You can purchase these cards, or any of my Missing Link creations, for $10 each postpaid, or $7.95 each for 3 or more. Email me at: [email protected], volume discounts available on larger orders.
It's like a typical Maple Leafs' March, not playing tough hockey even when we are in the playoffs !!! Soooo, guess I'll spend my time creating a new blog rather than cursing at the TV. All over the block here, just a clean-up of odds and ends that have piled up or got missed in other submissions. Len Wharton spent 10 seasons playing hockey south of the border after leaving Winnipeg in 1944. Joined the EAHL's New York Rovers that season and had a one game appearance with the Rangers as well. That would be the extent of his NHL career with the next 9 seasons spent in EHL, OHA, PCHL and the IHL where he retired following the 1953-54 season. Here is a 1948-52 Exhibit style CTNW to mark his Ranger stop. Leo Gravelle played over 200 NHL games in the 40s and 50s after he led the OHA with 30 goals in 1944-45 while playing with the St. Michael's Majors. Made his NHL debut in 1946-47 and scored 16 goals as a rookie with the Canadiens. Gravelle registered a career high 19 goals in 1949-50 before being dealt to Detroit. Played 18 games as a Red Wing before finishing his career in 1956 after spending five years as a scoring star in the Quebec Senior League. Here is a 1951-52 Parkie Style Red Wings custom. Wally Stanowksi was a marvelous skater and skilled bodychecker who played 10 NHL seasons, 7 with the Toronto and his final 3 in New York. Known as the "Whirling Dervish" his NHL career was interrupted by World War II. He served in the RCAF until part way through the 1944-45 campaign. He then returned to the Leafs where he remained until a trade to the Rangers in 1948. By the time his tenure with the Leafs was complete, he'd enjoyed Stanley Cup victories in 1942, 1945, 1947, and 1948. Here is a 1951-52 Parkie CTNW from his Rangers appearance. Bill Juzda played 9 NHL seasons, 5 with the Rangers and his final 4 in Toronto. The burly defender played five games with the New York Rangers in 1940-41 but spent most of the year with the Philadelphia Rockets of the AHL. In 1941-42, he played 45 games of the Blueshirts' defense before spending World War II with the Winnipeg at Dartmouth RCAF. After the war Juzda returned to the Rangers for three years and took part in the 1948 and 1949 NHL All-Star Games. Juzda was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in June 1948 and remained there for four years. He was a member of the 1949 and 1951 Stanley Cup teams. His only card, as a Maple Leaf, was part of the 1951-52 Parkie set, here is a '52-53 Parkie custom. Steve Witiuk was a free agent signing by the Chicago Black Hawks making his NHL debut in 1951-52, his first year as a pro. Witiuk played in 33 games with Chicago, recording three goals and eight assists, and also suited up for 14 games with the St. Louis Flyers of the AHL. The 1952-53 season found him with Calgary Stampeders and the WHL would be his home for the next 15 seasons as he never returned to the NHL retiring after the 1968-69 season. Here is a 1966 Topps Baseball style Johnny Bucyk custom, one of a batch that I created for a client, no bio needed for "The Chief". Mike Bossy client had another list of various year creations, I'll run them all together here, no bios. Michel Briere was selected in the third round 26th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft and He made the Penguins roster as a 20-year-old rookie in 1969-70, scoring 12 goals and 44 points in 76 games. Killed in a car accident after that lone season, we had request for a pair of cards to mark his career. Ray Fortin spent 3 years in the NHL and we have previously posted cards for his first 2 seasons. Contacted by his son for some of those so I added a '70-71 custom to complete the set. Steve Andrascik played only once in the NHL, a playoff game on April 20, 1972 that ended as a 3-2 Rangers win over Chicago. He got there via Detroit, the team that drafted him in the 1st round, 11th overall, in1968 and then traded him to New York for Don Luce in 1970 where, after two years in the minors, he got the call for that playoff game. After another 2 years in minors he signed with the WHA and played with Indianapolis, Michigan-Baltimore, and Cincinnati over 2 seasons. He again wound up in the minors by 1976 and 2 years later he retired for good without a hockey card. Blake Ball played thirteen years of minor league hockey with the majority of his career in the EHL and also had a 6 year CFL career. Ball was nicknamed "Badman" because of the time spent in the penalty box as a member of the New Haven Blades where he had four consecutive seasons of at least 300 penalty minutes, including a career high 362 PIMs in 1968-69. His major pro career consisted of a pair of playoff games with the WHA Cleveland Crusaders in 1972-73. He is probably best known for his cameo appearance in "Slapshot" as defenceman Gilmore Tuttle, who was the penalty-minute