Duncan Keith Jersey Card

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Colour me baffled once again by Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland, who traded promising young prospect Caleb Jones and a third-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks for the totality of Duncan Keith's remaining two years, $5.53M cap hit and all. Keith had shown a desire to play in Western Canada or with the Seattle Kraken, which left just the Oilers, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks as possible suitors, and the Canucks and Flames were reportedly not interested. It seemed like Hawks GM Stan Bowman had his hands tied, but he may actually have been in possession of pictures of Holland in the same position that he didn't want to see released to the public.

Don't get me wrong - I LOVE Duncan Keith. He's a first-ballot Hall Of Famer, a two-time Norris Trophy winner (in the Nicklas Lidstrom era no less), and a three-time Stanley Cup Champion whose Conn Smythe performance in 2015 was the most dominant performance I've ever seen by a skater during a playoff series - more so than Chris Pronger and Erik Karlsson's failed Cup runs, more than any forwards I remember (which admittedly, because I was too young and only started paying serious attention to hockey in the Spring of 1986, doesn't include Wayne Gretzky's two Smythe-worthy performances although it does include Mario Lemieux's).

But he's 37 and will turn 38 later this week, he has been trending downwards for eight seasons, with the last four being particularly painful in terms of possession statistics, though his "real" stats in 2018-19 were pretty good. Which means the Oilers should have gotten the Hawks to at least retain a couple of millions for each season, or half his salary in Year One and none for the last... anything, really.

Keith is no longer the first-pairing defenseman he used to be, he will have to get sheltered minutes with someone who can both keep up with and help him (fix his mistakes). There are rumours Ryan Suter, Keith Yandle and others might get bought out; perhaps waiting on these options to present themselves would have diminished the price paid or improved the return.

But let's harken back to when no one knew the heights he would reach after being drafted in the second round (54th overall) four years prior, on card #RT-DK from Upper Deck's 2005-06 Series 2 set and Rookies Threads sub-set:

It shows him wearing the Hawks' classic red jersey, with a matching swatch (possibly from the same photo shoot).

Tim Cheveldae Autographed Card

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This series was over the moment Mark Scheifele decided venting his frustration was more important than attemptiong a comeback, some time around midway in the first game of the series, way before he actually crossed the line and deliberately injured Montréal Canadiens rookie Jake Evans. He left the Winnipag Jets - already without second-line center Paul Stastny, on the cusp of losing #2 defenseman Dylan DeMelo for a long time - without their top playmaker, a point-per-game player who had helped shut Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers down in the first round.

As his eyes got more and more filled with rage from being stifled by Phillip Danault and clobbered by Shea Weber, Jeff Petry, Joel Edmundson and Ben Chiarot, you could almost read the prediction of how the series would go by the expression on his face, from "Jets in 6" at the opening faceoff to "Jets in 7" in the middle of the second period to "Habs in 7" to start the third, "Habs in 6" five minutes later, and "Habs in 4" when it became clear Scheifele would get a lengthy suspension.

The referees did a good job of not letting any part of this series get out of hand, even calling out Stastny for a penalty for a cross-check after a goal in Game 3, making sure the last ten minutes of play wasn't just scrum-after-scrum of frustration masquerading as "message sending" with the potential for more useless injuries.

I love a tough game; I would love for every team to have a Blake Wheeler on one wing and a Josh Anderson on the other to bang and bruise their way to the opposition's net, but dirty plays at the speed of this sport cannot be tolerated, and as much as I really love the Jets, that the series was decided on a bonehead play after an empty-net goal is well-deserved. Wheeler seemed to agree that the suspension changed the course of the series:

You can't describe the impact of losing him. He's a top-10 player in the NHL. I'm not saying that we would win the series in five games because he was in the lineup. But it just changes our team. He makes me better, he makes Kyle Connor better. It just makes our team look a lot different, so it's a damn shame.

I don't believe Scheifele gets the Nazem Kadri treatment and gets shipped out of town, and hopefully he learneds his lesson from this unfortunate situation.

Still, these are good times for Jets fans. They have had a very good team for the better part of a decade now, have the best goalie in the game (Connor Hellebuyck), are exciting to watch, have a good tactician in coach Paul Maurice (although at this point perhaps a motivator might be what they should be looking for)... they did not sweep the Oilers by accident.

