1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Bobby Lalonde #217 Rookie Card Vancouver Canucks

Description

1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Bobby Lalonde #217 Rookie Card Vancouver Canucks Big things come in small packages, and this 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Bobby Lalonde #217 Rookie Card Vancouver Canucks enthusiasts prize is proof, brought to you by Alex Collect. At 5-foot-5, Lalonde stands as one of the shortest players in modern NHL history — a fact his own card back cheerfully addresses, noting he "appears to have overcome some disadvantage of so many N. H. L. stars — too small." Overcome it he did: the Montreal-born centre carved out an eleven-season, 641-game NHL career with Vancouver, Atlanta, Boston and Calgary, proving night after night that skill, speed and heart could beat size. This is his authentic rookie card, picturing him hunched over his stick in the white Canucks sweater with the number 20 on his shoulder, framed by the set's unforgettable pink background and tan border. The reverse is the true Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back with side-by-side English and French text, a "Bobby faces the Big Guns" cartoon, and his early NHL career record — a bilingual biography back, printed in Canada, not a puzzle back. centering is shifted toward the upper left on the front, leaving a wider band of tan at the right where the sheet cut ran generously, and the right edge shows pronounced rough factory cutting with visible fibrous texture. The bottom border is present but cut closer than the top. Corners show light, honest wear — the lower right is the softest of the four — and there is mild border toning throughout. The surface retains good color with no creases, wrinkles or writing detected on front or back, and the bilingual reverse is clean and problem-free. Given the centering shift and edge roughness, we grade this conservatively as EX 5; a stricter grader might argue VG-EX on centering alone, so we price accordingly rather than gamble your money on optimism. For collectors of hockey's great underdog stories, Canucks originals, or the classic 1972-73 OPC set, this is a character-rich rookie at an honest price. Cards celebrating players like Lalonde remind us why vintage O-Pee-Chee remains the most charming issue in hockey — grab this piece of little-big-man history today. Grade Estimate: EX 5