Give 'em their Flowers

Quick, name some active NHL goaltenders who are definitely going to the Hall of Fame. Off the top of my head I had four: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Sergei Bobrovsky, Igor Shesterkin, and his backup in New York.. Jonathan Quick.

Now, name five all-time great goaltenders of the 21st century. Go. Martin Brodeur, of course. Dominik Hasek was still a beast in the early aughts. Henrik Lundqvist (more frickin Rangers?!?), Roberto Luongo, and um...  Pekka Rinne?

Those would have been my lists until recently. One goaltender has been flying under my radar for about 20 years. Only when I cross-checked my hockey card wantlist and saw who was missing did I ask myself: Is Marc-Andre Fleury a Hall of Famer?

Within 24 hours of realizing I was missing this card for the 'uncommon' tier of my 2003-04 Topps Pristine set build, Fleury -- nicknamed "Flower" -- tied Patrick Roy for second on the NHL's all-time wins list.

551 wins, a Vezina trophy, three Stanley Cup rings, five trips to the Final (including one memorable run with the Golden Knights in their inaugural season), 73 shutouts in over 1,000 NHL games, and an Olympic gold medal with team Canada isn't just a Hall of Fame resume. It's most likely a first ballot entry for the first overall pick in 2003.

How could I possibly have forgotten Fleury? Well, I'm getting old. I'm not paying as much attention to every team in the league because I have less access to the games than I used to (thanks, ESPN+), and I simply forgot he was still playing, sharing netminding duties with (I had to look this up) Filip Gustavsson in Minnesota. Neither of them are playing particularly well. But, to be fair...

Flower is the oldest goalie in the league. Heck, he's the third oldest player in the league, trailing only Mark Giordano and Joe Pavelski(who probably deserves his own appreciation post). Like Adrian Beltre and Frank Gore in other sports, his place among the all-time greats at his position simply caught me by surprise.

I only truly appreciated Fleury when he left Pittsburgh and became the de facto captain in Vegas - and even then I couldn't root for him in the Final because the Knights were standing in the way of Washington's first Cup. Even if he has an Adam Wainwright-like struggle to get one more win he will still be second all-time with 552 NHL victories. And he'll get there with far less fanfare than this guy.

For the generation of hockey fans before mine, there's only one Flower -- Guy Lafleur:

 

 

While I never saw Lafleur play I certainly understood what a legendary player he was in the 1970s and '80s: five Stanley Cups as a key member of the Montreal dynasty, six consecutive 50-goal seasons, three consecutive scoring titles, and two Hart trophies as NHL MVP. An all-time great to be sure. But the two most fascinating things about "The Flower" in my mind happened before his NHL career began, and after it appeared to be over.

For those of you who aren't hockey fans, imagine a godawful franchise like the Athletics(sorry Fuji) or Pistons. They're totally bereft of talent and in desperate need of a young superstar to lift the franchise out of the doldrums. Now imagine that team is so short-sighted and incompetent that they trade their first round pick to the league's most powerful franchise. 

 

That happened in 1970 when Charlie Finley's California Golden Seals swapped first round picks with the defending Stanley Cup champion Canadiens. Montreal GM Sam Pollock knew another French-Canadian star was about to arrive, and he fleeced the Seals for the likely 1st overall pick. Then when it looked like Los Angeles might 'drop' to #1, Pollock traded two solid NHL players to the Kings to help them finish higher than the Seals, just so he could secure Lafleur.

What might have been..

Lafleur retired in 1984 as the Montreal dynasty was seemingly in the rear view. (The Habs won another Cup in 1986) In 1988, Guy was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame - his first year of eligibility. That summer, he decided he wasn't done and returned to the NHL as a New York Ranger.

An active player who was already in the Hall of Fame?!? It was unfathomable to me when I pulled his Nordiques cards in 1990-91, though it would happen again with Mario Lemieux a decade later.

Guy was the one player missing from my 1970s Canadiens collection until I added this 1976-77 Topps card in a fleury of year-end TCDB trades:

I might fill out the roster a bit but the collection is complete for now.

