2007-08 Tampa Bay Lightning Vaclav Prospal Jersey

Born on this date in 1975 in Ceske Budejovice, Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Prospal came of age during the right era, as in December of 1989 when Prospal was 14 years old, the Velvet Revolution took place in Czechoslovakia, which saw the end of communist rule, which, among other changes, allowed hockey players the freedom to come to North America to seek their fame and fortune. Three years later, the country divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

After playing two seasons for Motor Ceske Budejovice in the Czech junior leagues, highlighted by his 1992-93 season of 26 goals and 57 points in 32 games, and representing the Czech Republic at the 1993 European Junior Championships with 4 goals and 11 points in 6 games, Pospal was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft.

Prospal wasted no time in coming to North America and was assigned by the Flyers to the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League to continue his development. He played three seasons for Hershey from 1993-94 to 1995-96. While his goal numbers were consistent (14, 13, 15), his point totals increased each season as his playmaking improved, going from 35 points to 45 and then 51.

Prospal played three seasons with Hershey

During his time in Hershey, Prospal was allowed to leave the club to participate in both the 1994 and 1995 World Junior Championships

He would play the majority of the 1996-97 season with the Flyers new AHL affiliate, the Philadelphia Phantoms where his offensive game took a major step forward, as he cut loose for 32 goals and 95 points in 63 games. This led to a call up by the Flyers to make his NHL debut and he saw action in 18 games that season, scoring his first 5 goals on his way to 15 points.

"Vinny" would make the Philadelphia roster out of training camp in 1997-98 and struggled with just 5 goals and 18 points in 41 games after suffering a fractured arm during the playoffs the previous season when he collided with a teammate during practice.

Prospal broke into the NHL with the Flyers

while wearing jersey #45

He was then traded to the Ottawa Senators in January of 1998 with Pat Falloon and a 2nd round draft pick for the Senators Alexandre Daigle. Prospal played the final 15 games of the season with a goal and 7 points. In 1998-99, he improved to 10 goals and then more than doubled that to 22 in 1999-00, which combined with 22 assists, gave him 55 points on the year.

The only Canadian team Prospal played for was Ottawa

Having raised his game that year, Prospal was named to the Czech Republic squad for his first ever World Championships at the senior level. The Czechs beat Norway, Japan and then Canada to win Group 3 and then hammered Italy, lost to Finland and rebounded to beat Slovakia in the Second Round. In the playoffs, the Czechs beat Latvia 3-1 and defeated Canada for a second time 2-1 to advance to the final, where they prevailed over rivals Slovakia for the second time 5-3 to earn Prospal a gold medal. During the tournament, he contributed 3 goals and 7 points in 9 games.

He returned to Ottawa for the 2000-01 season, but again had trouble finding the net, with a lone goal and 13 points in 40 games. The Senators then dealt him to the Florida Panthers for the second half of the season, where he fared little better, with just 4 goals and 16 points in 34 games.

Prospal had a brief stint with Florida

The Panthers then sent Prospal across Florida in a trade to the Tampa Bay Lightning for the 2001-02 season. His offense benefited from the move, scoring 18 goals and 55 points in 2001-02 before a leap up to 79 points in 2002-03 from 22 goals and 57 assists.

Prospal's game benefited from his trade to Tampa Bay

For the 2003-04 season, Prospal signed as a free agent with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, playing in all 82 games and scoring 19 goals and 54 points. With the Mighty Ducks out of the playoffs, he was free to participate in the 2004 World Championships for the Czechs scoring 7 points in 7 games.

Prospal spent one season with Anaheim

That summer, Prospal was traded back to the Lightning in August, but before he could play for Tampa Bay again, he first played for the Czechs again at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. Following that tournament, the NHL owners locked out the players and the season was eventually cancelled. Like many European players, Prospal returned home and played for HC Ceske Budejovice in the Czech second division, racking up 28 goals and 88 points in just 39 games as they blitzed the league with a 44-6-0-1-1 record before winning the league playoffs.

