Evgeni Malkin

I think Geno needs no introduction here at all.  Most hockey fans know of him, about him, and either love him or hate him.  Trust me, it's easy to do both some times.

I actually pulled this card from a box of Crown Royale that I opened a couple years ago.  I had purchased more than one box, because at the time, they were well over $120/box and I made a deal with the LCS on some things.  So I had two boxes.

The funny thing about this card was that I may have never seen it.  I bought one box to open and the other I was going to hang on to.  I thought, like other prospectors, that the Crown Royale product was going to be a hot commodity and they would soon reach box prices in the $200 range.  While they never really reached that plateau, it isn't unheard of to see a box of these going for $160-165 at various shows and online.  But I digress...this came out of the box I was going to hold for future considerations.

When I opened it, this was the first time I had paid any attention to Malkin's signature.  So naturally, I thought he had either signed this upside down or backward.  I had no clue that this was how he signed his name.  So I hit the interwebs to find what I could find on Geno's signature.  Low and behold, this is pretty darn close to most of what I found.  In fact, this was almost a really good version, despite it's unreadability and the fact it looks like it says...well, I don't know what it looks like.

At least he fights better than he signs his name....Wait???  Is that a kid??