They are missing two key elements for me: a top-four defenseman and a return to one of their old uniforms, such as the mid-1990s oen as sported by Tim Cheveldae on card #212 from Pinnacle Brands' 1995-96 Score set:

The Ottawa Senators, Calgary Flames and Arizona Coyotes have recently all embraced the retro trand, as has Adidas with their "Reverse Retro" series, I think the Jetsshould also embrace the pre-rebirth history of the NHL in their town.

Cheveldae was a typical Detroit Red Wings goalie: a workhorse for a small number of seasons (three), not quite an established #1 that gets you palyoff success, a scapegoat for postseason failures, and not a Vezina-caliber game-changer, although he did garner some votes in two of his seasons in recognition for games played (72 in 1991-92, for a total of 4236 minutes, and 67 games/3880 minutes the following year, but he had no chance of actually winning with Patrick Roy and Ed Belfour in their prime).

He was replaced in Detroit by Chris Osgood before moving to Winnpeg where he shared the net with Bob Essensa and Nikolai Khabibulin before phasing out of the NHL and into the IHL (Fort Wayne Komets in 1996-97, Las Vegas Thunder in 1997-98, both with a .878 save percentage and nearly identical 3.96 and 3.95 goals-against averages). He rocked the Heaton equipment well in Winnipeg, but my best memories of him are donning the Vaughn pads in Detroit.

Josh Morrissey: Two Autographed Cards

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I didn't post my usual NHL playoff predictions on my regular blog this year, so you'll just have to take me at my word that I'm not looking like Nostradamus right now...

The Winnipeg Jets taking their first game against the Edmonton Oilers didn't really make a dent in my prediction that the Oilers would win in 5, but their taking a 3-0 series lead looking for a sweep tomorrow - particularly when trailing 4-1 with 9 minutes left in the third in Game 3 - reinforces my belief that this team is built with great character (Blake Wheeler, Nikolaj Ehlers), is a deep offensive juggernaut (Mark Scheifele, Paul Stastny, Kyle Connor, Pierre-Luc Dubois) and has the best goalie in the game today (Connor Hellebuyck).

But the Oilers have the best player in the past 30 years (Connor McDavid) and Leon Draisaitl, who qiualifies as one of the five best forwards in the world right now as well - they supporting cast just hasn't been able to do what it takes to either steal or keep the lead in a game.

In their press conferences, Jets head coach Paul Maurice also looks not only more in control and better able to communicate his messages to his players (and the media), he also constantly adds value to his answers with tactical information or historical tidbits, whereas Edmonton's Dave Tippett looks like someone who once coached the Phoenix Coyotes.

The key play that got the Jets back in the game was Josh Archibald's dangerous and useless "tripping" (actually clipping the kees) penalty on rookie defenseman Logan Stanley, for which he'll get a hearing tomorrow, opening the possibility of a suspension which would facilitate Tippett's removal of his top checker from the next game.

Obviously, with a pair of goals including the goal that sparked the comeback and the overtime game-winner, Ehlers was celebrated as the game's hero, but Josh Morrissey, with an assist on Wheeler's 4-3 goal and the tying one just seconds later, both on similar plays where he took full control of the puck at the blue line to set up and maintain the attack, arguably had just as much impact on Winnipeg's comeback win. The defenseman had been blanked in the first two games of the series after a 21-point regular season (to go with 86 blocked shots, 78 hits and 25 penalty minutes). He had had back-to-back 31-point seasons before that, earning then cementing his place as the team's top defender.

It's odd to think he was a rookie not so long ago, as can be attested from card #282 from Upper Deck's 2016-17 MVP set, showing him wearing #36, meaning the picture was taken dring his lone NHL game in 2015-16:

He has since worn #44, as can be seen on card #NL-21 from Upper Deck's 2016-17 Overtime hockey collection and Next In Line sub-set:

It's a beautiful silver foil card, even though it appears as teal in the scan.

He signed them in thin blue sharpie in 2018.

Chris Drury Autographed Card

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What a year for the New York Rangers!

They bought out future Hall Of Famer Henrik Lundqvist to make room for two rookies in net, told Tony DeAngelo to stay home, had Mika Zibanejad take two months to recover from COVID-19, which also forced head coach David Quinn miss six games, and superstar Artemi Panarin missed a fair chunk of the season as well, dealing with (possibly politically-motivated) problems in Russia, yet the team was in the playoff picture until today.

