Name: Johan Garpenlov – Rating: 55 – Career Games: 609 – Career Points: 311

Despite his 55 OVR rating in NHL 94, Johan Garpenlov was the epitome of clutch. I played countless games with San Jose back then, mostly because their jersey was a shark eating a hockey stick (how badass is that when you’re seven?) and Garpenlov, omitted from the top line, always seemed to shine when I turned on line changes. The Sharks, then, were led by Kelly Kisio (63 OVR) and the league’s next failed superstar Pat Falloon (61 OVR), but neither had the grit nor determination to crash the net and knock the goalie out in the process to score a goal. In those days, of course, those goals counted, at least in video games.

Garpenlov is now 46 years old, 14 years removed from his final NHL season in which he played for the Atlanta Thrashers. In ’94, he had just come off of a 53-point season and was part of a young Sharks core that also consisted of Ray Whitney, Falloon and Sandis Ozolinsh. Unfortunately, his point production went on a steady decline in the years that followed, but, overall, the Swede had a decent career. He was drafted in the fifth round in 1986 and, unsurprisingly, was the best player to come out of that round; also unsurprisingly, he was drafted by the Red Wings, who apparently had a habit of drafting sleeper Europeans well before Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg.

He was a part of the ’96 Florida Panthers team that went all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, and he also still holds the record for the fastest goal to start a game in Panthers history.

As evidenced by the card shown above, he also had a fantastic head of hair and could stretch with the best of them.

For those with a birthday coming up, here’s a must-purchase Johan Garpenlov 8×10 autographed photo courtesy of Wal Mart.

And here’s a beauty two-man advantage goal scored by Garpenlov with the Sharks. What surprises me most is that someone took the time to upload this.