Saturday, March 2, 2024

Month of Mail - February 2024

The month of February, 2024 was a fantastic month for my NHL officials collection and my Women's of hockey collection. I also found 4 more NHL player signatures, raising the grand total of unique signatures to 7,559 for 93% of everyone to play in the NHL.


                         Dick Bittner (d. 2002)
Goalie Richard "Dick" Bittner played 1 game in the NHL with the 1949-50 Boston Bruins. He's also notable for representing USA at the 1949 World Championships. 

                         Alex Ritson (d. 2008)
Alex Ritson played 1 game in the NHL with the 1944-45 New York Rangers.

                        Tony Savage (d. 1974)
Gordon "Tony" Savage spent one season in the NHL and played with both the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins. Between the two clubs, he played 49 games. The defenseman started the year in Montreal, was traded to Boston but then after only 8 games with the Bruins, was traded back to Montreal and finished the season a Canadien.

                   Colin Chisholm
Colin Chisholm played 1 game in the NHL with the 1986-87 Minnesota North Stars.


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                      Dave Nonis
Dave Nonis was General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks from 2004 to 2008 and GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2013 to 2015. This one goes with my collection of NHL coaches & managers who never played in the league. Nonis was one of the most notable recent GMs I was missing so it was great to finally get a reply from him after years of trying. 

                       Bob Myers
Myers spent 22 years in the NHL and worked well over 1,000 games. He officiated the 1980 Stanley Cup finals.

                          Tim Peel
Peel worked over 1,300 games in the NHL and also worked the 2014 Olympics.

                    Ian Sandercock
Ian Sandercock worked in the NHL during the 1980s.

                   Stephane Auger
Stephane Auger spent 15 years as an NHL referee.

                   Mark Faucette
Mark Faucette started officiating in the NHL in the mid 1980s and worked over 900 games in the league.

                      Craig Spada
Craig Spada refereed 247 games in the NHL over his career.

                      Jake Brenk
Jake Brenk was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 2001 and played some pro hockey but never made it to the NHL as a player. In 2015, Brenk made it to the big leagues as a referee.

                    Paul Flaherty
Paul Flaherty worked as an NHL official during the 1970s and 1980s. He later worked as a video replay official at Boston Bruins games.

                      Brian Sopp
Brian Sopp was an NHL linesman during the 1965-66 season. He left the NHL to return to studies and graduated from Harvard.

                     Kyle Rehman
Kyle Rehman has been an NHL referee since 2008.

                   Andy McElman
From 1993 to 2016 Andy McElman worked 1500 NHL games.



With this new small lot of Canadian women hockey legend autographs, I'm only a couple of signatures away from having all women to represent Canada at the Olympics in hockey.

                  Laura Schuler
Laura Schuler played on Canada's inaugural 1990 World Championship team and was a key member of the National team throughout the decade. She brought home a silver from the 1998 Olympics.

                     Nancy Drolet
Nancy Drolet was a long time member of Canada's national team. She won Gold at the 1992, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2001 World Championships. She also won Silver at the 1998 Olympics.

                 Karen Nystrom
Karen Nystrom was a member of Canada's 1998 Olympic team. She was also on Canada's 1992, 1994 and 1997 World Championship Gold medal winning teams. 

                    Judy Diduck
Judy Diduck helped Canada win Gold at the 1990, 1992, 1994 and 1997 World Championships. She was a member of Canada's 1998 silver medal winning Olympic team. She was also a star ringette player. Her brother, Gerald, played in the NHL.

                     Kelly O'Leary
Kelly O'Leary represented US at the World Championships in 1990, 1992, 1994 and 1997.

                        Kelly Dyer
Kelly Dyer was easily one of the best female netminders of the early 1990s. She was a staple on the US National team and is one of only a handful of women to play professional men's hockey.

                       Eve Gascon
Eve Gascon is one of only 3 women to play in the QMJHL. She now plays college hockey in Minnesota.

                      Erica Howe
Erica Howe currently plays for PWHL Toronto. She has represented Canada internationally at the 2008 U18 World Championships and the 2016 World Championships. 

Thursday, February 1, 2024

Month of Mail - January 2024

I've managed to find 8 new NHL player autographs to start off 2024. The grand total of unique NHL player signatures in my collection now sits at 7,555 for 93% of everyone to ever play in the league. 

                           Gerry Carson (d. 1956)
From 1928 to 1937 Gerard (Gerry) Carson played 261 games in the NHL. The defenseman was a member of the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Montreal Maroons. He won the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1930.

                         Dave Reece
I'm thrilled to be able to add a Dave Reece autograph. Reece played 14 NHL games with the 1975-76 Boston Bruins. He has an unfortunate role in hockey history, the victim of Darryl Sittler's record 10 point night. I'm fairly certain Reece doesn't answer mail so I've never been able to add his autograph. This was signed when he was a member of the 1977 US National team and a huge thanks to a European collector who went out of his way to help me obtain this. Thanks Alex! 

           Charles Chuck "Beef" Corrigan (d. 1988)
Charles Corrigan played 19 games in the NHL, scoring 2 goals and 4 points. He played for the 1937-38 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1940-41 New York Americans.

                    Cale Makar
This is the very last autograph I needed to complete the 2018-19 season of debuts. Cale Makar has become an NHL star. The explosive defenseman won the 2020 Calder and 2022 he won the Stanley Cup along with the Norris and the Conn Smythe. 

                   Nick Suzuki
Originally a Vegas Golden Knights first round pick in 2017, Nick Suzuki became an impact player with the Montreal Canadiens and has been team captain since 2022. He's a three time NHL All-Star.

