Q. What is considered to be the highest valued card in the 1976-77 O-Pee-Chee hockey cards set?
A. Card number 115, the Bryan Trottier rookie card is valued at $60, higher than any other card from the set. Trottier was a second round pick of the New York Islanders at the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft, 22nd overall. He went on to lead the team to four consecutive Stanley Cups in the early 1980’s and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1997.
Trottier was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy for 1975-76. He scored 32 goals and assisted on 63 for 95 points with the Islanders. The point total was a National Hockey League record at the time for most by a rookie. Bryan went on to top the 100 points plateau on six occasions in the NHL and totalled 1,425 points over 1,279 regular season games. His 134 points in 1978-79 earned Trottier the Art Ross Trophy.
Q. Why is card number 348 considered an uncorrected error card?
A. The card belongs to Lanny McDonald of the Toronto Maple Leafs and is considered an error card because of the spelling of Lanny’s name on the front of the card. It’s small but it’s still an error that Lanny’s last name is spelled MacDonald and not McDonald.
The error never occurred again and the Hockey Hall of Fame got Lanny’s name right when he was inducted in 1992. McDonald was the fourth overall pick at the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft, behind just Denis Potvin, Tom Lysiak and Dennis Ververgaert. He went on to play 1,111 regular season NHL games between 1973-74 and 1988-89 with the Maple Leafs, Colorado Rockies and Calgary Flames.
Q. The 1976-77 O-Pee-Chee set featured several hockey cards depicting lines. Which of these line cards is valued the highest?
A. The Long Island Lightning Company is the highest, valued at $5. The card features New York Islanders trio Clark Gillies, Bryan Trottier and Billy Harris on the front of the card.
Billy Harris remained with the New York Islanders until near the end of the 1979-80 season when he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings. The trade came just in time to miss New York’s run of four consecutive Stanley Cup championships. Trottier and Gilles remained together as line mates. The addition of Mike Bossy to the trio made them unstoppable.
As for Harris, he was the first overall pick at the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft and, therefore, the first ever draft pick of the New York Islanders. He was fresh off an Eddie Powers Trophy season in the OHA with the Toronto Marlboros, leading the league with 129 points. Billy played just short of 900 NHL regular season games between 1972-73 and 1983-84 with the Islanders, Kings and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Q. The 1976-77 O-Pee-Chee set featured the rookie card of what NHL all-time penalty minute leader?
A. The Dave ‘Tiger’ Williams rookie card was number 373 in the set. The card is valued at a whopping $25. This proves that everyone remembers the tough guy and everyone loves the fighter. Williams started out his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs and also played for the Vancouver Canucks, Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings and Hartford Whalers before retiring.
Over 962 regular season NHL games between 1974-75 and 1987-88, Williams sat 3,966 minutes in the penalty box. He proved he was much more than just a tough guy, totalling 241 goals and 513 points over that time. In 1980-81 with the Vancouver Canucks, Tiger scored 35 goals while sitting 343 minutes.
Interestingly, although Williams was a second round pick of the Maple Leafs at the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft, he was the third overall pick at the 1974 WHA Secret Amateur Draft. The Cincinnati Stingers selected Dave behind just Greg Joly and Bill Lochead. None of the three ever played a single game in the World Hockey Association.