Friday Pack of Cards

Well, another Friday, another pack of vintage cards. This week, another pack of parkie.

Make the jump.



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1)Gilbert Dionne (rookie) - Montreal Canadiens - Interestingly enough, this is the younger brother of Marcel Dionne, a player who many old-school NHL fans should remember. Nothing else too noteworthy about this Dionne.
2)Mike Craig - Minnesota North Stars - My first glance at this card always make me think Mike Modano. Which would be awesome. But this Mike had a pretty impressive junior career. The flavor text points out that he made team Canada in the 1990 and 1991 WJCs (both teams earning gold), and won the 1990 Memorial Cup (OHL championship) playing alongside Eric Lindros for the Oshawa Generals.
3)Mike Donnelly – Los Angeles Kings - This former undrafted player was originally signed to the NHL by the NY Rangers. In 6 seasons (from 1986-1992), he actually played for 3 different teams. That's about it.
4)Todd Elik - Minnesota North Stars -Elik is another player originally signed to the NHL as a Free Agent, and also another who was signed by the Rangers. There's not a lot to say about Elik. However, in the 1989-90 playoffs, he did lead the Kings in scoring. Not bad, when the team also had names such as Luc Robatille, Tomas Sandstrom and Wayne Gretzky.
5)Stephane Fiset - Quebec Nordiques (Rookie) - I can't say I really remember an NHL without Fiset, which makes sense, because I didn't get into NHL hockey until about 1993. Fiset was often that player that was always the bridesmaid, never the bride. I don't mean he wore ugly dresses chosen by the team captain, but rather that he never really solidified himself as a starting goaltender in his career.
6)Kjell Samuelsson - Pittsburgh Penguins - This is one of the most useful cards ever! Not only did it give me the revelation that Kjell Samuelsson was the tallest player in the NHL in 1992 (6'6"), but also that he is no relation to Ulf Samuelsson. My world is ruined!
7)Dimitri Mirononv – Toronto Maple Leafs - A native of Moscow, in the Soviet Union, Mironov is another player in the vein of later in life Russians who invaded the NHL from the Central Red Army. A 26 year old rookie, he had only 7 games at this point, as per the card. I wonder why this isn't his rookie card...?
8)Alexander Godynyuk- Calgary Flames (Rookie) - Godynyuk was apparently an impressive defensman with the Maple Leafs before being part of a Blockbuster trade with Calgary. He bounced around the NHL throughout his career, and never really found a permanent NHL home.
9)Rick Wamsley – Toronto Maple Leafs - I just want to say: I love this card. It has such a vintage look with the old-style helmet and the Toronto Rink which just has a way of looking older. Wamsley was brought in at this point to backup Grant Fuhr, allowing Felix "The Cat" Potvin to develop further in the minors. Ironically, I didn't make that nickname up...That's what everyone called him in the mid-90's
10)Dave Andreychuk - Buffalo Sabres (Leader) - the 1992 NHL PP Goal leader was a pivotal part of Buffalo claiming the #1 power play efficiency in the NHL in that year. The 1982 first round draft pick managed career highs in goals and points (41 and 91, respectively) playing next to Pat LaFontaine.
11)Rob Brown - Chicago Blackhawks - The former Pittsburgh Penguin was probably best known for putting up 115 points in his second NHL season. This was, of course, due to playing on a line with Mario Lemieux. He never did this well, and to this day is one of my top examples of players who benefited from stellar linemates.
12)Doug Gilmour - Toronto Maple Leafs - Doug Gilmore is a fascinating specimin. Despite the fact that he has almost as many penalty minutes as games played in his career, he has more points than games played as well. He was a rare mix of hard physical play, great vision, and a nice scoring touch. I wonder if we'll ever see someone like that again.