Card of the Week - Patrik Elias

On Saturday, history was made in Devils land. If you didn't realize it, don't feel bad. Many players on the Devils also didn't realize it. However, that doesn't diminish the accomplishment and that is Patrik Elias has surpassed John MacLean as the Devils all-time leading goal scorer. His current total is 348 goals and counting. Elias is also the franchise leader in points with 845 which he did in 993 career games with the Devils. Could he reach a 1000 points? Hard to say, he is 35 years old and currently having a great season in the second last year of his contract. We can expect one more season in the black and red for Elias which has him needing 155 points in the next season and a half. Reaching 1000 in that time period is not likely, but if he gets an extension with the Devils after that it is possible.

97-98 SP Authentic #185 Patrik Elias

Front Side

Front side shows a card that does have a 90's look to it, but certainly a pretty attractive design and one of the better ones to come out of that decade. In terms of Elias rookies, this is one of the more high-end releases. This is also my second favourite, with the BAP auto rookie parallel taking the cake. Upper Deck has continued the tradition through the years making Future Watch rookies one of the nicest on the market.

Back side
Great write-up on the back, not a fan of the concentric rings radiating out from the Elias photo, but the layout is attractive on this card and the mask hologram is pretty cool too. This card came out during my retirement from collecting and was one I had to pick up when I was "filling in gaps" in my collection.

How I received the card: This was an eBay purchase about 2 years ago. I landed it with an opening bid of $0.99

Beckett Value: 3 - 8 dollars

Not sure if there are many Elias collectors out there, but he has put together a solid NHL career that will hopefully have a few more good games and maybe another Stanley Cup?.

A couple neat facts:

Patrik Elias is tied with a couple others for most career NHL overtime goals with 15.

Elias isn't the only big name rookie in the 97-98 SP Authentic set, Zdeno Chara also has a rookie card in that set and it currently books for about $12.