Happy Trails Patrik!

They say you don't know what you have until you lose it. Long story short we as people can often be guilty of taking things you have for granted and I certainly have been a repeat offender in that department. However, this post isn't really about me, it's about Patrik Elias. It's hard to find a player who has silently put together such an amazing career playing for a defense first team but still putting up All-World Numbers. Many might be skeptical but don't worry, I will share some supporting figures.

First off, his raw numbers are pretty decent:
1240 Games 408 Goals 617 Assists 1025 Points and another 125 Playoff Points all are franchise highs for the Devils with the exception of games played. Patrik played in 4 All-Star games, made the All-Rookie Team and one First All-Star Team and he won 2 Stanley Cups.

If you look at all those raw numbers I think ANYONE would induct him into the Hall of Pretty Good. However, there are many players out of the Hall of Fame with better numbers and stats. So here is where we consider the fact that Patrik Elias did play a majority of his career in the dead puck era and those numbers are much more amazing than they appear. If you take a visit to Hockey Reference you will find many of the facts I am about to point out.

408 Goals actually adjusts to 464 Goals when you consider overall scoring. That total puts him in the same group as Bure (463) Bossy (461) and Hawerchuk (435) and to be honest, Patrik wasn't known as a goal scorer.

617 Assists adjusts to 680 Assists. That change has him in line with stars like Guy Lafleur (681) and Peter Stastny (637).

1025 Points adjusts to 1144 Points. This is the most telling stat in my opinion when you combine his goals and assists you get a true sense of his place and standing. This total is 57th best All-Time and has him around players like Crosby, Gartner, Perreault and Henri Richard.

In addition to putting up offensive numbers he was really valuable to the club in all situations and would kill penalties and back check with the best of them. When you consider the player as a whole I believe he will make it to the Hall of Fame. Probably not on the first ballot but I do honestly believe he has a shot. Now time for the cards!

97-98 Upper Deck Ice Patrik Elias Rookie

97-98 Donruss Priority Patrik Elias Rookie

97-98 Upper Deck Star Rookie Patrik Elias Rookie

97-98 SP Authentic Future Watch Patrik Elias Rookie

97-98 Pinnacle Be A Player Patrik Elias Rookie

97-98 Pinnacle Be A Player Patrik Elias Auto Rookie

00-01 Be A Player Signature Series Gold Patrik Elias Auto

12-13 Fleer Skybox Autographics Patrik Elias

06-07 Be A Player Signature Duals Elias and Rafalski

These are a few Elias cards from my collection including some of my favourite rookies and all my autographs of Elias. I do have a few game used cards as well but nothing that I felt would have added to this post so I decided to leave them out. While Elias was never a PC of mine per-say, I have collect a few cards of him over the years and I will continue to enjoy what I have and maybe add a few more in the future as I continue to appreciate all he has done for the franchise. Happy Trails Patrik and thank you very much for all you've done and I wish you health and happiness in your retirement. 

The Greatest Goalie in Devils History and Possibly NHL History Retires

I definitely owe Marty more than I can ever mention in a post. I could probably dedicate an entire blog and fill it with 691 posts and STILL not do him justice. I have been a Devils fan since 1987 and in those nearly 30 years I have been a very very spoiled fan. 3 Cups, 2 other Cup final appearances and many many more playoff appearances. In the mid-late 90's when he was putting up his best numbers he was often overlooked because of the great tandem of D-men in front of him. It was almost like he was being punished for being on a good team. That didn't happen to Ken Dryden, but for some reason it happened to Marty. Still he never complained and kept putting up HOF numbers and finally in the 2000's he got his due. 2 Olympic gold medals and a HOF career. Now he is transitioning to stage two of his life and I suspect he will be just as successful there as he was on the ice. I look forward to his Devils return next year where he will likely join management in some capacity and I hope to see him as our GM some day (assuming it is a fit and something he wants).

In the meantime, here is a nice card my BFAM (Brother from another mother) Tom sent me a couple months back.


13-14 Artifacts Tundra Trios Brodeur/Elias/Kovalchuk

This card features three neat players. First is the GOAT Devil Marty, then our franchise leading scorer Patrik and finally what some may call our greatest mistake Ilya. This card is nearly perfect, I would love to have seen a white swatch and maybe a D-man instead of Kovy.

Generosity from Shoebox Legends and a trade with The Hockey Card Closet

So now that the Sweet Shot love-in is over, I can get on to other posts that have been piling up on an already large list. This is an important post with a great act of kindness and a simple but fun trade to highlight.

First off, an act of kindness from Shane over at Shoebox Legends. I sent him a few cards that didn't belong in my collection and he was far too kind (especially if you consider he was robbed at the post office, insane shipping rates that now exceed what we Canadians overpay). He sent four cards, all Devils, all cards I don't own and all cards I do like having! 

