Monday, December 7, 2020

Patrik Stefan: UD Legends Epic Signatures

Ok, this is probably one of the more ironic post titles I've had on here. Patrik Stefan and legend don't really belong in the same sentence, unless you are talking about his legendary empty net gaffe against the Oilers back in the day. Regardless, I'm glad to have another cool auto for one of my PC players even if it is Patrik Stefan. 

This card was part of a recent trade I made with The Real DFG and comes from the 2000-01 Upper Deck Legends set, specifically the Epic Signatures insert set. Luckily for me, Stefan was included in this set along side names like Gretzky, Yzerman, Howe and many others. 

I really like the overall look of this set. The color/texture combination isn't too obnoxious and there is plenty of nice white space for the on-card signature. The on-card is the best part about these. The only thing I would've added is the team logo. Maybe that's just because I love that old Thrashers logo and it would look great on there somewhere.

Going through the checklist of that set, Stefan would be considered an outlier by a lot. I guess the hype was still there for Upper Deck to include him in this set. Here's a look at how the entire checklist compares statistically to Stefan's career.

UD Legends Epic Signatures NHL Regular Season Statistics
Player GP G
A
PTS
+/-
Bobby Clarke 1144 358 852 1210 507
Bernie Geoffrion 883 393 429 822 39
Brett Hull 1269 741 650 1391 23
Bobby Hull 1063 610 560 1170 249
Bobby Orr 657 270 645 915 582
Bryan Trottier 1279 524 901 1425 449
Cam Neely 726 395 299 694 83
Dale Hawerchuk 1188 518 891 1409 -98
Denis Potvin 1060 310 742 1052 456
Frank Mahovlich 1181 533 570 1103 266
Gordie Howe 1767 801 1049 1850 160
Guy Lafleur 1126 560 793 1353 446
Gilbert Perreault 1191 512 814 1326 41
John Bucyk 1540 556 813 1369 -7
Jean Beliveau 1125 507 712 1219 117
Jari Kurri 1251 601 797 1398 304
John Leclair 967 406 413 819 204
Joe Mullen 1062 502 561 1063 167
Joe Nieuwendyk 1257 564 562 1126 155
Joe Thornton 1636 420 1089 1509 186
Keith Tkachuk 1201 538 527 1065 33
Lanny McDonald 1111 500 506 1006 39
Larry Robinson 1384 208 750 958 722
Mike Bossy 752 573 553 1126 380
Marcel Dionne 1348 731 1040 1771 27
Mike Gartner 1432 708 627 1335 68
Michel Goulet 1089 548 605 1153 99
Mario Lemieux 915 690 1033 1723 114
Mark Messier 1756 694 1193 1887 211
Pavel Bure 702 437 342 779 42
Peter Bondra 1081 503 389 892 74
Phil Esposito 1282 717 873 1590 252
Pat LaFontaine 865 468 545 1013 -6
Patrik Stefan 455 64 124 188 -36
Pat Verbeek 1424 522 540 1062 -46
Sergei Fedorov 1248 483 696 1179 261
Stan Mikita 1396 541 926 1467 329
Sergei Samsonov 888 235 336 571 11
Steve Yzerman 1514 692 1063 1755 184
Ted Lindsay 1068 379 472 851 9
Wayne Gretzky 1487 894 1963 2857 520

This next table shows the minimum, average and maximum values for each category.

UD Legends Epic Signatures NHL Regular Season Statistics
Player GP G
A
PTS
+/-
Min 455 64 124 188 -98
Avg 1165 517 713 1231 186
Max 1767 894 1963 2857 722

The numbers don't lie, Stefan does not belong with the rest of the names here. He has the minimum games played, goals, assists and points. The only category he wasn't the worst in was +/- and there he only missed it by 10, coming in second worst behind Pat Verbeek.

Aside from Stefan, the only younger players in this set would've been Joe Thornton and Sergei Samsonov. I guess you could say if they were predicting future "Legends" with these three selections, they were only completely right on one of them.

Thanks again DFG for the trade! This is only the beginning of what he sent over. I will have a few more posts for the rest of it. Hopefully I can get to them here soon.

2 comments:

  1. Whoa. That set is loaded. Great research. I have the Thornton from the set... but I'd love to add a few more guys like Tkachuk, LeClair, LaFontaine, and Bondra.

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    1. It sure is. I knew of the set years ago, but never really looked into the full checklist. I grew up watching a bunch of these guys in the 90s and 00s (Fedorov, Yzerman, Hull, Bure) and would love those cards someday.

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