Lost Cards: 1987-88 OPC Harold Snepsts

  The Man.  The Legend.  The Moustache.  Harold Snepsts.  A clean cut Snepsts started out with the Vancouver in 1974.  Somewhere along the way, Snepsts found his inner Henry Boucha, sans headband, and rest became legend.
  Although somewhere along the way O-Pee-Chee and Topps lost their way.  Snepsts was traded to the Minnesota North Stars in 1984 and then signed as a free agent with the Detroit Red Wings in 1985.  Snepsts received the dreaded airbrush treatment in back-to-back sets before taking a hiatus until the 1989-90 OPC set.

1984-85 OPC and 1985-86 Airburshed Harold Snepsts

  So I decided to rectify the situation and reskin the 1984-85 and 1985-86 OPC cards.  While I was doing it, I considered how Snepsts switched teams during the offseason, so I made a design for the teams Snepsts player for the previous season, and the team he began the season with.

1984-85 OPC Harold Snepsts

1984-85 OPC Harold Snepsts

  During the 1984 off-season, the Canucks traded Snepsts to the North Stars straight up for Al McAdam.  McAdam would play a single season for the Canucks.  The following season, McAdam failed to make the Canucks out of training camp and would retire after playing a dozen games in the AHL.

1985-86 OPC Harold Snepsts

  Snepsts would lead the North Stars in PIM during his single season in Minnesota.  During the 1985 off season, Snepsts would be a free agent and signed a one-year deal with the Red Wings.

1986-87 OPC Harold Snepsts

  Snepsts' time with the Red Wings was plagued by injuries, as he only played in 120 regular season games during three seasons with the Wings.  What he did bring, was veteran leadership to a young Red Wings team, that included Steve Yzerman.  Snepsts best season with the Wings was 1986-87, in which he played 54 games and had 14 points.  So I would put his exclusion from the 1987-88 set as the most glaring omission during Snepsts time as a Red Wing, and thus the most deserving of a Lost Card.

1987-88 OPC #268 Harold Snepsts

1987-88 OPC #268 Harold Snepsts

  Snepsts would return as a free agent to the Vancouver Canucks for the 1988-89 season.  The following season the Canucks traded Snepsts to the St. Louis Blues, in a deal that saw Adrien Plavsic, who was 15 years Harold's junior, head to Vancouver.  The injuries continued to mount as Snepsts creeped up and played his 1000th career game on December 8th, 1990.  Snepsts retired at the end of the 1990-91 season with 1054 career games played.