1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Larry Cahan #307 Chicago Cougars WHA Veteran Rookie Card

Description

1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Larry Cahan #307 Chicago Cougars WHA Veteran Rookie Card Reel in one of the most coveted insert-adjacent names of the WHA's first year with this 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Larry Cahan #307 single trading card, a Canadian-exclusive issue from the only card set ever issued by O-Pee-Chee for the World Hockey Association. Cahan is a uniquely remarkable subject: a Stanley Cup-winning defenseman from his years alongside the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1966 and 1967, the kind of pedigree that adds a layer of glamour to his WHA entry—here, he is captured in his Chicago Cougars road whites, the jersey a striking combination of eggshell blank canvas overlaid with rich mustard-yellow and orange chevron sleeve stripes and a stylized Cougars leaping-stripe crest on the chest. Born in Shawville, Quebec, on May 27, 1937, Cahan was at the time of issue a battle-tested veteran at 35, which made his skill credential one of the WHA's most valuable transfer-from-NHL acquisitions. The saturating orange-red photo backdrop is part of what makes the 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee WHA cards so visually arresting, harkening back to a moment when the hobby had not yet demanded the conservative off-white backgrounds that have come to define later issues. The reverse is the canonical Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual card back, presenting Cahan's biography in parallel English and French columns, the orange and black title bar at top with the small Chicago Cougars franchise mark, and the trademark red italic "O-Pee-Chee" wordmark in the lower-left beside the "PRINTED IN CANADA" stamp. The "T. C. G." process credit appears bottom-centre — the printing house that pressed all the early OPC issues. front corners show mild softness at upper-left and lower-right with crisp tips at upper-right and lower-left. Centring has a slight bias to the right on the front; back has excellent bullseye centring. Edge wear is minimal—one micro-chip at the lower-middle and another at the upper-right, neither deep enough to break the cardstock. No creases, no wrinkles, no surface scratches, no gloss-flip damage visible. Gloss is intact and the laminated surface catches light evenly with no flaking. Conservative grade: EX-MT 6 to NR-MT 7. Grade Estimate: EX-MT 6