For weeks leading up to the draft, I was preparing. I talked to people who had done drafts before, including Paul Buxton, Larry Studebaker, and Russ Crowell to get their experiences. I checked the various autograph forums, asked who else was going, and started preparing.
I went onto team websites, making lists of every former player working with them-- anywhere from the coaches and owners (or owner-- Mario Lemieux I believe is the only one who is a former player), to scouts, to broadcasters, directors of player personnel, presidents, vice presidents, anyone and everyone. I checked the AHL. I checked the WHL, OHL, and QMJHL. I checked the NAHL since their coaches' meetings were taking place in Dallas. Broadcasters. National media. NHL bigwigs. NHLPA bigwigs. The Hockey Hall of Fame board. NHLPA team reps. Agents.
E-VER-Y-ONE.
And with that I had a list of over 900 players.
Whoops.
So I pulled them all anyway, built new graphing books from 3" 3-ring binders, card stock, and photo corners (I had two, plus my usual composition notebook all stuffed full), and even got cards I was missing from SportLots and from Lee Alexander, and by Thursday morning I was all set to go with approximately 1500 cards in my books, barely getting them all into two messenger bags.
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| Welcome to Hockey Day in Texas! |
Back inside the Stars trio had left already through the front door-- where they signed just as many there as they did for us who weren't there: zero. In the mean time, I did at least get first alumni signer Marty Turco to sign the last two cards I had of him.
Benn and Seguin did show back up to do an on-air spot for The Ticket. Benn signed for several of us as he sat and waited, doing two cards for me. Seguin was his usual self, ignoring most requests until after he got off the air. Unfortunately he ran with one dying black Sharpie the whole time and signed only one. He also looked at each of us, our item, signed, looked at us again, and moved on, wanting to make sure none of us got a second one. I guess on the positive side, he didn't outright accuse any of us as sellers, or any of the kids as shilling for a seller...
The rest of the day went fine-- the lines for the Stars alumni members were short. I got to talk to another collector as Wes showed up to get Brad Lukowich on his Stars 1999 Cup Winners poster. Lukowich signed 2 for me, as did Bob Bassen-- who was not scheduled to sign, but was around the event as the leader of the Stars' Alumni Association. Real nice guy if you've never met him, kind of the opposite of his on-ice persona as a grinder and scrappy forward (seen here fighting another former Star who was in town over the weekend, Shane Churla), and does an excellent job with the Alumni office.
Craig Ludwig also signed two, as did Vernon Fiddler, who did not give me his single lower-case F signature I got from him last time a few years ago. He even asked if I wanted one of the photos he had as well, which I gladly took.
THURSDAY TOTALS: 14 autographs from 7 players.
Friday was set to be the big one as I went downtown early in the day to scope out the arena a bit and consider hitting the hotels. Friday was hot: Weather Underground says the temperature hit 104, a June 22 record high. Fortunately I packed my Camelbak since I knew it was going to be crazy-- I went through two full tanks on it. With the heat already an oppressive 90 degrees at 10 am, I decided not to bother with the hotels, aside from walking around the W. I saw a few media people, and a couple guys in Bruins polos, but nothing else. I had heard reports from a few other hotels but was in no mood to walk any more than I had to.
For a while I hung out near the media entrance with Arron (who also ducked into Fan Fest to get Jere Lehtinen and others), Brian, Larry, Russ, John, and a couple collectors in from the NJ/Philly area. We didn't see much-- we did get Craig Ludwig who signed... but my pen was a crappy one apparently so it looked pretty terrible. At least I wasn't leaving empty-handed.
After a while we spotted someone who was obviously someone. Kelly Chase? Nah, no goatee. Tony Twist? Nah, what would he be doing there? We racked our brains until finally it just hit me-- Louie DeBrusk! So I went for it-- I had already thought some random stranger was Rob Ray and was wrong, what's the harm in going 0 for 2?
But I was right. As I walked over, the guy next to Louie laughed and went "Aww come on, are you serious?!" And I asked straight up if he was Louie DeBrusk, and he was. He signed the two cards I had of him. A while later we saw Randy Moller, who signed the three cards I brought.
Eventually we realized that we were at the NHL Staff entrance, and that the buses were dropping off elsewhere-- the Club Entrance! The tough part there though was that while we saw a ton, they were moving fast and I had a lot of binders to deal with. So I just tried to key in on one and hope for the best.
Unfortunately, Mario Lemieux was not seen anywhere over the weekend.
