New Lot - Part 2

Steve Chiasson, Bob Corkum and Jayson More

Chiasson, who played well over 800 NHL games, died shortly after his Hurricanes were eliminated from the 1999 playoffs.  He was only 32. He had driven home intoxicated after a party at Gary Robert's house and crashed his pickup.  In 2006 Cory Stillman brought the Stanley Cup to the the statue in Chiasson's hometown that marks his memory.   Bob Corkum's best season was a 23 goal, 51 point year for the 93/94 Anaheim Mighty Ducks.  He recorded over 200 career NHL points.  More played over 400 games in the NHL, bouncing around blue lines and suiting up for the North Stars, Rangers, Sharks, Coyotes, Blackhawks and Predators.

Aaron Miller, Doug Smolek and Yanic Perreault

Miller played over 700 NHL games, mostly between LA and Colorado but he's most notable for being a member of the 2002 USA silver medal winning Olympic hockey team.  Zmolek was the 7th overall pick of the 1989 draft.  He was a tough defenseman who played 8 season in the NHL with San Jose, Dallas, LA and Chicago.  Pererault retired after playing his last seasons for the Hawks in 07/08.  He had 6 20 goal season in the NHL and was known as a face-off specialist.  

Stephane Matteau, Adam Creighton and Jay Wells

Motteau played nearly 1000 NHL games.  He's best known for being a member of the 1994 Stanley Cup winning New York Rangers.  He scored 2 overtime winners in the Eastern Conference finals that helped the Rangers play for the Cup.  Adam Creighton's father, Dave, spent 12 years in the NHL.  Adam spent even more time in the league.  His best season was a 34 goal, 70 point and 224 penalty minute year with the 89/90 Blackhawks.  Wells had a distinguished NHL career.  He played 1098 regular season games and a further 113 in the playoffs.  He was a teammate of Matteaus on the 1994 New York Rangers Cup winning team.  He finished his career with 2359 regular season penalty minutes.  

Doug Houda, Richard Pilon and Claude Lapointe

Houda was an NHL journeyman, playing for 7 different teams between 1985 and 2003.  He only appeared in 18 playoff games during that period buy his fortunes were better only after retiring.  He was hired as an assistant coat for the Boston Bruins in 2006 and hot his name engraved on the Stanley Cup in 2011.  Pilon bares perhaps the most ironic name in NHL history as he just so happened to be a stay-at-home defenseman on mostly weak New York Islanders teams from 1988 to 2001.  Lapointe was a solid hear and soul player who retired with 879 regular season games and over 300 points.  

Wes Walz, Greg Johnson and Mike Leclerc

I remember Walz best as captain of the Minnesota Wild, he retired as the team's all time leader in games played.  Johnson was captain of the Nashville Predators from 2002 to 2006.  His brother Ryan has also played in the NHL.  Leclerc is n[[[otable for being a member of the 02/03 cinderella Anaheim Mighty Ducks, getting within one game of the Stanley Cup.  

Stephen Peat, Barrett Heisten and Espen Knutsen

Peat was a 6.02, 230 pound NHL tough guy who was stabbed in a bar fight during his junior career.  Heisten, at 1999 first round draft pick, played only 10 NHL games, all for the 01/02 New York Rangers.  He recorded 2 assists.  Knutsen played over 200 NHL games, the highlight was in 2002 when he  became the first Norwegian to play in an NHL All-Star game.  I remember Knutsen from the 2002 incident in which his deflected shot struck and killed an little girl in the stands during a game against the Calgary Flames. 

Sergey Gusev, Benoit Brunet and Joe Murphy

Gusev played 89 regular season games in the NHL from 1998 to 2001.  Brunet was a long time Montreal Canadien, netting 10 points in 20 playoff games to help the team claim the 1993 Stanley Cup.  Murphy was a good NHL player who recorded 528 points in just 779 regular season games.  His best year was a 35 goal, 82 point season for the 91/92 Oilers.  In the playoffs that season he contributed a further 24 points in just 16 games.  He had 14 points during the 89/90 playoffs and was an important piece of the Oilers Stanley Cup winning team.

Sandy McCarthy, Trent Yawney and Mike Donnelly

McCarthy, who is of Black Canadian and First Nations descent, was best known as a tough customer.  He played 11 seasons in the NHL, retiring with over 1500 penalty minutes.  Yawney was a long time NHL player who has also served as head coach for the Blackhawks and assistant coach for the Sharks.  Donnelly's best year in the NHL came as a teamate of Wayne Greatzky.  As a member of the 92/93 LA Kings he recorded 29 goals and 69 points in the regular season along with 13 points in 24 playoff games, helping the team to the Cup finals.  

