Saturday, May 17, 2014

Emerson Etem Jersey Card

Emerson Etem was the Anaheim Ducks' second first-round pick (29th in total, from a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers) of 2010 and proceeded to have two spectacular Juniors seasons after that, including a 61-goal campaign in 65 games in 2011-12.

A 6'1'', 210-pound power forward, he is still just 21 years old, so I wouldn't judge his progression until he's at least 24 or 25; however, a better-than-point-per-game season at the AHL level (54 in 51) and 11 points in 29 NHL games this year (plus 4 decent playoff games) in 2013-14 shows great promise. With Teemu Selanne's pending retirement (and perhaps also Saku Koivu's), there's a spot for him on the Ducks' top-9 next season.

He's deceptively fast, has a precise, hard shot, and a will-powered mean streak à la Keith Tkachuk; he'll need to work on his positioning to be more effective in all three zones, and perhaps on his passing game, but he has 15 years or so to do that while rounding out his upsides. The California native fits right in with the Ducks' culture of hard-nosed play.

I got this 2013-14 SP Game-Used Edition card (#RF-EE of the Rookie Fabrics sub-set) from Upper Deck in the pack after the one that got me Ryan Getzlaf's, and it features a big, black swatch from a jersey worn in a rookie photo shoot:
I didn't really know him before he was dratfed, but I've been following his career ever since, though.

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