1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Detroit Red Wings Team #97 Team Records Checklist Card

Description

1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Detroit Red Wings Team #97 Team Records Checklist Card Celebrate Hockeytown history with the 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Detroit Red Wings Team #97 card, a full roster team photo and records single from the popular red-bordered 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee set. The front captures the entire 1972-73 Detroit Red Wings squad lined up for the classic team pose with the vertical DETROIT RED WINGS banner running the side, while the reverse is packed with franchise lore under the Team and Player Records header. The card lists seven Stanley Cup championships for the Red Wings spanning the 1935-36 through 1954-55 dynasties, thirteen regular season championships, and the club record book, including Gordie Howe's record 103-point season of 1968-69 and 59 assists, and Mickey Redmond's then club mark of 52 goals in 1972-73, the height of the Dead Wings era just after Gordie Howe's departure. Team cards like this are perennial set-builder favorites because they document a single season's lineup in one affordable image, and the 1972-73 Red Wings featured names like Alex Delvecchio, Marcel Dionne, Gary Bergman, Nick Libett, and Mickey Redmond all in the same photograph, making it a mini snapshot of a transitional moment between the Howe dynasty and the rise of Dionne. The reverse is a Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back, printed in Canada with parallel English and French records text and the O-Pee-Chee copyright line, rather than a puzzle back, and this example is on the standard darker gray stock. Examining the scans closely, the card shows heavier rounding at the corners with a noticeable bump at the top-right, soft and slightly worn edges all around the red frame, some light surface soiling and a faint scuff near the lower right of the front, and centering that is reasonably balanced though the photo sits a touch high. The back displays mild edge wear and a few faint age specks but no writing or marking. Given the accumulated corner rounding, edge softness, and light soiling without any hard crease, a conservative raw grade of VG 3 fits this team card, as the large photo front and red border leave little room to hide handling wear. Grade Estimate: VG 3