Montreal Canadiens Centennial Set - Hockey Card Review continued

The Montreal Canadiens Centennial Set Review continues with a look at some of the interesting subsets within the main set.


In a previous post I described some of the players in the 200 card base set. Today I will introduce you to some of the interesting subsets which are numbered from 201 to 300.

The "Captains" series features a card of every player who wore the "C" for the Canadiens. Below I have posted a card featuring Montreal's captain from 1922 to 1925, Sprague Cleghorn.



Another subsection features pictures of the arenas that have been home to the Canadiens. One of these hockey cards features the old Forum where Rocket Richard and Jean Beliveau skated for most of their fabulous careers.



The "Career Leaders" feature a virtual who's who of Hall of Fame hockey stars, including goalies Jacques Plante and George Hainsworth.





The "Trophy Winners" section is once again a number of cards of Habs legends. The players featured on this list is just awesome! For some reason I really like the Toe Blake Lady Byng Trophy from 1946.



My favorite subset is the retired jersey cards. While the Upper Deck attention to detail, great photography and all around high quality is evident throughout this set which takes the collector on a joyful trip down memory lane, the Retired Jerseys are a perfect conclusion to one of the best hockey card sets in years.

Read more...

Montreal Canadiens Centennial Set - Hockey Card Review

Every once in a while a hockey card set is produced and you just have to have it! The Montreal Canadiens Centennial Set from Upper Deck is one of those sets. I am not surprised by the quality of the photographs and the cards themselves. After all, Upper Deck has made its place atop the sports collectible industry because of its high quality and attention to detail and this set is just another example of this.

First of all, you can purchase cards from this set in many formats, but my favorite is the one that I found in our local Walmart.

Ten packages, each containing 8 hockey cards, are packaged in a collector tin. The tin is a great collectible by itself with a wonderful picture of perhaps the greatest Montreal Canadien of all time, Jean Beliveau.



Along with the great tin and hockey cards, each container has a miniature banner (similar to the ones you can find hanging from the rafters of your local arena or baseball stadium celebrating past championship teams). The banner in my tin celebrated the Canadiens' 1943-44 Stanley Cup championship.



The 300 card set features stars from every era of the Montreal Canadiens 100 years in professional hockey. The first card features legendary player Toe Blake, who after retiring, became the coach of the Canadiens during their glory days of the 1950s.



The last hockey card #300 features the dramatic and emotional return of current captain Saku Koivu from his bout with cancer.

In between there are hockey cards featuring great players and great moments from the Canadiens storied past. One of my favorites is that of Georges Vezina, the great goaltender whose name is forever etched in NHL history on the trophy that is given to the best NHL goaltender each season.



In upcoming blogs I will feature other hockey cards from this great hockey card set. As a hockey card collector and hockey historian, I strongly recommend this set to anyone who enjoys the great game of hockey.

Postscript: The packages are also a nice collectible featuring a great picture of Montreal Canadiens superstar Guy Lafleur.

Read more...

Martin Brodeur: Number One in Career Victories

Martin Brodeur is officially the goalie with the most wins in the NHL. Last night Brodeur led his New Jersey Devils to a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Black Hawks to record his career record 552nd victory.

I have always liked Martin Brodeur, except when he was playing my favorite team. Many people have down-played his efforts because Brodeur has spent his entire career with defensive minded Devils. But, to rack up the wins the way he has, Martin Brodeur is definitely something special. I do not know if he is the best of all time, but I sure he is near the top. Personally, Terry Sawchuk is the best of all time. But there is very little difference between these two.

When he kicked off his career who would have guessed the success that he would one day accumulate 552 victories, and he is not done yet!

His goaltending career started when he was 7 years old and Martin told NHL.COM’s Dan Rosen "It turns out to probably be the biggest decision I ever made."

Brodeur told NHL.COM that he was a “huge Canadiens fan” and ironically “he idolized Patrick Roy” the goalie whose record he beat last night.

Next in Brodeur’s sights is the all-time shutout record held by the legendary Terry Sawchuk.

Besides the personal records and trophies (he won the Rookie of the Year in 1993-1994 and has captured four Vezina Trophies and four Jennings Trophies) Brodeur has led the Devils to three Stanley Cup titles.



With a few more years left in his playing career Martin Brodeur may rack up career statistics which may never be broken.

Read more...

Post Trade Deadline Day Musings

Trade Deadline Day 2009 has come and gone. The real winners and losers? Only time will tell. Two teams who were not active at the trade deadline, San Jose and Detroit, still are the teams beat.

Will Mark Recchi help Boston? Probably.

Will Olli Jokinen help Calgary? Not likely. Jordan Leopold will make a larger contribution than Jokinen.