Prospal during the 2004 World Cup of Hockey

He finished the unusual 2004-05 hockey season with a second consecutive appearance at the World Championships with 8 points in 9 games as the team won Group D with wins over Switzerland, Germany and Kazakhstan (allowing just one goal in the process) and then added a win over Slovakia before dropping a 2-1 decision to Russia and rebounding a with a 5-1 win over Belarus in the Qualifying Round. In the playoffs, the Czechs defeated the United States 3-2 and then Sweden by the same score before shutting out Canada 3-0 in the final with Prospal scoring the game winning goal for the second World Championship gold medal of his career.

An exuberant Prospal lifts the World Championship trophy

With the NHL back in action for the 2005-06 season, Prospal responded by setting a career high with 80 points from 25 goals and 55 assists. During that season he also made the only Olympic appearance of his career, earning a bronze medal at the 2006 Games in Italy while contributing 4 goals and 6 points in 8 games.

Prospal had a career high with 80 points in 2005-06

After a 55 point season for Tampa Bay in 2006-07, Prospal played in 62 games of the 2007-08 season (surpassing his 2006-07 point total by two in 20 less games) before he was traded back to his original club, the Flyers for the remainder of the season, scoring 14 points in 18 games.

Prospal wore #40 during his second time in Philadelphia

Hard to believe, but the Flyers then traded Prospal to... the Lightning for his third stint with Tampa Bay! He played in all 82 games, scoring 18 goals and 45 points.

Prospal played six seasons in Tampa Bay

divided over three tours of duty with the club

For the 2009-10 season, Prospal was on the move once again, only this time to a team new to him, the New York Rangers. He recorded his fifth and final 20 goal season with exactly 20 on his way to 58 points. He returned to New York to begin the 2010-11 season, but was limited to just 29 games and 23 points due to having knee surgery.

Prospal celebrates with Ryan Callahan

He was signed by the Columbus Blue Jackets for the 2011-12 season, where he had a 55 point season which included Prospal playing in his 1,000th NHL game.

Vincent Lecavalier presents Prospal with a framed jersey

on the occasion of his 1,000th NHL game

For 2012-13, the NHL season was again interrupted by labor issues, and Prospal returned to HC Ceske Budejovice. In 19 games, he scored 23 points until the NHL season began in January and Prospal returned to the Blue Jackets for 48 games. He scored 12 goals and 30 points in what would be the final games of his career.

Prospal returned to HC Ceske Budejovice in 2012

Prospal would retire with 1,108 games played with 255 goals and 510 assists with 765 points over 16 seasons. Additionally, he would win an Olympic bronze medal and two World Championship gold medals.

Today's featured jersey is a 2007-08 Tampa Bay Lightning Vaclav Prospal jersey as worn during his second of three stints he spent with the Lightning.

This jersey was first worn in 2007-08 when Reebok introduced their new Edge jersey system to much fanfare. Tampa Bay wore this style for four seasons until the look of the franchise underwent a complete makeover with a new version of their logo and new jerseys as well.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1996-97 Philadelphia Phantoms Vaclav Prospal jersey as worn during his final season in the minors before becoming a full time NHLer later that season.

The Phantoms were formed in 1996 and were the fourth AHL team based in Philadelphia and the first since 1979. When the Flyers moved to the new CoreStates Center the decision was made to keep their original home, The Spectrum, open, but that would require a new tenant to fill the dates vacated by not only the loss of the Flyers, but also the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA.

Thus, the Flyers purchased an AHL franchise to play in the The Spectrum and become their primary AHL affiliate, ending the Flyers 12 season long agreement with the Hershey Bears.

The Phantoms were an immediate success, finishing first in the Mid-Atlantic Division their first three seasons, which included winning the Calder Cup as AHL champions during their second season of play in 1997-98. They won a second Calder Cup in 2004. Eventually, The Spectrum was slated for demolition and the Phantoms played their final season in 2008-09 before the franchise was sold and relocated.

Extra bonus jersey: Today's extra bonus jersey is a 1998-99 Ottawa Senators Vaclav Prospal jersey as worn during his first full season with the Senators.

The Senators first jerseys from their formation in 1992-93 did not have any white stripes for their first three seasons. In 1995-96, the white was added in between the red sleeve stripes, while the red waist stripe was moved to the bottom of the jersey and a white stripe added in its place. Two seasons later in 1997-98, the white sleeve numbers were changed to black for greater visibility.

