Zigmund Palffy Jersey Card

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins on their fourth Stanley Cup victory. They deserved it, although I feel the Conn Smythe should have gone to (in order of deservedness) Phil Kessel, Matt Murray, Martin Jones of the San Jose Sharks, Kris Letang or Brent Burns (also of the Sharks) - not Sidney Crosby. But the NHL has a legend to build and a story line to justify having pre-written, so Sid it was.

Which brings me to Zigmund Palffy, a Slovak national who had terrific seasons with the New York Islanders (331 points in 331 games including three 40-goal seasons) and Los Angeles Kings (340 points in 311 games, the result of five point-per-game seasons in five years), and played his final NHL season accomplishing the same feat with the Pens in 2005-06.

After initially retiring from hockey, he came back in the Slovak league for a final five seasons with Hokejový Klub 36 Skalica, posting ridiculous totals from 2007 until his retirement after the 2012-13 season, including league records for goals (52) and points (99) in 2008-09. In 53 games.

He also suited up for Team Slovakia on numerous occasions, earning a gold medal at the 2002 World Championships, bronze at the 2003 Worlds, leading the Olympic tournament in assists and points in 1994 and being a veteran member on the awesome 2002 Olympic team that finished fourth.

He was also old enough to play for then-Czekoslovakia, 1991 and 1992 World Juniors (winning bronze at the former) and also the 1991 Canada Cup.

Here he is with the Pens, on card #AF-ZP from Upper Deck's 2005-06 SP Game-Used Edition set and Authentic Fabrics sub-set:

It shows him wearing the Pens' white (now-away) uniform, with a matching game-worn jersey swatch.

The 26th overall pick of the 1991 draft also finished fifth in Lady Byng voting in 2000-01 while with the Kings, and is often thought of as underrated at best or underappreciated by a lot of folks. Perhaps it's because his story line hadn't been pre-written. We're talking about a guy who was a point-per-game player and a 40-goal man in the Dead Puck Era. Had he not played on Long Island and on the West Coast for most of his career, he definitely would have won some hardware and appeared in more than just three All-Star Games.

Here's a video montage of a few of his goals with the Kings:

Joe Thornton Autograph Card

I know I'd predicted/hoped the Pittsburgh Penguins would win in six games against the San Jose Sharks, but before Game 5, I was hoping they'd get it over with; however, Martin Jones deserved to have people talk about his performance for another two days, so I'll be content if they get it done this weekend.

Joe Thornton had another assist in the Sharks' 4-2 win, putting him at 3 goals, 18 assists and 21 points in 23 games in these playoffs, after an 82-point (19 goals, 63 assists) regular season. His career playoff point totals aren't awful (121 in 155 games), but they mostly pale to his regular-season play, and he usually can't seem to make his teammates better or stand up when it counts.

Which didn't stop Team Canada from adding him to their World Cup roster for September two weeks ago, because when he's surrounded by game-breakers, as can be attested by his 2010 Olympic gold medal and his 2004 World Cup title on teams led by Jonathan Toews and the Tampa Bay Lightning trio (Martin Saint-Louis, Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards), respectively, he doesn't ruin his team's chances either; he's usually just a towering non-factor that makes few mistakes.

Here he is wearing the Boston Bruins' alternate jersey from the turn-of-the-millennium, on the signed insert version of card #9 from In The Game's 1998-99 Be A Player set:

I wasn't very fond of these jerseys; yellow isn't my thing. But now that we have the Nashville Predators doing even worse with it, these don't look half as bad. The card looks much better to the naked eye: there are nice shades and the thin black-sharpied signature stands out a lot more.

Radim Vrbata: 3 Autographed Cards

I had a pleasant surprise in the mail today, my sixth return out of seven packages sent this season, one of four sent on November 10th, making for a 212-day return:

That's pending free agent Radim Vrbata, coincidentally the 212th player selected at the 1999 NHL draft, as the Colorado Avalanche selected him in the seventh round. In terms of "past-the-second-round" picks, that puts him with regular NHLers Niclas Havelid (83rd), Mike Comrie (91st), Chris Kelly (94th), Brian McGrattan (104th), Ryan Malone (115th), Fedor Fedorov (182nd), Ivan Rachunek (187th), Martin Erat (191st), Tom Kostopoulos (204th), and Henrik Zetterberg (210th).

If he plays in some 70 games next season, he will hit the 1000-game milestone, and he's 56 points away from 600, though after a season in which he scored just 13 goals with 14 assists for 27 points in 63 games, I would understand any doubt that he could hit those marks.

However, he's still just one season removed from a 31-goal and a career-high 63-point output, the goals total being his second-highest career total behind the 35 he put up with the Phoenix Coyotes in the not-so-distant 2011-12 season. There is still some buzz around him, particularly if he's willing to take the same $5M cap hit he had these last two seasons... or less.

