Collecting Whalers - 1979 O-Pee-Chee Mike Rogers

The card I'm featuring for my latest installment of Collecting Whalers came to me recently in a trade package from Brian, aka Captain Canuck, all the way from Canada! Brian, along with Sal from Puck Junk, has quickly become one of my favorite trade partners. The fact that he's into hockey cards is cool enough, but he always includes a couple of junk wax packs in his packages. The 2 packs of 1991-92 Score in this last package were much appreciated believe it or not!

This Mike Rogers card was one of two 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Whalers that Brian threw in this time. I wasn't alive in 1979 so my hockey card collection is pretty bare from that year, and I'm almost ashamed to admit that although I have a handful of Topps cards, these are my very first 79-80 O-Pee-Chee's!

What's great about the 1979-80 Whalers cards is that the Whalers were just integrating into the NHL from the WHA that year, so all the pictures are from the year prior and feature the WHA New England Whalers jerseys. Rogers absolutely lit it up during his two years in the NHL with the Hartford Whalers, but in typical Whaler-like fashion, the team dealt him in search of defensive help despite back-to-back 105 point campaigns.

Thanks for another great package Brian, looking forward to trading again!