deepbluejacket
Verified Trader,
This post is best read as one of those National Geographic specials talking about the Lost Tomb of Alexander. You know that if it was actually found, you'd have heard about it, so this special is bound to end in disappointment.
Earlier this week, we looked at trade stripes and tags and in that post we determined that the cutoff point for the second series was around December 14, 1990. We also reiterated that Pro Set follows a set pattern, where the cards are ordered alphabetically first by team and then by player. This pattern is never violated in Series 1, but is occasionally violated in Series 2. In the case of Chris Dahlquist and Peter Taglianetti, they are out of sequence because they were traded for each other on December 11th. But there are other examples which are harder to define. Are they just mistakes? Or are they evidence of late changes?
While the Puck is card #705, I theorize that this card of Dave Marcinyshyn is the last card added to the set. Marcinyshyn was a spare defenseman for the Devils who had played three full season in the AHL before getting a 9 game look at the start of the 1990-91 season. He's not the kind of guy who screams "must have" on your checklist. In fact, he's the kind of guy you throw in at the last moment when your prior plan fell apart.
And the first clue of this is on the card back.
The card number - 623- is the wrong size, noticeably smaller than all the others. That's what first draws your attention. The card is uncorrected, but it's a weird error. The kind of error you might make if you rushed it out.
The 2nd hint that something is amiss is the placement. While he is situated with his fellow rookie Devils, he is out of alphabetical order. He ought to have been placed between Troy Crowder and Jon Morris, not after Eric Weinrich.
If he is a late replacement, who is he replacing?
Candidate One - Paul Ysebaert
Alphabetically, he would fit. Ysebaert was a high scoring minor leaguer who broke camp with the Devils and played 11 games before being dealt to Detroit for Lee Norwood and a 4th rounder on November 27th. That's pretty late in the day for Series 2, just one trade ahead of the Dahlquist deal. The logical thing would be to shift Ysebaert and renumber everyone after him, but perhaps they just kicked someone out to make room. But if this is a late renumbering, who did Ysebaert remove from the set?
As card #607, Ysebaert is now after Keith Primeau (Detroit) and before Anatoli Semenov (Edmonton). If he's replacing a Red Wing, there is only one candidate - Mike Sillinger. Sillinger only played 3 games in 1990, and he played them in October. As a former 1st rounder, Pro Set may have penciled him in. But maybe they failed to obtain a photo, or maybe they cut him as the Red Wings did. It should be noted that Sillinger gained a card in OPC Premier on the strength of those 3 games. There are no reasonable Oiler candidates.
Candidate Two - Bill Berg
Maybe the guy being replaced isn't a Devil. Maybe he's an Islander! Jeff Hackett is card #624. Are there any candidates here? Yes, a very good one - Bill Berg.
Bill Berg played 78 games in 1990-91, making him a candidate for inclusion in all update sets in 1990...and not a single company gave him a card! 78 games! He's a regular, certainly more worthy than Dave Marcinyshyn. His absence is curious...or at least it would be, if everyone else hadn't forgot about him too.
But Berg is actually too clean, and doesn't answer further questions about the Islander selections.
Candidate Three - Dave Chyzowski
Chyzowski was the 2nd pick overall in 1989 and was expected to be a major player for the Islanders. He played 56 games in 1990-91. The trouble is...he played 34 games in 1989-90, so he was no longer in his rookie season. Pro Set included him in Series 2 in the regular player section...but he is out of alphabetical order, falling between Brad Dalgarno and Craig Ludwig. Is it possible that he was originally slotted in the rookie section, and then had to be switched out when they discovered their mistake?
But if Chyzowski got swapped, who did he replace? There are definitely players who could have been dropped - Tom Fitzgerald and Jeff Finley. But I think he replaced Rob DiMaio, who may have accidentally been in the regular player section. 1990-91 was his third season with the Islanders, but he hadn't accumulated the games played yet. And he ended up only playing 1 game in 1990-91 for the Islanders, so it would make sense to drop him. Except here he is:
And he's after Jeff Hackett, breaking the alpha order again! So if Chyzowski is the right answer, he's the start of a chain reaction that sent DiMaio into a slot belonging to who? An Islander? A Ranger? If NYI, Greg Parks is a good candidate. Again, OPC Premier opted to include him based on his start to the season. He's also a guy that Pro Set may have failed to obtain a photo of. No Ranger is a reasonable choice.
So what is the answer? Ultimately, I don't know. (Told you it would be disappointing!) The Ysebaert-Sillinger plan feels reasonable and could still be true, but the Chyzowski-DiMaio-Parks plan covers all the bases, even if it gets increasingly ridiculous.
However it plays out, one thing is clear. Bill Berg got hosed. But Bill Berg is used to that.
