Doug Risebrough: The Hockey Card World’s Man of Many Faces

Man, that picture of Doug Risebrough reminds me of someone…

Oh, wait. It’s not Doug. It’s rare through the history of hockey cards for the wrong player to be pictured on the front of hockey card. It is nearly impossible for one player to have his hockey card screwed up in this manner twice.

The Doug Risebrough rookie card was included in the 1975-76 O-Pee-Chee series. Unfortunately, on the front of card number 107 was a beautiful picture of Montreal Canadiens teammate Bob Gainey. The error was never corrected. The card is valued at $3 by Beckett Hockey Monthly (a common card is worth $1 from that set). Bob Gainey’s 1975-76 O-Pee-Chee card is valued at $7 and features himself on the front of the card.

In 1980-81, O-Pee-Chee did it again. This time, it was Serge Savard appearing on the front of the card instead of Risebrough. This card, number 275, is valued as a common card ($.50). Savard’s actual card from the set is worth a bit more at $1.25.

Doug was a seventh round pick of the Montreal Canadiens at the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft. The World Hockey Association’s Cleveland Crusaders also selected him, 10th overall in the WHA ‘Secret Amateur Draft’. He played just one year of major junior hockey with the Kitchener Rangers in 1973-74 before becoming a regular with the Habs.

Risebrough played 740 regular season and 124 playoff games in the National Hockey League between 1974-75 and 1986-87. He played for Montreal until the end of the 1981-82 season and played the following five years with the Calgary Flames. With the Flames, he wore the ‘A’ for the duration of his stay.

Doug played a role in Montreal’s four consecutive Stanley Cup victories in the 1970’s. With the Flames, he went to the finals one more time, in 1985-86, only to lose in five games to the Canadiens. Risebrough would get his revenge in 1988-89 behind the bench in Calgary as an assistant coach. The Flames once again met the Habs in the finals, this time winning in six games.

Risebrough has been in the head office of a handful of NHL teams since. He was V.P. of Hockey Operations with the Edmonton Oilers for three years before a lengthy stint as General Manager of the Minnesota Wild. Recently, he has been a scout with the New York Rangers.