Todd Reirden, Martin Sonnenberg and Yuri Butsayev

Reirden played 183 NHL games, suiting up for the Oilers, Blues, Thrasher and Coyotes.  He's currently the Pittsburgh Penguins' assistant coach.  Sonnenberg appeared in just 63 NHL games.  44 for the 98/99 Penguins, 14 for the 99/00 Penguins and 5 for the 03/04 Calgary Flames.  Butsayev played only 99 NHL games, the last being 16 contests for the 02/03 Atlanta Thrashers.  His name was in the news in 2009 when he was arrested and accused of rape.  He still plays in the KHL.

Alexei Gusarov, Bruce Gardiner and Ryan Vandenbussche

Gusarov is a member of the elusive triple gold club having claimed a Wold Championship, Olympic Gold and Stanley Cup, the latter with the 1996 Colorado Avalanche.  Gardiner played over 300 NHL games but is most notable for his off ice actions.  He has been a police officer since 2003 and once saved 4 lives as a 14 year old teenager.  Vandenbussche is the NHL enforcer who ended Nick Kypreos' NHL player career and put him behind a microphone.  Vandenbusshe played his last NHL season as a teammate of Lemieux and Crosby with the 05/06 Pittsburgh Penguins.

Brad Dalgarno, Gary Shuchuk and Drake Berehowsky

Dalgarno played his entire 321 game NHL career for the New York Islanders.  Shuchuk is best remembered for being a contributing member of Gretzky's 92/93 LA Kings deep playoff run.  Berehowsky was a solid NHL defenseman who bounced around the league from 1990 to 2004.  He's currently an AHL assistant coach in Peoria.

Marek Malik, Daniel Lacroix and Mike Wilson

Malik will best be known for ending the NHL's longest shootout in spectacular fashion with a dazzling between the legs move, completely unexpected from the 6.06, 240 pound stay-at-home rearguard.  Lacroix, the current assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning, was an enforcer who fought his way into over 200 NHL games.  Wilson, the 1993 first round draft choice of the Vancouver Canucks, ended his 336 game career with one game for the 02/03 New York Rangers.  

Aaron Gavey, Peter Popovic and Andrei Nikolishin

Gavey played 7 games for the 98/99 Cup winning Dallas Stars, not enough action to get his name on the trophy.  He retired after playing only 5 games in his last NHL season for the 05/06 Anaheim Mighty Ducks.  Popovic played most of his 500+ NHL games with the Montreal Canadiens.  Nikolishin grew up without a father, a victim of Stalin's Great Purge in the Soviet Union.  Nikolishin later went on top win an Olympic Bronze medal with the 2002 Russian hockey team.  

Michal Sykora and James Black

Sykora travelled around North America and Europe for 15 years and retired with 267 regular season NHL games.  Black dressed for 352 games between the Whalers, North Stars, Dallas Stars, Sabres, Blackhawks and Capitals.  

Low End Lot - Part 1

Bought a large number of autographs from a collector who was getting out of the hobby.  I was able to get a number of new graphs, all together at a very reasonable price.  Most are, after all, lower end graphs.  This is only half of the deal, I'll post the other half very soon.  This deal also brings me to well over 1, 200 different certified autographs.

Arthurs Irbe, Mark Fitzpatrick and Darcy Wakaluk

Irbe is a well known goalie who had a successful NHL career.  I remember his sensational play in the 2002 playoffs.   Fitzpatrick missed most of the 90/91 season with a potentially fatal and rare disease.  He returned and won the 1992 Bill Masterton trophy.  He served as a capable NHL backup goalie for 10 years.  Wakaluk played nearly 200 games between the pipes in the NHL, this is his only autograph card.

Peter Skudra, Craig Billington and Frederic Chabot

Skudra, a Latvian like Irbe, served as an NHL backup for 6 years with the Rangers, Sabres, Bruins and Canucks.  This is his only signature card.  Billington played in the NHL for 15 seasons.  Joe Pelletier has a great story about his career here.  Chabot's only graph, he played just a handful of NHL games.  He is currently the Oilers goaltending coach.

Mike Fountain, Brett Hauer, Brett Harkins

Fountain played 11 NHL games; 6 for Vancouver, 3 for Carolina and 2 for Ottawa.  This Classic signature, same for Hauer and Harkins, is Fountain's only graph.  Hauer played 29 games for the 95/96 Edmonton Oilers, 5 for the 99/00 Oilers and 3 for the 01/02 Nashville Predators.  Harkins played 78 career NHL games.

