Two Miikka Kiprusoff Swatch Cards

Whether you see it as one franchise or separate the Atlanta Flames from the Calgary Flames, the greatest goalie to have ever worn a flaming letter on the front of his jersey is undoubtedly Miikka Kiprusoff. He had the best glove hand of his era (post-Patrick Roy), the best reflexes and agility after Dominik Hasek in his prime, and may have made the most ''paddle saves'' in the history of the NHL, as can be attested by this highlight reel:



That last sequence in the video is part of a three-minute ovation Flames fans gave him during his final game in Calgary, a 3-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks in which he stopped 32 of 33 shots, as usual. Kipper managed to win a well-deserved Vezina but also a Jennings trophy on what was arguably one of the worst teams in the league during his 10-year, 9-season tenure as a starting goalie.

He retired prior to the 2013-14 season as the franchise leader in wins (305) and shutouts (41).

He was my favourite goalie post-Roy, a position now held by Jaroslav Halak. Both also care about their fans enough to send them autographed cards, which has been my case.

Here he is in the Flames' red (home) uniform, in two cards from Panini's 2013-14 Titanium set (card #GG-MK of the Game-Worn Gear sub-set), with different-coloured swatches:

I could have easily ended this post here, but that would have been too easy. For too long, Kiprusoff's gone underrated, and I felt I needed to set the record straight about just how good he was, so I decided to analyse every goalie since the year I was born 1981-82 (when the Vezina stopped being awarded to the lowest GAA), and compare three things: who actually won the Vezina (and the runners-up), who I felt deserved to be named the best goalie, and the three best in the playoffs. If all goes well, I'll be able to separate the goalies as ''best of their eras'' afterwards:

1981-82: Vezina: Billy Smith; ahead of Grant Fuhr and Michel Dion.
               Best: Smith; ahead of Fuhr and Dan Bouchard.
               Playoffs: Smith; ahead of Richard Brodeur and Tony Esposito.

1982-83: Vezina: Pete Peeters; ahead of Roland Melanson and Murray Bannerman.
               Best: Peeters; ahead of Andy Moog and Billy Smith.
               Playoffs: Smith (Conn Smythe); ahead of Moog and Peeters.

1983-84: Vezina: Tom Barrasso; ahead of Réjean Lemelin and Pat Riggin.
               Best: Barrasso; ahead of Lemelin and Bouchard.
               Playoffs: Fuhr; ahead of Steve Penney and Smith.

1984-85: Vezina: Pelle Lindbergh; ahead of Barrasso and Lemelin.
               Best: Lindbergh; ahead of Barrasso and Riggin.
                Playoffs: Fuhr; ahead of Lindbergh and Smith.

1985-86: Vezina: John Vanbiesbrouck; ahead of Bob Froese and Fuhr.
               Best: Clint Malachuk; ahead of Froese and Vanbiesbrouck.
                Playoffs: Patrick Roy (Conn Smythe); ahead of Mike Vernon and Greg Millen.

1986-87: Vezina: Ron Hextall; ahead of Mike Liut and Fuhr.
               Best: Hextall; ahead of Liut and Eldon ''Pokey'' Reddick.
                Playoffs: Hextall (Conn Smythe); ahead of Brian Hayward and Fuhr.

1987-88: Vezina: Fuhr; ahead of Barrasso and Kelly Hrudey.
               Best: Fuhr; ahead of Vernon and Roy.
               Playoffs: Fuhr; ahead of Lemelin and Sean Burke.

1988-89: Vezina: Roy; ahead of Vernon and Kirk McLean.
               Best: Roy; ahead of Vernon and Peeters.
               Playoffs: Vernon; ahead of Roy and Hextall.

1989-90: Vezina: Roy; ahead of Daren Puppa and Moog.
               Best: Roy; ahead of Liut and Lemelin.
               Playoffs: Moog; ahead of Bill Ranford (Conn Smythe) and Don Beaupre.

1990-91: Vezina: Ed Belfour; ahead of Roy and Mike Richter.
               Best: Roy; ahead of Belfour and Beaupre.
               Playoffs: Barrasso; ahead of Jon Casey and Moog.