Today is a weird day, culminating with the nomination of Chris Drury as President and General Manager of the team, after serving as assistant-GM for a handful of seasons; John Davidson and Jeff Gorton, respectively, were relieved of their functions today, a day after distancing themselves from a tweet that I fully endorse and support, myself:

Honestly, Tom Wilson should have been suspended for at least 10 games for what he did to Panarin, who will not play again this season. If your owner has the balls to call the player and the NHL's Director Of Player Safety, George Parros, out, you should have the principle that standing up for your player against an unpunished criminal action is the only right thing to do.

(edit: distancing themselves from the team's statement seems to have hurried the announcement, but many sources now confirm divergence of opinions on the state of the team's rebuild and roster priorities would have seen both men lose their jobs before the next draft anyhow).

It's a safe bet Davidson will return to his previous job as President of the Columbus Blue Jackets, I just hope that doesn't mean their own GM Jarmo Kekalainen will not be in constant danger of losing his own job to Gorton.

As for Drury, after a decorated career as a hockey player that included a Calder Trophy (1998-99), a Stanley Cup (2000-01), and the captaincy of both the Rangers and Buffalo Sabres, his turn as an executive has also yielded impressive results so far, with a successful run as GM of the Rangers' AHL affiliate Hartford Wolf Pack (2017-21) and for Team USA at the 2019, 2020 (cancelled) and 2021 World Championships, where he had rpeviously served as assistant-GM (2015-2017).

Here he is wearing the Sabres' black (away) uniform (1996-2006) on card #9 from Upper Deck's 2003-04 SP Authentic collection:

He signed it in blue sharpie near the end of his playing career with the Rangers.

Jake Virtanen Autographed Card

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I wish I were writing a "Jake Virtanen scores a hat trick, cements his position on the Vancouver Canucks' second line for the next decade" type of post but, alas, the 24-year-old (who an important part of the Canucks' fanbase had already turned its back on) is in the news because of an alleged sexual assault that would have taken place in September 2017.

As of yet, there have not been any (formal) accusations although the victim has expressed themselves on Twitter and the police is seemingly aware of "a recently reported incident".

As is common in these cases, there is an important contingent that wants him cancelled, fired, hung by the balls and put on a million type of lists without any sort of trial, and a vocal group disputing the accusations as a cash grab - or worse: a disappointed fan looking to attack the slow-to-develop winger personally for his on-ice play. There are probably a few moderates of the "let's see how this plays out with more facts and perhaps a trial" school left, but I'm not holding my breath anymore.

I'm usually an "extreme moderate" myself in cases like these: I would protect the victim regardless and offer them all the help they need to get their life back on track, whether the accusation is true or not, and whether the attacker gets penalized or not. Yes, even if the accusation isn't true, I would offer the alleged victim state-provided psychological help, because they would need it, to help cure the situation that made them invent the story in the first place, and to deal with the backlash of now having this very public cloud to live with for the rest of their lives.

There is also the possibility that the person does in all truthfullness feel wronged but that a third party rules that they are incorrect in their assessment of the situation, which also deserves care and help; and this being North America, historically, the system being built on proving guilt being harder in situations where there are no witnesses, if the defendant did commit a crime but doesn't crack at the trial, he could get away with it - which also requires a host of services provided to the victim.

In Virtanen's case, however, it is too early to tell on any of this. But I would advise the victim to go through the proper channels of Justice for this one, as the system is thirsty for a public case to right past wrongs, and there has pretty much never been a better time - strategically - to bring someone to court on matters like these and hope for a win (see: Derek Chauvin, the rare police murderer who was found guilty).

For now, the young man has been put on leave by his hometown team. He was already thought by many to being on his way out of town, and this may very well seal the deal, but it also brings the team's expected return down by a lot; I'm not sure even a talented (alleged) racist like Tony DeAngelo is a fair return today.

Back in the day, Virtanen used to suit up for Team Canada often; here he is wearing the team's red (away) uniform on card #44 from Upper Deck's 2014-15 Team Canada Juniors/Women set:

It shows him wearing #19. He signed it in thin blue sharpie. I got the card by mail a couple of seasons ago.