steveottfan
Verified Trader,
Its been a little while since I've shared some of my new autographs. With a big milestone recently reached, I thought it was a good time to share some of my newest additions in my goal to get a signature from everyone who has made it to the NHL.
My collection now includes over 6,000 unique NHL player signatures for 79% of everyone who has ever played in the league. Every single signature is scanned and organized by year of debut then alphabetically here.
I'm 27 and my first autograph came at 12 so its been a solid 15 years of persistent collecting with no end in sight.
I have hundreds more autographs outside of that collection. As you'll see here, I also collect everyone from coaches to officials to celebrities with hockey connections.
Mike Colman
This is a big addition because Colman died tragically young in a 1994 car accident while he was still playing hockey. Because he was an undrafted grinder, there are very few of his autographs out there. This came from a San Jose Sharks media guide and I almost missed it because the seller misspelled Colman as Coleman.
This two autographs came from the same program. It was listed on ebay with a poor description and a poor picture. My trained eye caught the desirable autographs and I won it for a steal of just $15. Both guys have long passed away and both are very notable figures in the game's history.
Jack Carlson is one of the OG Hanson brothers but didn't act in the film because he had been called up to the Edmonton Oilers. He had a solid hockey career but has just 1 hockey card - a Fleer Throwbacks from long after he retired. A notable guy but very little of him on the market.
Harvey's father and two brothers all played in the NHL. He was the last one I needed from the family and I had a heck of a time tracking him down.
After years of searching, I was finally able to locate Mr. Holden. He was one of the very last living former NHL goalies I needed. The interesting thing about this one is that a few years ago I lived in Nova Scotia while going to school. Turns out, I was living just a short walk away from him at the time, almost on the same block.
My first name is Jay so always wanted to add Bobby's signature for his unique last name.
Did you know? Craig Simpson's son played for the Edmonton Oilers.
Liambas is one of the very last of a dying breed - the NHL enforcer.
Jason Soules never played in the NHL but he still got an official Upper Deck rookie card. Showing this because I started collecting autographs of the NHL's 'first round flops' and Soules was drafted 15th overall in 1989. Most of the league's first rounders do end up playing in the show.
David Koci was the last autograph I needed to complete the 2006/07 year of debuts.
Martinson was one of those guys who I knew his whereabouts, but could never get through to him. I tried writing to him a few times c/o the Allen Americans, the team he coaches. Low and behold, all of a sudden my 2016 and 2018 requests showed up a day apart. The autograph TTM business is all about patience and persistence.
Legendary NHL Bob Hodges wrote me back a great little letter. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the hobby needs more referee cards like this.
An NHL 'one game wonder' Grant Lewis' autograph evaded me for many years. This one leaves Sean Bentivoglio as the last 2008/09 debut needed.
Writing to these older obscure guys can be interesting because they've gone on to such a variety of careers post hockey. Lyon is currently a criminal lawyer in Toronto.
I have a soft spot for old enforcers like Serge Roberge. Could not press the buy it now quick enough when this popped up on ebay for a couple bucks. I had tried long and hard to locate his current whereabouts but could never find him.
Tatarinov was the first Soviet player to play in the NHL without defecting. After retiring, he suffered from alcoholism, went to prison for murder and has pretty much fallen off the face of the earth since his release. Its hard enough to reach former players living in Russia who have remained in the public eye so I was happy to find a signed index card as I doubt I'll ever be able to send him a letter.
Another long retired - and hard to locate - Russian.
Kevin Evans holds the record for most penalty minutes in a single season of professional hockey with 648 with the 1986/87 IHL's Kalamazoo Wings. Incredibly, he also put up 19 goals and 50 points that season.
I had sent Matt Henderson one of my standard custom index cards to sign. Unfortunately, it got badly water damaged somewhere along its journey. Henderson, apparently being one heck of a guy, added this extra signed card so I didn't have to live with the damaged index. Thanks Matt!!
Eric Selleck was the second last guy I needed from the 2012/13 debuts. Had tried writing to him a number of times so was very happy to finally knock him off the wantlist.
