The 1976-77 O-Pee-Chee WHA hockey card set featurs very few significant rookie cards. The 132 card set is dominated by the old faithfuls, Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull. The highest valued rookie card belongs to a man better known for his achievements in his home Finland, Pekka Rautakallio.
Pekka Rautakallio – North American Pro Hockey
Rautakallio had two distinct stints in North America. For two years, 1975-76 and 1976-77, he played in the World Hockey Association with the Phoenix Roadrunners. Other than getting his face on cardboard for the first time, his time in the WHA was fairly uneventful.
He returned from Finland to play in the National Hockey League for three years from 1979-80 to 1981-82. Although he played with the same franchise during his short NHL career, his first year was spent with the Atlanta Flames and his final two with the Calgary Flames.
In his first year in Calgary, 1980-81, Pekka put up great numbers for a defenseman. He scored eleven and assisted on 45 for 56 points over 76 regular season games. In the Stanley Cup playoffs, he added another six points over 16 games. The Flames reached the semi-finals before falling in six to the Minnesota North Stars. They got their by taking out the Philadelphia Flyers in the quarter-finals. That series went the full seven games with the Flyers outscoring the Flames 26-22.
Calgary took a step back in 1981-82 but Rautakallio stepped up his game in what would be his last year in the NHL. He scored 17 goals and assisted on 51 for 68 points while playing the full 80 game regular season schedule. He led Calgary’s defenseman in scoring and placed fourth among the NHL’s blue liners for points. Pekka also played in the NHL All-Star Game that year, apparently the first Finn to do so.
Pekka Rautakallio – Europe
Before he came to play in the World Hockey Association, Rautakallio played for Assat in Finland. He also played for the club in his break between the WHA and NHL. In 1977-78, the team was crowned league champions. In 1978-79, Pekka was named Player of the Year.
From 1982-83 to 1986-87, Rautakallio played for HIFK in Finland’s SM-Liiga. HIFK were champions in 1982-83 and Pekka was team captain in his final two seasons. Over his time in Finland, he was named the SM-Liiga’s top defenseman on three occasions. Today, the award for the best defenseman is called the Pekka Rautakallio Award.
He also played in seven World Championships for his home country between 1972 and 1983 and was team captain in 1983. His final two years of pro hockey as a player were spent with Rapperswil in Switzerland’s National League B.
Pekka Rautakallio – Coach
For the most part, between 1993-94 and 2012-13 Rautakallio held a head coaching job somewhere in Europe. He stood behind the bench of various teams in both the National League A and B in Switzerland, Finland’s SM-Liiga and Russia’s KHL.
Most recently, he was head coach of Dinamo Riga in the KHL. His first year was 2011-12 and he was replaced 24 games into the 2012-13 season by Artis Abols.
Pekka Rautakallio – Rookie Card
The Pekka Rautakallio rookie card appears as number 116 in the 1976-77 O-Pee-Chee WHA set. The first Rautakallio hockey card is valued at four times that of a common card. The 132 card set was led in value by the cards of Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull. From his National Hockey League career, Pekka appeared on just two hockey cards, in the 1980-81 and 1981-82 sets.
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1970-71 | Assat Pori | SM-sarja | 31 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 18 |
| 1971-72 | Assat Pori | SM-sarja | 32 | 10 | 8 | 18 | 14 |
| 1972-73 | Assat Pori | SM-sarja | 34 | 23 | 12 | 35 | 21 |
| 1974-75 | Assat Pori | SM-sarja | 36 | 9 | 13 | 22 | 19 |
| 1975-76 | Phoenix Roadrunners | WHA | 73 | 11 | 39 | 50 | 8 |
| 1976-77 | Phoenix Roadrunners | WHA | 78 | 4 | 31 | 35 | 8 |
| 1977-78 | Assat Pori | SM-liiga | 36 | 16 | 21 | 37 | 16 |
| 1978-79 | Assat Pori | SM-liiga | 36 | 25 | 28 | 53 | 26 |
| 1979-80 | Atlanta Flames | NHL | 79 | 5 | 25 | 30 | 18 |
| 1980-81 | Calgary Flames | NHL | 76 | 11 | 45 | 56 | 64 |
| 1981-82 | Calgary Flames | NHL | 80 | 17 | 51 | 68 | 40 |
| 1982-83 | HIFK Helsinki | SM-liiga | 36 | 16 | 16 | 32 | 16 |
| 1983-84 | HIFK Helsinki | SM-liiga | 33 | 9 | 21 | 30 | 10 |
| 1984-85 | HIFK Helsinki | SM-liiga | 29 | 12 | 18 | 30 | 18 |
| 1985-86 | HIFK Helsinki | SM-liiga | 34 | 13 | 23 | 36 | 8 |
| 1986-87 | HIFK Helsinki | SM-liiga | 42 | 15 | 25 | 40 | 10 |
| NHL Totals | 235 | 35 | 121 | 154 | 122 | ||
| WHA Totals | 151 | 15 | 70 | 85 | 16 |