Wednesday, March 20, 2013

500 NHL Goal Scorers - Project Complete!

One of the bonuses of completing the 1,000 NHL Point Project is that the list contains most of the NHL's 500 Goal Scorers. It definitely reduced the need for finding a lot more hard-signed hockey cards.

In the history of the NHL, 42 players have scored 500 goals in their career. Luckily for me, 40 of those players finished their careers with over 1,000 points.

The only two players to score 500 goals but not reach 1,000 points are Maurice 'The Rocket' Richard and Peter Bondra.



Peter Bondra scored 503 goals and 892 points in his career. Long remembered as a Washington Capital, he holds many team records. A five-time NHL All-Star, Bondra twice won the Fastest Skater Competition on All-Star weekend. Although he never scored 90 points in an NHL season, he twice scored 50 goals.

From 1995-96 Upper Deck Be A Player comes this Global Training hard-signed autograph of Peter Bondra. Pulled from a pack years ago by myself, this card is easily available for only about $5.




Maurice 'The Rocket' Richard was the first NHL player to score 50 goals in one season, doing so in 50 games, and the first to score 500 goals in a career. He finished his career with 544 goals and 965 points. He added another 82 goals in 133 playoff games. Inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961, Richard won 8 Stanley Cups as a player.

A legend in Montreal, Maurice Richard was famous as a member of the 'Punch Line' with Elmer Lach and Toe Blake. He is also remembered for the Richard Riot in 1955 and the classic story 'The Hockey Sweater' by Roch Carrier.

From 1994-95 Signatures Rookies comes this hard-signed autograph of Maurice Richard from the Cool 5 subset /1050. Although quite plentiful, the card often sells between $50-$100 and I was lucky enough to win an auction for one on eBay in the $60 range.

And Project Complete!

With the Bondra and Rocket autographs, I now have hard signed autographed hockey cards of all forty-two 500 goal scorers and, as mentioned previously, all seventy-nine 1,000 point scorers.

On to the next project...

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Project Complete!

Success!

Project Complete!

In my collection, I now have at least one hard-signed hockey card of all 79 NHL players who have scored over 1,000 points in their career.



I even blogged about each and every player as I counted up the list from Ray Whitney to Wayne Gretzky. Sometimes it seemed like it was a losing battle but I'm proud of myself for successfully finishing a large project.

Next up?

500 Goals Scorers? Top point-scoring defensemen? Winningest goaltenders?

I think all three are likely choices.

I'm also debating trying to collect hard-signed baseball cards of every Toronto Blue Jay who played during the back-to-back World Series in 1992 and 1993.

I've learned that I enjoy projects... especially if they're challenging and feature subjects that I thoroughly enjoy.

1,000 Point NHL Player Autographs - #1 Wayne Gretzky

The Great One!

With 2,857 points (894 goals, 1,963 assists) in 1,487 games, Wayne Gretzky was in a class of his own. In a sense, Gretzky was the fastest and the second fastest 1,000 point player as he scored his second 1,000 points (the only player ever to reach 2,000 points) in only 433 games after scoring his first 1,000 points (424 games).

The only player to score 200 points in a season, he did it 4 times!

After his retirement in 1999, Gretzky was immediately inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. The NHL retired his jersey number 99 league-wide, making him the only player to receive this honour.

Involved in the most famous trade in NHL history in 1988 (Edmonton to Los Angeles), Gretzky won four Stanley Cups before the trade and none after.



From 2005-06 Upper Deck SP Authentic comes this dual hard-signed Prestigious Pairings /50 featuring Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky. One of the best card I've ever pulled from a pack (as mentioned in the Gordie Howe post), it happened at the Sports Card Expo in Toronto about 4 years ago.

Another one of my biggest pulls was a pack that featured Gretzky as well. However, the Legendary Linemates card from 2004-05 Upper Deck Legendary Signatures featuring Gretzky, Jari Kurri, and Glenn Anderson was sold by myself back in 2006. It would be nice to have it still in my collection.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

1,000 Point NHL Player Autographs - #2 Mark Messier

The Moose or The Messiah.

Regardless of his nickname, his resume speaks volumes.

Mark Messier is considered one of the greatest NHL players of all time. He is second on the all-time career lists for regular season points, playoff points (295) and regular season games played (1,756). He won six Stanley Cups and is the only player to captain two different professional teams to championships.

With 1,887 points (694 goals, 1,193 assists), Messier ranks only second to Wayne Gretzky in career scoring. Inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007, Messier was awarded the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2013.

Although Messier scored the 2nd most points in NHL history and won two Hart Trophies, he never won a scoring title during his career.



From 2007-08 Upper Deck The Cup comes this Stanley Cup Signatures /25 hard-signed autograph card of Mark Messier. I personally pulled this card from my only tin of The Cup that season and it remains the only Messier autograph in my collection. Definitely a great one to have.