Since this is an NFL playoff weekend I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge another Lafleur:

Packers head coach Matt LaFleur has his team in the playoffs for the fourth time in five years. He racked up an astounding 39 wins in his first three seasons, becoming the first head coach with three 12+ win seasons to start his career. If you read that Instagram post you may have noticed how many haters wanted to give the credit for that achievement to Aaron Rodgers - the same Rodgers who couldn't get it done against the Lions in the season finale last year, costing the Packers a playoff spot.

LaFleur did his best to manage Rodgers' insatiable ego, and when the Packers finally parted ways with their iconic quarterback, many predicted a long rebuild for the youngest squad in the NFL.

 

Instead LaFleur has his team back in the playoffs, facing the Dallas Cowboys in a matchup of passers with the top two touchdown totals in the NFL. Meanwhile Rodgers is making vague threats against comedians on Pat McAfee's show. But sure, Matt LaFleur owes all of his success to that guy. Okayyy. 

Regardless of tonight's outcome, the Packers have a bright future with young stars on both sides of the ball. It won't be long before Jordan Love, Jayden Reed, Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Luke Musgrave, Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness, and Quay Walker reach their potential and lead the Packers back to prominence. And it will be under the tutelage of the most underrated head coach in the game. 

Thanks for reading, and Go Pack Go!



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COMC winter haul (and contest news)

I've been writing a lot of long posts with lots of words lately, so here's one with a lot of pictures.

My latest COMC order arrived last Friday. This contained every post-Black Friday purchase I made, primarily with my Christmas bonus. It's a perfect time to receive these, since I won't be able to spend actual dollars* on cards for the foreseeable future.

*I'm still accumulating COMC challenge credit.

There were 81 cards in this shipment, though a few were sent to Gregory as compensation for the custom cards he made for me. I also bought a couple more of his stickers. Here are the 75 or so that I'm keeping:

If you read Gregory's blog, this one might look familiar to you. Here's Rocky Colavito, #91 on our countdown of 100 Greatest Non-Hall of Famers. I've been drawn to 1964 Topps Giants for years and picked up seven high-grade Hall of Famers pre-pandemic. Those prices have tripled since, so if I want to add to my collection ungraded non-HOFers are the way to go. This one cost $2.28.

Here's another great slugger I spotlighted recently. Topps Pristine was always one of my favorite brands (especially in 2002 and 2004) and I was thrilled when it returned for 2022. This encased Duke Snider blue refractor is #d to 75. I missed out on the fun of opening a pack within a pack within a pack, but hand-picking this beauty for $7.50 saved me a huge chunk of cash from the pack price.

Vintage players on vintage cards. The cards on the left were over $5 each; I paid a premium for cleaner copies. On the right we have the "bargains" - all under $4 each. My 1956 Topps set build now sits at over 62% completion. The next milestone is 15 cards away - when I'll cross the 2/3 mark. That probably won't be until next year at the earliest.

Some more modern set fillers here. I had to get the 'factory set' Bryce Harper RC, since the pack-pulled version is 2x more expensive. I still need some SPs to complete the 2017 Heritage master set as my Machado, Mookie Betts, and Francisco Lindor cards are action image variations.

This group of 2022 Topps singles, along with the two RCs I received from Johnny's Trading Spot, should complete my set. I'll have to double-check once my pending TCDB trades arrive. Thank you, John!

Some assorted baseball here. The low numbah Jawhn Lestah relic cost $4.50. The '72 World Series Highlights inserts weren't cheap; about $3 for the pair, but I didn't mind. They're so sharp and colorful.

I mentioned the Miller in a prior post; it cost about as much as the Harper RC. COMC did not include any condition notes and the front looks good for a 90 year-old card...

But there are a couple small creases visible on the back. :/

Here's a card I've had my eye on for years. This Deron Johnson 1971 Topps single fascinates me due to the foreboding wall of steel behind him. 1970 was the Phillies' final year at Connie Mack Stadium.

There's one more baseball card in this order but I'll save it for the end. For now, let's head to the gridiron:

I included these as a teaser in a previous post. The Steve Atwater was a card I came across in COMC challenges (actually I saw a different player, but Atwater was the only one under $1.) It's die cut and embossed, with the statistics listed across the stitches on the back.

