Randy Carlyle looks worried on this card

carlyle_largeThis is not a very flattering hockey card of Randy Carlyle. No, it isn’t as embarrassing as Glen Hanlon’s OPC Leaders card, or as bad as Bryan Pitton’s Score card. But it still sucks.

Just look at Carlyle’s face on his 1987-88 Topps trading card. Is he experiencing bad gas? Or a toothache? Did playing for the Winnipeg Jets in the late 1980s take its toll on him?carlyle_headOr…is Carlyle having that daydream again? You know, the one where he’s the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs 25 years in the future? Well, he won’t have to worry about that anymore.

carlyle_thought

Regardless, this is one of the few hockey cards that Carlyle will not autograph. ■

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Author: Sal Barry

Sal Barry is the editor and webmaster of Puck Junk. He is a freelance hockey writer, college professor and terrible hockey player. Follow him on Twitter @puckjunk

5 thoughts on “Randy Carlyle looks worried on this card”

  1. why won’t randy sign this card? this info you share today, sal, only serves to emphasize the bizarreness (the emotional shortcomings) of the man. are you saying that if a lifetime jets fan, or randy carlyle fan, or norris trophy winner collector, or. . . approached randy in an airport, he wouldn’t sign this card? does he not get it? does he not realize that everything is not all about him? i remember don awrey signing a card for me as a kid (don’s card, but with skip krake’s photo). i would have been crushed if don had said no.

    1. In all fairness to Mr. Carlyle, he has always been generous when fans were seeking autographs, particularly when he was coach of the Ducks. When I wrote him a letter 8 years ago, asking him to autograph some cards, he signed every one of them EXCEPT his 1987-88 Topps card. So, part of what I say is based on personal experience. However, I have also heard numerous times, from autograph collectors, Carlyle never signs his 1987-88 Topps or OPC cards.

      As for why…maybe because it reminds him of the terrible daydream he used to have of coaching the Leafs 🙂

      1. On the o pee chee version, his name is misspelled ‘CALRYLE’ on the front. I wonder if it has anything to do with that?

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