Six hours in, it felt like a disaster nearing NFL Draft proportions. I was hot, tired, sunburned, and for what, seven autographs? But I knew things should be better inside. After all, I hadn't seen a single report of anyone getting fewer than 40 autographs EVER at a draft. At 4:30 the doors opened, and we ventured inside. We quickly figured out where the execs were going when they got inside and just waited right by that entrance.
And that's when my luck turned.
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| Got my card made at the Upper Deck booth |
I typically only brought two for each person. I could have gotten a lot more done if I had condensed guys who were unlikely to be there.
Making their way to the stairs to the draft floor, I got Dave Taylor, Mike Sullivan, Randy Carlyle, and Sean Burke, each on two cards once again, plus John Hynes on one from his WBS Penguins days.
What a rush! I haven't had a 'graphing hour like that in ages. Every time you turned around, you would see another former player. It was mind-boggling at times. And there were PLENTY that I missed.
We took a quick dinner break once the draft started, but still caught a few here and there-- Mark Mowers signed a pair, along with the legendary Rick Tocchet and a personal favorite in Kari Takko. I was excited to get Takko as a fellow Finnish goalie who I hadn't seen at all in Dallas despite being a Stars' scout. We got several while walking a few laps around in between breaks to get off my feet. We saw Daryl Reaugh and Stu Barnes both on the concourse, followed not long after by a second Sakic sighting as he signed another card for me (while walking; not the best I've ever seen from him). Bob Bassen and Curt Fraser both signed for us as well, along with the great Dale Hawerchuk-- all on two cards each. Darren Pang also did two just before heading to the elevator, and not long after we got his fellow netminder Mike Liut on two cards. Eric Weinrich looks exactly the same as he did as a player, and signs just as well-- he did four cards, one of the few I pulled out a bunch on (he did eight for me once as a player, and I have probably 20 that I could have brought... but I'm not THAT insane).
We thought we ran into Stacy Roest-- but instead it was Tom Kurvers with Roest's nametag. No matter; I had cards for both and so Kurvers signed his.
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| The NHL awards were all on display as well |
The biggest surprise for me was Tim Hunter. Long-known for not signing his 2002-03 Fleer Throwbacks card, I almost didn't bring it. But I did at least put three cards on instead of the usual two, so even if he wouldn't sign the Throwbacks, I'd still get two.
Apparently his policy has changed: he signed it along with the other two. Fifteen years of not signing it, this may be the only one I've heard of him doing. I didn't dare ask what made him change his mind. I didn't want him to request it back to destroy it or something.
Ron Sutter was the only one with a bit of an attitude. I asked if he could sign a few cards and he said sternly "I'll sign ONE." Which he did.
Claude Lemieux also signed three while walking the concourse-- he signed well all weekend, but I figured breaking out some French on him might help my chances ("Monsieur Lemieux, s'il vous plaît?"). I also got Jere Lehtinen after skipping his line earlier to wait by the media entrance. Last one I got was Martin Gelinas not long before the parade to the buses began. The staff set up ropes to go from the door to the stairs running to the exit to the buses. I saw a ton, but couldn't get anyone-- again because I was keying in on Mario Lemieux who we had not yet discovered wasn't there. At the least, I did spot Warren Young, and hoped I might have a chance to get him Saturday.
FRIDAY TOTALS: 89 autographs from 45 players
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| The Pittsburgh Penguins are now on the clock... |
I expected to feel like death warmed over on Saturday morning. I had been on my feet for most of 12 hours, spending half of it in triple digit heat. Somehow though, I felt fine. I was a little sore, but I had hydrated well the night before so it wasn't too bad. I was a little late to the train, but only missed about 15 minutes inside-- the doors opened at 8, I was there about 8:15.
Once again the parade off the buses was intense. Donald Audette, Peter Laviolette, and Dale Tallon were among the early ones I got, each on two. Pelle Eklund came in with his son, who fortunately was wearing an Oilers jersey with his name on it or we might not have recognized him. He signed two. The Hall of Fame train continued-- I got Shanahan again on a card, Cam Neely on one, Steve Yzerman on one, Al MacInnis on two, and soon-to-be-HOF member Martin Brodeur on his rookie card. Pat Verbeek also came in with Stevie and stopped for a lengthy chat with Todd McLellan. When they were done, both signed a card for me.
Let's see, who else? Two each from Todd Marchant, Bill Guerin, Bob Murray, Jim Montgomery, and Christian Ruuttu. Every time I meet a Finnish player I ask what part they're from, always hoping to find one from the North. I rarely do, but when I mentioned to Ruuttu, a West Coast native, that my grandfather came from Tervola, near Rovaniemi, he said "Wow, that's up there, a true Laplander!"