The original Senators black jersey, through its evolutions, was used for seven seasons through the 1998-99 season until it was replaced by the team's red third jersey.

Extra extra bonus jersey: Today's extra extra bonus jersey is a 2011-12 Columbus Blue Jackets Vaclav Prospal jersey. The Blue Jackets introduced this radical alternate jersey for the 2010-11 season, which bore no resemblance to the teams home and road jerseys save for the use of the color blue for the body. It introduced a new primary logo and did not incorporate any of the logos from any of the team's other jerseys. It also used a new shade of blue and cream, as well as a new font for the numbers while doing away with the use of any red. This jersey remains in use today.

Prospal started his career with Philadelphia wearing #45 and then wore #13 with both Ottawa and Florida, the same number he wore in the minors with Hershey and the Phantoms, before taking #20 with Tampa Bay. He then wore #40 with Anaheim before returning to #20 when he went back to the Lightning for the second time. His return to the Flyers saw him wear #40, which he kept for his third time with Tampa Bay. It was back to #20 while with the Rangers and he wore #22 to finish his career in Columbus, the fifth jersey number of his career!

In today's video section, first, some highlights of goals scored by Prospal while with Tampa Bay.

Next, Prospal, annoyed b a deomtion down to the fourth line so Brad Richards was promoted to the first line in an effort to increase his scoring, tells it like it is after a game in a most candid interview.

Finally, in this highlight, Prospal scores a nifty backhand goal against the Detroit Red Wings.

Columbus Day - 2005-06 Columbus Blue Jackets Rick Nash Jersey

Christopher Columbus left on his first voyage of exploration seeking a westerly route to southeast Asia on August 3, 1492 from Spain with three ships, the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, on a voyage which would first take him to the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa for supplies and repairs. This was followed by a five week voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, arriving in what is now The Bahamas near Florida and Cuba on October 12, 1492. In the United States, Columbus Day is now celebrated on the second Monday in October.

Christopher Columbus

Columbus continued to explore the region through the middle of January before returning to first Portugal and then Spain, having believed he had been in the East Indies off of southeast Asia the entire time, having both underestimated the size of the Earth and overestimated the size of Asia, partly due to different systems of measurement in use during his time, despite scholars having calculated the size of Earth as far back as 300 BC, 1800 years earlier,

The world as it was known in the time of Columbus.

The land mass in the lower left is Antarctica.

He returned to colonize the region during his second voyage in late 1493, still believing that Cuba was a peninsula of the Asian continent, and made his third trip in 1498, which included his first stop on the mainland of South America. His fourth and final voyage took place in 1502, which included extensive exploration of the east coast of southern Central America. With his ships battered by storms and attacks by the natives, Columbus and his men were eventually stranded on Jamaica for a year before aid eventually arrive. He and his crew were finally able to return to Spain where he died on May 20, 1506 at the estimated age of 54.

While the North and South American continents were eventually named after Italian Amerigo Vespucci, Columbus was honored as a founding figure of the New World and many places were named either "Columbia" or "Columbus" in his honor following the American Revolution in the 1770's, including the District of Columbia, Columbia, the capital city of South Carolina, and the capital of Ohio, Columbus, which is now home to the Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL.

Columbus Day became a federal holiday in the United States in 1937 in part due to the efforts of the fraternal organization the Knights of Columbus, although Columbus' arrival has been celebrated dating back to colonial times. It's particularly popular among Italian-Americans who see it as a celebration of their heritage, which dates back to 1866 in New York City.

The New York City Columbus Day Parade

In recent times, opposition has arisen to Columbus Day, as Columbus has come under not only criticism for his treatment of the indigenous people he personally encountered, but also due to his becoming symbolic of the devastating diseases brought to the New World by the Europeans and the treatment and genocide of the local populations by the Europeans who colonized the American continents following his arrival, despite Columbus never having stepped foot on the North American mainland.

The Columbus NHL franchise, founded in 2000, selected the name "Blue Jackets", a nickname for the Union soldiers in the Civil War, to honor the contributions made by the state of Ohio during the war, which included Ohio contributing more of it's population to the Union Army than any other state and the fact that many of the Union uniforms were manufactured in Columbus.

