Peter Skudra

Peter Skudra is one of those career backup guys that is solid, but just not solid enough to win a starting job.  He came to the Penguins in 1997 after toiling for two years in his home country of Latvia, then another three years in the AHL minors.  When he did arrive, he was signed as the third goalie behind Tom Barrasso and Ken Wregget.  Because of that, he was only able to muster 17 games that season.  But with Wregget getting traded to Calgary, Skudra got his chance to become the solid #2 behind Barrasso the next season.

His third year had the potential to be a huge one until JS Aubin came out of nowhere to emerge as the clear number one.  After appearing in only 20 games in 1999-00, he was released to free agency and eventually signed a deal to play in Boston...a deal that lasted all of three days!  The Sabres took him off the waiver wire, dressed him for a game, realized Martin Biron was their guy, and cut him loose again.

Eventually, the Bruins picked him back up to sit behind Byron Dafoe.  Appearing in 26 games, the goalie carousel in Boston was just too much to keep him on the roster.  He got a shot as backup to Mike Richter in New York but lost that job to Dan Blackburn.  Then he finally found a spot on Vancouver as Dan Cloutier's backup.  This was a comfortable spot for him until Alex Auld took over backup duties at the end of 2002-03.

In 2003, he left for the Russian League, playing four seasons for various teams.  After 13 seasons, he retired in 2007, becoming head coach of the Torpedo Nizhniy Novgorod team in 2013.

This card comes from the ITG Be A Player set.  It is signed in black marker.  Skudra uses his jersey number in his signatures.