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1987-88 O-Pee-Chee Hockey Leaders
41 of the best players from the '86-87 season

By Sal J. Barry
Published February 1, 2008

A somewhat popular trend in the late-1980s was the "leaders" set - a small, inexpensively priced set of trading cards focusing on the best players from the prior year. These cards were smaller and cheaper than regular cards, but usually seen as premium due to their glossy fronts and the better cardstock that was used to print them on. O-Pee-Chee would make a set like this in both the 1987-88 and 1988-89 seasons. Back in the day, you could a pack of five "super glossy hockey cards" for a quarter.

Player selection
There are 41 player cards and one checklist. The players featured, while a bit of a mixed bag, are overall pretty good. This set features a card of every player who was an All-Star, won an award or was a statistical leader from the previous (1986-87) season. Some cards are of really good players, while others are of mediocre players who just happened to be a "top five" player in the prior year.

For example, you'll get cards of guys like Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Patrick Roy and Ray Bourque, because in the '80s those guys were uber. Each of those players was a trophy winner and a stat leader during the '86-87 season, hence they have a card in this set.

But then you'll get some clunkers, like Brian Benning (4th in rookie points), Doug Jarvis (Masterson Trophy winner) and Petri Skriko (tied for 2nd in hat tricks). Yes, those guys were trophy winners and/or stat leaders too. But how many Canadian kids jumped for joy because they got a card of Hartford's Doug Jarvis in a pack, instead of Edmonton's Mark Messier or Calgary's Al MacInnis? And did anyone ever really want a mini-sized card of Petri Skriko for their collection? If you said "yes', then you are probably lying.

So, you end up with a set that features many amazing players, many good players and some mediocre players who happened to just have a good season the year before.

Interestingly enough, there's not one Toronto Maple Leaf player in this set. I guess none of them really had a good season, or at least good enough to be top five in any of the statistical categories. Just an observation - I don't meant to be hatin' on the Maple Leafs.

Card design
Nothing special as far as the design goes. The front of each card is as simple as you can get - a player photo that fades at the side and bottom, a large white border, the player name and the O-Pee-Chee logo. Baseball card collectors will recognize this design, as it is almost exactly like the design of similarly-themed Topps Leaders "mini card" set that was sold in 1986.

Photographically speaking, the set is the usual run-of-the mill "standing around" photos that we thought were cool until Upper Deck hit the scene a few years later. A few shots are game action; but most of the photos are from either face-offs or warm-ups.

Stats & info
The stats themselves are pretty good. Each card lists the player's name, team, position, height weight and "extended" stats from the 1986-87 season. I say extended stats because in addition to goals, assists, points and penalty minutes, we also get stats for plus/minus, power play goals, short-handed goals, game winning goals, game tying goals and shots. For goaltenders, stats featured are games played, minutes, goals-allowed average, wins, losses, ties, shutouts, goals allowed, saves and save percentage. They also have "EN" listed, which I am assuming means "Empty Net Goals". I'm not sure why that is kept track of on a goalie's card, since an empty net goal counts against the team but not the goalie's stats. Regardless, this extra bit of information is interesting. I ripped on Petri Skriko earlier, but learned from this card that he did have six shorthanded goals in '86-87.

Also prominently listed is the player's specific accomplishment(s) that merited them this card, whether it is winning an award, or placing within the top five of a statistical category such as goals, assists, points, hat tricks, playoff points, goals allowed average, and so forth.

But again with the pink backs! The full-size 1987-88 O-Pee-Chee card set had pink backs, and so do these leader cards, though it is a lighter shade of pink. The backs though are very easy to read, though, due to the blue ink that was used as well as the white (not light gray) card stock. The improved grade of card stock - along with the gloss on the front - really made these cards feel like premium quality for the late 1980s.


Final rating:

This is a good set. It is small, inexpensive and features some of the most amazing players to play the game. Keep in mind that a lot of these cards were printed, and are not that rare. I was able to get a full box of these for $15 in the early 1990s on a U.S. cable shopping network. The price of a complete set is not all that much ($5 to $10). As a side note, I have several extra sets of these cards (as well as singles), if anyone is interested.

BONUS: Top 5 Cards
Here are five cards of players who would dominate the era (1980s and 1990s), and would all end up in the Hockey Hall of Fame:

• 4 Ray Bourque - During the '86-87 season, Bourque was first in points by a defenseman, second in assists, fourth in plus/minus for defenseman, a First Team All-Star and the Norris Trophy Winner
• 13 Wayne Gretzky - During the '86-87 season, Gretzky was first overall in goals, assists and points; tied for second in hat tricks, first overall in playoff scoring, a First Team All-Star; and winner of the Hart Trophy and Art Ross Trophy
• 23 Mario Lemieux - In '86-87, Lemieux was tied for third in goals, tied for third in points, tied for third in power play goals, was first in hat tricks and a Second Team All-Star.
• 35 Luc Robitaille - "Lucky" Luc was first in rookie points, a Second Team All-Star, and winner of the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year during the '86-87 campaign.
• 36 Patrick Roy - In '86-87, Roy was second overall in goals against average. Yep, that's it. Remember, 1986 was just his second season, so this was just the tip of the iceberg as far as what Roy would end up accomplishing throughout his career.
  

Click photos to enlarge