot, Frédéric Chabot, Jean-Claude Bergeron and Les Kuntar on the strength of an incredible training camp performance (two shutouts and two one-goal games in four appearances). He continued his strong play with two regular-season shutouts in 9 games in 1991-92 (against the Philadelphia Flyers and division rivals Buffalo Sabres), but did do poorly against the Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Capitals, letting in 4 goals against each team. Racicot would also suit in for 9 games, but at that point, the Habs were solely Patrick Roy's show, as #33 hit the ice in 67 contests.

And yet, here's Melanson, wearing the Habs' classic red (then-away) uniform, sporting the now-retired #1 (for Jacques Plante), on card #187 from Topps' 1992-93 Bowman set:

He signed it in black sharpie in 2002-03, when he was the Canadiens' goaltending coach.

I personally relate to his season in Montréal because, like him, I earned a roster spot on my most competitive team yet that year, as coaches dubbed me "Rollie" or "Hellie", seeing as I too came in not expected to make the Pee-Wee "A" team as a guy who'd only been a "C"-level player before then; I was just supposed to be a body who would get cut, someone present to make others look good and boost their confidence. Instead, I became the starting goalie and led the team to three tournament finals and the City Championship, earning MVP honors at every turn.

Meeting him while he was coaching the likes of José Theodore and Jeff Hackett inspired me to offer my services to coach kids myself, which I eventually got to do.

Anthony Thomas Jersey Card

Yes, I am one of those: I'm boycotting the NFL this year.

Not because players are kneeling, mind you, but for the opposite reason: because NFL owners colluded to blacklist the player who started the movement, Colin Kaepernick, while signing much lesser quarterbacks to expensive long-term contracts, leaving him unemployed.

Case in point:

Brian Hoyer, San Francisco 49ers (2 years, $12M). Currently sitting on the bench.

Nick Foles, Philadelphia Eagles (2 years, $11M). Backup with injury issues.

Josh McCown, New York Jets (one-year, $6M). Too good for a bad team, and tends to make costly mistakes.

Landry Jones, Pittsburgh Steelers (2 years, $4.4M). One of the better backups in the league.

Matt Barkley, 49ers (2 years, $4M). Didn't even make the team after training camp.

Mark Sanchez, Chicago Bears (one year, $2M). Third-string QB.

Geno Smith, New York Giants (one year, $1.2M). I can't believe this guy can still find work, he still believes he can start games.

Josh Johnson, Giants (two years, $1.02M). Failed to make the team.

E.J. Manuel, Oakland Raiders (one year, $800K). Interim starter after Derek Carr's injury.

Kellen Moore, Dallas Cowboys (one year, $775K). Now on practice squad.

Aaron Murray, Los Angeles Rams (one year, $615K). Released in the summer.

Chase Daniels, New Orleans Saints (one year, $900K paid by Saints, $4.1M paid by Eagles). Backup.

Case Keenum, Minnesota Vikings (one year, $2M, plus incentives). Getting the job done.

David Fales, Miami Dolphins. Apparently, a 27-year-old guy with two career complete passes is better than Kaepernick when your two starters (Ryan Tannehill and Jay Cutler) go down.

T.J. Yates, Buffalo Bills (one year). With too many QBs at the Bills' training camp, he became one of four when he was placed on injured reserve following a concussion. He reached a settlement with the team and has been released.

Matt McGloin, Eagles (one year). Failed to make the team.

Blaine Gabbert, Arizona Cardinals. Doing well.

Ryan Fitzpatrick, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (one year, $3M). Consistently inconsistent.

Austin Davis, Seattle Seahawks (one year, league minimum). A terrible quarterback.

And, of course, Mike Glendon, of Da Bears (3 years, $45M). Jesus.

That's not the worst decision the Bears ever took, though, but that's a story for another day. Today, I'll focus on a player who was fine with the team, terrible elsewhere, and could/should have been exceptional, Anthony Thomas.

Thomas was given the nickname "A-Train" when playing for the University of Michigan Wolverines, by sportscaster Brent Musburger, making his name as one of 1997's Big Ten Top Freshmen on an undefeated Wolverines team.

He followed that by leading the team in rushing for three consecutive years with 893 yards in 1998, 1297 yards in 1999, and 1733 yards in 2000, the latter of which remains the second-highest single-season total in Michigan history. That year, he had nine games in which he rushed for over 100 yards. His 4772 career rushing years set a school record (which has since been surpassed by Mike Hart).