Card 1: 05-06 Artifacts All-Stars Patrik Elias

 Our all-time leading scorer numbered to 899? Thank you!

11-12 Artifacts Emerald Zach Parise

 I was going to mention this in a later post, but I am over Zach ditching us! I still like him and understand to some degree why he left.

03-04 OPC Blue Brian Rafalski

 Only good memories of Brian here.

10-11 UD Retro Kovy

Love the 90-91 Retro cards and love Kovy....Together on a piece of cardboard....mind blowing.

Thanks a million Shane, next time I will try and make up for the shipping differences in this exchange and any other future ones :)


This next card is part of a trade I made with Kyle from Beware The Hockey Card Closet.

  

In a trade with Kyle we did two cards for two cards and this Khabby auto was the centerpiece. Despite his run-in with the law, he was and still is a pretty fine goalie. Over 300 career wins and 46 shutouts, not to mention, a gold medal at the 92 WJHC as a member of team CIS (remember those days). Neat auto in black sharpie on sticker with number. 

So there you have an expected card that looks great and some unexpected cards that are just awesome! Thanks boys and happy blogging!  

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.

06-07 Be A Player Box Break

Well my wife being the great gal she is, decided to fuel my addiction and buy me a box of cards for my b-day. I decided that I would go with a box of 06-07 Be A Player. Why, you ask? Well, a box costs about 50 bucks, 70 if you included taxes and shipping. What do you get? 10 hits. 8 autographed cards, 1 will be a dual auto and 2 rookies. There are other inserts but I ignore them and just consider this product to have 10 hits. So the value of 7 bucks per hit which I felt is very reasonable!

I feel that I will be ahead of the game if I can get 1 or 2 autos I really like and a decent rookie card.

So now that I made my case, here is the box.

The Rookies- They are numbered to 999.

Clarke MacArthur

Clarke had a breakout season with the Leafs. 21 goals and 62 points aren't too shabby. Didn't have any of his RCs before this so I am glad I pulled it.

Ryan Potulny

The opposite is true here. I have almost all his RCs and I am still waiting for him to breakout. He might as well be the next Keith Aucoin as he can do stuff in the AHL but struggles to produce in the NHL.

The Autographs

Martin Havlat

Wow, the shocker of the summer for me was this trade. Clearly Havlat for Heatley was a money move and a locker room move in my opinion. Both are very talented and a trade could benefit both teams in my opinion. A good auto to get in my books, love that he numbered his!

Rollie the Goalie

Proved he still had what it takes to block NHL rubber. TB has decided to renew his contract so that will mean Tokarski and Desjardins will have to wait another year for the shot at starting full time but TB clearly thinks they are close to winning another Cup. Can't quite read this auto, but another solid hit.

Mike Van Ryn

Former Devils draft pick was the weakest hit in the box in my opinion. He spurned us when we drafted him and therefore never won a Cup. Glad he didn't too! Now is an assistant coach for the Ice Dogs in the OHL.

Jeff Carter

I wasn't too surprised to see him get traded, and the Blue Jackets are better for this one. I hope he can maintain he goal production as he broke 30 goals for the 3rd year in a row. Blue Jacket fans deserve a decent team and Carter, Nash and Umburger will help that possibly be a reality.

Henrik Sedin

This is a great hit. Henrik has averaged 103 points a season over the last two seasons and is the owner of a very interesting auto. I believe he numbered it....but some might argue those aren't numbers...

Elias and Rafalski

Each box has one dual auto and fittingly enough, mine is a Devils auto. Love it....I didn't have either auto in my collection and between the two of them there are 5 Stanley Cups and 3 Olympic medals. Elias is also the owner of 7 NJ Devil records and 2 NHL records (most career overtime goals and most overtime goals in a season).

If this was the end of the box, I would consider it a success and then some....but there were also two rookie autos in the box!

Luc Bourdon

This card has mixed feelings to me. Happy to pull the card as he was an amazing prospect with talent to spare. I loved seeing him with the gold with the 06 and 07 WJHC teams. Sad because he passed away in 2008 when he crashed his motorcycle. He probably would have never won 8 straight Norris trophies but he would have been an excellent NHL defenseman with All-Star potential.

Jordan Staal

Wow.....like this hit a lot and it is probably the most valuable card of the box. How valuable? Well I don't know, my Beckett doesn't list the value but they seem to be on sale on eBay for prices between 20 and 50 bucks. This card is flawless, and was enough to make this box a huge success for me.

Now the box is over, the question remains....Do I get another? There are many other great rookies in the box and other autos but 50 bucks plus tax and shipping can get some pretty good vintage cards too!