Posts Tagged ‘Colorado Rockies’

Chugging along…

Last post saw the induction of Bourque, Coffey, and Kharlamov while Fuhr, Lafontaine, Murphy, and Neely go the heave-ho. Sorry fellas, but that is how the cookie crumbles.

1961-1966
1967-1970
1971-1973
1974-1976
1977-1978
1979-1980
1981
1982-1984
1985-1986
1987-1988
1989-1990
1991-1992
1993-1995
1996-1997
1998-2000
2001-2002
2003-2005

2006
Dick Duff
Patrick Roy

Dick Duff?! Seriously? 1030 games, 283 goals, and 289 assists does not a Hall of Fame career make. Twice he finished in the top-10 for goals in a season and that is it. No individual hardware and no NHL All-Star 1st or 2nd Team selections. Six Stanley Cups is nice, but it’s a team achievement unless you put up UNGODLY numbers, which Duff did not. Very good, yes, but not amazing. Maybe he was a great defensive forward, but I can’t really find much anecdotal information on that. Duff is out.

Patrick Roy, on the other hand, is a no-brainer into the Hall of Fame.  18 seasons with a career record of 551-315-131. He finished in the top-1o in wins 16 times (leading twice), GAA 14 times(leading three times), and shutouts 11 times (leading twice). He is second on the all-time career win list. He has three Vezina Trophies, three Conn Smythe Trophies, and four Stanley Cups. He was also named to five NHL All-Star 1st Teams and two 2nd Teams. Roy is in.

Inducted: Patrick Roy
Kicked out: Dick Duff

2007
Ron Francis
Al MacInnis
Mark Messier
Scott Stevens

2007 is a strong HOF year. Let’s start with Ron Francis.

Dude played 23 seasons for starters! During his career, Francis appeared in the top-10 in assists twelve times, leading the league twice. For his career, he is 2nd all time. While he wasn’t known as a prolific goal scorer, he did tally 549 goals which is pretty darn good. Five times he finished in the top-1o in total points and is fourth all-time. He has some hardware to go along with his stats: a Selke Trophy, two Lady Byngs, and two Stanley Cups. Now I have to ask myself, was Ron Francis ever a dominant player? Would you get nervous when he was playing against your team? Was he a game changer? Yes and no. I don’t think he was ever dominant, but he was an elite playmaker who made his teammates better than they probably were. He was a headsy player  who was rarely out of position. It’s hard to argue against a guy who is 2nd in assists and 4th in points. So while he was never regarded as the best of his era, he performed at a high level for a LONG time. Plus, I gotta have a Whaler in the Hall. Francis is in.

In 19 seasons (40+ games) in the NHL, Al MacInnis tallied a total of 340 goals , 934 assists, and 1274 points, all of which are good enough for third all-time among defencemen. He won a Norris Trophy, a Conn Smythe Trophy, and a Stanley Cup while being named to the NHL All-Star 1st Team four times and the 2nd Team three times. He is also one of only five blueliners to score more than 100 points in a season. MacInnis was one of the premier defencemen of his time and certainly deserves to be in the Hall.

I’ll be upfront and honest about this: I have never liked Mark Messier. Ask me why and I can’t even tell you. It’s just one of those totally irrational dislikes that we sometimes get a humans. I think it’s something about the way he looks. Anyways, I am going to be very objective and let his numbers speak for his career. 25 years in the league (plus one in the WHA). Wait, that can’t be right…sweet Jesus it is! Wow, okay. During that time, he would score 30+ goals eleven times, 40+ four times, and 50+ once; six times he would finish with 100+ points. He finished in the top-1o in goals four times, assists six times, and points six times, but would never lead in any of those categories. His playoff numbers are absurd: 295 points (109 goals/186 assists) in 236 games. He won the Hart Trophy twice, the Ted Lindsay Award twice, and took home on Conn Smythe Trophy. Oh yeah, he has six Stanley Cups. And if that is not enough, he is 7th all-time in goals, 3rd in assists, and 2nd in points. Messier is in.

Scott Stevens was one tough hombre who was known to play on that fine line between tough as nails and dirty. I don’t think he was really known as an offensive d-man, but over the course of 1635 games, he did put up 196 goals and 712 assists. Not bad, not bad. He never won a Norris but he did take home a Conn Smythe Trophy and was the captain of three Stanley Cup winning teams. He wouldn’t get in on numbers alone, but Stevens was more than numbers. He was a hard hitter who made opponents change their style of play on more than one occasion. Ask Slava Koslov, Paul Kariya or Ron Francis about going across the middle with their head down. Despite being labeled as a sometimes dirty player, he only ever received four elbowing penalties in his career. Lastly, over his 22 seasons in the NHL, never never finished as a minus player. I want a hard-nosed, physical defencemen in my hall. Stevens is in!