At this point, we have a clear idea of what he can bring to a hockey club: though he's 6'1" and roughly 200 pounds, he plays like a small, skilled winger; he can be counted on for some 20-25 goals, and if he reaches 30, that's just a pleasant bonus. He gets just as many assists as he does goals, so on the offensive front, the puck is likely to move towards the right direction when he has it on his stick. He's best suited to play on a skilled team's second line.

He's 34, however, so that leaves teams with two options: sign him to a short-term deal before he starts slowing down, or sign him to a three-or-four-year deal before he reaches the fatal age of 35, where players can no longer retire or change leagues while taking their cap hits with them (see the Pavel Datsyuk situation with the Detroit Red Wings).

In the meantime, let's reflect on the recent past, first with these two cards of him playing in Arizona:

On the left is the gold variant of card #362 from Panini's 2012-13 Score set, showing him wearing the Coyotes' burgundy (home) uniform; on the right is card #388 from Panini's 2013-14 Score set, showing him wearing the 'Yotes' white (away) uniform, complete with alternate captain's "A" on the chest.

He signed both in black sharpie with his jersey number (17) tagged at the end, just like he did on card #45 from Upper Deck's 2015-16 MVP set:

On it, he's wearing the Canucks' full-retro/alternate blue uniform with the awful "stick" logo. He'll join Bill Muckalt and Ryan Kesler as representatives of #17 in my Canucks Numbers Project.

Guy Lafleur Board Certified Card

Guy Lafleur is a very opinionated man - always was, always will be, but that's exactly why journalists and members of the public keep asking him questions; we know he'll provide a quip that will reflect exactly how he feels at that moment, the truth as he sees it, with no sugarcoating. He was at it again, calling the San Jose Sharks' Joe Thornton's and Brent Burns' playoff beards "a disgrace to hockey", saying P.K. Subban should be on Ritalin (and adding Yvan Cournoyer said back in their day, he'd have gotten smacked with a stick), reiterating that Brendan Gallagher is the heart of the Montréal Canadiens but changing his stance on captain Max Pacioretty from a couple of seasons ago, saying he can be the best player on the ice "when he feels like it", as opposed to when he called him a choker in the past.

Of course, the main reason why he gets away with it is because he was arguably the best forward of the 1970s - the Habs' career leader for assists (728) and points (1246, one of just three to reach the millennial mark with the team with Jean Béliveau and Henri Richard), and the second in goals with 518, behind only Maurice "The Rocket" Richard. Oh, and he has five Stanley Cups with the team he grew up dreaming of playing for, so he knows a thing or two about the team's legacy and fans' expectations.

His six 50-goal seasons are also a team record; Stéphane Richer holds second place with two, and four others have had one such season: The Rocket being the first NHLer to do so, Bernard "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, Steve Shutt and Pierre Larouche being the others.

He shares the team record of most goals in a single season with Shutt (60), and holds the single-season team points record (136, in 1976-77). It was also that season that he set the team consecutive point streak record by having his name on the score sheet for 28 straight games.

So, yeah, Lafleur could hockey pretty well.

Because of that, many sets still include him in the modern era even though he retired following the 1990-91 season - often with special edition cards.

Here's one from Fleer/Skybox's 2001-02 Greats Of The Game set and Board Certified sub-set:

With the Joe Louis Arena closing in a couple of years, this piece of memorabilia will be even more rare. And Lafleur looks so natural in the Habs' classic red uniform.

David Oliver Autographed Card

I guess now's as good a time as any to show off the fifth of a five-card package I received in a trade close to two weeks ago, with a card that slots David Oliver as the entry for #42 in my Oilers Numbers Project, #269 in Upper Deck's 1994-95 Series 1 set (and Star Rookie sub-set):

It shows him wearing the Edmonton Oilers' classic white (then-home) uniform, and he signed it in silver sharpie, with the number 20 tagged at the end, which means he could have signed it when playing in Edmonton (1995-97) or when he was with the Phoenix Coyotes (1999-2000). He only wore #42 in pre-season games.

Oliver started his career extremely well with the Oilers, finishing fifth in Calder Trophy voting in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season with 16 goals, 14 assists and 30 points in 44 games, which he followed with a 20-goal outing the following season.

But things went downhill from there, as his 3 points in 17 games to start off the 1996-97 season led the team to put him on waivers, and the only time he reached double digits in points after that was when he posted a surprising 12 points in 36 games with the Dallas Stars while only averaging 9:51 of ice time per game in 2003-04.

He also played in the British League, in Germany and in Sweden, retiring after playing the 2006-07 season with the Ängelholm Rögle Bandyklubb. (Rögle BK for short).

He finished his NHL career just short of a few milestone marks, with 49 goals, 49 assists and 98 points in 233 regular-season games.