Jarret Stoll Autographed Card

Jarret Stoll never actually retired from the NHL, but when he failed to secure a contract atfter a tryout with the Columbus Blue Jackets ahead of the 2016-17 season and then signed with the Los Angeles Kings as a scout, the writing was not only on the wall but written in spray-paint.

Of course, he did win two Stanley Cups with the Kings, centering their checking line. While in L.A., he received some Selke Trophy votes in three different seasons, and had in his final year with the Edmonton Oilers as well.

Here is my favourite card of his, which happens to be during his days in Edmonton:

It's #20 from Upper Deck's 2005-06 Ovation set, and he signed it in (fading) blue sharpie after a Kings game in 2014-15. Ovation cards were like Ice and Artifact - a tad expensive for almost no "pulls" and just a few common cards, but so beautiful and classy. The silver foil on this card is really marvelous, and the cardboard has a three-dimensional feel thanks to the relief, which simulated used ice. It's too bad they went the way of the dodo.

He was inducted in the Kootenay Ice Hall Of Fame on March 1st (he was actually the first inductee).

Jarmo Kekalainen Autographed Card

Not everyone agrees, but I really liked most of Jarmo Kekalainen's gamble of going all-in in for these playoffs with a high number of possible unrestricted free agents at year's end, including the ones they already had (Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky) that they didn't trade for (tangible or intangible) "assets" at the deadline, as well as other UFAs-to-be in Ryan Dzingel and Matt Duchene - although the Columbus Blue Jackets should have read the signs of Duchene's previous trade, which sent him from a team that was near dead-last to a Conference Finalist Ottawa Senators club that was in the playoff picture in December, only to have the Sens miss the playoffs after his acquisition and the Colorado Avalanche squeak in on the Western Conference front.

Some thought Kekalainen paid too steep a price for Dzingel (Anthony Duclair and two second-rounders) while the Duchene deal, who came with Julius Bergman (an AHL offensive defenseman since traded with a fourth-rounder and a seventh rounder for defensive defenseman Adam McQuaid, another pending UFA) for prospects Jonathan Davidsson, Vitaly Abramov, an actual 2019 first-rounder and a conditional 2020 first-rounder, was essentially seen as continuing to empty the 2019 draft cupboard, as the Jackets currently only hold two picks next summer: their own third-rounder, and the Pittsburgh Penguins' seventh, which is almost guaranteed to be a late one.

They also don't have a second or third pick in 2020. You'd think a GM with the drafting pedigree like Kekalainen would value any pick highly; after all, he's responsible for the Sens (!!) drafting the likes of Jason Spezza, Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat, Antoine Vermette and Ray Emery; he got the St. Louis Blues David Backes, David Perron, T.J. Oshie and Alex Pietrangelo; in Columbus, he surprised many observers with the bull's eye surprise selections of Zach Werenski and Pierre-Luc Dubois, and he could very well have scored the same type of home run with Team France member  Alexandre Texier and London Knights skinny center Liam Foudy, both parents of whom were athletes.

Or maybe he's just taking too many risks now.

But he's making the game behind the game very exciting.

I wrote to him nearly two years ago and got this signed card back from him nearly a year ago to the day, before moving into my current digs (April 1st, 2018):

It's #108 from Upper Deck's 1991-92 Series 1 set, showing him attempting a play despite the presence of New York Islanders defenseman Nolan Baumgartner. "KK" may have only scored 5 goals with 8 assists for 13 points in 55 NHL games spread over three seasons in four years, but he did score against the Isles on January 15th, 1991. There's a very good chance this picture came from that game (he was blanked by the Isles in a February 28 game in Boston, where he would've been wearing the B's white - then-home - uniform).

This is a Boston Bruins uniform I have a soft spot for, as it's the one from my youth.

Thomas Hickey Autograph Card

Thomas Hickey is a former first-round pick (fourth overall, 2007) who delivers more than a hit per game, and many are huge ones, such as this one on Brendan Gallagher:

Props to the Montréal Canadiens' should-be captain for bouncing right back up from the hit, but it was clean and did not deserve Gallagher's extra attention, especially since #11's teammate Andrew Shaw had laid a borderline dirty hit on New York Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield in the previous shift.

Hickey's 30 years old now and has cemented his place as a second-pairing defender on a strong Isles blue line, playing 19 minutes per night in this injury-filled season, but he's also played upwards of 21 per game in the postseason before.

I really like what Barry Trotz, Lane Lambert and Mitch Korn have brought to the Islanders, uniting the team after star center John Tavares' departure to the Toronto Maple Leafs and instilling a team-first/underdog mentality that may just lead them to the top of their division, a feat the Leafs were never truly in a position to achieve at any point this year. Or any year, as they've only done so once in my lifetime (1999-2000). Which happens to be the only time they'd done so since the early 1960s. They haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1967 either. But hey, free agents are free to sign wherever they please - and everyone makes mistakes.

