74-75 OPC WHA Set Card by Card #25 - Danny Lawson

Danny Lawson fans all know that this is his rookie card. People who aren't fans, now know that fact too. Nothing new or groundbreaking with the front side of this card as it appears to look like many of the others in the set but the back holds something interesting. 

Here is the back side of the card and the first line struck me as being odd. "First drafted by the WHA's Miami Screaming Eagles". What? Miami had a WHA team? Well upon further review, there was intention for there to be a Miami team but because they couldn't get a stadium build etc, they ended up starting in Philadelphia instead of Miami.After one season in Philly, the franchise then moved to Vancouver for two seasons before finally going to Calgary where it met its death in 1977.

Danny Lawson was a fringe NHL player who played a few seasons in the NHL after having a solid junior career. Then he joined the WHA was an offensive star before ending his career at the age of 30. He tried a comeback or two but never could stick anywhere in North America and sadly he passed away at the young age of 61 due to cancer.  

74-75 OPC WHA Set Card by Card #24 - Pat Hickey

For all those interested, this is indeed a Pat Hickey Rookie Card and the 8th so far in the set of 66 cards. While it books for a mere 4 dollars, that doesn't detract from the fact that he is among some of the finer rookies found in the set. Pat did what many wanted to do and that was start in the WHA and carve out a respectable NHL career. Pat did that very well actually by playing two years with the Toros before joining the Rangers for the best years of his career. In 77-78, Pat Hickey put up an impressive 40 goals with the Rangers and he followed it up with 34 the next year and a career high of 75 points.

Here is the back side of the card and as you can see he put up very respectable numbers during his rookie season in the WHA. One neat fact about Pat is he was definitely not a clutch player. During his career he averaged 0.63 points per game in the regular season which includes some pretty sub-par final NHL seasons. His playoff numbers were atrocious. During his time in the NHL he scored just 5 playoff goals in 55 games to go along with 11 assists. If you combine those together you get a shabby 0.29 points per game. Pat certainly was no Claude Lemieux but he was still a pretty good player nonetheless.

74-75 OPC WHA Set Card by Card #23 - Ron Buchanan

 The jersey is looking a little too pink in this photo. I assure you it isn't my scanner either! Ron also has a Mona Lisa thing going here with his facial expression. This could be da Vinci's favourite hockey card if he could have had one.

Like so many WHA players, Ron was a junior and minor hockey league star who did well for himself in the WHA. We was in the latter half of his career when he started and as a result he was out of hockey by 76-77. This is his rookie card for Buchanan fans out there so it is a must have if you have a PC based on him. What I didn't know is Ron's father played in the NHL like he did. Ron played 5 games in the NHL and his father Mike played 1 game in the 51-52 season.

74-75 OPC WHA Set Card by Card #17 - Anders Hedberg

As far as legit rookies go, there are none bigger in the set than Anders Hedberg. Anders was without a doubt one of the biggest superstars in WHA history and as a rookie he scored 53 goals and had 100 points. The following three seasons Anders followed it up with 50, 70 and 63 goals respectively. Even when he made the jump to the NHL as a Euro-pioneer he still was among some of the better scorers in the league with  three consecutive 30 goal seasons. A knee injury did wipe out his 81-82 season but he did battle back and score 30 goals once more and in his final year he still finished 5th in team scoring with 20 goals and 51 points in just 64 games.

I think the back of this card is one of the most informative I have ever read in my life. For years and years I wonder why stats from the euro-leagues always was light on information and appeared to be missing vital stats in my opinion. But apparently, stats aren't that important especially back in the 70's and 80's so websites like Hockeydb and hockey card makers often had difficulty finding the same stats we use in North America because they often weren't recorded. For another example of what I am talking about, check out Vladislav Tretiak's stats on hockeydb.

74-75 OPC WHA Set Card by Card #4 - Ulf Nilsson

The fourth card in the set is also a rookie, this time it is Ulf Nilsson. There are 30 official rookies in this set and Ulf Nilsson is one of the bigger ones. With a book value of $12 dollars, it is tied with Anders Hedberg as the most expensive rookie in the set. Ulf had an amazing WHA career which included 4 straight years of at least 114 points per season and a career average of 35 goals and 121 points per season in the WHA. His transition to the NHL was good but an injury caused by Denis Potvin seriously hampered his career and forced him into an early retirement. Despite the injury, Ulf still averaged nearly a point per game in both the regular season and the playoffs in the NHL.

No stats, just facts! Ulf was inducted into the WHA Hall of Fame in 2010.