1991-92: Vezina: Roy; ahead of McLean and Bob Essensa.
               Best: Roy; ahead of Vanbiesbrouck and McLean.
               Playoffs: Barrasso; ahead of Belfour and Ranford.

1992-93: Vezina: Belfour; ahead of Barrasso and Curtis Joseph.
               Best: Félix Potvin; ahead of Belfour and Joseph.
               Playoffs: Roy (Conn Smythe); ahead of Potvin and Joseph.

1993-94: Vezina: Dominik Hasek; ahead of Vanbiesbrouck and Roy.
               Best: Roy; ahead of Hasek and Vanbiesbrouck.
               Playoffs: Richter; ahead of McLean and Martin Brodeur.

1994-95: Vezina: Hasek; ahead of Belfour and Jim Carey.
               Best: Hasek; ahead of Vanbiesbrouck and Carey.
               Playoffs: Brodeur; ahead of Vernon and Hextall.

1995-96: Vezina: Carey; ahead of Chris Osgood and Puppa.
               Best: Hextall; ahead of Guy Hebert and Carey.
               Playoffs: Roy; ahead of Vanbiesbrouck and Barrasso.

1996-97: Vezina: Hasek; ahead of Brodeur and Roy.
               Best: Roy; ahead of Hasek and Moog.
               Playoffs: Vernon (Conn Smythe); ahead of Roy and Garth Snow.

1997-98: Vezina: Hasek; ahead of Brodeur and Barrasso.
               Best: Hasek; ahead of Barrasso and Belfour.
                Playoffs: Olaf Kolzig; ahead of Osgood and Joseph.

1998-99: Vezina: Hasek; ahead of Joseph and Byron Dafoe.
               Best: Ron Tugnutt; ahead of Hebert and Arturs Irbe.
               Playoffs: Roy; ahead of Hasek and Belfour.

1999-00: Vezina: Kolzig; ahead of Roman Turek and Joseph.
               Best: Roy; ahead of Jeff Hackett and Kolzig.
               Playoffs: Belfour; ahead of Roy and Joseph.

2000-01: Vezina: Hasek; ahead of Roman Cechmanek and Brodeur.
               Best: Cechmanek; ahead of Burke and Hasek.
               Playoffs: Roy (Conn Smythe); ahead of Turek and Joseph.

2001-02: Vezina: José Theodore; ahead of Roy and Burke.
               Best: Theodore; ahead of Roy and Burke.
               Playoffs: Irbe; ahead of Roy and Patrick Lalime.

2002-03: Vezina: Brodeur; ahead of Marty Turco and Belfour.
               Best: Turco; ahead of Roy and Cechmanek.
               Playoffs: J.S. Giguère (Conn Smythe); ahead of Brodeur and Lalime.

2003-04: Vezina: Brodeur; ahead of Miikka Kiprusoff and Roberto Luongo.
               Best: Kiprusoff; ahead of Luongo and Theodore.
               Playoffs: Kiprusoff; ahead of Nikolai Khabibulin and Evgeni Nabokov.

2004-05: NHL lockout. Booooooooooooooo!

2005-06: Vezina: Kiprusoff; ahead of Brodeur and Henrik Lundqvist.
               Best: Kiprusoff; ahead of Lundqvist and Tomas Vokoun.
               Playoffs: Dwayne Roloson; ahead of Ilya Bryzgalov and Cam Ward (Conn Smythe).

2006-07: Vezina: Brodeur; ahead of Luongo and Kiprusoff.
               Best: Kiprusoff; ahead of Niklas Backstrom and Lundqvist.
               Playoffs: Luongo; ahead of Giguère and Turco.

2007-08: Vezina: Brodeur; ahead of Nabokov and Lundqvist.
               Best: Giguère; ahead of Backstrom and Kiprusoff.
               Playoffs: M.A. Fleury; ahead of Osgood and Lundqvist.

2008-09: Vezina: Tim Thomas; ahead of Steve Mason and Backstrom.
               Best: Thomas; ahead of Vokoun and Luongo.
               Playoffs: Fleury; ahead of Osgood and Jonas Hiller.

2009-10: Vezina: Ryan Miller; ahead of Bryzgalov and Brodeur.
               Best: Miller; ahead of Nabokov and Kiprusoff.
               Playoffs: Jaroslav Halak; ahead of Antti Niemi and Michael Leighton.

