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Vancouver Canucks fans of the early 1980s may have hated Mike Bossy at the time, but it was the kind of hate that fades with time, the kind that came from losing to greatness rather than the kind that is earned with evil on the ice.

Mike Bossy was one of the classiest and most talented players in NHL history, and it just happened that when Richard Brodeur led the 1982 Vancouver Canucks to their first ever Stanley Cup final (on an unlikely Cinderella run), they had the misfortune to meet Mike Bossy and the New York Islanders in the final.

The Islanders were, of course, in the midst of their famous dynasty that saw a string of Stanley Cups. And in that particular playoff season, Bossy dominated the Canucks and stole the Conn Smythe Trophy (playoff MVP) right from Richard Brodeur’s grasp.

Years later, Canucks fans and the entire NHL have no choice but to respect and admire Mike Bossy’s achievements in hockey. They have been paralleled by few, and he is considered by many to be the greatest pure goal scorer the game has ever seen.

His storied run began in the 1977-78 season (represented by the 1978-79 production run of hockey cards by O-Pee-Chee and Topps). During this season, Bossy set an NHL record for goals by a rookie with 53. He then went on to score 50 or more in his next 8 seasons, with the nine in a row being another NHL record.

He peaked in 1978-79 with 69 goals, and in 1981-82 with 83 assists and 147 points. In the 1980-81 season, he joined the incredibly exclusive club of players to score 50 goals in their first 50 games of a season.

Sadly, injuries cut his career short after only 752 games. However, this did not stop him from scoring 573 goals and 1126 points, for the best goals-per-game and one of the best points-per-game ratios in NHL history. His playoff numbers were equally impressive, with 85 goals and 160 points in 129 games.

His legendary NHL career followed a legendary junior career that saw him score 70 or more goals in four consecutive seasons. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991, with the Islanders retiring his jersey (#22) shortly thereafter.

It is the only rookie card presently in existence where a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame is wearing a Vancouver Canucks uniform, yet it serves as a painful reminder to Canucks fans of a trade that is (perhaps unfairly) regarded as one of the most lopsided in league history.

While the trade did result in Vancouver losing an undeveloped player who would go on to become one of the grittiest players in league history and one of the remarkably few to ever score 50 goals in 50 games, it is largely forgotten that the player the Canucks got in return (Barry Pederson) had recently enjoyed two 100-point seasons with the Boston Bruins.

Even in his Bruins career, Neely never reached this mark, though perpetual injuries were largely to blame. An additional burn to the Canucks was that they threw their 1st Round (3rd overall) draft pick into the deal, which ultimately materialized into Glen Wesley, who would play over 1400 NHL games.

In three years with the Canucks, after being drafted 9th overall, Neely never topped 21 goals or 39 points. The management decided to go in a different direction, acquiring some proven scoring, and almost immediately upon arriving in Boston, Cam Neely helped lead the Bruins to two Stanley Cup finals in 1988 and 1990.

Neely also won the Bill Masterton Trophy for his perseverance and dedication to hockey, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2005.

The 1984-85 production run of O-Pee-Chee and Topps hockey cards is actually one of the more aesthetically pleasing sets, with some creativity and workmanship evident in the design. This set is not only pleasing to the eye but includes the rookie cards of several future greats, including Steve Yzerman (Detroit Red Wings), Pat LaFontaine (New York Islanders), Pat Verbeek (New Jersey Devils), Doug Gilmour (St. Louis Blues), Chris Chelios (Montreal Canadiens), and both Dave Andreychuk and Tom Barrasso (Buffalo Sabres).

If Wayne Gretzky’s 1979-80 rookie card is the holy grail of hockey collectors, then Trevor Linden’s debut card ten years later is the Hope Diamond for the Vancouver Canucks faithful.

With a printing of cards to commemorate the 1988-89 NHL season, card manufacturers O-Pee-Chee and Topps produced what would be known as the last pure run of hockey cards before the collectibles market exploded the following year, enticing a half dozen companies to begin production. Players’ cards by each company would then be competing for value in a newly flooded market, giving consumers many options but also creating temporary confusion about pricing and integrity.

Linden’s rookie card was the first publication in a career that would span 20 years, resulting on over 1300 games and 800 points, concluding with a place in the NHL’s top 100 career scoring leaders. In the rookie season that inspired the card, Linden scored 30 goals and 59 points after being drafted 2nd overall by the Canucks, immediately after Mike Modano (who would go on to become the highest scoring American-born NHL player of all time).

The 1989-90 production run included a number of notable rookie cards, including future stars such as Joe Sakic (Quebec Nordiques), Theoren Fleury and Gary Roberts (Calgary Flames), teammates Kirk McLean and Cliff Ronning, and Linden’s fellow finalist for Rookie of the Year, Brian Leetch (New York Rangers). The 1988-89 season represented by these cards was also one of the final appearances on cardboard for soon-to-be Hall of Famers Guy Lafleur and Bernie Federko.

Linden’s rookie card would be denoted #89 in the set. The card is not nearly as exorbitantly priced as a Gretzky or Lemieux rookie card, which are both harder to come by, and have had more time to be abused. Those cards were produced in the days that kids actually treated them like toys and who knows how many were chewed by dogs, tossed in the garbage or used as coffee table coasters.

That said, the relatively low price represents a good value in the context of Linden’s achievements in the game and this piece of merchandise will certainly command a bit of respect and admiration in the fine province of British Columbia, Canada.

Few players in NHL history have enjoyed anywhere near the impact of Wayne Gretzky, the man who holds virtually every single-season and career offensive record in the league. Goals in a season. Assists in a season. Points in a season. The same for his career, almost 1,000 points ahead of the man in second place, former teammate Mark Messier.

As a result, it is no surprise that Wayne Gretzky’s 1979-80 professional rookie card is considered by many to be the holy grail of hockey collectibles. With each one in existence now 30 years old, it is increasingly difficult to find one in stellar condition. They’re actually not that easy to find, period.

Like Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby, and Eric Lindros after him, expectations were high for Gretzky as he entered the professional ranks. However, in the late 1970s, few could have predicted that he would singlehandedly revolutionize the game and rewrite the league’s scoring records to an extreme that had really never been previously seen in professional sports. No man had ever scored 160 points in a season. Gretzky would score 200 four separate times. Nobody else has ever scored 200 before or since.

In a confusing convention for hockey cards, the cards are designated by the hockey season during which they were released, not the season of play which the statistics on the back of the card represent. Therefore, Wayne Gretzky’s 1979-80 rookie card is actually the publication made for his 1978-79 season. The card was produced by both O-Pee-Chee (OPC) and Topps.

This season of Gretzky’s actually occurred in the now-defunct World Hockey Association (WHA), a competitor league to the NHL that was absorbed by the larger organization in 1979, the following year. This subsequent season was Gretzky’s first in the NHL. Because of his professional season in the WHA the prior year, he was not technically considered a rookie and was not eligible for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, despite leading the NHL in scoring in his first year with 137 points.

In his first professional season, designated by his rookie card, Gretzky split the year between the Indianapolis Racers and the Edmonton Oilers (who joined the NHL in the WHA merger). The season was a smashing success, with 47 goals and 110 points, incredible totals for a rookie. Regrettably, his WHA totals are not included in his record-setting NHL numbers (despite a comparable level of competition) or his career NHL statistics would be even more impressive.