When hockey fans of a certain age think back 40 years, they are transported to a time where the New York Islanders dominated and the Edmonton Oilers were poised for greatness. With those two clubs squaring off in the Stanley Cup Final, it seemed like destiny and while the club from Long Island prevailed to make it four straight championships, the future seemed to belong to Wayne Gretzky and his peers. This spirit was captured perfectly with the release of 1983-84 O-Pee-Chee – a set that deserves another look from the hobby.
As hockey collectors in the United States went a second straight year without a card set from Topps that season, creative control was essentially left to O-Pee-Chee and the end result is better than you might remember. Soon after the annual hockey sticker album hit Canadian and American store shelves, kids north of the border spotted boxes featuring Peter Stastny of the Quebec Nordiques and plunked down their quarters to see what was inside packs.
Made up of 396 cards for the 10th straight season, 1983-84 O-Pee-Chee features all 21 NHL teams from that era. Naturally, there was more emphasis on the seven Canadian-based clubs and more popular ones out of the United States. Each team set starts with a Team Leader card depicting a club’s top goal producer from the previous campaign and then a Team Highlight focusing on a memorable moment from 1982-83.
The sequence for the teams is a bit different than the alphabetical nature of the previous two O-Pee-Chee sets and the Islanders and Oilers come first and then everyone else follows from Boston to Winnipeg with subset and checklist cards in the mix as well. The design is slightly disjointed due to the hockey stick blade with the player’s name being left open at the top, but team colors and logos are used perfectly. Player photos are a mix of closeups and full-length shots taken during game action and warmups that took place primarily in Washington or Boston.
Arguably, the best of the Team Highlight cards depicts Gretzky together with Mark Messier, but set’s second card features Islanders captain Denis Potvin hoisting Lord Stanley’s Mug. The trophy itself had not made an appearance in an O-Pee-Chee or Topps hockey card set since 1978-79.
Other great moments include Pete Peeters’ 31-game winning streak for the Bruins, Lanny McDonald’s 66-goal season for Calgary, Marcel Dionne’s 500th career goal, and Darryl Sittler’s 1,000th point.
There is a neat quirk found with some of the Calgary Flames cards as they feature photos that were taken in a practice. McDonald, Ed Beers, Jim Jackson, Rejean Lemelin, and Jim Peplinski all have Molson beer sponsorship on the jerseys – something we would not see on game-worn NHL sweaters for another four decades.
Rookie Card Bonanza
With over 70 rookie cards, 1983-84 O-Pee-Chee delivers a solid mix which has everything from Hall of Famers to forgotten names that had a cup of coffee in the NHL. Naturally, the most in-demand are for legends such as Scott Stevens, Phil Housley, and Guy Carbonneau – but there are some others that were huge during this era and into the boom years for the hobby.
A casual examination of the checklist gives us debut cardboard for 1,000-point club members like Bernie Nicholls, Brian Bellows, and Steve Larmer. On top of that, we get plenty of future Stanley Cup champions like the Montreal Canadiens trio of Chris Nilan, Craig Ludwig, and 100-point man Mats Naslund along with Edmonton Oilers role players such as Randy Gregg, Don Jackson, Jaroslav Pouzar, and Charlie Huddy that went on to capture a title that season.
For fans of the Los Angeles Kings, we get the only vintage card of Darryl Evans. A longtime announcer for the team, his rookie card came more than a year after he scored one of the most important goals in franchise history – in a game known as the Miracle on Manchester. On April 13, 1982, the Kings were down 2-0 in a best-of-five series with the Edmonton Oilers and all looked grim as they were down 5-0 after two periods. Los Angeles stormed back and forced overtime. At the 2:35 mark, Evans potted his fourth of the series and the team went on two win the next two outings to complete the upset. Since Evans only had a few games under his belt before sealing his place in hockey history, he had to wait for his first and only card.
Other rookie cards of interest that could be found in packs at the time were 1982 first overall draft pick Gord Kluzak, Mike Krushelnyski, Murray Craven, 1983 NHL All-Star Game participant Hector Marini, Mark Taylor (grandson of early hockey legend Cyclone Taylor), future broadcaster Randy Moller, current Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill, Patrik Sundstrom, Jiri Bubla, Tony Tanti, and Brian Mullen.
