steveottfan
Verified Trader,
As some of you know, I collect hockey autographs. My goal is to try and get 1 signature from everyone to ever play in the NHL. Its been some time since I shared my progress here but I continue to add new autographs almost daily. The grand total now stands at 5,860 unique player signatures for 77% of everyone to ever play in the league since it was created in 1917/18. As you can image, my wantlist now consists mostly of deceased players. You can see my entire collection scanned here and you can visit this page for my complete and current wantlist.
Not many certified autographs to show lately. Why? Because I have them all. Literally. Except for a few debuts from the past couple of years that I continue to pickup, I have an autograph from every NHL player who has had a certified autograph produced (not including 1/1 cuts).
Here are some of my favorite recent NHL autograph additions:
Alexei Yegorov played 11 NHL games with the San Jose Sharks during the 1990s. You don't see many of his autographs because the Russian died of a drug overdose in 2002 at just 26.
Another tragic story, the life and career of Bryan Fogarty is one that fascinates me. He was touted as the next Bobby Orr but a life of drugs and alcohol derailed his career and claimed his life at just 32.
Billy Tibbetts has an incredibly unique journey to the NHL. I don't know of any other modern day NHL player who stepped away from the game for 4 seasons, only to return to make his NHL debut. Tibbetts did that when he served a 3+ year jail sentence BEFORE making his NHL debut. I don't think he signs much, or he's just really hard to track down, so I was happy to add this one to the collection.
A Stanley Cup winner with the Broad Street Bullies, goalie Wayne Stephenson passed away in 2010.
Being a Maritimer, this holds a special spot in my collection because Doug Grant is a Newfie and another old goalie hard to track down.
This one is notable because Willis was one of the last modern goalies I needed. Some guys don't want anything to do with the game after they retire, I feel like Willis is one of them. I tried sending him a couple letters to his current address with no response and even tried contacting via Facebook but no reply whatsoever.
Guys like Travis Scott prove difficult to find after they retired simply because his name is so common and hard to search.
Did I mention that I have a soft spot for goalies? Duffus was one of those last few modern day goalies I had left to track down.
Speaking of tracking down modern day goalies, RICH PARENT, paging Mr. RICH PARENT. WHERE ARE YOU!!
I show this one because I find retired Russian players like Tezikov impossible to locate. Russian is also notoriously bad for TTM returns even if you somehow manage to find an address.
Speaking of Russians, Fetisov is someone who really should have a certified autograph on the market. He's a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Red Wings and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Another hard to find Russian. He was one of those guys who haunted me from packs I bought during this time period.
Showing this one because Leafs from this era bring back many memories. It was the early 2000s when I really got into hockey, and my team was the Leafs. I read everything about their current players and then prospects, including Mr. Yakushin.
Here's a demonstration of why its so damn hard to track some of these retired players down. Lindquist, who played 8 NHL games with the 98/99 Oilers, actually switched his last name and now goes by Fredrik Bremberg.
Robin Bawa - the first player of Indian descent to play in the NHL.
Jon Kalinski, I'd been searching for Mr. Kalinski for a couple years and had send him a couple autograph requests only to never hear back.
This one is notable because Shane lives just a few minutes away from me here in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. He played 1 NHL game with the 1987/88 St. Louis Blues.
I gave up hope of locating Cam Newton long ago because its impossible to search for the goalie due to some football player having the same name
Lucky for me, another collector was nice enough to pass along a working address. Not only did I get this autograph, but Newton wrote me back a delightful letter.
Here's a fun one because it demonstrates why organization is important when you tackle a big project like the all-time signatures. During the 1974/75 NHL season the league actually saw 2 people named Mike Boland make their NHL debuts. With this, i now have them both.
A sad return here. I got this one back at the end of April. Less than a month later Podloski passed away.
I bough an old program with some killer vintage autographs. The centerpiece for me was Wayne Maki's signature. Maki scored 25 goals and 63 points for the inaugural 1970/71 Vancouver Canucks. Maki's career and life was cut short when he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He died in 1974 at only 29.
Widing was a solid NHL player but you don't see very many of his signatures because he died suddenly from a heart attack in 1984 at just 37.