This Panini Elements Saquon Barkley was an impulse buy at a price I couldn't pass up. I'd be willing to trade it if anyone is interested. It's serial numbered to 199 and has the weight and texture of the Topps Steel cards from back in the day. Tyrod looks sharp in black refractor form. When I picked this up I didn't realize I already had his base Topps RC. 

Here's a couple upgrades for my 1986 Topps set. Finally found an Al Toon RC that isn't off-center. Now all I need is a near-mint Richard Dent upgrade and I'll be completely satisfied with this set.

Blowout Cards doesn't seem interested in lowering the prices of their 2015 Prizm packs so I'll have to complete this set piecemeal. Here are six more singles I needed including soon-to-be Jets QB Aaron Rodgers, who appears to be hell-bent on following the Brett Favre playbook to the letter. I sure hope the inevitable trade of a franchise icon works out as well for Green Bay as the Russell Wilson deal did for Seattle.

The football haul concludes with yet another 2015 Panini Immaculate relic. Curtis Martin (#d/28) is my 15th in the 100-card set - which is impossible to complete since there's only two Matt Ryan cards, one Cam Newton, and one Warren Moon. Even the most abundant player in the set, J.J. Watt (#d/99) would cost 3x more than this Martin, which I picked up for a very reasonable $10.25.

I'll update my Immaculate Collection and Set Building Wantlist tabs soon. Does anyone actually read those?

Speaking of set fillers...

1992-93 Upper Deck All-Division is done. I only need eight more cards for the 1988-89 Fleer set (lol, "only" includes both Jordans and three HOFer RCs) and the 1989-90 Fleer set is complete with only a few off-center singles left to upgrade after Manning and Jackson arrived. Might as well try to finish the 1990-91 Fleer basketball set now.

I'm nine cards away from completing the 1999-00 Hoops Decade set (not counting a couple upgrades). Put a pin in that Kittles refractor, I'm planning a post spotlighting 1999-00 Finest sets. The Mosaic Lillard is a reactive blue prizm parallel and it's my 30th different Dame. I'm not sure if Sara Winter is a model, tennis player, or golfer. Regardless, I couldn't resist adding her to my women on cards binder for just 50 cents (She's up to a dollar now).

It's not a COMC shipment without cheap ePack singles, from multi-sport sets to hockey:

Got the Game-Dated Ovechkin for $3 and the Clear-Cut Devils duo for $4.75 (they're $15 now!?)

The Canadiens were obviously not 30 cents or less. Both are Topps singles. I passed on a PSA 8 copy of Cournoyer for $20 (which sold soon after) and paid $2.61 for the HOFer free-range. Mahovlich is not a HOFer and I paid $2.75 for one of JoelShitShow's 20+ copies. Should have waited to get this one for about half the price from a different seller.

My 1970s Canadiens collection is almost complete; I just need a Guy Lafleur. But that won't stop me from picking up high-quality Canadiens at a good price:

The two highest-priced cards in this order were these high-grade Hall of Famers. One other slabbed single joined them.

I already completed the 2018 Topps Chrome baseball set, adding a PSA 9 Shohei Ohtani, Rafael Devers, and Ronald Acuna Jr RCs in recent months. Didn't need a Gleyber Torres, but...

This Gem Mint 10 was a bargain, especially compared to a 2019 Topps Chrome PSA 9 single on the site:

I paid $13.60 for the PSA 10 RC -- and you can get one even cheaper than that if you're interested.

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So here's my plan for the next few months of this blog: I'm going to take a break for a couple weeks, to pound the pavement and find a frickin' job. Once the baseball season starts I'll reboot my All-Time Teams series with more scans and less words. That will get me to about 595 posts. Add that 1999-00 Finest post I mentioned to some Starting Lineup Showcase posts... and I should hit 600 by late spring.

I'm approaching 580 completed trades on TCDB, and it's getting expensive to ship out cards. That gave me an idea..

600 posts. 600 trades. 600-card giveaway. Details to follow.

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!



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Playoff Party Crashers

30 years ago, a team with a losing record reached the Stanley Cup Final.