                 Jason Robertson
Jason Robertson exploded for 41 goals with the 2021/22 Dallas Stars. He followed that up with a 46 goal season in 2022/23. 

                  Jordan Gross
From 2019 to 2023 Jordan Gross played 25 games in the NHL between the Arizona Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators. The defenseman is an undrafted Notre Dame product.

                 Jake Bischoff
Defenseman Jake Bischoff played 4 games in the NHL with the 2019-20 Vegas Golden Knights. He was originally drafted by the New York Islanders in 2012.


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Outside of my NHL player collection I've added a few new women of hockey autographs. With the PWHL seemingly taking off and the continued growth of women's hockey, I'm soon going to have to re-evaluate how I have this collection organized. I hope to add plenty of PWHL autographs over time. 

                Claire Thompson
Claire Thompson was a dominant member of Canada's Gold medal winning 2022 Olympic team blueline. She set the Olympic record for points by a defenseman. Currently playing for New York's PWHL team, she also played for Canada at the 2021 and 2023 World Championships.

                  Kristin O'Neill
Kristin O'Neill currently plays for Montreal in the PWHL. She played for Canada at the World Championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

                   Ashton Bell
Ashton Bell currently plays for Ottawa in the PWHL. She's best known for being a member of Canada's 2022 Gold medal winning Olympic team. She also played for Canada at the 2021 and 2022 World Championships.

                   Ella Shelton
A member of New York's PWHL team, Ella Shelton made history by scoring the first goal in PWHL history. She's most notable for helping Canada win Gold at the 2022 Olympics. 

                Kristen Campbell
Kristen Campbell, who currently plays with Toronto in the PWHL, won Gold with Canada at the 2022 Olympics. She also represented Canada at the World Championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

                  Jim Midgley
Jim Midgley spent two seasons in the NHL as an assistant coach with the New York Islanders, from 2021 to 2023. In 2023 he left the NHL and returned to the QMJHL as head coach of the Halifax Mooseheads. This goes with my collection of NHL GMs/Coaches who never played in the league.

                      Eddie Mepham (d. 1986)
This is a new addition to my NHL officials collection. Eddie Mepham was an NHL linesman for 10 years during the 1940s and early 1950s. He worked the 1947 and 1948 NHL All-Star games. He later spent 20 years as a goal judge at Maple Leaf Gardens. 

Thursday, January 18, 2024

A Season in Autographs: 2020/2021

From 1917/18 to 2020/21 a grand total of 8,151 people have played in the NHL. 


2019/2020                                                                               


128 Players made their NHL debuts through the 2020/2021 season

In The Collection: 117/128 = 91%


*Sampo Ranta made his debut during the playoffs


Calen Addison

Jack Ahcan

Frederic Allard

Wade Allison

Olle Alsing

Kevin Bahl

Alexander Barabanov

Alex Barre-Boulet

Morgan Barron

Simon Benoit

Jacob Bernard-Docker

Mathias Brome

Jacob Bryson

Kyle Burroughs

Quinton Byfield

Bowen Byram

Jackson Cates

Cole Caufield

Jalen Chatfield

Ivan Chekhovich

Sasha Chmlevski

Dylan Coghlan

Ross Colton

Dylan Cozens

Jeremy Davies

Ty Dellandrea

Gregori Denisenko

Jamie Drysdale

Joshua Dunne

Mackenzie Entwistle

David Farrance

Cal Foote

Nolan Foote

Jonah Gadjovich

Glenn Gawdin

Filip Gustavsson

Fredrik Handemark

Mike Hardman

Aleksi Heponiemi

Nils Hoglander

Michael Houser

Ville Husso

Tanner Jeannot

Jan Jenik

Reese Johnson

Zac Jones

Pierre-Olivier Joseph

Dakota Joshua

Arthur Kaliyev

Wyatt Kalynuk

Kirill Kaprizov

Joey Keane

Parker Kelly

Matt Kiersted

Spencer Knight

Josef Korenar

Vitali Kravtsov

Peyton Krebs

Rasmus Kupari

Philipp Kurashev

Tanner Laczynski

Alexis Lafreniere

Kevin Lankinen

Mikko Lehtonen

John Leonard

Kole Lind

William Lockwood

Steven Lorentz

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Connor Mackey

Philippe Maillet

Mikhail Maltsev

Ryan McLeod

Connor McMichael

Alexei Melnichuk

Nicolas Meloche

Marc Michaelis

Keaton Middleton

K'Andre Miller

Ian Mitchell

Brett Murray

Alex Newhook

Drew O'Connor

Brinson Pasichnuk

Lane Pederson

Matthew Phillips

Garrett Pilon

Shane Pinto

Ivan Prosvetov

Sampo Ranta

Jack Rathone

Alec Regula

Tarmo Reunanen

Justin Richards

Alexander Romanov

Arttu Ruotsalainen

Adam Ruzicka

Drake Rymsha

Mattias Samuelsson

Yegor Sharangovich

Stuart Skinner

Cole Smith

Ty Smith

Victor Soderstrom

Ilya Sorokin

Logan Stanley

Oskar Steen

Austin Strand

Marian Studenic

Tim Stutzle

Maksim Sushko

Pius Suter

Jeremy Swayman

Ben Thomas

Logan Thompson

Tyce Thompson

Vitek Vanecek

Veini Vehvilainen

Joe Veleno

Jeffrey Viel

Daniel Walcott

Jesse Ylonen

Cam York
Artyom Zagidulin

Egor Zamula

Trevor Zegras

Radim Zohorna

Artem Zub