Glen Sather signed one more. He was walking with Doug Risebrough, who signed two. Mike O'Connell signed one, as did Eric Cairns. Cairns was a favorite of mine, a tough guy and a former Penguin. I wish I had more of him, but I only had the one card from his junior days. We also got another former Penguin in Jiri Hrdina, now a Stars scout and like Takko, a guy I hadn't seen here before. Jiri signed a pair for me from the 1991-92 season.
We also got Shawn Horcoff. I was trying to help another collector out with his 2013-14 Score set, but I forgot Horcoff has a bad habit of smearing one when he signs two... and he smeared the hell out of Kyle's set card.
Once the crazed entry ended we went back to walking and looking. Dale Hunter was an early one, signing two. Got Sergei Gonchar on four-- another guy who has signed a ton for me at a time before. Jim Benning signed a pair for me, and we tracked down Robert Kron who also did two. John was able to toss some cards up to the suite level for Stan Drulia to sign. My attempt came up short, but he was nice enough to come downstairs and sign for me while chatting with Curt Fraser. While walking around the concourse I got Daryl Evans on a pair of cards as he came off the escalator, Dave Lowry on a pair as he passed by us, and Justin Duberman after waiting while he chatted with a few others.
Craig Ludwig did a signing at the Upper Deck booth where I got him on their provided photo. John also asked him about his TTMs-- they are NOT signed by him, and he knew nothing about who was signing them. John showed him a photo of them and he said "Well, they're trying hard, I'll give them that." After he signs my photo he adds "This one's worth about the same but at least it's real!"
We later spotted James Patrick chatting with Mark Osborne. Mark was a favorite of mine from his Cleveland IHL days and he mentioned that he loved playing there as he signed four cards for me. Patrick signed the two I had for him as well. Ron Sutter did the same as the day before, signing one, and Mike Ricci signed two after he finished chatting with a new Coyotes' draft pick.
I also saw Claude Lemieux walking around and got a photo with him.
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| Hi Red Wings fans. |
As the seventh round began, we struck out to find Mark Hunter, who had been spotted earlier carrying food back to section 107. So we headed there and who was at the top of 107 talking but Mark, Dale, and a few others. Eventually as they finished Mark signed the two cards I had of him.
As the draft ended, it was go time. In rapid-fire fashion I missed out on Warren Young, but I did get one from Glen Cochrane, two from Murray Craven, one from Craig MacTavish, and two from Rod Brind'Amour. I also asked Paul Holmgren if I could have his credential as a souvenir, and he gave it to me.
As you may know, my wife is a huge Colorado Avalanche fan. Friday morning I got to talk briefly to Justus Annunen and his agent-- Annunen later went to the Avs. We didn't see him after he was picked, but she did get photos with Sampo Ranta and Nikolai Kovalenko. Had I known it was the latter, I would have asked his dad to sign the two cards I had of him. Off the elevator she spotted Jared Bednar, who signed a puck I had from his ECHL days and got a photo of them together. Needless to say she was pretty geeked about all that.
Finishing off the draft for me was Bill Guerin one more time, as he signed two cards.
SATURDAY TOTALS: 74 autographs from 41 players
NHL DRAFT TOTALS: 177 AUTOGRAPHS FROM 87 PLAYERS
With that all being said, here are some photos of the cards I got signed. Apologies on the tight crop, but these were for Instagram (I'm dfwgrapher, if you'd like to follow me)...
The crazy part? I could have done better. Most of these guys were signing more than two-per, and there were a lot of guys I saw but couldn't get -- whether it was just being in a bad place, having them parade by too fast for me to get their cards up, or just having nothing for them. Included among those were Kjell Samuelsson, Craig Conroy, Scott Lachance, Thomas Gradin, Tony Granato, Ryan Barnes, Lucien Deblois, Warren Young, Doug Wilson, Wade Redden, Shane Churla, Chris Drury, Andrei Kovalenko, Moose Dupont, Larry Pleau, Sean O'Donnell, Glen Murray, Jeff Daniels, Steve Smith, Steve Konroyd, Bobby Clarke, Bruce Boudreau, Mike Babcock, Claude Julien, Marc Bergevin, Jed Ortmeyer, Don Maloney, Ron Hextall, Jack McIlhargey, Pete DeBoer, Dave Poulin, Travis Green, Stan Smyl, Wayne Gretzky, Mike Modano, Gary Shuchuk, Robbie Ftorek, Craig Hartsburg, Jim Rutherford, and probably some others that I'm forgetting now (I'm adding them to the list as I recall them).
Next time I can skip on the captains and NHLPA reps.
But all in all, it was a great and successful experience. If I had the time and money to travel, I would go to it every year. I probably will try to TTM a lot of the guys I missed out on.
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