2010-11: Vezina: Thomas; ahead of Pekka Rinne and Luongo.
               Best: Thomas; ahead of Rinne and Luongo.
               Playoffs: Thomas (Conn Smythe); ahead of Jimmy Howard and Luongo.

2011-12: Vezina: Lundqvist; ahead of Jonathan Quick and Rinne.
               Best: Lundqvist; ahead of Halak and Brian Elliott.
               Playoffs: Quick (Conn Smythe); ahead of Lundqvist and Mike Smith.

2012-13: Vezina: Sergei Bobrovsky; ahead of Lundqvist and Niemi.
               Best: Bobrovsky; ahead of Craig Anderson and Lundqvist.
               Playoffs: Corey Crawford; ahead of Quick and Tuukka Rask.

2013-14: Vezina: Rask; ahead of Semyon Varlamov and Ben Bishop.
               Best: Rask; ahead of Bishop and Lundqvist.
               Playoffs: Quick; ahead of Lundqvist and Rask.

2014-15: Vezina: Carey Price; ahead of Rinne and Devan Dubnyk.
               Best: Dubnyk; ahead of Price and Fleury.
               Playoffs: Crawford; ahead of Bishop and Lundqvist.

Honestly, before starting with this exercise, I thought the one-hit wonders would be more numerous and would help determine which one goalie stood out in an era, with two to five sub-contenders per, but a far cry behind. For example, when Patrick Roy had his coming out party in the 1986 playoffs, I was under the impression that he relegated Grant Fuhr and Mike Vernon to second-tier status - which he did - but the podium didn't just have two spots, as John Vanbiesbrouck, Tom Barrasso, Réjean Lemelin and Andy Moog also put in a good number of strong seasons, well into the 1990s for all except Lemelin.

And let's be honest: while I did my best to ignore Ed Belfour's milestones and achievements while he was playing, he was a definite top-10 goalie most times, and could have runs where he was top-5. Same thing for Dominik Hasek; there were years when the Buffalo Sabres' system protected him so well his job was almost too easy, but there are others where he was leading the elite by too wide a margin to ignore.

And while many claim the same about Martin Brodeur, this was a worthwhile exercise to show that GMs (who vote for the Vezina) can and do make mistakes, as can be attested by his run of 1998-02 where his save percentage was .906 three of four years and still he finished in the top-5 for voting, on a team so well defended that he saw less than 25 shots per game, none of them from the slot. That was followed by 4 Vezinas in 5 years and a runner-up in the middle, usually with a save percentage 15 points below that of the league leader.

Which leads, using 5 points for a first place, 3 for second and one for third, plus 5 for extra NHL Awards not counted here, to the following aggregated results of 29 goalies with over 10 points:

Patrick Roy: 117 points
Dominik Hasek: 60 points
Martin Brodeur: 40 points
Tom Barrasso: 37 points
Grant Fuhr: 34 points
Ed Belfour: 32 points
Miikka Kiprusoff: 31 points
Mike Vernon: 30 points
Tim Thomas: 30 points
Henrik Lundqvist: 29 points
Billy Smith: 28 points
Ron Hextall: 27 points
Jonathan Quick: 21 points
John Vanbiesbrouck: 19 points
Jean-Sébastien Giguère: 18 points
Carey Price: 18 points
José Theodore: 16 points
Andy Moog: 16 points
Roberto Luongo: 16 points
Corey Crawford: 15 points
Pelle Lindbergh: 13 points
Pete Peeters: 12 points
Chris Osgood: 12 points
Tuukka Rask: 12 points
Olaf Kolzig: 11 points
Réjean Lemelin: 11 points
Curtis Joseph: 11 points
Marc-André Fleury: 11 points
Devan Dubnyk: 11 points

I guess it's safe and fair to say anyone with over 30 has had ''their era'' (damn you, Brodeur!), and that Lundqvist and Quick will likely get there as well. Crawford, Rask and Price could, although Price will need to repeat his 2014-15 many times for that to happen.

What I get from this is that Billy Smith and Fuhr owned the early-to-mid 1980s, that Barrasso almost had the mid-80s were it not for Roy, whose success was constant from 1988 until 2003, though he had to share the glory with Hasek, mostly, from the mid-1990s on, with Brodeur often the third wheel, but far behind.