record holder for the years 1960 to 1968 inclusive. Claude Chartre was an 8th round pick, 81st overall, by the Flyers in the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft but saw his only pro action in the WHA where he played 18 games with the New York Raiders, New York Golden Blades, New Jersey Knights, Michigan Stags, and Baltimore Blades over parts of three seasons. He had a 52 goal season in 1970-71 with the EHL Jersey Devils prior to his WHA time. Returned to minors in 1975-76 and retired after splitting the 1977-78 year between PHL and AHL. Kent Douglas played 7 NHL seasons with Toronto, Oakland and Detroit before finding himself in the minors in 1969-70. A long drop from his rookie year with the Leafs when he got his name on both the Calder Trophy and the Stanley Cup !! After 3 seasons in the minors he joined in the WHA bonanza, serving as a player/coach with the short-lived New York Raiders. From there, it was back to the minors to end out his career after a final AHL season in 1975-76. Jamie Kennedy entered the national hockey scene in 1967 when he participated in the Memorial Cup tournament with the Halifax Jr. Canadians. His strong performance on the ice landed him his first professional hockey contract in 1968 with the Jersey Devils of the Eastern Hockey League. His performance was not one to disappoint, scoring 40 goals in his first season with the team followed by 49, 46, and 50 goal seasons. This feat crowned Kennedy the first Maritime born hockey player to score 50 goals in one season. In 1972, Jamie was selected in the WHA’s general player draft by the New York Raiders but his career ended after only part of one season due to the competition the Raiders faced with the New York Rangers. His final two years of professional hockey were played with the Winston-Salem Polar Twins of the SHL where he managed to tally 59 goals and 132 points. Craig Reichmuth was a career minor leaguer who played in the WHA for two full seasons and part of a third. In junior hockey Craig played for the fabled Flin Flon Bombers and skated on a blockbuster line that included star Bobby Clarke and Lew Morrison. Their opponents quickly learned of Reichmuth’s job description as he led the league with 333 penalty minutes. Signed with the Raiders in 1972-73 and had 13 goals, 27 points and 127 PIM. After seeing action in 44 WHA games with 3 different teams in 1974-75 he returned to the minors and spent 2 final years in the NAHL. Hal Willis was born in Liverpool, NS but played junior hockey with the Edmonton Movers in the AJHL. Spent 4 seasons in the EHL averaging 250+ PIM over the 4 years. After 2 years in the WHL he signed with the Raiders for the 1972-73 WHA season and led the team in PIM. Started the next year in WHA with L.A. Sharks but only saw action in 18 games before making stops in SHL and WHL. Retired after playing the 1974-75 year with Hampton Gulls in the SHL. Rick Newell played 7 NHL games over 2 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings in the early 1970s. He was originally re-claimed by the New York Rangers as a territorial exemption in 1969 but never made the club. Newell was traded to the Detroit Red Wings in May, 1972 and was recalled briefly in each of the next two seasons. He was a consistent point producer for the AHL's Virginia Wings before spending the last two months of the 1973-74 season with the London Lions of the British League. He toiled briefly with the WHA's Phoenix Roadrunners then returned to the minors until he retired in 1978 without a hockey card. Mike Fidler spent two seasons playing left wing for Boston University and in 1976-77 made the leap to the NHL scoring 17 goals for the Cleveland Barons. He would play 6 more NHL seasons in Cleveland, Minnesota and Hartford before he signed his last NHL contract with the Chicago Blackhawks on November 28, 1982. He played just four games with the Hawks, posting three points then played one more season, for the New Haven Nighthawks in 1983-84, before retiring. Had a '77-78 OPC Barons rookie card, client wanted a '76-77 version. Wayne Ramsey had the Buffalo Sabres pick him 104th overall in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft. He attended the Sabres training camp in the fall and was assigned to the Hershey Bears in the American Hockey League. After the Bears finished a game in February 3, 1978, Hershey coach Chuck Burton informed Ramsey that the Sabres needed him and he joined the team for their flight to Minneapolis to play the North Stars on February 4, 1978. The next day the team returned to Buffalo to play the Washington Capitals. Ramsey played an odd shift in both games. The Sabres wound up winning both matches, 4-2 and 4-1. In total, Wayne stayed with the team for about a week before being shipped back to Hershey and his NHL career was over. Barry Legge spent parts of three seasons with the Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets in the 70s and 80s. The Montreal Canadiens took him 61st overall in 1974 but he opted to join