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Mike Liut
1988-89 O-Pee-Chee #127
|
Digging through my old
Hartford Whalers cards... Surprised that I have about 10% of the nearly 5000 or so cards according to
TCDB. Of course that list counts everything beyond standard trading cards (including food issues, trading card games, playing cards, etc.)
Following their days in the
WHA, the
Hartford Whalers were in the
NHL from 1979-1996 (17 years). What a difference a couple decades can make, especially with dozens of hockey card brands and seemingly infinite parallels.
To put it in perspective, the
Atlanta Thrashers have over 15,000 cards in the database. They existed from 1999 to 2011 (12 years).
Could even be a rather affordable collecting project to try and acquire as many
Whalers cards as possible...
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Doug Sulliman
1983-84 O-Pee Chee #148 |
Anytime the dreadful "
Cooperalls" are mentioned, most people think of the
Philadelphia Flyers. The
Hartford Whalers also experimented with this "girdle and shell lower body equipment system".
Fun fact: Contrary to popular belief, the pants worn by
NHL players were actually manufactured by
CCM, and not
Cooper.
The "
CCM" logo can be seen at the top and bottom of the pant, incorporated into the vertical stripes.
 |
Hartford Whalers
1989-90 O-Pee-Chee #304 |
Great snapshot of a faceoff...This angle could definitely become stale if overused, but I can't actually think of many cards like this one.
While not normally a fan of "
Team Cards", I do enjoy some of these wide-angle snapshots featured in
Topps/
OPC cards of this era.
Watching some good old fashioned hockey on
YouTube, noticed the centreman would often stand sideways to take a faceoff, and swiping at the puck that way...
Playing youth hockey, I always remember being yelled at by the referee to "square up", before being tossed from the faceoff circle.
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Ron Francis
1990-91 O-Pee-Chee Premier #32 |
After spending nearly the first decade of his career in
Hartford,
Ron Francis was traded to the
Penguins in 1991.
He would re-join the franchise in
Carolina (1998 thru 2004) and see his number 10 officially retired by the
Hurricanes.
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Kevin Dineen
1990-91 Upper Deck #266
(card back) |
The "whale hunt" led me to appreciate this snapshot on the back of the card that I had never really noticed before...
Looks as if Kevin Dineen has pushed the puck past goaltender Kelly Hrudey, hoping it has enough steam to cross the goal line.
Peter Sidorkiewicz was
Hartford's main netminder for three seasons, after
Mike Liut was traded to the
Capitals (in exchange for
Yvon Corriveau).
The
Whalers lost
Sidorkiewicz to the 1992 expansion draft.
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Zarley Zalapski
1992-93 Upper Deck #316 |
Action in front of the Whalers' net, with newly acquired netminder Frank Pietrangelo.
This is presumably during the very last Hartford Whalers playoff appearance - A seven game thriller series against Montreal.
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Pat Verbeek
1993-94 Upper Deck #331 |
One of the best-known Whalers, Pat Verbeek was traded to the Rangers in 1995 for a couple players and draft picks.
The Whalers would use a first round pick to select goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere (1st round, 13th overall).
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Glen Wesley
1995-96 Collector's Choice #315
(card back) |
Formerly of the Bruins, long time Whalers/Hurricanes defenceman Glen Wesley shown here wearing number 20 with the Whalers.
He switched to number 2 in Carolina, which is now retired by the Hurricanes organization.
From Wikipedia:
"When the Whalers moved to North Carolina to begin the 1997–98 NHL season, they returned the previously retired #2 for Rick Ley (D, 1972–1981) and #19 for John McKenzie (RW, 1977–1979) to circulation, while retaining Howe's #9 without public display. Wesley (who wore No. 20 in Hartford) was the only Hurricane to wear #2 prior to its re-retirement; #19 has been issued to several players since the move"
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Kevin Haller
1997-98 Pacific Invincible
NHL Regime #36 |
The last sightings of The Whale...
Moving forth with the 1997-98 season and the move to Carolina, the "Hurricanes" players are still depicted in their
Whalers uniforms.
Interestingly enough, the "Pacific Invincible" brand was only released in 1997-98 and 2003-04.
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Sean Burke
1997-98 Pinnacle Inside #30 |
Sean Burke was originally acquired by
Hartford in 1992 (along with
Eric Weinrich) in a trade that sent
Bobby Holik to
New Jersey.
Burke would be with the organization until shortly after the relocation to
Carolina, and was dealt to
Vancouver in January of 1998 (and subsequently traded to
Philadelphia 2 months later).