"Bill Berg? I wouldn't know who Bill Berg was if I ran him over with my car in a parking lot!" - Pat Burns
Mike
Earlier this week, we looked at trade stripes and tags and in that post we determined that the cutoff point for the second series was around December 14, 1990. We also reiterated that Pro Set follows a set pattern, where the cards are ordered alphabetically first by team and then by player. This pattern is never violated in Series 1, but is occasionally violated in Series 2. In the case of Chris Dahlquist and Peter Taglianetti, they are out of sequence because they were traded for each other on December 11th. But there are other examples which are harder to define. Are they just mistakes? Or are they evidence of late changes?
While the Puck is card #705, I theorize that this card of Dave Marcinyshyn is the last card added to the set. Marcinyshyn was a spare defenseman for the Devils who had played three full season in the AHL before getting a 9 game look at the start of the 1990-91 season. He's not the kind of guy who screams "must have" on your checklist. In fact, he's the kind of guy you throw in at the last moment when your prior plan fell apart.
And the first clue of this is on the card back.
The card number - 623- is the wrong size, noticeably smaller than all the others. That's what first draws your attention. The card is uncorrected, but it's a weird error. The kind of error you might make if you rushed it out.
The 2nd hint that something is amiss is the placement. While he is situated with his fellow rookie Devils, he is out of alphabetical order. He ought to have been placed between Troy Crowder and Jon Morris, not after Eric Weinrich.
If he is a late replacement, who is he replacing?
Candidate One - Paul Ysebaert
Alphabetically, he would fit. Ysebaert was a high scoring minor leaguer who broke camp with the Devils and played 11 games before being dealt to Detroit for Lee Norwood and a 4th rounder on November 27th. That's pretty late in the day for Series 2, just one trade ahead of the Dahlquist deal. The logical thing would be to shift Ysebaert and renumber everyone after him, but perhaps they just kicked someone out to make room. But if this is a late renumbering, who did Ysebaert remove from the set?
As card #607, Ysebaert is now after Keith Primeau (Detroit) and before Anatoli Semenov (Edmonton). If he's replacing a Red Wing, there is only one candidate - Mike Sillinger. Sillinger only played 3 games in 1990, and he played them in October. As a former 1st rounder, Pro Set may have penciled him in. But maybe they failed to obtain a photo, or maybe they cut him as the Red Wings did. It should be noted that Sillinger gained a card in OPC Premier on the strength of those 3 games. There are no reasonable Oiler candidates.
Candidate Two - Bill Berg
Maybe the guy being replaced isn't a Devil. Maybe he's an Islander! Jeff Hackett is card #624. Are there any candidates here? Yes, a very good one - Bill Berg.
Bill Berg played 78 games in 1990-91, making him a candidate for inclusion in all update sets in 1990...and not a single company gave him a card! 78 games! He's a regular, certainly more worthy than Dave Marcinyshyn. His absence is curious...or at least it would be, if everyone else hadn't forgot about him too.
But Berg is actually too clean, and doesn't answer further questions about the Islander selections.
Candidate Three - Dave Chyzowski
Chyzowski was the 2nd pick overall in 1989 and was expected to be a major player for the Islanders. He played 56 games in 1990-91. The trouble is...he played 34 games in 1989-90, so he was no longer in his rookie season. Pro Set included him in Series 2 in the regular player section...but he is out of alphabetical order, falling between Brad Dalgarno and Craig Ludwig. Is it possible that he was originally slotted in the rookie section, and then had to be switched out when they discovered their mistake?
But if Chyzowski got swapped, who did he replace? There are definitely players who could have been dropped - Tom Fitzgerald and Jeff Finley. But I think he replaced Rob DiMaio, who may have accidentally been in the regular player section. 1990-91 was his third season with the Islanders, but he hadn't accumulated the games played yet. And he ended up only playing 1 game in 1990-91 for the Islanders, so it would make sense to drop him. Except here he is:
And he's after Jeff Hackett, breaking the alpha order again! So if Chyzowski is the right answer, he's the start of a chain reaction that sent DiMaio into a slot belonging to who? An Islander? A Ranger? If NYI, Greg Parks is a good candidate. Again, OPC Premier opted to include him based on his start to the season. He's also a guy that Pro Set may have failed to obtain a photo of. No Ranger is a reasonable choice.
So what is the answer? Ultimately, I don't know. (Told you it would be disappointing!) The Ysebaert-Sillinger plan feels reasonable and could still be true, but the Chyzowski-DiMaio-Parks plan covers all the bases, even if it gets increasingly ridiculous.
However it plays out, one thing is clear. Bill Berg got hosed. But Bill Berg is used to that.
"Bill Berg? I wouldn't know who Bill Berg was if I ran him over with my car in a parking lot!" - Pat Burns
Mike