Tim Thomas had an almost unprecedented level of success in a three-year run, but the early-to-mid-00s saw a Kipper dominance, and Lundqvist has held the mantle almost alone since, save for Quick in the playoffs and Rinne as this generation's third wheel.

Calvin Pickard Autograph Card

This is probably the year where a ''goalie controversy'' emerges with the Colorado Avalanche, leading the team to shop Calvin Pickard next summer, when the market won't be as saturated as this year (I envision Dustin Tokarski to also be available and one of the Tampa Bay Lightning's goalies, while this year Cam Talbot, Eddie Lack, Robin Lehner, Jhonas Enroth, Michal Neuvirth, Anders Lindback, and Martin Jones were available via trade and Antti Niemi and Devan Dubnyk were set to become free agents).

For my money, Pickard's already better than some #1 goalies out there (San Jose Sharks, Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames), so the Avs were smart not to attempt to trade him in a buyer's market and instead wait until they've got the upper hand.

The third goalie chosen at the 2010 draft, he's already surpassed Jack Campbell and Mark Visentin in his draft class, as well as the Avs' official backup Reto Berra last season, head coach Patrick Roy preferring to send in freshly-recalled Pickard instead of his official backup whenever Semyon Varlamov was feeling under the weather. he's also surpassed his older brother Chet Pickard, a former Nashville Predators first round pick now playing in Denmark.

The Avs will hold on to Varlamov for the next decade, seeing as he's a proven commodity - an Olympian and Vezina nominee - but if I had a billion dollars to buy an NHL team, I would be very comfortable selecting Pickard and Tokarski as my goalies.

I met Pickard last year when he played in his first NHL start in Montréal, so look for another post whenever he makes the news again. For now, though, here's a 2013-14 Prizm card (#A-2P of the Dual Rookie Class sub-set, the silver version) by Panini, showing him in his awesome cat-like stance, wearing the Avs' burgundy (home) uniform:

It's signed on a sticker, in thin blue sharpie.

Scott Young Autograph Card

Well, the St. Louis Blues are certainly keeping busy this off-season, signing a ton of players and shaking up their roster with a couple of trades so far, acquiring Konrad Abeltshauser from the San Jose Sharks, and Troy Brouwer, Phoenix Copley and a draft pick from the Washington Capitals for Team USA Olympic hero and playoff underachiever T.J. Oshie.

It reminds me a bit of the late 1990s - ironically during the era where their uniforms were the same as their current/throwback ones - when they went through an awful lot of player changes, with Al MacInnis coming in, Pierre Turgeon passing by, along with the likes of Scott Young, Craig Conroy, Doug Weight, Marty Reasoner and Geoff Courtnall.

It's been five and a half years since I last featured Young, who returned to his alma mater Boston University Terriers as Director of Hockey Operations last year, after doing the same coaching the St. Mark's hockey team at the high school level for three years.

Young brings a wealth of experience, not just as a good scorer (one 30-goal season with the Québec Nordiques and a 40-goal season with the Blues) with a tremendous slap shot in the NHL, but also some international experience, with gold (1996 World Cup), silver (2002 Olympics) and bronze (1986 World Juniors) medals with the American team at various levels and in different decades. Oh, and Stanley Cups with the 1990-91 Pittsburgh Penguins and 1995-96 Colorado Avalanche.

He's been around the block a few times and knows a thing or two about a lot of things, so the kids at BU are in good hands to learn about Life in a sports context.

Here he is wearing the Blues' dark blue (then-away) uniform:

It's the signed insert of card #278 from In The Game's 1998-99 Be A Player set, signed on-card in thin black sharpie.

Martin Saint-Louis Jersey Card

When all is said and done, I will not be surprised to see Martin Saint-Louis inducted in the Hockey Hall Of Fame: over 1,000 games played, over 1,000 points, a Stanley Cup, two Art Ross trophies won nine years apart, a Hart (plus one Hart nomination), a Lester B. Pearson, three Lady Byngs (and seven times the runner-up), one First All-Star Team and four Second All-Star Team nods, plus a World Cup (2004) and Olympic gold (2014) with Team Canada to go with two World Championship silver medals (2008 and 2009).