Life for the Blue Jackets in the NHL has been a rough go, as they finished last in the Central Division in each of it's first three seasons and averaging only 69 points in it's first seven seasons, missing the playoffs each time out.

After a 92 point season in 2008-09, the Blue Jackets made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, only to be swept in four games by the Detroit Red Wings. That glimmer of hope was subsequently dashed as the franchise sank back to the depths of last place with 65 points in 2011-12, which was then followed by losing the draft lottery and missing out on the first overall pick in 2012.

They narrowly missed the playoffs in the lockout shortened 2012-13 season and set a franchise record with 93 points in 2013-14 after going 43-32-0-5. They drew the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round and won their first playoff game in franchise history when they won Game 2 in overtime 4-3 on the road. They also won Game 4 at home by the same score of 4-3, again in overtime but lost the series in six games.

In 2014-15 they nearly duplicated their record, going 42-35-3-2, but the drop to 89 points left them well short of the 97 needed to make the postseason. Last year the Blue Jackets fell to 76 points and missed the playoffs for the 13th time in their 15th years.

The franchise's all-time leading scorer by far is Rick Nash, who arrived in time for the 2002-03 season after being drafted #1 overall in the 2002 Entry Draft. His 547 points are currently 230 more than David Vyborny and 347 more than third place R. J. Umberger's 200! Nash tied for the league lead in goals with 41 during the 2003-04 season, earning a share of the Rocket Richard Trophy. Goaltender Steve Mason earned the Calder Memorial Trophy for his stellar debut season in 2008-09. Sergei Bobrovsky won the third major NHL award for the franchise when he took home the Vezina Trophy in 2012-13 as the league's top goaltender.

The former face of the Blue Jackets franchise, Rick Nash

Today's featured jersey is a 2005-06 Columbus Blue Jackets Rick Nash jersey. This very well received alternate jersey was worn by the franchise all time leading scorer for three seasons from 2003-04 to 2006-07 (the 2004-05 NHL season was not played due to labor issues), only being discontinued due to the change to the new Reebok Edge jerseys the following season, which led to a suspension of all third jerseys for 2007-08.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 2000-01 Columbus Blue Jackets Lyle Odelein jersey. It features the Blue Jackets Inaugural Season patch, as well as one of our custom made Hockey Fights Cancer patches. Odelein was selected by the Blue Jackets in the 2000 expansion draft and later named the first captain of the franchise.

The Hockey Fights Cancer patch was first worn by the captain of each team for one game only in January of 2001. The patches from 2001 do not carry the date, as they did in the subsequent three years of the program. Each specially patched game worn jersey would then be auctioned off for charity as part of the festivities at that year's NHL All-Star Game to raise money for cancer research.

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Today's video section begins with highlights of the Columbus Blue Jackets in action.

2006-07 Columbus Blue Jackets Dan Fritsche Jersey

Dan Fritsche was born in the Cleveland suburb of Parma, Ohio in 1985 and played junior hockey with the Cleveland Jr. Barons of the NAHL in 2000-01. From there he moved to the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League in Canadian Junior hockey.

Fritsche played 61 games with Sarnia in 2002-03, scoring 32 goals and 71 points in 61 games which led to the Ohioan being drafted 46th overall in the second round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Fritsche with the Sarnia Sting

He generated quite a number of game worn jerseys in 2003-04 by first earning a roster spot in training camp with the Blue Jackets. He played in 19 games, which included scoring his first NHL goal on this date in 2003, making him the first Ohio native to score a goal for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

At Christmas time, Fritsche joined Team USA at the World Junior Championships in Helsinki, Finland where he score four points in six games as the United States captured the gold medal over Canada 4-3 in the final.

At the conclusion of the World Juniors, Fritsche was returned to Sarnia by the Blue Jackets, where he woudl score 29 points in 27 games. Once Sarnia's season concluded, Fritsche joined the Blue Jackets top minor league club, the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL for the final four regular season games plus four additional playoff games.

