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.