396, 21 and 80.
396 was the magic number when it came to the hobby. That's how many cards were issued in the yearly O-Pee-Chee product release. I remember making it my single winter goal to come up with all 396. Most of the time I came up short, but that number was etched.
21 was the number of teams in the NHL at the time. With the WHA disbanding in the late 70's and four teams coming over to the NHL (Edmonton, Hartford, Quebec and Winnipeg) the league expanded to 21 teams. I discovered the NHL in 1980 so 21 was all I ever knew (until the 90's arrived and ballooned that number to the current 30).
80 was the number of regular season games a team would play in the NHL. Why they grew it to 82 is beyond me. I think that there are too many games played in a year to begin with (with all the preseason and - for some - playoffs) the number could reach close to 100 tilts.
But it's that third number that has lead me to this installment of 'Did You Know'.
In both instances, they played a bunch of games for their first team of the year, then was traded mid-season to a team that hadn't played as many games.
While 86 seems like a lot, I'm kind of surprised that the record number isn't even higher.
Jimmy went on to suit up for 18 more games in the playoffs, helping the Kings go all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals (sorry Leafs fans). But we all know what happened in that final series against the Habs (right Mr. McSorley)?
Sadly, that number won't be in jeopardy this season. Hitting the magic 40 mark might be a task in itself. (hint: let's go guys.....I'm ready to watch some hockey).
And now you know.
I knew that, though didn't remember who was the guy who shared the record with Kudelski. How did I know that? For reasons quite obscure to even me, I happen to be a Kudelski-collector. There probably are not too many... :D
ReplyDeleteInteresting. How many cards does he have? As well, why did you pick Kudelski?
DeleteVery cool.
Around ~150, if I remember correctly.
DeleteIt had something to do with his number at the time, he played with #37 in LA, and I got his card from the very first pack I ever bought, 91-92 Pro Set, when I was 11. My "lucky" number was 7, and somehow I decided I needed a second lucky number (kids, eh?), which I decided would be 3. And what do you know, I seemed to have a card of a player with both those numbers, who happened to have a sort of funny name, and who happened to look a bit like Chevy Chase, who happened to be one of my favourite actors at the time... So Bob became my favourite player. It's actually funny how things just "roll" on from totally random things.
Also, AvenueDave is right, at that time they played 84 games, so those two guys only played 2 extra.
Cool. Hope you are having fun with the collection.
DeleteWell.....84 games eh? I completely forgot about that.
Makes the 86 game season seem far less impressive.
Still...only two have done it.
Thanks for the comments.
Didn't they use to play 84 for a couple of seasons? I remember there used to be 2 neutral site games, but maybe that's when it became an 82 game season.
ReplyDelete