With the 2004-05 lockout taking away the NHL season, Fritsche returned to Sarnia once more, but was traded to the London Knights. He scored 35 points in 28 regular season games for the high powered Knights, who finished the regular season with a dominant 59-7-2 record. London blitzed the OHL in the playoffs and Fritsche contributed 22 points in 17 playoff games, fourth on the club, as they captured the 2005 Memorial Cup.

Drew Larman, Robbie Schremp, and Dan Fritsche celebrate the London Knights Memorial Cup championship in 2005

With the NHL back in business for 2005-06, Fritsche split time with Syracuse (19 games) and Columbus, where he played in 59 games and scored six goals and 13 points. He would stick with the Blue Jackets for the next two seasons, with his best being 2006-07 when he scored 12 goals and 27 points while seeing action in 59 games.

Following the 2007-08 season, Fritsche was included in a trade along with Nikolai Zherdev to the New York Rangers. He found little ice time waiting for him in New York and got into only 16 games with the Rangers by late January prior to being traded to the Minnesota Wild, where he played in 34 games and scored nine points.

He became a free agent at the conclusion of the season and signed with the Blue Jackets organization, once more returning to Syracuse where he played 67 games with the Crunch, scoring 42 points, good for second on the team.

Fritsche during his return to Syracuse in 2009-10

At the start of the 2010-11 season, Fritsche followed the footsteps of his uncle John Fritsche, and played in Switzerland for Geneve Servette in the Swiss National League A.

Fritsche wearing the colors of Geneve Servette

Through the end of last season, Fritsche remains the highest scoring Ohio native in Blue Jackets history, with 63 points in 206 games, 22nd overall in the nine seasons of the club. Other Ohioans to have skated for the Blue Jackets are Brett Harkins (from North Ridgeville, 14 points in 25 games in 2001-02), Mike Rupp (Cleveland, 6 pts in 39 games in 2005-06), Brian Holzinger (Parma, 1 point in 13 games in 2003-04) and Ben Simon (Shaker Heights, no points in 13 games in 2005-06).

Today's featured jersey is a 2006-07 Columbus Blue Jackets Dan Fritsche jersey. The Blue Jackets original jerseys featured cartoonish secondary logo of the head of their team mascot "Stinger". Their jerseys were originally made by CCM/Koho and were adorned with the Blue Jackets Inaugural Season patch.

For 2003-04, an alternate jersey was introduced with a new main logo and Stinger was replaced on the shoulders of the home and road jerseys with the new alternate jersey logo on the left shoulder and a Civil War cap on the right.

Coming out of the lockout, the jerseys remained the same, but were now branded as Reebok for two seasons before the league-wide wholesale change to the Edge jerseys beginning in 2007.

Today's video segment is Fritsche scoring on a breakaway during a delayed penalty call while with the Minnesota Wild.

2000-01 Columbus Blue Jackets Lyle Odelein Jersey

Christopher Columbus left on his first voyage of exploration seeking a westerly route to southeast Asia on August 3, 1492 from Spain with three ships, the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, on a voyage which would first take him to the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa for supplies and repairs. This was followed by a five week voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, arriving in what is now The Bahamas near Florida and Cuba on October 12, 1492. In the United States, Columbus Day is now celebrated on the second Monday in October.

Christopher Columbus

Columbus continued to explore the region through the middle of January before returning to first Portugal and then Spain, having believed he had been in the East Indies off of southeast Asia the entire time, having both underestimated the size of the Earth and overestimated the size of Asia, partly due to different systems of measurement in use during his time, despite scholars having calculated the size of Earth as far back as 300 BC, 1800 years earlier,

The world as it was known in the time of Columbus.

The land mass in the lower left is Antarctica.

He returned to colonize the region during his second voyage in late 1493, still believing that Cuba was a peninsula of the Asian continent, and made his third trip in 1498, which included his first stop on the mainland of South America. His fourth and final voyage took place in 1502, which included extensive exploration of the east coast of southern Central America. With his ships battered by storms and attacks by the natives, Columbus and his men were eventually stranded on Jamaica for a year before aid eventually arrive. He and his crew were finally able to return to Spain where he died on May 20, 1506 at the estimated age of 54.

While the North and South American continents were eventually named after Italian Amerigo Vespucci, Columbus was honored as a founding figure of the New World and many places were named either "Columbia" or "Columbus" in his honor following the American Revolution in the 1770's, including the District of Columbia, Columbia, the capital city of South Carolina, and the capital of Ohio, Columbus, which is now home to the Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL.

