1972 O-Pee-Chee Rod Gilbert #229 1971-72 NHL All Star 1st Team Right Wing New York Rangers

Description

1972 O-Pee-Chee Rod Gilbert #229 1971-72 NHL All Star 1st Team Right Wing New York Rangers Rod Gilbert was the Rangers' answer to the modern power forward, and this 1972 O-Pee-Chee Rod Gilbert #229 commemorates the 1971-72 season in which the big right wing was named to the NHL First All-Star Team and starred in the All-Star Game itself. The front photo shows the Rangers in their white home sweaters battling for the puck along the boards, framed by the classic 1972 O-Pee-Chee tan border with the vertical 1971-72 NHL ALL STAR legend, the red ROD GILBERT name banner, and the white star badge reading 1st Team R. Wing. Gilbert's 1971-72 campaign was one of the best of his career. He tied Phil Esposito for the NHL lead in goals with 48, was a mainstay of the Rangers' physical forward group, and earned the Most Valuable Player award at the 30th NHL All-Star Game, helping the host Chicago Black Hawks win 4 to 2 at the Chicago Stadium in January 1972. The season represented the middle stretch of Gilbert's tenure with New York. He joined the Rangers for the 1965-66 season and played ten seasons with the club before moving on, and he was remembered as one of the toughest, most tenacious net-front players of his era, a player who made his living in the corners and in front of the net. As a first All-Star season card of a 1970s Rangers star, this 1972 O-Pee-Chee Rod Gilbert #229 is a key addition to 1972 O-Pee-Chee sets and a solid piece for Rangers team sets from the pre-expansion era. The reverse is the Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back, printed in Canada, and not a US puzzle back. It carries the O. P. C. copyright, the NHL ALL-STARS header with its French subtitle and the black star graphic, lists Gilbert as a Rangers Right Wing, and presents a bilingual statistics table of his scoring totals from his rookie 1965-66 season through the 1971-72 season, with every year credited to New York. the front shows light surface scuffing and a few minor handling marks, the corners are sharp with only slight roundness at the top right, the edges show light wear without significant edge chipping, the centering is acceptable for the era, and the back is clean with light age toning around the black star graphic and no noticeable printing defects. The grade is conservative because sleeve pressure in a binder can hide fine surface marks and vintage O-Pee-Chee paper is prone to corner softening. This is an authentic 1972 O-Pee-Chee Rod Gilbert #229, a valuable All-Star card for 1972 OPC collections and a strong pick for 1970s New York Rangers sets. Grade Estimate: EX 5