the Michigan Stags of the WHA and ended up playing on a half dozen more teams before the league disbanded in 1979. Following the NHL/WHA merger, the Winnipeg Jets claimed Legge off the Stingers' roster. A few days later he was traded to the Nordiques for rugged defenceman Barry Melrose. He recorded three assists in 31 games for the Nords but the team decided to make changes after failing to make the playoffs. Legge was sent to the Jets for cash and split the next season between the NHL and the CHL's Tulsa Oilers. He retired the next year after playing 38 games for Winnipeg and battling injuries. Rob Garner was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the fifth round, 75th overall in the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft after a three-year career with the Toronto Marlboros of the OMJHL. But it took four years of playing in the minors before Garner had his one and only chance to play in the NHL. It came during the 1982-83 season when he was called up as an injury replacement for the Penguins. The balance of his season was spent with the Baltimore Skipjacks where he recorded 21 goals and 53 points which marked his best season as a pro. Garner realized making it to the NHL on a full-time basis was not a realistic possibility and decided to retire at the age of 24. Tom Thornbury played 14 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1983-84 after they took him 49th overall in 1981 after scoring 15 goals as a rookie in OHL. He played two more years in junior then suited up briefly for Pittsburgh in 1983-84. That same year he registered 63 points in 65 games for the AHL's Baltimore Skipjacks. In 1986-87, Thornbury played a few games for the Canadian national team then signed with Germany's Kolner Haie club. He played 7 1/2 years in the Bundesliga and retired in 1994 after playing two years with the Frankfurt Lions. scored five points in 14 games for the Pens but was sent down to Baltimore of the AHL where he registered 55 points in 59 games. Following his brief stay in North America, Javanainen returned to Finland and excelled at Assat Porat and also scored 32 goals in 44 games for TPS Turku. He brought his successful career to a close in 1994.Arto Javanainen was an experienced player in Finland and internationally when he joined the Pittsburgh Penguins for 14 games in 1984-85. Originally selected by the Montreal Canadiens in 1983, Javanainen re-entered the pool and was chosen 85th overall in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft by Pittsburgh. He joined his new team the next season and Petri Lehto played six games for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1994-95. Born in Turku, Finland, Lehto played for the local TPS club as well as Lukko Rauma. He represented his country at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics then signed as a free agent with Pittsburgh. During a six game NHL trial in 1984-85, he struggled with his defensive game on the smaller ice surface. Lehto played most of the season with the AHL's Baltimore Skipjacks. Following his NHL experiment, Lehto returned to TPS Turku. He spent three years there and one with Kalpa Kuppio before retiring in 1989 after helping Turku win the Finnish Championship. Joe McDonnell was undrafted by any NHL club but was given a tryout with the Vancouver Canucks in 1981-82. Although he did not make the NHL club with a full-time roster spot, the Canucks were impressed by his game and offered him a minor-league contract with the CHL's Dallas Blackhawks. In 60 games he produced a respectable 37 points. He was rewarded with a seven-game call-up to Vancouver, where he picked up his first NHL assists. In December, 1984 McDonnell inked a free-agent deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins and dressed for 40 games, producing what were the only two goals of his NHL career. He played another three-games with the Penguins the following year. He played out the remainder of the season with the club's AHL affiliate in Baltimore, retiring at the conclusion of the 1985-86 campaign. Steve Patrick was selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft, 20th overall in the first round. In 1980-81, Patrick got to play in 30 games with the Sabres, scoring a goal and eight points. Patrick remained in the Sabres' organization until being traded to the New York Rangers. After just over a year in the Big Apple, Patrick was dealt to the Quebec Nordiques for Wilf Paiement in February, 1986 where he played the final 27 games of his professional hockey career. Rick Bowness played 9 seasons as a pro, appearing in the NHL in 7 of them, before turning to coaching. He guided the AHL's Moncton Hawks in 1987-88 then experienced his first taste of big league coaching with the Winnipeg Jets late in the 1988-89 season when he took over from the fired Dan Maloney. Bowness replaced Mike Milbury behind the Maine Mariners' bench in 1990. In 1991-92, he was hired by Boston GM Milbury to coach the Boston Bruins. After leading them to the