1,000 Point NHL Player Autographs - #25 Brendan Shanahan

The Top 25! When I started this project of collecting a hard-signed autograph of the 79 players with over 1,000 points I was never completely sure if I'd finish. But as I have counted up from Ray Whitney at #79 to Brendan Shanahan at #25, I get the feeling that I'm too close to my goal to stop.

The only player in NHL history with over 600 goals and 2,000 penalty minutes, Brendan Shanahan will be inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame soon. It was a surprise that he didn't make it on the first ballot but some years the list is quite impressive.

With 1,354 points (656 goals, 698 assists) in 1,524 games, Shanahan was the epitome of a power forward. He won three Stanley Cup championships during his time with Detroit and was a key team member for whatever franchise he played for.

Now an executive with the NHL as chief player disciplinarian, Shanahan remains in the public eye. His legacy also includes the Shanahan Summit, a two-day conference in Toronto during the 2004–05 NHL lockout which discussed improvements to the flow and tempo of the game.

Brendan Shanahan has not signed a large number of cards considering his 21-year NHL career. And finding a nice one one at a reasonable price isn't easy. Surprisingly, I acquired this 2010-11 Panini Dominion hard-signed autograph /25 for about $15. Showing him in a Hartford Whalers uniform is a definite bonus. But the cold hard fact remains that Panini cards (even high-end) just don't seem to get as much respect on the secondary market. This card should not have sold for so little. But it's hard to complain when you're the beneficiary.