Brayden Point Jersey Card

Going back to yesterday's game, it was fitting that Brayden Point would score the quintuple-overtime game-winner - and apparently unsurprising to those who watched him grow up - seeing as he often seems to play well within the Tampa Bay Lightning's system, letting stars like Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh and Andrei Vasilevskiy take the spotlight, but every time he has a chance to stand out with a quick, nifty opportune play, he's there without fault.

It happened more often during the 2018-19 season, which was pretty much Point's coming out party, contributing 41 goals and 92 points for third-place (!) on the Bolts, behind Kucherov's 128 (41 goals) and Stamkos' 98 (45 goals), prompting the blogosphere and hockey websites' comments sections to erupt into thinking he was going to sign an $11M-a-year offer sheet, but he instead went with common sense, signing to a $6.75M cap hit over three years with the final year at $9M, meaning if Tampa wants to qualify him going forward, they're going to have t offer him a deal worth over $9.9M per - or risk losing him to free agency.

With the Covid situation bringing a stagnating cap, however, not many teams will have room to take on that kind of hit without giving anything in  return, so the Lightning may have some wiggle room to try a bold move like signing him a little below that.

This season, he had 25 goals and 64 points in 66 games, which is where I think his median will stand, with one or two other peaks above the 90-point mark, but mostly a very dependable, two-way point-per-game player is where I see him, manning a second line on a contending team.

And there has not really been a much more contending team than the one whose home uniform is this:

That's card #2 (Red Rainbow Jersey Parallel) from Upper Deck's 2019-20 Allure collection, featuring a decent-sized game-worn jersey swatch. I am still surprised I found this one for under $5 on Ebay considering how much packs of these went for on the market for $130 per box of 8 packs X 6 cards each, meaning a common card would normally come up to close to $3 on average, and I got a hit by a very good player for just a couple of bucks more.

I also bought a few common cards to test the set out, and I'm glad I didn't shell out for a whole box.

Kelly Hrudey: Two Autographed Cards

I was about a month old when Kelly Hrudey started playing as a rookie for the WHL's Medecine Hat Tigers, a season in which he'd appear in 57 games for the team that went 15-50-7, which explains why his goals-against average was 6.17; he brought it down to 4.17 the following season, posting a winning record (25-23-4) and convincing the New York Islanders to select him in the second round (38th overall) at the 1980 draft.

The following season, he was named to the WHL's Second All-Star Team after bring his GAA down to 3.97 and keeping an .895 save percentage, on his way to the professional ranks; he spent four seasons with the Central Hockey League's Indianapolis Checkers where he would hone his game to besome an eventual NHL starter in lieu of Isles star Billy Smith, winning the league's Best Goalie ("Terry Sawchuk") trophy twice, earning First Team All-Star status twice, winning the playoff MVP for the 1981-82 season and regular-season MVP the next year.

He split the 1983-84 season between the CHL and NHL and got to the Big Show full time in 1984-85, playing 41 games to Smith's 37 and Roland Melanson's 8, on an Isles team that iced no fewer than three 100-point players: Mike Bossy (58 goals, 117 points), Brent Sutter (42 goals, 102 points) and John Tonelli (42 goals, 100 points).

He would appear in more and more games each year, cementing his position as the #1 goalie up until and including the 1988-89 season, where he was a trade deadline after appearing in 50 games to the Isles, and sent to the Los Angeles Kings where he would appear in another 19 and be a fixture for eight years, culminating in a 1993 Stanley Cup Final appearance.

He would finish his career by spending two seasons with the San Jose Sharks alongside two other veterans - Ed Belfour and Mike Vernon - before retiring to Calgary and joining the Hockey Night In Canada/Sportsnet analysis teams for Calgary Flames games but also the national telecasts.