Columbus Day became a federal holiday in the United States in 1937 in part due to the efforts of the fraternal organization the Knights of Columbus, although Columbus' arrival has been celebrated back to colonial times. It's particularly popular among Italian-Americans who see it as a celebration of their heritage, which dates back to 1866 in New York City.

The New York City Columbus Day Parade

In recent times, opposition has arisen to Columbus Day, as Columbus has come under not only criticism for his treatment of the indigenous people he personally encountered, but also due to his becoming symbolic of the devastating diseases brought to the New World by the Europeans and the treatment and genocide of the local populations by the Europeans who colonized the American continents following his arrival, despite Columbus never having stepped foot on the North American mainland.

The Columbus NHL franchise, founded in 2000, selected the name "Blue Jackets", a nickname for the Union soldiers in the Civil War, to honor the contributions made by the state of Ohio during the war, which included Ohio contributing more of it's population to the Union Army than any other state and the fact that many of the Union uniforms were manufactured in Columbus.

Life for the Blue Jackets in the NHL has been a rough go, as they finished last in the Central Division in each of it's first three seasons and averaging only 69 points in it's first seven seasons, missing the playoffs each time out.

After a 92 point season in 2008-09, the Blue Jackets made the playoffs for the only time in franchise history, only to be swept in four games by the Detroit Red Wings. That glimmer of hope was subsequently dashed as the franchise sank back to the depths of last place with 65 points in 2011-12, which was then followed by losing the draft lottery and missing out on the first overall pick in 2012.

The franchise's all-time leading scorer by far is Rick Nash, who arrived in time for the 2002-03 season after being drafted #1 overall in the 2002 Entry Draft. His 547 points are currently 230 more than David Vyborny and 349 more than third place R. J. Umberger's 198! Nash tied for the league lead in goals with 41 during the 2003-04 season, earning a share of the Rocket Richard Trophy. Goaltender Steve Mason earned the Calder Memorial Trophy for his stellar debut season in 2008-09.

The former face of the Blue Jackets franchise, Rick Nash

Today's featured jersey is a 2000-01 Columbus Blue Jackets Lyle Odelein jersey. It features the Blue Jackets Inaugural Season patch, as well as one of our custom made Hockey Fights Cancer patches. Odelein was selected by the Blue Jackets in the 2000 expansion draft and later named the first captain of the franchise.

The Hockey Fights Cancer patch was first worn by the captain of each team for one game only in January of 2001. The patches from 2001 do not carry the date, as they did in the subsequent three years of the program. Each specially patched game worn jersey would then be auctioned off for charity as part of the festivities at that year's NHL All-Star Game to raise money for cancer research.

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Today's video section begins with highlights of the Columbus Blue Jackets in action.

Next up, the basics of the Christopher Columbus story as told by a real cool hep-cat.

1997-98 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Espen Knutsen Jersey

On this date in 1997, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Vancouver Canucks played the first ever regular season game outside North America when they faced off at the Yoyogi Arena in Tokyo, Japan.

It was also the NHL debut for Espen Knutsen, only the third, and still the highest scoring player ever born and trained in Norway.

He began his rise to the NHL back in 1988-89 while playing junior hockey in his native Norway. It was during that season that he made his international debut for Norway with appearances in both the European Junior Championships (scoring 8 goals and 12 points in only 5 games) and the World Junior Championships.

The following season of 1989-90 Knutsen moved up to the Oslo based Vålerenga IF senior team of the Norwegian Eliteserien. His debut season was a spectacular one, scoring 53 points in 40 games from 25 goals and 28 assists. During that season another pair of international appearances were added to his growing resume, scoring 17 points in 6 games at the European Juniors and 9 points in 7 games at the World Junior Championships.

1990-91 saw Knutsen top himself with 54 regular season points, coming in just 31 games, during which he scored 30 goals. He also made his third appearance at the World Juniors that season. During the postseason, he added 7 more points in 5 games as Vålerenga captured the championship.

