The Legendary Brendan Shanahan’s Take on Dominion Hockey: ‘The Best I’ve Ever Seen’
As the tangible, goose-bump-inducing hype surrounding the September 14 release of 2010-11 Dominion Hockey continues to build, leave it to living NHL legend Brendan Shanahan to put the cards in their proper perspective:
“The cards are the best I’ve ever seen,” Shanahan wrote Friday morning in an email to Alex Carbajal, Panini America NHL Acquisitions Manager.
That’s stunningly high praise no matter who says it, but it’s especially profound coming from Shanahan, a three-time Stanley Cup winner and future NHL Hall of Famer who has appeared on more than 2,800 trading cards throughout his career.
The beauties of which “Shanny” speaks so highly — on display in the gallery below — were signed by the 600 Goal Club member earlier this week and arrived back at Panini America HQ early Friday morning via FedEx priority overnight. They were then rushed to the production facility so that they could make it into the hand-packout process that began in earnest yesterday.
Shanahan, currently the NHL’s Vice President of Hockey and Business Development and the league’s lead disciplinarian, was the second overall pick of the New Jersey Devils in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. He spent the next 21 seasons with five teams (with the Devils, St. Louis Blues, Hartford Whalers, Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers) fashioning one of the greatest careers in league history.
It’s only fitting that’s he now honored with perhaps the greatest cards in league history.
Shanahan retired following the 2008-09 season with 656 career goals, three Stanley Cups, and gold medals from the Canada Cup, the World Championships and the Olympics. He remains the only player in NHL history with more than 600 goals and 2,000 penalty minutes.