But today I want to focus on the earlier part of his career. This is an artist's rendering of what he looked like wearing the Tigers' Philadelphia Flyers-inspired uniform, on card #138 from In The Game's 2013-14 Heroes And Prospects set and Hockey Hero sub-set:

And this is him wearing his classic Jofa helmet-and-grid with the Islanders' blue (then-away) uniform, on card #123 from ITG's 2013-14 Between The Pipes set and Greats Of The Game sub-set:

That was his look when he set a record that would last 33 years, that of making 73 saves in a single playoff game - the seven-period "1987 Easter Epic", which stood until hours ago when Joonas Korpisalo of the Columbus Blue Jackets stopped 85 Tampa Bay Lightning shots in a bitter eight-period Game 1 loss.

And Hrudey took it well, as you can see here:

He seems humble, genuine and nice, which is the same feeling I had when I received those cards from him in the mail a few years back. I had written him a fan letter and joined those cards care of HNIC and they came back in roughly eight months. He signed them in black sharpie.

He's also been an advocate for mental health for a few years now, and even more so during the pandemic.

Chris Drury Jersey Card

Chris Drury signed an extension as the New York Rangers' assistant-GM in March 2019, months before drafting Kaapo Kakko second-overall at the 2019 draft and a year and a half before using the first-overall selection to either select generational talent Alexis Lafrenière help or concoct a major trade with the likes of the Los Angeles Kings, Montréal Canadiens or Ottawa Senators.

Those moves combined with the signing of Artemi Panarin and having two solid goaltending prospects and the emergence if Mika Zibanejad and a strong, young defensive unit mean the Rangers' rebuild is not only well under way but almost at a point where they can seriously contend for a playoff spot, which in turn means he'll get his shot a running his own team sooner than later.

He might be on the shortlist for next Buffalo Sabres GM if Kevyn Adams' revamped lineup doesn't make a dent in the playoffs in the next three to five seasons; he'd be a great fit for the Sabres, since he captained them like he did the Rangers, and he looked pretty good in their uniform, too:

Of course, as a Colorado Avalanche fan, I remember him winning the Calder Trophy (1998-99) and Stanley Cup (2000-01) in Denver, but I kind of had forgotten they'd traded him to the Calgary Flames to bolster their defense with Derek Morris following Ray Bourque's retirement.

He was a good enough player to be inducted in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015 on the strength of 615 points in 895 NHL regular-season games as well as two Olympic silver medals with Team USA and was a pretty good playoff performer when his teams made them, nearing the point-per-game mark four times in nine appearances.

Jonathan Bernier Autographed Card

I really wasn't sure which story-line I wanted to purse tonight, with most recent results going the way I had hoped. After seriously considering featuring someone from the Columbus Blue Jackets (winners), Washington Capitals (winners), Boston Bruins (losers), Dallas Stars (winners) or St. Louis Blues (losers), I opted with a former member of the Toronto Maple Leafs (losers, eliminated), Jonathan Bernier.

A first-round draft pick (11th overall in 2006, Los Angeles Kings), he sat on the sidelines and watched Jonathan Quick win a Conn Smythe Trophy from the sidelines, awaiting his turn like he had in Juniors when he was slotted behind Jaroslav Halak only to take over upon the Slovak goalie's move to the professional ranks and lead the Lewiston MAINEiacs to a LHJMQ championship and Memorial Cup berth.

Except his turn would never come in L.A., so he asked for a trade anywhere to have a shot at a #1 spot, and the Leafs came calling, offering the Kings Matt Frattin, Ben Scrivens and a second-round pick for Bernier's services. The Toronto media wrote flattering pieces on him at first, but turned on him within three years despite very good statistics with the team:

from HockeyDB

I mean: a .922 save percentage over 55 games in 2013-14, with a 26-19-7 record while his backup James Reimer went 12-16-1 under Randy Carlyle; a 2.87 GAA, .912 save percentage and 21-28-7 record while Reimer was at 3.16, .907 and 9-16-1 in 2014-15, as the media got the 21-16-3 Carlyle fired and his replacement, Peter Horacek, went a lowly 9-28-5 to close out the year in agony; and get this, 3 shutouts in 38 games in 2015-16, Mike Babcock's first season with the team, which finished with a 29-42-11 record (Reimer and Garret Sparks combined for a single shutout in 49 combined appearances).