semi-finals, he was replaced by Brian Sutter in 1993. Richard Lintner played his Junior hockey in his homeland of the Republic of Slovakia before being drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996. Lintner joined the Coyotes AHL farm team in Springfield where he spent two seasons before being traded to the Nashville Predators. The 6'3 defenseman made his NHL debut versus the Los Angeles Kings and was able to score a goal and five assists in 33 games with the Predators. In 2001-02, Lintner decided to continue his career back in Europe but the New York Rangers made a trade with the Predators to acquire him. He joined the Rangers AHL affiliate in Hartford for the 2002-03 season, suiting up for ten games with the parent club before being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Upon his arrival with the Penguins, Lintner went on to play 19 games with the club while seeing limited action with its AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre. After only a brief stay with Pittsburgh, Lintner opted to return to the Swedish Elite League in 2003-04. Antti Niemi was here earlier as a Penguin but Niemi would struggle to find his game in Pittsburgh and he was waived by the Penguins after just three games. He was then claimed by the Florida Panthers, but was waived once more after just two appearances. Here is a Panthers custom for that stay. Pheonix Copley was a product of the USHL where he tended goal for the Tri-City Storm and Des Moines Buccaneers. Undrafted by an NHL club, Copley spent time in the ECHL and AHL before making his NHL debut as a member of the St. Louis Blues. He would add 1 more game in Blues uniform before being traded to Capitals for 2018-19. Nic Dowd was selected in the seventh round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by the Los Angeles Kings but would go on to attend St. Cloud State University for four years. He made his NHL debut on March 22, 2016, and played five games for the Kings and appeared in 70 games for the Kings during the 2016-17 season. Dowd's time in the Kings organization would come to an end early into the following season. After just 16 games he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Jordan Subban. Dowd would appear in 40 games for the Canucks to close out the 2017-18 season and the following summer, as an unrestricted free agent, signed a one-year deal with the Washington Capitals. Michal Kempny was undrafted by an NHL club, but signed as a free agent with the Chicago Blackhawks on May 24, 2016. Kempny made his NHL debut on October 12, 2016 and would go on to appear in 50 games for the Blackhawks during his first season in North America, scoring twice and adding six assists. Kempny began the 2017-18 season with the Blackhawks, but in the days leading up to the NHL trade deadline his time in Chicago would come to an end. He was traded to the Washington Capitals in exchange for a third round draft pick. The move would prove to be a fortuitous one for Kempny as he appeared in all 24 Capitals post-season contests, helping the club to the first Stanley Cup title in franchise history. Jake Muzzin was selected in the fifth round of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Unable to come to terms with the Penguins, Muzzin signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Kings in January of 2010. Spent 6 NHL seasons with Kings and during the 2013-14 season, Muzzin was part of a Kings team that would defeat the New York Rangers in five games to win the Stanley Cup. On January 28, 2019, Muzzin's time in Los Angeles would come to an end when he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Devante Smith-Pelly was selected in the second round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft by the Anaheim Ducks. He would appear in 49 games for the Ducks during the 2011-12 season and was with them until mid-season 2014-15. In the middle of the 2014-15, Smith-Pelly was traded to the Montreal Canadiens and would spend just over one year in the Canadiens' organization before being traded to the New Jersey Devils. Smith-Pelly would suit up in 53 games for the Devils during the 2016-17 season, but at season's end the Devils bought out the remaining year of his contract, making the winger an unrestricted free agent. On July 3, 2017, he signed a deal to join the Washington Capitals. Thanks to Doug Ball, John Lehman, Gary Gel, Bob Mooney & John Latzy for their custom requests !!
You can purchase these cards, or any of my Missing Link creations, for $10 each postpaid, or $7.95 each for 3 or more. Email me at: [email protected], volume discounts available on larger orders.
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AuthorI am a lifelong Maple Leaf fan, now retired, who started creating custom cards for myself of Toronto players who never had a card issued in the Maple Leaf uniform. From posting some of these on eBay it has become the proverbial "snowball down hill" !!! Archives
March 2024
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