Phoenix made some nice moves (draft picks, young players, getting rid of Jokinen,etc) but the outcome is largely in the future.

The Rangers made a couple of acquisitions (Antropov and Morris). Will they help? Maybe.

But the biggest move made by the Rangers was the re-acquisition of bad boy Sean Avery. Now as readers of my blog know, I am formerly from Owen Sound and I watched Sean develop as a junior player until the rest of the team tired of his antics and he was shipped off to Kingston.

If Sean sticks to hockey and forgets the "stupid stuff" like waving his stick in Marty Brodeur's face, then the Rangers might make the playoffs and Sean will have made a big contribution. But if he continues his bad habits, look for the Rangers to free fall out of playoff contention.



Ice Chips: All of the former Owen Sound Platers/Attack players as well as guys who call Owen Sound their hometown are playing great, making strong contributions to their team. (the jury is still out on Sean Avery). Look for Bobby Ryan to capture the Calder Trophy as the Rookie of the Year as he continues to score (he leads all rookies with 23 goals.)

Read more...

Hockey Trade Deadline Day -- Part Two

All in all, today's trading action was a bit slow compared to previous years. But there were some interesting moves.

For weeks (it seems) there has been a lot of speculation about where Olli Jokinen, the Coyotes somewhat disgruntles star would end up. Most thought Montreal or perhaps Chicago. But in the end Calgary Flames stepped up and swung a multi player deal that included Matthew Lombardi to get the big centerman.



Whether Jokinen will be the big man down the middle is yet to be seen. There is a lot of talk around the league about Olli's nasty disposition especially with young players. Hopefully, the leaders in the Flames dressing room will keep Olli from spreading the doom and gloom that seems to follow him from team to team.

It was trade deadline day and of course that meant a new team for a couple of veterans who have become trade day travelers the past few years.

Bill Guerin was shipped by the Islanders to Pittsburgh where he will bring lots of grit and leadership to a team that is loaded with young talent, but not necessarily a lot of maturity or toughness.



And, of course what would trade deadline day be without Mark Recchi skating to another location. Remember, he went to Carolina on this day a few years back and ended up leading the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup.

This year the Boston Bruins hope that Recchi can repeat his magic with them as they sent two youngsters to the Lightning to get Mark for their post-season run.



Winners and Losers today:

Philadelphia did not get their hands on Jay Bouwmeester and although they did trade Scotty Upshall to clear some cap space, you have to consider them losers today.

Same too for Vancouver and all the other teams that coveted the Florida star defenseman but did not get him.

Winners:

Ottawa, if Pascal LeClaire proves to be the goalie that the franchise so desperately needs.

Pittsburgh and Boston for landing key veterans to help them down the stretch.

Buffalo for doing what was needed to keep Connolly in a Sabres uniform, and for getting Telqvist to fill in for Miller. But in the end, it might be the acquisition of Dominic Moore that will have the most impact, at least this season, his speed and gritty style of play might just help secure a playoff position for the Sabres.

And, Calgary. Leopold is a great addition and if Jokinen does not wreak havoc in the dressing room then the Flames will unquestionably be the big winners today.

Read more...

Trade Deadline Day!

The first trade of the day and the Ottawa Senators trade Antoine Vermette to the Columbus Blue Jackets for goalie Pascal LeClaire.



Winner: Ottawa! Vermette is an average goal scorer but a great penalty killer. But, the Senators got the best penalty killer of all, a good goaltender!

Goaltending always seems to be a problem in Ottawa, but LeClaire just might be the answer!

The second trade of the day brings former Flame defenseman Jordan Leopold back to Calgary for a couple of minor leaguers and a draft pick. This is a great deal to solidify the blue line in Calgary.



Buffalo Sabres were in action early and their most important deal of the day was not a trade but a contract extension to sniper Tim Connolly who would have become a free agent on July 1. The Sabres probably overpaid but not wanting to lose another star to free agency and receive nothing in return Buffalo management signed Connolly to a two year deal worth about $9 million.

Fearing that Patrick Lalime was not the goalie to get them to the playoffs (Ryan Miller is injured and there are questions about his return date) the Sabres sent a 4th round pick to Phoenix for Mikael Telqvist. Later, the Sabres spent another draft pick for Dominic Moore, the feisty center for Toronto.



For the most part the Toronto Maple Leafs were going to be sellers today, trying to unload unrestricted free agents Dominic Moore (see above) and Nik Antropov. Antropov was dispatched to the New York Rangers for a draft pick. But, in a surprise move the Leafs claimed Martin Gerber from Ottawa on waivers. Then the club announced that Toskala would undergo season-ending surgery.



Stay tuned, check out the next post when I will continue coverage of Trade Deadline Day.

Read more...