He was therefore perhaps a steal when the Bears selected him in the second round (38th overall) in 2001, an impression he added to when he won the Offensive Rookie Of The Year award helping Chicago to an NFC Central championship.

He had two more decent seasons (721 rushing yards in 2002 and 1,024 rushing yards in 2003) before being surpassed by Thomas Jones, then made his way to the Cowboys, Saints and Bills, never truly finding a home or a role worthy of his past. Not everyone was a fan, though, even of his days in Chicago.

It's therefore fitting that I feature him wearing the Bears' classic black (home) uniform, with the jersey insert version of card #110 from Topps' 2001 Bowman's Best set:

It's a nice foil card that includes a matching jersey swatch from the NFL Rookie Premier event. It,s numbered 789/999.

Bob Kudelski Autographed Card

Things are going well for the Ottawa Senators this season, with a 4-1-4 record and 12 points in 9 games, two points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and second place in the Atlantic Division. I've been a fan of the Sens for a while now, and they've had good teams in the past - including the 2005-08 Cup Finalist team that included 100-point captain Daniel Alfredsson, the best set-up man in the league in Jason Spezza and 50-goal scorer Dany Heatley at the same time - but I kind of feel this team, built by the late former GM Bryan Murray and current GM Pierre Dorion, and coached by Guy Boucher, could beat any other Sens team of all time. Even the original Senators, also known at times as the Silver Seven (1883-1934).

There has never been this balanced a team playing this effective of a system in the Ottawa region, period.

However, there have been quality players who have performed well (Alexei Yashin comes to mind), promising players who failed to develop in the Canadian capital but became regular NHLers elsewhere (Alexandre Daigle, for example), or players who had a short-term very good showing with the Sens but failed to continue to do so in the rest of their career. Like Bob Kudelski.

Kudelski was a star player for the Yale University Bulldogs in the ECAC, prompting the Los Angeles Kings to select him in the 1986 supplemental draft, which was an extra amateur draft (from 1986 until 1994, inclusively) occurring in September for U.S. College players who were not admissible to be chosen at the regular draft at the time. After spending the 1987-88 and 1988-89 seasons hovering between the NHL and the AHL's New Haven Nighthawks, he finally made it to the big time in 1989-90.

He started out with two consecutive 36-point seasons, then took it up a notch to 43 for the 1991-92 season. He was traded to the first-year Ottawa team early in the 1992-93 season, and the Sens themselves sent him to the expansion Florida Panthers midway through the 1993-94 season, where his play dropped dramatically, until he retired following the 1995-96 season, after suiting up for 4 games with the Cats' AHL affiliate Carolina Monarchs.

His passage in Florida was eventful, however, as he tied an NHL record by suiting up in 86 total games the year the Sens sent him to the Panthers, and his wife Marie-France gave birth to daughter Jessica soon after the trade, making her the First Panther Baby.

But it was Kudelski's time in Ottawa that proved to be most memorable on the ice, as he scored 47 goals to go with 29 assists and 76 points in 90 games with the team, scoring the franchise's first hat trick along to way. In terms of points per game, with 0.84, he stands tied in fifth place of all time with the great Marian Hossa, behind Alfie (0.96), Yashin (0.97), Spezza (1.02) and Heatley (1.14), and is second (at 0.52) only to Heatley (0.57) in goals per game.

The year he split between the Sens and Panthers, he scored 40 goals, which followed four consecutive 20-goal seasons.

Here he is wearing the Sens' best black (away) uniform, on card #48 from Leaf's 1993-94 Leaf Series 1 set, with a clear view of his uniform number (26), which slots him perfectly in my Sens Numbers Project:

He signed it in black sharpie at a card show in Ottawa, circa 2007-2009.

Anze Kopitar Jersey Card

As I wrote in February 2016, "(as) Anze Kopitar goes, so do, pretty much, the Los Angeles Kings."

The Kings' captain now has 6 goals, 5 assists and 11 points in 9 games so far this season, tied for the team lead in points with his predecessor Dustin Brown. Uh huh, yep. Furthermore, with a 7-1-1 record, L.A. is one point ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights for the Pacific Division lead.

That's two things I hadn't predicted (although I was hoping for Vegas to have a good season).

I did, however, think Kopitar would bounce back from his awful season last year, one which was a perfect storm of wrongs for him, seeing as he'd just signed a huge 8-year, $80M extension, was named captain after management revoked the title from Brown, the team failed to make the playoffs leading to the ousting of both GM Dean Lombardi and head coach Darryl Sutter, all in a year where most of the best two-way forwards in the league struggled - Patrice Bergeron, Jonathan Toews, and Tomas Plekanec being the closest comparables to Kopitar.