David Gosselin, Jim Montgomery and Luke Sellars

Gosselin played just 13 career NHL games, all for the Preds.  He was an odd addition to the SPA SOTT set.  He still plays in Quebec's LNAH.  Montgomery's only autograph card, he bounced around the NHL for a few years playing 122 games along the way.  He dressed for St. Louis, Philly, Montreal, San Jose and Dallas.  Even though Sellars only plead one career NHL game, and it was for the 01/02 Atlanta Thrashers, this is probably my favourite autograph of the post.  I like it because this is his only graph, from 99/00 Bowman CHL.  There are a number of autographs I need from this set and they aren't easily obtained at a reasonable price. 

Vaclav Nedorost, Brad Larsen and Shjon Podein

Nedorost split his 99 career NHL games between the Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers.  After 294 games, most recently with the 07/08 Atlanta Thrashers, Larsen retired to become an assistant coach with the AHL's Springfield Falcons.  Podein played an impressive 127 NHL playoff games on top of 699 solid regular season games.  After coming so close to a championship with the 96/97 Flyers, losing in the Cup finals, he finally claimed the trophy as a regular on the 2001 Colorado Avalanche.  Podein is also notable for his off ice work, claiming the 2001 King Clancy trophy.

Kristian Kudroc, Nikita Alexeev and Alexander Kharitonov

With only 26 NHL games, this is Kudroc's only autograph.  22 of those were for the Lightning and the other 2 games came as a part of the 03/04 Florida Panthers.  Alexeev, the 8th overall pick of the 2000 draft, never turned into an NHL scorer, amassing only 20 goals in 159 games.  He currently plays for Kazan in the KHL.  Kharitonov's only signature, he played just 71 games between the Lightning and Islanders.

Eric Cairns, Shane Churla and Mike Mottau

With well over 1000 NHL penalty minutes, Cairns worked with his fists.  The same can be said for Churla, who has 2301 career NHL penalty minutes.  Churla was recently in the news, he was arrested in a road rage incident.  Mike Mottau is currently in his second season patrolling the blue line for the New York Islanders.

Sergei Vyshedkevich, Hnat Domenichelli and Serge Aubin

Segei Vyshedkevich (gesundheit) only played 30 NHL games for the Thrashers between 1999 and 2001.  This is his only auto.  Domenichelli had a highly acclaimed junior career and was the 1996 CHL player of the year.  After 267 unremarkable games in the NHL Hnat moved on to play dominant hockey in Switzerland.  He even adopted the country as his own, playing for them in the 2010 Winter Olympics.  Aubin played 5 full season in the NHL and has sine moved on to be an impact player in Europe.

Joey Tetarenko, Ivan Majesky and John Jakopin

Tetarenko only has a couple of NHL hockey cards and this signature happens to be one of them.  He played 69 games for the Panthers and split his last 4 NHL appearances between the Ottawa Senators and Carolina Hurricanes in 03/04.  Majesky played 3 NHL seasons for 3 different teams; the Panthers in 02/03, Thrashers in 03/04 and Capitals in 05/05.  Needless to say, he played no playoff games.  This is also Jakopin's only autograph, and one of only 3 NHL cards for the veteran of 113 games.

Brad Ference, Robert Svehla and Mike Hough

Ference played 250 NHL games, his last as a member of the 06/07 Calgary Flames.  This is his only signature card.  Svehla played 655 regular season games in the NHL, all but one season in Florida.  I remember him best for that one year away from the Panthers, when he was a member of the 02/03 Toronto Maple Leafs, ironically choosing to wear number 67.

Christian Laflamme, Brad Brown and Reto Von Arx

Laflamme retired with well over 300 NHL games to his credit.  Defenseman Brad Brown played 6 season the NHL, beginning with the Montreal Canadiens.  This is Reto's only autograph, no surprise since he only played 19 games for the Hawks before returning to Europe.

Todd Elik, Andre Savage and David Shaw

Elik played over 500 NHL games and played pro hockey into his mid 40's.  This is his only graph.  This is also Savage's only signature card.  He played 66 NHL games.  Shaw's only graph as well, he was more accomplished, playing over 800 NHL games beginning in 1983 with the Quebec Nordiques.

Petr Hubacek, Jesse Boulerice and Brent Fedyk

Bubacek played only 6 NHL games for the 00/01 Philadelphia Flyers.  Boulerice just retired.  He's best known for the 2007 cross check to the head of Ryan Kesler that lead to a 25 game suspension.  Fedyk retired with nearly 500 career NHL games.  

Two Famous Fabrics

Gerry James

James won a Memorial Cup and played 174 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs but amazingly he is more notable for winning 4 Grey Cups with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.  Stole this card with my opening bid.