I was ten years old when the Minnesota North Stars made their miracle run. Checking the box scores in the sports page to see this Cinderella squad had won again were some of my first memories of being a hockey fan. It was fascinating to me that a 27-39-14 team could suddenly become unbeatable.

The North Stars finished fourth of five teams in the Norris division. They beat the NHL's best regular season team:

Then they beat the NHL's second-best regular season team, which also happened to be in their division:

Then Minnesota defeated the defending Stanley Cup champions:

This was wild. How does a team that won or tied only 42% of their games in the regular season go 12-5 against the best teams in the NHL? How did they even make the playoffs in the first place?

The answer to the second question is quite simple - there were only 21 NHL teams at the time and 16 of them qualified for the playoffs. It should be noted that the 1990-91 Flyers had a better record than three playoff teams - but didn't qualify because they finished last in their own division. Hold that thought.

Minnesota won the first game of the final, and actually led the series against Pittsburgh 2-1. But the clock struck midnight as Mario Lemieux and the Penguins won the Stanley Cup in six games.


I thought about this Minnesota team recently as I watched the Montreal Canadiens march to their 35th final.

Les Canadiens posted a 24-21-11 record in the regular season - which looks like a winning record.

Montreal's 11 overtime losses gave them an actual Win-Loss record of 24-32. Howeva the 2020-21 season was shortened to 56 games due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Canadiens surely would have won more games than the 1990-91 North Stars in a 'full' NHL season - though it should be noted that teams didn't get a chance to win games via shootout until 2005.


The 2020-21 Canadiens finished fourth among the seven teams in their division. Howeva their division was not only the weakest in the NHL it should not even exist.

Montreal finished with a worse record than two non-playoff teams (including a 2020 Stanley Cup finalist) and would not have made the playoffs if it weren't for a temporary realignment due to Covid-related travel restrictions.

This is the North division (officially known as the Rogers Scotiabank Tim Horton's Canadian Tire North division presented by Molson) Under normal circumstances, Montreal would be in the Northeast division with much stronger competition (and Ottawa, Detroit, and Buffalo.) Based on 2020-21 results the  Habs would have finished fifth:

Northeast**
	W	L	OTL	PTS
Florida	37	14	5	79
Toronto	35	14	7	77
Tampa Bay	36	17	3	75
Boston	33	16	7	73
Montreal	24	21	11	59
Ottawa	23	28	5	51
Detroit	19	27	10	48
Buffalo	15	34	7	37

I can't figure out how to center a spreadsheet. :(

The Canadiens wouldn't have finished fourth in the Atlantic Division, either. In fact they wouldn't have even been fifth:

Atlantic**
	W	L	OTL	PTS
Carolina	36	12	8	80
Pittsburgh	37	16	3	77
Washington	36	15	5	77
NY Islanders	32	17	7	71
NY Rangers	27	23	6	60
Philadelphia	25	23	8	58
Columbus	18	26	12	48
New Jersey	19	30	7	45

 
There's no way to know how game-by-game results would have changed when teams would have played a traditional schedule rather than facing only divisional opponents in order to minimize travel. It's entirely possible that Montreal would have caught fire down the stretch in a traditional 82-game schedule. If you add their 12-5 postseason record the Habs' points percentage increases from .527 to .575 - better than 2021 postseason participants Nashville, Winnipeg, and St. Louis.

Howeva it is a fact that the Canadiens finished with the 10th-best record of all Eastern-based NHL teams, 12 points behind the "eight-seed" Islanders. And even if the team had maintained a .575% throughout the regular season - they still wouldn't have leap-frogged any Eastern Conference teams.

Several clutch performers have made the Montreal Canadiens' run to the final possible including Carey Price, Tyler Toffoli, Nick Suzuki, and "Goal" Caulfield. But I doubt that anyone in the province of Quebec will take a minute to thank the real MVP of the 2021 playoffs. The man who closed off cross-border travel, effectively creating the "North" division and giving Montreal a path to the playoffs:

Montreal will face the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning in an all-Eastern Stanley Cup Final. With Covid under control (knocking on every piece of wood) the 2021-22 NHL season will return to normal and we'll have East vs. West again. Unless Mr. Trudeau decides to keep the border closed ;P

I'll be back with some NBA-related posts next week. Until then, enjoy the weekend and the playoffs!