The 1991-92 season was Knutsen equal his 54 points from the previous campaign, only this time in one less game at 30. He followed that with an outstanding playoff, with 7 goals and 15 points in 8 games as Vålerenga captured back-to-back titles.

Injuries limited him to just 13 games in 1992-93, but he rebounded in 1993-94 with a vengeance, setting a career highs with 32 goals and 58 points, this coming in 38 contests. His international career continued to reach new levels as he was chosen to represent Norway at the 1994 Olympics on home soil in Lillehammer. Later that spring, he made his debut at the World Championships and was eventually named 1994 Norwegian Player of the Year.

Seeking a higher level of competition, Knutsen moved to Djurgardens IF in Sweden's Elitserien for the next three seasons, increasing his point totals from 20 to 33 and then 49. He would also compete for Norway at the World Championships in each of those three years as well.

Despite having been drafted by the Hartford Whalers as far back as 1990, he had remained in Europe the entire time, but with his rights now being held by the Mighty Ducks, he made the jump to North America, where he made his NHL debut at the season opener in Japan. He played 19 games with the Mighty Ducks, scoring 3 goals, but spent the majority of his season with the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks of the American Hockey League after the physical play of the NHL took it's toll on the 168 pound European.

He returned to Djurgardens for the next two seasons, including 1999-00 when he led the club in scoring, finished second in the league scoring race and was the highest paid player in the country.

He was recruited by the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL and returned to North America for a second go. This time things went much better for Knutsen, as he scored 53 points in 66 games, finishing just 3 back of team leader Geoff Sanderson.

While his point totals dropped to 42 in 2001-02, he became the first Norwegian to appear in the NHL All-Star Game when he was added to the World Team as an injury replacement.

After the 2002-03 season, during which he was limited to just 31 games by injuries, he scored 9 points for Norway at the World Championships Division I level in what would be his final international appearance.

Injuries again derailed his 2003-04 season, which was one of turmoil for Knutsen. Early in the season, after just 14 games with Columbus, he was assigned to their top minor league affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. After just two games he left North America and returned to Vålerenga in Norway for one game followed by six games back with Djurgardens in Stockholm.

His final NHL totals were 207 games played, 30 goals and 81 assists for 111 points.

He wrapped up his career in 2004-05 with 15 games in Djurgardens before calling it a career as a player before beginning anew in the world of coaching, where he is now the head coach for his original club, Vålerenga.

Today's featured jersey is a 1997-98 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Espen Knutsen jersey as worn on the occasion of his NHL debut for the Mighty Ducks season opening game held in Japan, commemorated by the Game ONe '97 patch worn on the upper right chest of this jersey.

This jersey style certainly raised eyebrows on it's debut in 1993, as only fellow Californians the San Jose Sharks with their teal jerseys debuted two years earlier had ever dared wear such unconventional colors as jade and eggplant in a league filled with blues, reds and blacks with only the occasional appearances of such outlandish colors as green, orange and yellow.

Also quite unusual at the time was the decision to actually use something so bold as a diagonal stripe across the body, but what really had people up in arms was owners Disney naming the team after their recent film "The Mighty Ducks" and choosing by far the most cartoonish, juvenile logo in league history.

All together, the complete package had purists up in arms, many of which never embraced the look even after 11 seasons of use.

Bonus Jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 2000-01 Columbus Blue Jackets Espen Knutsen jersey as worn during Knutsen's return to North America for the Blue Jackets inaugural season, which is also commemorated by a patch on the upper right chest.

The Blue Jackets original jerseys were a generally classy style, aside from the head of their cartoon mascot "Stinger" as a secondary shoulder patch, which remained on the shoulders until the Blue Jackets debuted a new alternate jersey in 2003 which saw a brand new logo design for the main crest. In a move to make their brand consistent across all three of their jerseys, the new alternate jersey logo was then used on one shoulder of the home and road jerseys, with a new secondary logo of a Civil War solider's cap on the opposite side, completing the retirement of "Stinger" and upgrading the jerseys look considerably.

Today's video segment begins with Knutsen royally embarrassing himself by participating in the making of a music video, which is coming back to haunt him years later.

This next video is from Knutsen returning to Columbus following his playing career on the Blue Jackets Alumni Night as part of their 10th anniversary.