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Thursday, December 1, 2022

Month of Mail - November 2022

Rod Norrish is a highlight here for me. I absolutely love hearing back from former NHLers directly and I'd been trying to reach Norrish for years. Ditto for Kai Suikkanen, which might have been even more of a surprise. I had sent that request to Germany a couple years ago c/o a team he now no longer works for. It came back years later but from Finland and Suikkanen even added the Finnish postage since I had German return stamps. 

This past month saw 28 new NHL player autographs added. The grand total is now 7,288 unique NHL player signatures for 91% of everyone to ever play in the league. 

                     Rod Norrish
From 1973 to 1975 Rod Norrish played 21 games in the NHL with the Minnesota North Stars.

                 Kai Suikkanen
From 1981 to 1983 Kai Suikkanen played 2 games in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres. The Finn spent 3 seasons in North America and most of that was spent with the AHL's Rochester Americans. He helped Finland win Silver at the 1988 Olympics.

                      Dit Clapper (d. 1978)
Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947, Dit Clapper was one of the legends of his era. He helped the Boston Bruins win the Stanley Cup in 1929, 1939 and 1941. He spent over a decade as captain of the Bruins.

                           Doug McCaig (d. 1982)
From 1941 to 1951 defenseman Doug McCaig played 263 regular season games in the NHL between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks.

                       Cooney Weiland (d. 1985)
Cooney Weiland was the NHL's leading goal scorer of the 1929-30 season, scoring 43 goals in 44 games with Boston. He won the Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 1929 and 1939. He also spent a season, 1938-39, as captain of the Bruins. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1971.

                            Larry Brown
Through the 1970s defenseman Larry Brown played well over 400 games in the NHL. He dressed for the Rangers, Red Wings, Flyers and Kings. 

                       Butch Williams
During the 1970s Butch Williams played over 100 games in the NHL between the St. Louis Blues and California Seals. He also played 29 games in the WHA with the 1976-77 Edmonton Oilers. 

                              Steve Stone
Steve Stone played 2 games in the NHL with the 1973-74 Vancouver Canucks.

              Gerry Desaulniers (d. 1984)
From 1950 to 1954 Gerry Desaulniers recorded 2 points in 8 NHL games with the Montreal Canadiens. He played a couple of regular season games with the 1952-53 Stanley Cup winning Habs, not enough to get his name on the trophy. 

                 Nels Podolsky (d. 2007)
Nels Podolsky played 1 regular season game and 7 playoff games in the NHL with the 1948-49 Detroit Red Wings.

                               Adam Fox
Adam Fox is a star defenseman with the New York Rangers and won the 2021 Norris Trophy as the NHL's best blueliner.

                   Kaapo Kakko
The New York Rangers drafted Kaapo Kakko 2nd overall in the 2019 NHL draft. The Finn is in his 4th NHL season.

                 Charlie McAvoy
A first round pick by Boston in 2016, defenseman Charlie McAvoy has played well over 300 NHL games with the Bruins since making his debut during the 2017 NHL playoffs. 

                    Joel Farabee
The Flyers drafted Joel Farabee 14th overall in the 2018 NHL draft. He's nearing 200 NHL games played as a productive member of Philly. He won Silver at the 2019 World Juniors with Canada.

                 Morgan Frost
Morgan Frost was a 2017 Flyers first round draft pick. He represented Canada at the 2019 World Juniors. He's played just under 100 NHL games with the Flyers so far.

                    Dan Vladar
Dan Vladar made his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins but has become an NHL regular recently with the Calgary Flames.

                   Jake Oettinger
A first round pick of Dallas in the 2017 NHL draft, Oettinger is approaching 100 NHL games played. He made a name for himself with a strong performance in the 2022 playoffs, making 64 saves in one game alone.

                       Klim Kostin
From 2019 to 2022 Russian forward Klim Kostin scored 5 goals and 11 points in 46 NHL games with the St. Louis Blues.

                  John Marino
Since 2019 defenseman John Marino has played over 200 NHL games between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils.

               Martin Fehervary
Defenseman Martin Fehervary has played over 100 NHL games with the Washington Capitals since 2019. Internationally, Fehervary represented Slovakia at the 2018, 2019 and 2022 World Championships.

                     Josh Norris
Josh Norris was drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the 2017 NHL draft. He was traded to Ottawa in the Erik Karlsson trade and made his NHL debut with the 2019-20 Sens. He's played well over 100 NHL games and has become a regular with the Sens. 

              Mackenzie Blackwood
Mackenzie Blackwood has played well over 100 NHL games since making his debut with the Devils in 2018/19. Internationally, he won a Silver with Canada at the 2019 World Championships. 

                    Carter Hart
Carter Hart is in his fifth NHL season as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers. Internationally, he helped Canada win Silver at the 2019 World Championships. 

                  Cal Petersen
Cal Petersen made his NHL debut with the 2018-19 Los Angeles Kings. He's since played over 100 games for the Kings. Internationally, he represented USA at the 2021 World Championships, winning a bronze.

                      Andrei Svechnikov 
Andrei Svechnikov was drafted 2nd overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2018 NHL draft. He's in his fifth season as a productive member of the Hurricanes, already having over 100 career NHL goals.

                      Alex Iafallo
Alex Iafallo stepped directly into the Kings lineup after his college career at Minnesota-Duluth. Since 2017 he's played well over 350 NHL games with Los Angeles.

                Henrik Haapala
Henrik Haapala has spent most of his career in Finland but in 2017-18 he travelled to North America after signing with the Florida Panthers. He recorded 1 point in 5 NHL games with the Panthers and spent the rest of the season with the AHL's Springfield Thunderbirds.


                              Brian Pinho
Brian Pinho made his NHL debut in the 2020 playoffs with the Washington Capitals. He played 2 playoff games for the Caps in 2020 and then 2 regular season games with the team the following season.


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                    Tim O'Connell
Tim O'Connell played 16 games in the WHA with the 1976-77 San Diego Mariners. He was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in 1973 but never signed with the NHL team. This goes into my collection of WHA autographs. 

                    Misha Donskov
Misha Donskov is in his fourth season as an assistant coach with the Vegas Golden Knights. This goes with my collection of NHL coaches/managers who never played in the NHL. 

                     Kyle Konin
Kyle Konin dressed in 1 NHL game as an emergency backup goalie with the 2021-22 St. Louis Blues. The final autographs of this post go into my collection of NHL backups autographs. 

                          Dusan Salficky 
Czech goalie Dusan Salficky spent the first part of the 2001-02 season in North America with the New York Islanders. He never played any NHL minutes but dressed in 5 NHL games with New York as a backup goalie. He also played in 4 AHL games with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

                  Jacob Ingham
Jacob Ingham dressed in 1 NHL game (December 18, 2021) as an NHL backup goalie with the Los Angeles Kings.

                          Philippe Desrosiers
Philippe Desrosiers spent the 2020/21 NHL season on Florida's Taxi Squad, practising with the club all season. He dressed in one NHL regular season game as backup to Spencer Knight. 

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