I recently started a collection of football autographs from pro football players with notable hockey connections. Brett's brother and Bobby's son, Bart Hull was a professional football player in the CFL. Even more interesting, he had a brief pro hockey career after retiring from football. I had a hockey card from his time as a pro that I told him about in my letter (and that I didn't include it to sign because I wan't sure if I had a good address and didn't want to lose it at it was the only one I could find). Bart wrote me back a great letter and mentioned how he was looking for that hockey card so he could show his kids. I decided to send it to him and he was very grateful. We exchanged a few emails and I got some really cool stories.
While Bart had a football card that mentioned his hockey connections, most don't so I took it upon myself to make and send out some custom cards. Have gotten over 20 back so far with these being my favorites...
This return was a little strange. Fehr sent me back a letter saying how de doesn't sign business, but would sign the letter so that should be good enough due to people selling his signature on ebay. I found this slightly odd because I didn't ask for a signed business cards, I sent a custom index card as I usually do, and explain that I don't sell. I also don't see there being a big market for his autograph. Nonetheless, I'm grateful he did sign the letter for me and respond to my request. I used the signed letter to make this custom index. I like having a picture to accompany the autograph its binder.
NASCAR driver Joey Logano signed this card in what is surely one of the only NASCAR/hockey connections out there.
I've shared my baseball/hockey collection before but this is a cool addition. Father Marc and I exchanged a couple emails and he had his sons sign the cards for me during a family get together. Very cool to be able to display them together. Eric played in the NHL but his father and brother both played pro baseball.
Over the years I've put many low bids on Paul Newman autographs. I finally won one for less than $20, which was so cheap because it was a multi signed magazine page. A little arts and crafts and this is the end result. I'm just missing a few people for autographs of the whole cast of SlapShot.
I think I might have shared this oddball hockey card before. Well, I decided to send it off to try and get Jim Davis to sign it. He did!
Who remembers pulling this oddball hockey card?
The Mister Rogers ProSet Celebrity Captains has long been one of my favorite oddball NHL cards. I knew the chances of ever finding a signed one that I could afford was zero but I've long wanted a signature to display next to the card. I found this one on the local Facebook marketplace of all places. I live in Charlottetown, PEI - a small city - so I never see anything of interest locally for my autograph collection. I saw this by accident and it ended up being my first purchase from the Facebook marketplace. I could not be happier with this, especially since I paid just $40 when it would sell more in the $400 range. Had a long chat with the seller, who knew he could more but just wanted it gone.
My collection now includes over 6,000 unique NHL player signatures for 79% of everyone who has ever played in the league. Every single signature is scanned and organized by year of debut then alphabetically here.
I'm 27 and my first autograph came at 12 so its been a solid 15 years of persistent collecting with no end in sight.
I have hundreds more autographs outside of that collection. As you'll see here, I also collect everyone from coaches to officials to celebrities with hockey connections.
Mike Colman
This is a big addition because Colman died tragically young in a 1994 car accident while he was still playing hockey. Because he was an undrafted grinder, there are very few of his autographs out there. This came from a San Jose Sharks media guide and I almost missed it because the seller misspelled Colman as Coleman.
This two autographs came from the same program. It was listed on ebay with a poor description and a poor picture. My trained eye caught the desirable autographs and I won it for a steal of just $15. Both guys have long passed away and both are very notable figures in the game's history.
Jack Carlson is one of the OG Hanson brothers but didn't act in the film because he had been called up to the Edmonton Oilers. He had a solid hockey career but has just 1 hockey card - a Fleer Throwbacks from long after he retired. A notable guy but very little of him on the market.
Harvey's father and two brothers all played in the NHL. He was the last one I needed from the family and I had a heck of a time tracking him down.
After years of searching, I was finally able to locate Mr. Holden. He was one of the very last living former NHL goalies I needed. The interesting thing about this one is that a few years ago I lived in Nova Scotia while going to school. Turns out, I was living just a short walk away from him at the time, almost on the same block.
My first name is Jay so always wanted to add Bobby's signature for his unique last name.
Did you know? Craig Simpson's son played for the Edmonton Oilers.
Liambas is one of the very last of a dying breed - the NHL enforcer.
Jason Soules never played in the NHL but he still got an official Upper Deck rookie card. Showing this because I started collecting autographs of the NHL's 'first round flops' and Soules was drafted 15th overall in 1989. Most of the league's first rounders do end up playing in the show.
David Koci was the last autograph I needed to complete the 2006/07 year of debuts.
