1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Los Angeles Kings #8 Team Logo Insert NHL

Description

1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Los Angeles Kings #8 Team Logo Insert NHL The 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Los Angeles Kings #8 Team Logo Insert NHL is a colourful survivor from the Forum blue and gold era, featuring the bold KINGS wordmark above an ornate royal crown. The shield-shaped design has the visual presence of a miniature pennant, and the die-cut emblem remains seated within the original rectangular card. That completeness is a major attraction because the insert was specifically designed to be pushed out, and many examples were separated or displayed. O-Pee-Chee included Team Logos in third-series 1972-73 wax packs, creating a 30-card checklist that documented the NHL alongside the newly launched WHA. The card bears no printed number, but #8 is the standard checklist reference used by collectors. Los Angeles joined the NHL in the 1967 expansion and brought major-league hockey to Southern California in purple, then commonly described as Forum blue, and gold. Owner Jack Kent Cooke placed the club in the new Forum, where the crown motif reinforced the Kings name and gave the franchise a distinctive West Coast identity. During the period represented by this card, goaltender Rogie Vachon was becoming the backbone of the team, while Butch Goring and Bob Berry helped lead the offence. The club’s later history added global stars and landmark moments, from Marcel Dionne and Wayne Gretzky to Stanley Cup championships in 2012 and 2014. This early crown insert connects those modern successes to the original expansion aesthetic. The Canadian-made card uses a shield-shaped push-out with a plain brown adhesive-style reverse. The back displays the intended cut outline and no player information. It is not a Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual statistical back and it is not a puzzle back. The front has attractive dark blue, bright yellow, green, and crown detail, with the four outer corners appearing mostly square and showing only light wear. The edges are generally clean, with minor fibre roughness and tiny isolated print flecks rather than broad chipping. The large blue shield shows a few small specks, and the cream field has faint age marks, but no obvious crease or substantial wrinkle is visible in either scan. The die-cut path and holding tabs are easy to see, yet the shield remains fully intact. The back has even brown toning, a clear complete cut line, and a couple of tiny incidental marks near the top. Centering is attractive from side to side, while the shield sits slightly high with more cream margin below its point. A conservative EX-MT 6 raw estimate recognizes the clean structure, vivid eye appeal, and lack of a visible crease while allowing for minor surface wear and the limits of sleeve photography. For Kings fans, this is a distinctive early logo piece with strong colour and an unbroken connection to the franchise’s beginnings. Grade Estimate: EX-MT 6