Inducted: Ron Francis, Al MacInnis, Mark Messier, and Scott Stevens
Kicked out: No one

2008
Glenn Anderson
Igor Larionov

First Dick Duff and now Glenn Anderson? No way. Six Cups is nice, but 43rd all time in goals, 75th in assists, and 56 is points. Never the best player on his team, let alone the league. GET OUT!

Igor Larionov has to be in because of his pre-NHL USSR career. He didn’t enter the NHL until he was 29, where he proceeded to put up solid but not spectacular numbers. His USSR numbers are about the same, good but not great. I don’t really know what to say here. I almost feel like I have to give the Russian players a pass here, but I don’t know. My gut says he shouldn’t be in, so he’s not. Make an argument for his inclusion and I’ll be all ears. Out. What a weak class!

Inducted: No one
Kicked out: Glenn Anderson and Igor Larionov

One more part to go and we’ll be all caught up. SO EXCITING! Maybe.

Now onto something that, to me, is beyond exciting.

A while ago I asked Brett over at My Hockey Card Obsession if he would create a custom cut autograph card of Reggie Lewis for me. If you are not familiar with his work, it is out of this world. I mean, check out his stuff! I’m not sure why card companies haven’t come knocking at his door offering him jobs and obscene amounts of money but I figure it has something to do with the fact that card companies are run by morons with no artistic eye (Panini, I’m looking at you in particular). Anyways, I asked Brett if, when he had time, he could come up with something that would feature my little piece of paper with Reggie Lewis’ autograph on it. You can see it here. Being the nice guy that he is, he agreed and sent me his idea. Of course it looked amazing and so he went ahead with it.

Smash cut to yesterday and me at the post office checking my box. What do I find in there but this thing:

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?!?!

No exaggeration here: I lost my breath. Yeah, I knew what it would look like but actually seeing it in person BLEW. ME. AWAY! I am not sure if Brett knows exactly how much this means to me and how much I will cherish this card. Reggie Lewis was my favorite player at the  impressionable age of 13, when we still believed in heroes. His death affected me big time and this scrap piece of paper was my one tangible link to Reggie. Thank you, Brett, SO SO SO MUCH for this card.

Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, he goes and sends this along too:

C’MON!

The hockey blogosphere never ceases to amaze me!

I hope that all of my American compatriots had a great Thanksgiving full of turkey, stuffing, football, and afternoon naps. For my Canadian counterparts, I hope your Thursday was at least a little more enjoyable than usual. With “Black Friday” behind us, I thought I’d share some recent eBay/checkoutmycards purchases that I snagged at “Black Friday” prices.

The first big purchase involves a personal “white whale” and finally puts an end to a longtime quest of mine. Finding a certified on-card auto of Woody Dumart is pretty darn tough. According to Beckett, there are only three options: a Bruins Alumni card set, a Parkhurst card that is sort of like a cut auto, and an In The Game Ultimate slabbed card. I had pretty much given up hope of ever finding any of these and instead had first settled on this card…

I’ve talked a bit about this card before. It belonged to a set that was to be produced by Dr. Brian Price of In The Game. As per usual, the NHL rejected his license request and these cards were never officially released. However, they eventually showed up in ITG’s Ultimate Memorabilia 5th Edition but set inside a black frame and slabbed. Like this…

The Parkhurst Dumart is sort of the same, only it is set behind a green border and was unslabbed.

Here is a little write-up ITG did concerning this card:

“In the Game, Inc., the manufacturer of the Be A Player brands of hockey cards, recently paid tribute to a Hockey Hall of Famer and Boston Bruin legend Woody Dumart in their 2001-02 Parkhurst brand.

When the Parkhurst brand was on the drawing board early in 2001, one of the planned insert sets was a 40-card effort entitled Parkhurst Autographs. The set featured an amazing lineup of hockey legends ranging from Gordie Howe to Jean Beliveau to Phil Esposito complete with their signatures. Woody Dumart was included in the set.