Thanks for reading!



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What's Next?

I helped myself to some hockey cards as a reward for finishing the All-Time Teams series. These are the first cards I scanned with the scanner I got for Christmas:

I'd found a seller with two 1984-85 O-Pee-Chee cards I needed and a ton of older hockey cards in high grade. The only one that fit my collection was this Serge Savard single from 1970-71 OPC:

After some back-and-forth negotiating through eBay Best Offers I added this to my 1970s Canadiens collection for $34.20. More than I wanted to spend, but at least the shipping was free.

If this sounds like a lot to spend on such a card (especially in NM 7) it probably is. I'm still having trouble grappling with the sale prices of high-grade singles these days; I knew they'd appreciate in value but it's happened a decade ahead of schedule. For instance, here is the oldest Wayne Gretzky card I own:

This was scanned on my old machine. Can you see the difference?

I spotted this Gretzky at a card shop/batting cage nearby that I used to frequent before my girls were born. It was ungraded, in a top loader, displayed in a showcase with a handful of other hockey cards. I asked the shopkeep how much he wanted for the card and I think he said $20. I examined it in my hand, noted the tiny imperfection on the left edge.. and bought it anyway. Then I sent it to PSA in my next submission, where it returned a Mint 9 as you can see. For years I had a nice $30-50 card on my hands.

Look at what this single sells for now. Whoaaa baby!


Here are a couple cards from my first 4 Sharp Corners order in November 2013:

 

I was on a bit of a mission to collect great players' rookie cards in high grade - and 4 Sharp Corners had loads of 'em at the time. This Greg Maddux Fleer Glossy XRC cost $41.27 then. It sells for $200-300 today.

As for the Jagr.. I purchased that card mainly because he was playing for the Devils in 2013. It was a card that I'd seen quite a few times ungraded, despite it being less common than his Score or Upper Deck RCs. This one set me back $34.39. Fuji clued me in to what these sell for now. Good lord, that's just mind-boggling! 

I never bought these cards to flip for a profit - at least not this quickly - but I'm sitting on enough cards that are suddenly selling for triple digits (or more) that I am seriously considering a Shoebox Legends-style sell-off.

There are so many important things I could do with a sudden influx of cash - invest it, save it for home repairs, or a new house, or the girls' college fund. Or I could finish my 1956 Topps set and then sell that in a few years (or not.)  

 

One more on the way..

My latest purchases are not going to appreciate in value. The 1984-85 O-Pee-Chee set is a money pit, something I'm working on bit by bit just as a challenge. Savard and the Habs project are one of a handful of half-finished mini-sets I'm chipping at slowly, like the 1961 Golden Press set or 1964 Topps Giants. 

The hobby is getting harder to enjoy. Sports in general are harder to enjoy, and after last year I've learned to live without them. Too many ads in NHL games. Too many super-teams in the NBA. Too many rule changes in the MLB. And until Tom Brady retires or dies (whichever comes first) I won't be able to truly enjoy the NFL again. 

New cards don't excite me anymore. The prices have skyrocketed, the flippers hoard everything that was previously affordable, and the monopolies have produced more cards with far less effort and attention to detail. I don't see myself collecting future releases much, if at all. Instead, I'm going back.

Aside from the vintage/graded projects previously mentioned I plan to complete the run of 2010s Topps baseball sets. I've got a factory set of 2011, and hand-collated sets of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. That leaves 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014. None of these are particularly exciting- though I kinda like '13. But it gives me something to trade for since I've still got hundreds of 2017, 2018, and 2019 Topps dupes.

 

If anyone has piles of these cards taking up space let me know and I'll be happy to make a deal.

As for what's next here.. I'm not sure. I have an order on the way from baseballcardstore.ca that I'll discuss when it arrives - though that might not be until March considering the weather and the post office. I do have an idea for The 1993 though. It's not in my nature to fish for followers, but.. if I can get 25 readers over there, I will reward you with a list of my 93 favorite cards of 1993 - across all sports.

It won't be as insightful as Night Owl's Countdown of 1980s cards but I think it will be fun. Until then...

Thanks for reading!



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