Martinson was one of those guys who I knew his whereabouts, but could never get through to him. I tried writing to him a few times c/o the Allen Americans, the team he coaches. Low and behold, all of a sudden my 2016 and 2018 requests showed up a day apart. The autograph TTM business is all about patience and persistence.
Legendary NHL Bob Hodges wrote me back a great little letter. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the hobby needs more referee cards like this.
An NHL 'one game wonder' Grant Lewis' autograph evaded me for many years. This one leaves Sean Bentivoglio as the last 2008/09 debut needed.
Writing to these older obscure guys can be interesting because they've gone on to such a variety of careers post hockey. Lyon is currently a criminal lawyer in Toronto.
I have a soft spot for old enforcers like Serge Roberge. Could not press the buy it now quick enough when this popped up on ebay for a couple bucks. I had tried long and hard to locate his current whereabouts but could never find him.
Tatarinov was the first Soviet player to play in the NHL without defecting. After retiring, he suffered from alcoholism, went to prison for murder and has pretty much fallen off the face of the earth since his release. Its hard enough to reach former players living in Russia who have remained in the public eye so I was happy to find a signed index card as I doubt I'll ever be able to send him a letter.
Another long retired - and hard to locate - Russian.
Kevin Evans holds the record for most penalty minutes in a single season of professional hockey with 648 with the 1986/87 IHL's Kalamazoo Wings. Incredibly, he also put up 19 goals and 50 points that season.
I had sent Matt Henderson one of my standard custom index cards to sign. Unfortunately, it got badly water damaged somewhere along its journey. Henderson, apparently being one heck of a guy, added this extra signed card so I didn't have to live with the damaged index. Thanks Matt!!
Eric Selleck was the second last guy I needed from the 2012/13 debuts. Had tried writing to him a number of times so was very happy to finally knock him off the wantlist.
I recently started a collection of football autographs from pro football players with notable hockey connections. Brett's brother and Bobby's son, Bart Hull was a professional football player in the CFL. Even more interesting, he had a brief pro hockey career after retiring from football. I had a hockey card from his time as a pro that I told him about in my letter (and that I didn't include it to sign because I wan't sure if I had a good address and didn't want to lose it at it was the only one I could find). Bart wrote me back a great letter and mentioned how he was looking for that hockey card so he could show his kids. I decided to send it to him and he was very grateful. We exchanged a few emails and I got some really cool stories.
While Bart had a football card that mentioned his hockey connections, most don't so I took it upon myself to make and send out some custom cards. Have gotten over 20 back so far with these being my favorites...
This return was a little strange. Fehr sent me back a letter saying how de doesn't sign business, but would sign the letter so that should be good enough due to people selling his signature on ebay. I found this slightly odd because I didn't ask for a signed business cards, I sent a custom index card as I usually do, and explain that I don't sell. I also don't see there being a big market for his autograph. Nonetheless, I'm grateful he did sign the letter for me and respond to my request. I used the signed letter to make this custom index. I like having a picture to accompany the autograph its binder.
NASCAR driver Joey Logano signed this card in what is surely one of the only NASCAR/hockey connections out there.
I've shared my baseball/hockey collection before but this is a cool addition. Father Marc and I exchanged a couple emails and he had his sons sign the cards for me during a family get together. Very cool to be able to display them together. Eric played in the NHL but his father and brother both played pro baseball.
Over the years I've put many low bids on Paul Newman autographs. I finally won one for less than $20, which was so cheap because it was a multi signed magazine page. A little arts and crafts and this is the end result. I'm just missing a few people for autographs of the whole cast of SlapShot.
I think I might have shared this oddball hockey card before. Well, I decided to send it off to try and get Jim Davis to sign it. He did!
Who remembers pulling this oddball hockey card?
The Mister Rogers ProSet Celebrity Captains has long been one of my favorite oddball NHL cards. I knew the chances of ever finding a signed one that I could afford was zero but I've long wanted a signature to display next to the card. I found this one on the local Facebook marketplace of all places. I live in Charlottetown, PEI - a small city - so I never see anything of interest locally for my autograph collection. I saw this by accident and it ended up being my first purchase from the Facebook marketplace. I could not be happier with this, especially since I paid just $40 when it would sell more in the $400 range. Had a long chat with the seller, who knew he could more but just wanted it gone.