All this from an undrafted 5'8'' player from the Montréal suburb of Laval who played his last stint as an amateur at the University of Vermont rather than in the LHJMQ, almost nullifying his chances of ever reaching the NHL.

Except he rewrote the University of Vermont Catamounts' record books, earning an invitation to the Calgary Flames' training camp, and though the team eventually lost him to waivers, he was picked up by the Tampa Bay Lightning, the team he would mostly be associated with, won the Cup with, and captained in his final season there.

With four 90-point seasons (with a high of 102 in 2006-07), seven 30-goal seasons (with a high of 43) and twice the league assists leader (ironically, he led he league in assists with 56 in 2003-04 but surpassed that mark four times without leading the league), he was the face of Tampa's franchise, bridging the gap from Vincent Lecavalier to Steven Stamkos, the team's two first-overall goal scoring superstars.

Sure, he asked for a trade to the New York Rangers when team GM Steve Yzerman initially left him off of Canada's Olympic roster, but he'll always be a Bolt in most people's hearts. And though Ryan Callahan will end up playing longer, the Rangers surely do not regret that trade of captains, as Callahan had priced himself out of the Rangers' budget, and St-Louis was around for two seasons, playing a leadership role on a team that went to a Stanley Cup Final and an Eastern Conference Final.

And even though he tested free agency (and probably only got offers from teams who were too far away from his family in Connecticut), he changed his stance today and opted to retire. His 52 points in 70 games in his final season, at age 39, were more than decent, but many had criticized his playoff production, which, at 7 points in 19 games, brought his career average below the point-per-game mark, finishing with 42 goals and 90 points in 107 postseason games.

In tribute of the diminutive superstar's career, I feature him for the first of three times with this card showing him captaining the Bolts, from Upper Deck's 2013-14 Series 2 set (card #GJ-SL of the UD Game Jersey sub-set):

It shows him wearing the Lightning's white (away) uniform and includes a black game-worn swatch, from their older jerseys.

Scott Harrington Jersey Card

So, crazy free agent market, eh?

Too bad all the so-called ''experts'' only had the Phil Kessel trade on their minds...

Kessel is probably still one of the NHL's top-5 shooters. And so much has been said about his physical shape, effort level (or lack thereof), and disdain for the media that I won't go at lengths about it here, but with centers like Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, he may very well (and definitely should) reach the 40-goal plateau for the first time in his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

After all was said and done, apart from draft picks, Kessel, defenseman Tim Erixon (already on his fifth team since 2011-12 and fourth since 2014) and forward Tyler Biggs will make their way to the Pens, while defenseman Scott Harrington, and forwards Kasperi Kapanen and Nick Spaling will head to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who also signed P.A. Parenteau and brought back Daniel Winnick to the fold today.

My focus today will be on former London Knights captain Harrington, a ''character'' defenseman who is merely 22 years old. London has one of the best Juniors programs in Canada, headed by the Hunter brothers (Mark is now a Leafs executive, Dale Hunter is back coaching), so Harrington learned to develop a complete game from a relatively young age.

He was considered a two-way defenseman in the OHL/CHL, but his offensive statistics were actually better at the AHL level with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (24 points in 76 games in 2013-14 and 12 points in 48 games in 2014-15) than in London (81 points in 206 games from 2009-13), so his game's improving.

And yet, the 54th-overall pick of the 2011 draft was always seen as a tall (6'2''), built (205 pounds so far), smooth-skating, positionally-sound, smart player. If he can put points up on the board as well, he'll turn into much more than many had envisioned him becoming.

Internationally, he's suited up for Team Canada, winning silver for Team Ontario at the 2010 U-17s and bronze at the 2012 World Juniors, and with a fourth-place finish at the 2013 World Juniors, where he was sporting the alternate captain's ''A''.

But the ''C'' remains a definite possibility in the future, as can be attested by this card showing him with the Knights' black uniform, from In The Game's 2012-13 Heroes And Prospects set (#M-35 of the Game-Used Jersey sub-set, the Black Version variant):

It contains a huge white-beige swatch. I got it in a trade a year or two ago, with other CHL jersey cards going both ways.