Worst Ever Hockey Cards #17

Worst Ever Hockey Cards #17
#253 - Pro-Set Youth Parade
92-93 Pro-Set
(back)

The least desirable hockey card in existence. If this isn't a last minute filler for some card that Pro-Set couldn't get the rights to produce, I don't know what is.

In an unrelated matter, I really want to get one of these sweet shirts that were advertised on packs of 90-91 Pro-Set. They were never available in Canada no matter how many of the 'hottest discount' cards you collected. If an American reader has one, or if anyone sees one anywhere, please let me know. I wear size small or medium and will gladly trade all of my Pro-Set Youth Parade cards, or something of similar value, like a slimy banana peel and a used band-aid. . . or just pay cash.

Hockey Card of the Day #30

#327 - Colorado Rockies (Records)
77-78 O-Pee-Chee
(back)

The best thing about this card is the stats on the back for most shutouts in a season and in a career which say "never accomplished." I know the team had only been in Colorado for one season, but if you include the stats from the team's time in Kansas City, it still would read "never accomplished."

Doug Favell eventually recorded the team's first shutout early in the 77-78 season, a 3-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. That one shutout gives Favell a share of the team record for most career shutouts by a Rockies goaltender. Bill Oleschuk and Bill McKenzie were the other two goalies to get shutouts during the team's six years in Colorado before they were moved to new Jersey for the 82-83 season.

Hockey Card of the Day #29

#239 - Craig Cameron
75-76 Topps
(back)

Now that's a million dollar smile!

Hockey Card of the Day #28

#26 - Alexander Andrijevski
93-94 Upper Deck
(back)

I bought a box of 93-94 Upper Deck Jumbo Packs because I remembered that jumbo packs ruled when I was a kid. I didn't get any Wayne Gretzky cards, but I did get four Alexander Andrijevski's. Luckily, I needed this card for my collection of worthless and forgotten hockey players.

Hockey Card of the Day #27

#156 - Rogatien Vachon
71-72 O-Pee-Chee
(back)

In the 80's, O-Pee-Chee was into airbrushing the jerseys of recently traded players. That looked bad, but just as bad was their cut and paste technique of the 70's. Rogie doesn't even have the same colour skin as the body they've pasted him on. And Larry Hillman, a defensemen, had his head pasted on a goalie's body (Joe Daley's, who was traded to Detroit after the 70-71 season).

Hockey Card of the Day #26

#344 - Adam Graves
90-91 Upper Deck
(front)

Some guys grow playoff beards, Graves grew a playoff scumstache.

04-05 Upper Deck All-World

I'm not sure why, but I really appreciate ugly and ridiculous hockey cards. Maybe it is because while everyone chases down the latest hot rookie card, I can be just as happy with a bottom of the barrel common card that makes me laugh (and saves me a lot of money). This is why Upper Deck's NHL lock-out year All-World set gets two thumbs up from me.

The set's 90 base cards mostly feature NHL players with their European teams, with a few former European-NHL stars thrown in as well. There are a lot of stars included in the set, but the real star of this set is the garish jerseys these guys are wearing-- some of which would even make race car drivers weep. Among the worst offenders are the Swiss National League's, SC Bern and Zug; the Czech Extraliga's HC Zlin and Pardubice (it is nice to see Kappa clothing on someone who is not trying to sell drugs to me at the bus stop) and Finnish SM-Liiga's Jokerit Helsinki (though to be fair this photo is from the 94-95 lock-out, not that it makes that collar any less ridiculous).

I know that European teams make most of their money from sponsorships, which explains why it looks like they have the yellow pages printed on their jerseys, but surprisingly the team with the highest payroll in Europe during the lock-out, Ak Bars Kazan of the Russian Super League, also had the best jerseys. These jerseys wouldn't even be bad for the NHL. It is definitely better than what Anaheim wears.

Five of my favourites:

#27 - Nikolai Khabibulin - Does he always look like this?

#44 - Borje Salming - This photo seems like it would have been from Salming's pre-NHL days, right? But all of his stats that I have found say that he only played for AIK Solna in the early-90's. Could they not afford good cameras, or is something wrong? European readers please let me know.

#55 - Hakaan Loob - He's missing his nice purple bow tie.

#78 - Joe Thornton - The best of the few action shots.

#87 - Igor Larionov - A classic jersey that will make you wish for the days of pre-capitalist European hockey.