Hickey, for his part, is currently in the first of a four-year contract that pays him $2.5M annually and is semi-lockout-protected for 2020-21, as he's slated to get half his salary as a signing bonus on July 1st the summer before. That's a mighty good deal no matter how you slice it, as it takes him to what may be the end of his prime, at 34 years old.

Here he is as captain of Team Canada from the World Juniors, at which he won gold medals in both 2008 and 2009 on card #TCS-TH from Upper Deck's 2015-16 O-Pee-Chee set and Team Canada Signatures sub-set:

Even though he's clearly wearing a #4 white (home) jersey, the on-sticker autograph sees him having tagged "14" at the end - his number with the Isles until this year, until Dennis Seidenberg was let go, freeing #4. Fun fact: Seidenberg's now back with the team after skating and practicing with them all year on a PTO.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau Autographed Card

One of my favourite remaining players on the Ottawa Senators, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, was hit with his first career suspension earlier today, a one-game punishment for a hit to the back of the Vancouver Canucks' Ashton Sautner last night.

Pageau's usually a mild-mannered dependable two-way forward, but perhaps his extremely disappointing season is taking its toll on him: the Sens look like they'll finish last overall and he himself is marred in a three-year downward trajectory in terms of on-ice production, and he's posted his lowest per-game points average since becoming an NHL regular:

from FrozenTools

Then again, a career-low shooting percentage indicates this year is an outlier and, should he hit the 10% mark next year, will revert back to being a 40-point producer.

He's also playing on a defensive line with Tom Pyatt, who may very well retire after season's end if no one will hire him; his time in Ottawa looks pretty much over, especially now that head coach Guy Boucher has left/been fired.

Pageau signed this card for me last year:

It's card #49 from In The Game's 2011-12 Heroes And Prospects set, which he signed in blue sharpie; it's a much sharper signature than when he signed the same card for me back in 2015. That means I have one to trade...

Like Sean Couturier before him, I expect him to bounce back next year, as they're following a similar development curve.

Kerby Rychel: Two Autographed Cards

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I wrote about a prospect who is currently in his fourth NHL franchise yesterday in Anthony Duclair; Kerby Rychel is in the same boat, now playing for the Calgary Flames' AHL affiliate the Stockton Heat, after stints with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montréal Canadiens and Columbus Blue Jackets organizations.

Unlike Duclair, skating is an area where NHL GMs and coaches are always telling Rychel to improve; his strongest suits are his grit, taste for playing in traffic areas (including in front of the opposition's net), tipping pucks, and traits generally associated with "plug-type" players and bottom-sixers, not first-rounders.

Still, it's not his fault the Blue Jackets selected him 19th overall in 2013, ahead of Anthony Mantha (20th, already 200 games and 60 goals in an NHL career), Andre Burakovsky (23rd, 318 NHL games, 61 goals), Shea Theodore (26th), Ryan Hartman (30th), Robert Hagg (41st), Artturi Lehkonen (55th, 200+ games), Brett Pesce (66th, 278 games and counting), Pavel Buchnevich (75th), Jake Guentzel (77th, closing in on 200 games and a goal shy of 75), Mattias Janmark-Nylen (79th, 224 games, 40 career goals), Duclair (80th, 277 games, over 50 goals), Sven Andrighetto (86th, 205 games, 50 assists), Oliver Bjorkstrand (89th, 187 games), Miles Wood (100th, 193 games), Andrew Copp (104th, 282 games), and Tyler Motte (121st, closing in on 150 games played).

I've heard and read about a lack of compete and work ethic in his case, but surely there was a way to instill those traits in him via positive reinforcement and reward for what he did do well, and accentuating or encouraging a will to become a Dave Andreychuck/Ray Sheppard/Brad Marchand type of "garbage goal" scorer and powerplay menace, and expanding from there.

All's not lost for him yet, at just 24 years of age, and he does have 23 goals in 57 AHL games this season, so surely an NHL team might take a chance on him in the near future, it's just been a rockier path than some expected.

For my part, I always say power forwards need more time to develop, and although he's a little small for one, that's how he plays; he also never reached the 100-point mark in Juniors, so he was always going to have to learn to work hard to deserve his chances.

Speaking of which, here's a card from his OHL days with the Windsor Spitfires:

It's card #T-45 from In The Game's 2013-14 Heroes And Prospects 10th Anniversary set and shows him wearing the Spitfires' white (home) uniform.

There is also card #88 from Upper Deck's 2014-15 Team Canada Juniors/Women set, where he's seen protecting the puck from a Swiss player while wearing Team Canada's red (away) uniform:

He was held pointless in 7 games at the 2014 World Juniors, as Canada finished in fourth place.

He signed both in (fading) black sharpie while playing for the AHL's Toronto Marlies (2016-18).