Brent Sutter: 6 Autographed Cards (Part 1)

It's probably greed, coupled with fear. Technically, it was last season that I sent Brent Sutter two NewYork Islanders cards to get signed, but it was in March, more or less 9 months ago. But despite his making all the right moves and decisions, his Calgary Flames are tanking. There is talk that both he and brother/GM Darryl Sutter might not last the year, so I sent 6 more cards on December third and received them all back today, just about two weeks later, all signed in black sharpie. He is such a generous signer, I feel bad for asking twice, but I specified in my fan letter that I asked for two Islanders cards the first time seeing as I identified him more to that team, but that I was now asking for cards of him playing for the Chicago Blackhawks because I do recognize he had a great run in 7 seasons with them, including a Cup run.

I usually aim to get a player wearing different jerseys, but I couldn't find a card with a frontal pic of Sutter in the Hawks' white jersey, so I sent in an extra one with him as the Isles' captain:

It's from the 1990-91 Score (American) series (card #39) by the company then-known as Score. To me, Brent Sutter represents the Isles as much as Pat LaFontaine, Denis Potvin, Billy Smith, and the other stars of the 80s. Actually, maybe more than those I didn't mention. The fact that he was named captain of the team speaks volumes of how important a player he was for them.

In October 1991, as the last member of an Islanders Stanley Cup team and regarded as one of the best leaders and face-off men in the league, Sutter was traded to Chicago just in time for two Pro Set sets to showcase him in his new uniform:

The card on the left sees him sporting a vintage Hawks jersey that the team only wore on 10 occasions during the NHL's 75th Anniversary celebrations, usually against other Original Six teams. It's from the 1991-92 Pro Set (Series One) set, and is card #374. The card on the right is from the 1991-92 Platinum (Series One) set (card #164), a set Pro Set was hoping would compete with other ''premium'' sets, such as Upper Deck, Topps' Stadium Club and O-Pee-Chee's Premier. Needless to say, they failed miserably, but I do appreciate full-card-size pictures such as this one of Sutter taking a slap shot.

(continued in the next post)