Goalies are part of the mix, too, as we get 80s mainstays like Rollie Melanson, Al Jensen, and Bob Froese who had decent careers, but the cream of crop is marked with tragedy as we get the rookie card of Pelle Lindbergh.
After a solid freshman season in 1982-83 where he made an appearance at the NHL All-Star Game and was named to the league’s first-ever All-Rookie Team, he experienced some struggles following a rookie hazing incident that set back his progress. By 1984-85, he was back to form with a 40-win campaign, Vezina Trophy, and trip to the Stanley Cup Final against the Oilers. Sadly, he passed away following an auto accident in November, 1985. Sports Collectors Daily readers may also remember a recent story a through-the-mail autograph experience regarding Kings goaltender Gary Laskoski and his only major trading card comes in this set.
Collectors may also be familiar with the most notable photo switches in hockey card history that comes courtesy of 1983-84 O-Pee-Chee. Chicago Blackhawks teammates Steve Ludzik and the previously mentioned Larmer saw the other player’s image on their rookie cards and it was almost natural as the pair had been teammates in the minors and the two friends have seen the story shared many times over the years. Larmer, who won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year in 1982-83 and had one of the longest consecutive runs of games played in hockey history, is considered by many to be a solid candidate for enshrinement in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
For all the rookie content, there are also a few legends appearing in a major trading card release for the last time during their playing days. Hall of Famers Tony Esposito and Bobby Clarke bid farewell, but it is also the end of the road for notable 1970s holdovers Jim Schoenfeld, Guy Chouinard, Willi Plett, Robbie Ftorek, and Marc Tardif.
Subsets Galore
Near the mid-point of the set are a trio of subsets which pack plenty of star power. Well, most of that star power is courtesy of Gretzky. First up are 1982-83’s Trophy Winners where we get a pair of Gretzky cards along with Larmer, McDonald, Peeters, Rod Langway, and Mike Bossy. After those, we are treated to five Record Breakers (Gretzky, Bossy, Dionne, Rick Middleton, and Pat Hughes).
League Leaders close off this section of the set and we get multiple cards for Gretzky and Peeters, among others. The Penalty Minute Leaders card of Washington Capitals enforcer Randy Holt is intriguing since he does not appear as a standard player card in 1983-84 O-Pee-Chee and he had not been part of the previous year’s collection. There are also three checklists in the set which have fronts that are a bit difficult to read due to the red background.
Ugly Airbrushing and Cooperalls
Like sets before and after it, 1983-84 O-Pee-Chee is not immune to some nasty-looking cards that were quickly dashed off by an overwhelmed airbrush artist. With trades coming before the season began, the company wanted to be as up to date as possible. The end result brought the hobby an infamous card of New Jersey Devils pickup Mel Bridgman and doozies from a trade between the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings that involved Ron Duguay, Ed Mio, Mark Osborne, Willie Huber, and Mike Blaisdell.
One of the most compelling is for Ken Solheim as the raw photo had him with Minnesota and airbrushed to Detroit thanks to a late-season trade. The only problem here is that he was soon sent back to the North Stars. So what did O-Pee-Chee do? They decided to use the airbrush and gave him the “Now with Minnesota” text overlay.
On top of that nastiness, we are treated to several Philadelphia Flyers and Hartford Whalers in long hockey pants that are often referred to as Cooperalls. An experiment that lasted less than two full seasons, these pants were hated by many players and were not adopted universally at this level. They lasted a bit longer in major junior circles, but they certainly made an impact for better or worse.
Deserving of a Better Legacy
Even though 1983-84 O-Pee-Chee did suffer from slight overproduction and has some aesthetic flaws, it is a release that certainly deserves reconsideration in the hobby. The player content is stellar, as to be expected, and it has plenty of big-name cards to chase without breaking the bank. There’s lots of Gretzky cards, like most other early-1980s sets, but there are some great photos. Higher quality complete sets can still be had for a fairly reasonable price.
Unopened boxes and packs have dried up considerably through the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in higher prices on that side. All things considered, this is a better set than many may believe and can be a joy to collect.
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