Once the cards were printed, they were sent to each of the players but sadly, Dumart passed away before he signed any of them on October 19. Officials at In the Game were now forced to revise their plans.

Rather than simply withdraw the card or replace it with another retired great, a plan was implemented which not only paid proper tribute to Dumart, it also provided something special for collectors. To avoid any further delays during pack-out, special Dumart redemption cards were inserted in packs of Parkhurst.

“Fortunately we had a small supply of Woody Dumart signatures,” explained Dr. Brian H. Price, President of In the Game. “We had discussions with Mrs. Dumart and decided to follow through with this tribute to a great player and a fine gentleman.

“It took some ingenuity on the part of our production staff but we were able to use them as ‘cut signatures’ and literally build a new card of Woody that featured his autograph. Anyone who pulled one of the redemption cards can send it to us in exchange for one of these. I’m quite pleased with the results and I think collectors will be too.”

Only 20 of these special signed Dumart cards were produced.”

As I had never seen either of these cards, I was mostly satisfied with my unframed “bootleg” version, even though I couldn’t say for certain it was real.

Later, I picked up a different Dumart autograph, this time for an obscure regional set.

You can read a little bit about it here. Although Beckett recognizes the set, they don’t mention an autographed version of it. Again, I took a (cheap) chance on this and was mostly satisfied.

Anyways, to make a long story longer, I picked up this gem…

2001-02 Parkhurst Autograph #PA-09 Woody Dumart

The hunt for a certified Dumart autograph is officially OVER! Twenty copies, no pricing due to scarcity, and I snagged it for a pretty good price. If anyone is interested in either of my other two Dumart cards, let me know; they are definitely up for trade.

Next up two more cards from the same eBay seller. Do you ever bid on something, look at the seller’s other auctions, and then bid on a couple others? I was not actively seeking these two cards, but when I saw them, I knew I needed them. First is this “nifty” card…

2001-02 Greats of the Game Autographs #70 Rick Middleton

I have always liked the Greats of the Game sets (all sports included) and when I saw this card, I had to have it. I love me some Middleton and the picture cracks me up.  Did you know Nifty had five straight 40+ goal seasons (40, 44, 51, 49, 47)? Or that he won the Lady Byng Trophy once?

Know who has never won and never will win the Lady Byng? This guy…

2000-01 Topps Premier Plus Private Signings #PS-CP Chris Pronger

Pronger is a future HOFer, so I figured I would get his card now. My preference is to get certified autos of HOFers from when they were still active (for guys like Richard, Howe, Beliveau, etc. it is impossible) and I like to have them in the jersey of the team they were most identifiable with. For me, Pronger enjoyed his best years with the Blues, so I was happy to get this one.  The Middleton and Pronger cost me a combined $13. Um, yes please.

The next couple of cards came courtesy of CheckOutMyCards.com. Paul over at Card Boarded sent me an emailing saying that he saw an Axelsson card on the site that I might not have. He was right, so I had to buy it. While there, I figured I’d poke around for a few other cards that I’ve been looking for and save on shipping. The Axelsson will have to wait for another time; for now you get to see these two…

1973-74 O-Pee-Chee #3 Phil Roberto

This is a card that I’ve been aware of for a long time and always mean to pick up a copy, but then just forget. Recently, though, Shane over at Shoebox Legends had a post highlighting a truly righteous quarter box haul and this card was in it. With that fresh in my head, I finally picked up a copy and I have to say, it is about time. This is one of the VERY few NHL licensed hockey cards to feature an actual fight (Sal over at Puck Junk has a great post about this card and fighting on hockey cards). I like that he played for three defunct teams during his career: Scouts, Rockies, and Barons.

Lastly, there is this jewel…

2003-04 Bowman Chrome Refractor #134 Gregory Campbell /300

Campbell is my second favorite current Bruin behind McQuaid and I have been looking to pick up his rookie since he joined the team. I struck out at the Shriner’s show and a couple other shows, so online I had to go. I like Campbell for a few reasons For starters, he wears #11, PJ’s old number. Secondly, the dude is a bad ass and will throw ‘em with anyone. Lastly, he is just a hard-nosed, gritty player who does all the little things very well. He’s good on the PK, can win his share of draws, goes hard into the corners, and can even put the puck in the back of the net (13 goals on the 4th line last year). He is like Axelsson’s rough and tumble twin brother. Okay, maybe not.

Anyways, here is a clip of Campbell feeding Pyatt his lunch (this is for you, Capt’n)