88-90 Scott Young Hartford Whalers Jersey

July 27th, 2008

This is a game worn home Hartford Whalers jersey from the 1980’s of right wing Scott Young.

Scott Young was drafted eleventh overall by the Hartford Whalers in the 1986 NHL Entry Draft behind players Jimmy Carson, Zarley Zalapski, and Jocelyn Lemieux who would also eventually spend time with the Whalers. Of those players, though, Young would have the longest and most successful NHL career.

Many NHL fans tend to forget that Scott YOung began his long NHL career in Hartford. Prior to “sticking” with the St. Louis Blues, Young bounced from Hartford to Pittsburgh (for Rob Brown), then to Quebec, which moved to Colorado where he was dealt to Anaheim. From there, he signed with the St. Louis Blues spending 4 seasons there before heading to Dallas.

For his final season in 2005-06, he returned to the St. Louis Blues.

Based on the lack of the NHL’s 75th Annoversary patch, this jersey is from either the 1988-89 or 1989-90 season.

The jersey is a Maska airknit manufactured by CCM that I originally acquired from another collector in 1997.

There is no size printed or penned in on the tag. Young’s number 27 is written on it in black sharpie.

Name, numbers, and crest are all sewn. There is no nameplate, the letters are individually sewn on directly. The rear CCM hem pattern is white-white-white, with blue lettering, and is embroidered.

Inside, the fightstrap shows some fraying and the velcro is filled with green thread from the green pants the team wore at the time.

The exterior of the jersey shows tons of wear. Board burns, repairs, and thick stick marks litter the entire jersey.

There are some easily identifiable black marks across the front crest as well as the back numbers, but to date, I haven’t found a photo match though I’ve no doubt one will turn up sooner or later. As luck would have it, most of the time the photos on hockey cards were not taken in Hartford, so the Whale are almost always in their road greens in the photos.

Posted in Hartford Whalers, National Hockey League | 4 Comments »

85-86 Sylvain Turgeon Hartford Whalers Jersey

March 4th, 2008

This is the game worn 1985-86 road Hartford Whalers jersey of left wing Sylvain Turgeon.

Sylvain Turgeon was drafted second overall by the Hartford Whalers in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft behind Brian Lawton. While Lawton would turn out to be a bust for the Minnesota North Stars, Turgeon would have immediate success at the NHL level leading the Whalers with 40 goals in his rookie season as an 18 year old.

Based on the CCM “born-on” date behind the size tag that reads “86 04″, this jersey was either worn towards the end of the 1985-86 season and/or the beginning of the 1986-87 season.

The Whalers only lasted two rounds (9 games) into the 1986 playoffs and based on the heavy wear this jersey shows, it’s reasonable to believe that it could also be from the 1986-87 season.

The jersey is a CCM mesh that I originally acquired from another collector in October of 1997.

The size tag, which is falling off reads TG/XL. It also has Turgeon’s 16 written on it in black sharpie as do all of the Hartford Whalers jerseys in my collection.

Name, numbers, and crest are all sewn. There is no nameplate, the letters are individually sewn on directly. The rear CCM hem pattern is blue-blue-green, with white lettering, and is embroidered.

Inside, the fightstrap has pulled free from the twill base and the snap has also been pulled through. Turgeon was hardly a brawler, but the fightstrap clearly shows that it was a different game in the 1980’s.

The exterior of the jersey shows a ton of wear. Board burns, repairs, and stick marks litter the sleeves and front of the jersey. The white sections on the sleeves show some yellowing. The stitching at the front of the neckline has popped.

There are some easily identifiable black marks across the front crest as well as the numbers on the right and left sleeves, but to date, I haven’t found a photo match though I’ve no doubt one will turn up sooner or later. As luck would have it, most of the time the photos on hockey cards were not taken in Hartford, so the Whale are almost always in their road greens in pictures.

This is one of my favorites in my collection. Partially because it’s from a fan favorite of my favorite team, but mostly because of all of the wear it shows and because of the small size. It was a different era in the NHL. Equipment that fit, more goal scoring, and a lot more rough stuff…

Posted in Hartford Whalers, National Hockey League | 6 Comments »

91-92 Rob Brown Hartford Whalers Jersey

January 27th, 2008

This is the 1991-92 Hartford Whalers home jersey of Rob Brown.

Brown originally came to the Whalers the previous season in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Scott Young.

Later that same year, the Whalers would make another trade with the Penguins… Yep, the one that essentially doomed the Hartford franchise and won the Pittsburgh franchise two consecutive Stanley Cups.  (basically, it was Ron Francis and Ulf Samuelsson for John Cullen and Zarley Zalapski)

During the 1991-92 season, Brown started the season with the Whalers and recorded a respectable 16 goals and 15 assists in 42 games, but it wasn’t the type of production he’d put up Pittsburgh and he was dealt to the Chicago Blackhawks on January 24, 1992 for defenseman Steve Konroyd.

Being a 91-92 jersey, this one features the NHL’s 75th Anniversary patch that every team in the league wore.

This is the only knit Whalers jersey from the green era in my collection. All others are mesh or airknit. For the 1992-93 season, the green road jersey was abandoned in favor of a blue road jersey. Jerseys were knit in that season as well.

The Maska fly tag has Brown’s #44 penned in in black sharpie. Every single one of my Whalers game worn jerseys has this in common. The jersey is a size 52.

The jersey shows pretty heavy wear with stick marks and board burns throughout. There are a few unrepaired slices along the hem and the sleeves show some staining from Brown’s gloves. The CCM logo on the rear hem is embroidered in a blue-blue-green pattern next to the old black and orange NHL logo.

Best of all, some of the marks on the right arm and in the striping on the hem can be photomatched to Brown’s 1991-92 ProSet hockey card (card #606).

I originally acquired this jersey from Brian at the Detroit Hockey Company in the late 1990’s.

Posted in Hartford Whalers, National Hockey League | 2 Comments »