Rod Brind'Amour?

 

Fan letter sent May 17, 2011.
2/2 autographed cards received September 8, 2012.

Sorry about not getting these up sooner.  I actually forgot to finish them after getting the returns.  I go to Hurricanes signings occasionally and usually get most of the players to autograph an item, but I started going too late to get Rod's autograph.  I honestly can't understand the logic behind his autograph, as he doesn't even put his number...if it is his autograph.  Could someone who might be familiar with his auto help me out here and tell me if it's real or not?

Erik Cole TTM Success

 
Fan letter sent September 19, 2011.
3/3 Autographed cards received  April 16, 2012.

Currently with the Montreal Canadiens.

Erik Cole was a fan favorite of Carolina Hurricanes fans for several years until he signed with the Montreal Canadiens last summer as a free agent after the Hurricanes refused to meet his salary demands by July 1.  I was really excited to finally get his autograph in the mail today after waiting almost seven months from the time I sent out the fan letter.  I honestly don't blame him for wanting to move on as I feel the Hurricanes organization probably tried to sign him for less than what he wanted and I am really fed up with Peter Karmanos, Jr., the Hurricanes owner, and Jim Rutherford, the GM, for not signing the right players and not trying to make their team better than it should be.  Anyway, despite the Canadiens not coming close to the playoffs, Cole had a career-high in goals (35) and tied his career best in points (61) this past season.  It looks as though he realized mid-signature on the Fleer card that his current number (72) wouldn't have looked correct on the Hurricanes' card, when his number was 26.

Chad LaRose

Currently with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Acquired in-person October 26, 2011.

Not much of a fan of LaRose myself, but he does try hard on the ice...it's just that he doesn't have much of a brain for hockey and takes some pretty dumb penalties at times...to the amazement of only himself.  Don't you wish that every player had an autograph like "The Rocket"?

Tomas Kaberle

Currently with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Acquired in-person October 26, 2011.

Tomas Kaberle, brother of former Hurricane Frantisek Kaberle, has been mostly a disappointment for teams the last couple of years.  He has currently has no goals, two assists and has a minus-four rating so far, and Canes Country has already talked about him being a target among fans for demands to trade him.  However, only being nine games in and the Hurricanes not being completely out of the playoff race this early on, I don't see Jim Rutherford making any attempts right now to get rid of him (I'd personally rather JR gotten his head out of his ass and never re-signed Pitkanen, but that's just my opinion).

Zac Dalpe

Acquired in-person October 26, 2011.

Splitting time between the Charlotte Checkers and Carolina Hurricanes.

Another autograph acquired at the Season Ticket Holder autograph session that I was able to sneak into with a season ticket holder friend's passes.  I'll have to look, but I thought that The Hockey News had Dalpe on the list of top prospects in the Hurricanes organization, maybe even the list of top overall prospects in the NHL, but I'm not sure...all I know is that there were several from the Hurricanes, but I think that the Kings had the most top prospects, led by Brayden Schenn (now with the Philadelphia Flyers organization).

Another JM autograph...Jamie McBain that is.

Currently with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Acquired in-person October 26, 2011.

Some Hurricanes fans (specifically the guys from Canes Country), thought that McBain, who garnered 10 points in 14 games in his first taste of NHL service, would be a candidate for the Calder Trophy in his first full NHL season.  Although he did notch seven goals and 23 assists in 76 NHL games in 2010-11, his minus-eight rating didn't let him come close to being nominated.  Of course, then again, he would have had to put up Jeff Skinner numbers in points and be about a plus-five at worst in order to beat out his teammate (Okay, not 60 points...maybe 40).

Jiri Tlusty

Currently with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Acquired in-person October 26, 2011.

One would think that a former 13th overall pick from the 2006 NHL Entry Draft would be doing just fine now in the NHL...until you remember that it was Jiri Tlusty who was drafted 13th overall in 2006.  Maybe I should stop bashing some of these players...well...nah.  His signature borders on Cam Ward sloppiness.

Jeff Skinner

Acquired in-person October 26, 2011.