Hopefully L.A. doesn't suffer as many serious injuries this season as last year, although Jeff Carter has now been announced as "out indefinitely" after surgery to repair a cut to the leg...

That being said, here's Kopitar wearing the Kings' black uniform, on card #GJ2-AK from Upper Deck's 2009-10 Series 2 set and UD Game Jersey sub-set:

It features a (small) matching game-worn jersey swatch.

Rondell White: Two Autographed Cards

Last week, my favourite baseball player of all time, Tim Raines, was in town to celebrate his Hall Of Fame induction and appear on local TV shows, notably Tout le Monde En Parle. Raines was one of the few former Montréal Expos who were as good elsewhere as they'd been in Montréal, winning two World Series titles with the New York Yankees; Gary Carter (New York Mets), Andre Dawson (Chicago Cubs), Pedro Martinez (Boston Red Sox) and Vladimir Guerrero (Anaheim Angels, Texas Rangers) also come to mind.

Few are hated by more than one fan base, though. Such is the case for Rondell White, who had a disappointing turn after signing a free agent contract with the Yankees and, after redeeming himself with the San Diego Padres by going to the 2003 All-Star Game, failed to deliver with the Minnesota Twins - some even ranking him among the worst players in the team's history.

In Montréal, White had a respectable 742-game career:

420 Runs Scored
808 Hits
165 Doubles
101 Home Runs
384 RBI
88 Stolen Bases
.293/.348/.480 Slash Line
19.2 bWAR

Had it not been for poor injury luck, he probably would have been an All-Star in the Canadian Sin City as well. He surpassed the 100-game mark only three times with the Expos, in 1995 (130), 1997 (151) and 1999 (138). That 1997 team was probably the best he'd played on, possibly a pitcher or two away from a playoff berth, what with White, Martinez, and Guerrero leading the way and David Segui (1B), Mike Lansing (2B), Mark Grudzielanek (SS), Henry Rodriguez (LF), and Darrin Fletcher (C) providing additional bats and Carlos Perez, Dustin Hermanson, Marc Valdes, Ugueth Urbina, and Anthony Telford helping out on the mound (apologies to a twilight-of-his-career Lee Smith).

White makes for the perfect addition as #22 in my Expos Numbers Project, with these two cards, first #50 from Pinnacle Brands' 1996 Score set, wearing the grey (away) 1990s uniform:

And here he is wearing the blue alternate/Spring training t-shirt, on card #240 from Upper Deck's 1999 Victory set:

He signed both in blue sharpie, probably in 2003.

Ales Hemsky Dual Jersey Card

The Montréal Canadiens' big free agent acquisition this summer, Ales Hemsky, was the recipient of two big hits in the last game against the Anaheim Ducks, a booming one by Josh Manson and a dirty check from behind by Corey Perry, the latter of which left him with concussion-like symptoms.

Hemsky's already had multiple shoulder injuries throughout his NHL career, and missed most of last season after a hip operation. Now, at 34 years old, we'll have to add "head injury" to his long list of ailments.

His injury history is the biggest reason why I disproved of Habs GM Marc Bergevin offering Hemsky this deal, but there was also the fact that I was afraid people would expect him to replace first-line winger Alex Radulov, who had signed with the Dallas Stars the day before.

There was a time when Hemsky's production was close to elite-level, in his early days with the Edmonton Oilers;

from Hockey-Reference

Even then, however, as you can see in regards to games played, he was already having trouble suiting up in every game. The 2012-13 season was limited to 48 games due to a lock-out, and he still managed to miss 10 of them...

Scoring in general has gone down, league-wide, since 2010, in part due to refereeing becoming increasingly lackadaisical, and in part due to the sophistication of defensive systems, but Hemsky's decline is even more steep than the league average; point-per-game players have regressed to the 60-point mark on average, but in two seasons in Dallas, he's been producing around 40 points per 82 games.

With the disappointing Habs, he flat-lined like the rest of the team, with no goals, no assists, no points and 10 penalty minutes in 7 games so far. Surprisingly, at -1, defensively, he's the best on the team, tied with Jordie Benn. His Corsi For stands at an even 50%.

Here he is wearing the Oilers' classic white (now-away) uniform, on card #TS-AH from Upper Deck's 2013-14 Artifacts set and Treasured Swatches sub-set:

It features two game-worn orange jersey swatches made from different materials, therefore from different parts of the jersey. Here's wishing him a full recovery.