The leading scorer for Babcock's Leafs? Nazem Kadri, with 45 points.

Bernier was made one of the scapegoats, but he was put in an impossible position, that of holding down the fort while the team was failing on purpose (i.e. "tanking") to put itself in position to draft high-level prospects and move on from the failed Phil Kessel era.

Carlyle took him on with the Anaheim Ducks for the 2016-17 season, and he was terrific, going 21-7-4 with a 2.51 GAA, a .915 save percentage and 2 shutouts in 38 games to restore his reputation as a dependable netminder, and the following season with the Colorado Avalanche was more of the same (19-13-3, 2.85, .913, 2 shutouts in 37 games).

Unfortunately, the starting jobs are pretty much taken everywhere, and with the salary cap, teams stick with their #1 guy even through bad seasons because they're stuck with the cap hit and term, so they brace themselves for a year and hope for the best the following season, a recipe that works (Craig Anderson) as often as it doesn't (Quick).

So, for the last couple of seasons, Bernier has been eating a ton of rubber in front of the Detroit Red Wings' net, staying in shape in case a contending team comes calling, making acrobatic saves to impress the few people left in the stands before GM Steve Yzerman turns things around.

Who knows, maybe a former employer like current Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland (who hired him with the Wings) will give him a call for next season?

Because no matter what the Toronto media says, he has yet to cost his team a season and is a fine stop-gap solution in front of the net. Furthermore, he's still just 32 and has two or three more good years in him.

Here he is in Leafs white (the "away" uniform), on card #76 from Upper Deck's 2013-14 SPX set:

It's a great-looking set, with enough foil to look classy and complementary colours to keep the theme running while keeping a classic "card feel". He signed it in blue sharpie after a 4-2 loss to the Habs while with the Avalanche, in January 2018.

After this season's failure to qualify for the "real" playoffs, my guess is the Toronto media will turn on goalie Freddie Andersen this summer, GM Kyle Dubas the next and team President Brendan Shanahan the one after that, forcing yet another rebuild on a team that hasn't won a Stanley Cup since 1967 (or a playoff series in 15 years).

David Honzik Autographed Card

David Honzik came just a little too late to make it with his frame and skill-set, which mostly consisted of his dropping to his knees in the butterfly style, trying to cover as much of the net as possible and shifting quickly from side to side to be in good position in the event of a pass.

Many of the people who accompanied me when I watched him play - be it live during his days in the "Q" or on TV in the Czech system - likened his style to that of Carey Price, but couldn't put their finger on why Price stopped more shots than Honzik did; sometimes, an inch makes a world of difference, and while they weigh nearly the same (214 pounds vs 217), Price's listed height at 6'3" or 6'4" depending on the source does cover a little more net than Honzik's 6'2", not-quite-6'3". I'm at that height myself and felt my eyes came up a little higher than his when I crossed his path, so maybe even that may have been slightly exaggerated.

Honzik was selected 71st overall (third round) by the Vancouver Canucks in the 211 draft, ahead of Jordan Binnington (88th), Laurent Brossoit (164th), Anton Forsberg (188th), and Garrett Sparks (190th) - all goalies who have appeared in over 35 NHL games, while he has suited up for none.

I'll admit his Czech League regular-season stats look pedestrian while his Second Division numbers are excellent (which in North American terms would be viewed as "tweener", i.e. too good for the AHL, borderline player in the NHL), but his playoff statistics are generally terrific, telling me he's learned to perform well under pressure:

from EliteProspects

He's now 26 years old, about to enter his prime years. It might be time for a team to take a chance on him during meaningful regular-season games.

He's played a bit in North America, suited up for àthree seasons of Juniors hockey in the LHJMQ, two with the Victoriaville Tigres and one with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles; he fared much better with the former, and this is what he looked like wearing their yellow (home) uniform:

That's card #46 from In The Game's 2011-12 Heroes And Prospects set, which he signed in blue sharpie. I actually traded for this one, and the person who had it signed had not erased the gloss off the card before handing him the sharpie, which is why it's a tad smudged.