The top rookie from last season already has four goals and six assists in nine games so far this season and has made many already think that there will not be a sophomore slump for the 19-year old forward drafted seventh overall in 2010.  Let's hope that he never gets a Heatley smile.

Jay Harrison

Currently with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Acquired in-person October 26, 2011.

Cam Ward Autographed Photo

Currently with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Acquired through the Carolina Hurricanes gift incentive program.

Kind of got lucky as I didn't know for several months who I got with my points from getting two 26-game plan season tickets with the Carolina Hurricanes. If you can't tell already I live fairly near Raleigh, NC, so a lot of my autographs will obviously be of Hurricanes players. I was really hoping for a Jeff Skinner autographed 8x10 photo, but Cam is my favorite player so I'm pretty pleased, although as Sal said, Ward's autograph really is sloppy.

Jussi Jokinen

Acquired in-person November 22, 2010.

Currently with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Jussi Jokinen has, for the most part, only been known as a shootout specialist from the start of the 2005-06 season; but last year he was able to lead the Hurricanes in goals with 30 tallies.  However, he just really hasn't been able to find his goal scoring touch as much this season and maybe he'll just be some one-time 30-goal scorer.  Yet another autograph from the season-ticket holder signing session that I was lucky enough to get into.

Tuomo Ruutu

Acquired in-person November 22, 2010.

Currently with the Carolina Hurricanes.
I got this card in a pack of 2006-07 Fleer hockey cards.  It's obviously from Ruutu's oft-injured Blackhawks days.  For some reason the players couldn't choose another color marker that day or something (which I really would've preferred on the multi-player signed poster).

Ian White, Jamie McBain, Jon Matsumoto, Troy Bodie

Acquired in-person November 22, 2010.

I acquired all four of these signatures at a season-ticket holder event at the RBC Center.  Actually, a friend of my parents is a season-ticket holder and he took me with him so that I could get some autographs.  The item is just some extra poster that was free and I decided to pick it up and I got the autographs from the above players.  The top scan is Troy Bodie (20) and Jamie McBain (4) and the bottom scan is (from left to right) Jon Matsumoto (18), Ian White (7), and the afformentioned McBain autograph.

Drayson Bowman and Jamie McBain

Acquired in person September 18, 2010.

These two guys have played a few games for the Hurricanes over the last couple of seasons but haven't really had much of a chance to develop into good players, yet.  Like all but one of the other Hurricanes autographs, I got this at the Caniac Carnival yesterday.  I don't know how these players will work out, although McBain did have three goals and seven assists along with a plus-six in 14 games for the Hurricanes last season.  Not bad for a rookie defenseman.

Jussi Jokinen

Acquired in person September 18, 2010.

Jussi has just come off his first 30-goal season of his career and showed that he can be more than just a shootout specialist.  He also had several key goals in the 2009 playoffs for the Hurricanes.  I also got this (along with two other autographs) at the Caniac Carnival autograph signing session.

Cam Ward

First acquired through ebay.  Second in person on September 18, 2010.

The photo of Cam Ward's save against Fernando Pisani in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final was bought just after their Stanley Cup win in 2006 and it was pretty cool getting him to sign it in person at the Caniac Carnival in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Cam smiled the moment that he saw the photo and recognized what it was; kinda wonder if he had seen the photo much before or since then.  Maybe not since he obviously made the save.  He is by far my favorite hockey player and even though he is far behind any wins record holders, he probably has the most upside of any goalie under 30 years of age right now.  I know I'm biased, but his stats in the 2008-09 season prove in my mind that he can be a good number one goalie in the NHL; I just hope that he does well for the rest of his career and doesn't have any more injury-riddled seasons.

Eric Staal

Acquired in person September 18, 2010.

I got this poster from the 2005-06 season autographed at the Carolina Hurricanes "Caniac Carnival" yesterday.  Eric Staal is currently the captain of the Hurricanes, with whom he has had a 45- and 40-goal season along with two 30-goal campaigns.  The Hurricanes record improved dramatically once Staal was elected the new captain of the franchise in the 2009-10 season.