Christmas Idea: Plymouth Whalers Offering Game-Worn NHL Jerseys

With Christmas just around the corner, the Plymouth Whalers have a Christmas gift for the serious hockey fan - or maybe just a serious Whalers fan.

The team has acquired game-worn National Hockey League jerseys by Whalers alumni who are currently playing in the NHL.  The jerseys are among the most popular players to play in Plymouth since Compuware Arena opened in 1996.

The team is selling the jerseys via silent auction at: http://www.plymouthwhalersauction.com/products/?category=17

The proceeds towards the jersey sales go directly towards the Whalers Pink Out! Campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness.

The game-worn jerseys include:

TYLER SEGUIN, BOSTON BRUINS:  Seguin played for the Whalers from 2008-2010 and won the Ontario Hockey League League’s Red Tilson Award as Most Valuable Player in 2009-10 before being taken second overall by the Boston Bruins in the 2010 National Hockey League Entry Draft.

He is the most recent Plymouth Whaler to score 100 points in a season (106 in 2009-10).

After playing in a depth role with Boston as a rookie and helping the Bruins win the Stanley Cup last season, Seguin has been give a bigger role this year by Boston head coach Claude Julien.

Coming into November, Seguin is the leading scorer for Boston with four goals and six assists for 10 points in 10 games.  He averages just over 16 minutes of ice time for the Bruins and is tied with Patrice Bergeron for the team lead with 34 shots on goal.

CHAD LaROSE, CAROLINA :  Never drafted at any level of the game, LaRose has persevered to become a success throughout his hockey career.  After setting the Whalers single season record for goals scored in a season in 2003-03 (61), LaRose worked his way up the Carolina Hurricanes system, making his NHL debut in 2005-06 and helping the Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup in 2006.

LaRose (from Fraser) has become a steady, gritty performer with the Hurricanes.  Coming into November, the “Chuck Norris” of the NHL has played in 417 career games with Carolina.  LaRose is in the middle of his sixth full season in Carolina.

DAVID LEGWAND, NASHVILLE PREDATORS:  Roughly ten years before Seguin, Legwand burst on to the OHL scene with the Whalers in 1997-98, scoring 105 points in his rookie season with Plymouth en route to winning the Red Tilson Award as OHL MVP, the Emms Family Award as the league’s top rookie and the Canadian Hockey League’s Midas Rookie of the Year Award.

Like Seguin, Legwand was also taken second overall, by Nashville in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft.  After graduating from the Whalers in 1999, Legwand has enjoyed a productive career with the Predators ever since and leads all current Whalers alumni playing in the NHL with 779 games played – all with Nashville.

Like Seguin, Legwand (from Grosse Pointe Woods) currently leads Nashville in scoring, with three goals and eight assists for 11 points in 11 games while averaging over 20 minutes of ice time.

JAMES WISNIEWSKI, COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS:  Wisniewski was originally a first-round draft choice of the Whalers, who selected him 20th overall in the 2000 OHL Draft. He completed an excellent Plymouth career as the team’s highest scoring defenseman in franchise history with 187 points in 217 career games. 

Wisniewski (from Canton) won the Canadian Hockey League’s Defenseman of the Year Award in 2003-04.

The fortunes of the Blue Jackets seem to turn around bit recently when Wisniewski – signed over the summer as a free agent - returned from an eight-game suspension. Coming into November, Wisniewski has four assists in his first four games with the Blue Jackets while averaging a team-high 28 minutes per game of ice time.

JARED BOLL, COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS:  A relative unknown when Plymouth acquired him in a trade with Kingston in 2005, Boll became a popular player with Plymouth, helping the Whalers win the OHL Championship in 2007.  Boll is now in his fifth season with Columbus.

In addition, Legwand procured jerseys of teammates Ryan Suter (a one-time Whalers draft choice in 2001), Shea Weber and Pekka Rinne.

Many of the Whalers Pink jerseys – worn during the team’s annual Pink Out! for Breast Cancer Awareness – remain for sale.