Signature Sundays - A Pot(vin) of Coffey

Sorry, that post title is really cheesy, but it was all I could come up with to tie today's two autograph subjects together.  Surprise, surprise the cards are from the 2012-13 Panini Classics Signatures release...

Denis Potvin was a short print in the set.  I was kicking myself for missing out on one of these many months ago that sold for around $30.  As luck would have it though a couple of weeks back another one finally went up and I took it home for even less, around the price of a blaster.

Denis' career got off to a hot start in the mid to late '70s.  He was a #1 overall draft pick, and didn't disappoint as he captured the Calder Trophy his rookie season.  After that he went on to capture three Norris Trophies as top NHL defenseman within a four year span at the end of the decade!  All of that pales in comparison to the fact that Potvin won four consecutive Stanley Cups with the Islanders to begin the following decade.

Today's other subject is without question one of the all-time great offensive-minded defensemen, Paul Coffey.  He trails only Ray Bourque as far as defensemen go in most offensive statistical categories.  The thing is though, Bourque won only a single Cup, at the tail end when he latched on with an already-successful Colorado team.  Paul Coffey on the other hand was a key member of the Oilers dynasty in the 1980s, and won another Cup with Pittsburgh in 1991 as well.

Like Denis Potvin, Paul was also awarded the Norris Trophy three times in his remarkable career.  He really racked up the points for a guy who played the back end, in fact he's still the 13th all-time regular season scorer to this day!  Unless Joe Thornton, Jarome Iginla or Daniel Alfredsson, all of whom are in the late stages of their careers, explode for another 300+ points he's going to stay in that slot for some time too.

Coffey's card was one that was released this past season in the Contenders product, and I've never seen an SP/SSP list for that, but based on availability and final sales prices I'm fairly certain that this card is an SP as well.

So there you have it, two more great autographs from my favorite hockey autograph product to date.  8 Stanley Cups, 6 Norris Trophies and 2 HOF inductions between these two, not too bad at all!  I bet if you were to rank your top 10 NHL defensemen of the '80s both of these guys would make the list...