Bob Froese

Like the James I won this card with only an opening bid, about 10 bucks!  Froese, a former goalie, won the Jennings trophy in 1986 with the Flyers.  Also like James, he doesn't have a certified autograph outside of Cuts.  After retiring from hockey Froese became a Pastor.  

Steve Carlson and Dave Hanson

Panini has done a great job in going outside of the box for some interesting vintage autographs.  Someone there likes Slap Shot and I am very happy to add these two legends to my collection.   Before these were released I was scared that I'd have to pick up one of those ugly Limited cards in which Dave Hanson is rocking a tuxedo.  

Larry Jeffrey and Willie O'Ree

Upper Deck's commemorative 1967 Leafs set produced two new autographs, Jeffrey and Brian Conacher. Picked up the Jeffrey when the seller accepted my best offer.  These have really dried up, print run was not big.  This is my second O'Ree autograph but first card, the other is a Beehive.  

Pierre Pilote, Dickie Moore and Steve Shutt

Not only was I able to land three new Hall of Famer autographs to my collection this week but I was able to do so for only a couple bucks each.  I've thrown low bids on autographs of these guys many times and this time wasn't outbid.   Persistence pays off.  

Rich Sutter, Andrew Desjardins and Alex Urbom

The Sutter puts me close to having the entire family but the other two cards are more notable.  Both Desjardins and Urbom's only autographs came in Dominion so I'm happy to cross both off my list.  Desjardins is a full time Shark while Urbom is bouncing around the Devils and AHL.

Brad Staubitz, Jay Rosehill and Chris Mueller

Staubitz had to wait four years after his NHL debut to get his first autograph, a rare occurrence in today's market.  It could end up being his only one so I quickly picked one up.  Rosehill was an impulse buy from an optimistic Leaf fan.  I've been following these Score Muller autographs since released because it's his only autograph, an rather limited.  Set collectors drove prices up for a while but I finally snagged one for cheap.  In a shot time they will be virtually impossible to find.  

Matt Martin, Derek Smith and Johan Motin

Kudos to Panini for not including the same scrub rookies in every release (ahem..UD).  For Martin and Smith, their only other autographs come in the Cup.  Johan Motin has a redemption for a Cup rc autograph but I doubt it will ever be made since he's gone to Europe.  There's a good chance this Rookie Exclusives, limited to only 100, will be his only auto.

Michael Funk, Nate Thompson and Mike Blunden 

Funk's only other graph is featured in UD the Cup.  For my mission I try to avoid Cup RCs whenever I can because I like storing my collection in binders, thick cards I don't do well in binders.  Like Funk, this is Thompson's only autograph outside of his Cup RC.  Thompson and Blunden, who has many graphs, are both current NHLers but Funk, the former Sabre, appears to be retired.  

Jesse Schultz, Karri Ramo and Yan Stastny

Schultz played on 2 games for Vancouver.  Ramo played served as a backup in Tampa for a couple seasons.  Yan is best known for his last name but did not become the star player his bother is.  

Shane O'Brien, Matt Lashoff and Janis Sprukts

O'Brien is the only NHL calibre player here.  Lashoff could see some game in Toronto this year.  Sprukts left the NHL after only 14 games with Florida.  

Barry Trotz, Frank Doyle, Duff Goldman, Mark Wells and Bob Suter

Doyle, who on made an appearance as a backup, is the only one here who saw any kind of NHL action as a player.  Panini has produced some great stuff in the small life for my collection.  The Behind the Bench autographs were a great idea and many have sold very well, too well for me.  Even being the great coach he is Trotz received no market love because of his post in Nashville.  The Duff Goldman was only purchased because it was so cheap.  Wells and Suter mean I can cross two more names off the 1980 Miracle team.   

Joey Crabb

This is basically an oversized card, authenticated by ITG and Dr. Price on the back.  So far its Crabb's only autograph but he looks to have a card in the upcoming Heroes and Prospects set.  

To end, a few TTM autographs of players who never received a certified autograph.

Glen Cressman

Cressman played 4 games for the 1956/57 Montreal Canadiens.  

Mark Vermette

Played 67 games for the Nordiques in the late 80s and early 90s.  

Ed Sandford

My favourite TTM autograph of the week.  Sandford played 500 games for the Bruins back in the 40s and 50s.  

Eddie Joyal

Joyal played a number of years in the NHL and WHA.

Nathan Deobald

Deobald was an emergency backup for the Oilers.  A University of Calgary Dinos third string goalie and art drama student when he got the call, you can read his story here.

Miles Zaharko

The picture on the index card I sent to Zaharko, taken from Legends of Hockey, was not of Zaharko so he was kind enough to add this signed picture.