No relation to Phil. Rick is one of those retired NHL guys who is still living but doesn't sign.
Crossing this Bob Jones autograph off the list is a notable accomplishment for me because the common name makes him difficult to find. God knows how many Bob Jones there are in North America.
Thanks for looking!
Not many certified autographs to show lately. Why? Because I have them all. Literally. Except for a few debuts from the past couple of years that I continue to pickup, I have an autograph from every NHL player who has had a certified autograph produced (not including 1/1 cuts).
Here are some of my favorite recent NHL autograph additions:
Alexei Yegorov played 11 NHL games with the San Jose Sharks during the 1990s. You don't see many of his autographs because the Russian died of a drug overdose in 2002 at just 26.
Another tragic story, the life and career of Bryan Fogarty is one that fascinates me. He was touted as the next Bobby Orr but a life of drugs and alcohol derailed his career and claimed his life at just 32.
Billy Tibbetts has an incredibly unique journey to the NHL. I don't know of any other modern day NHL player who stepped away from the game for 4 seasons, only to return to make his NHL debut. Tibbetts did that when he served a 3+ year jail sentence BEFORE making his NHL debut. I don't think he signs much, or he's just really hard to track down, so I was happy to add this one to the collection.
A Stanley Cup winner with the Broad Street Bullies, goalie Wayne Stephenson passed away in 2010.
Being a Maritimer, this holds a special spot in my collection because Doug Grant is a Newfie and another old goalie hard to track down.
This one is notable because Willis was one of the last modern goalies I needed. Some guys don't want anything to do with the game after they retire, I feel like Willis is one of them. I tried sending him a couple letters to his current address with no response and even tried contacting via Facebook but no reply whatsoever.
Guys like Travis Scott prove difficult to find after they retired simply because his name is so common and hard to search.
Did I mention that I have a soft spot for goalies? Duffus was one of those last few modern day goalies I had left to track down.
Speaking of tracking down modern day goalies, RICH PARENT, paging Mr. RICH PARENT. WHERE ARE YOU!!
I show this one because I find retired Russian players like Tezikov impossible to locate. Russian is also notoriously bad for TTM returns even if you somehow manage to find an address.
Speaking of Russians, Fetisov is someone who really should have a certified autograph on the market. He's a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Red Wings and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Another hard to find Russian. He was one of those guys who haunted me from packs I bought during this time period.
Showing this one because Leafs from this era bring back many memories. It was the early 2000s when I really got into hockey, and my team was the Leafs. I read everything about their current players and then prospects, including Mr. Yakushin.
Here's a demonstration of why its so damn hard to track some of these retired players down. Lindquist, who played 8 NHL games with the 98/99 Oilers, actually switched his last name and now goes by Fredrik Bremberg.
Robin Bawa - the first player of Indian descent to play in the NHL.
Jon Kalinski, I'd been searching for Mr. Kalinski for a couple years and had send him a couple autograph requests only to never hear back.
This one is notable because Shane lives just a few minutes away from me here in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. He played 1 NHL game with the 1987/88 St. Louis Blues.
I gave up hope of locating Cam Newton long ago because its impossible to search for the goalie due to some football player having the same name
Lucky for me, another collector was nice enough to pass along a working address. Not only did I get this autograph, but Newton wrote me back a delightful letter.
Here's a fun one because it demonstrates why organization is important when you tackle a big project like the all-time signatures. During the 1974/75 NHL season the league actually saw 2 people named Mike Boland make their NHL debuts. With this, i now have them both.
A sad return here. I got this one back at the end of April. Less than a month later Podloski passed away.
I bough an old program with some killer vintage autographs. The centerpiece for me was Wayne Maki's signature. Maki scored 25 goals and 63 points for the inaugural 1970/71 Vancouver Canucks. Maki's career and life was cut short when he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He died in 1974 at only 29.
Widing was a solid NHL player but you don't see very many of his signatures because he died suddenly from a heart attack in 1984 at just 37.
No relation to Phil. Rick is one of those retired NHL guys who is still living but doesn't sign.
Crossing this Bob Jones autograph off the list is a notable accomplishment for me because the common name makes him difficult to find. God knows how many Bob Jones there are in North America.
Thanks for looking!
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