Walsh puts charity in the shadow of client promotion.

I’ll give him this, player agent Allan Walsh certainly knows how to draw attention to himself. If he ever has a lecture on self promotion, I’ll sign up.

The representative of former Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jaroslav Halak pulled another shameless self promotion stunt, but his time he’s using charity as a screen.

Halak will be signing autographs this Saturday at Montreal’s Fairview Mall from 2-4pm. Fees will be $20 and it will be provided 8x10 photos only. Proceeds will benefit a worthy cause, the Ste. Justine’s Children’s Hospital Foundation.

HabsInsideOut’s Mike Boone posed the obvious question as to whether the photos were of Halak in a Blues jersey. It would have been better if fans could bring their own items, but this does tend to slow the process on occasion.

The fact that it’s for charity is certainly a wonderful gesture, but it’s how Walsh went about it that irks me, and it has nothing to due with the fact that Carey Price remains unsigned.

The signing was first tweeted on Saturday by the Team990’s Mitch Melnick under his “alter ego” HunterZThompson as follows:

“Jaro Halak at Fairview next Sat PM to sign, say thanx & raise $ for Koivu Foundation. You're welcome.”

“Great news, and a great gesture by Halak,” was my first thought. Of course the sarcastic side figured he had to come up any way to sign off on the sublet of his condo.

Walsh, in his tweets however tried to make it his own little show, blowing off Melnick’s post by citing it was still in the discussion stage. He then proceeded on Sunday to tweet his own horn, and again on Monday morning with some “big Jaroslav Halak news.”

This is a charity event, so why make it a personal crusade, Mr. Walsh? Or would you rather here us say, “Praise yee oh great agent, as you bring back our playoff saviour to help our ailing children.”

The idea seems sincere from Halak as a chance to thank the fans for his support. I’m pretty sure Walsh originally tweeted it as a chance for the fans to thank his client, then probably reworded it. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s deleted a tweet, right?

The move by Walsh of course spurned more fire against the player rep. Once his client was traded, Walsh quickly isolated himself from any Twitter followers connected to the Montreal Canadiens.

Some of us might have had it coming (the tail end of my post on the trade was “Gauthier gives Walsh the FU”). But clearly the man is gutless, as instead of diplomatically handling the situation, he elected to block a series of followers.

The days events spurred more discussion from my fellow bloggers. The Checking Line’s George Prax quickly added a “Blocked by Allan Walsh Club” to his site.

One clever Twitterite even created a “Blocked by Walsha” twibbon.

Again I want to stress that this has nothing against Jaroslav Halak, or the charitable benefits of the event, although the fact that Ste. Justine’s Foundation website has no mention of it also irks me.

Perhaps their web-tech doesn’t maintain it regularly, but it would have been better if Mr.Walsh had worked further in advance to give fans unable to attend some opportunity to get in on the signing.

My advice to Mr.Walsh would be to have his client sign some extra photos, and allow the hospital to use them at their discretion. I haven’t had a chance to hear his comments from this afternoon on the Team990, so maybe he did offer that…Who are we kidding.

In the event fans can’t make it on Saturday, here is the link to donate to the foundation directly.

In the meantime, maybe Mr. Walsh will consider a simple press release the next go around, when his client has a farewell engagement in St. Louis.

Perron weighs in on Halak: St. Louis Blues forward David Perron participated in former Canadiens star Alex Kovalev’s golf tournament on Monday in Ile-Brizard. The winger spoke to the media on his new teammate with great expectations. “I've heard so much about him, and I can not wait to see it in action,” said Perron, who feels the netminder will fit in well with a young team going in the right direction.

Habs memorabilia piece gets a new look, and adds a big name.

 

A few months back, I wrote a piece on “Centennial” an extensive autograph piece issued by Ice It Authentic.

The project is well under way, with 200 copies of the 1909 count run are already completely signed and available for sale.

To magnify the project further, creator and CEO of Ice It Authentic Wessley Perisa decided to make a pair of changes.

The first was the artwork. Though initially satisfied, Perisa felt that to continuing the project needed better artwork. As much as he liked it, something was missing.

To add to the artwork change, a series of talks with the Montreal Canadiens organization to endorse “Centennial” had been unsuccessful. Without the team’s support and to avoid any litigation, Perisa felt withdrawing from the sock design pattern, that featured the colours used by the Canadiens, was for the best. His artist did some further work and came up with a new concept.

The next part of the project is the most challenging. Ice It is obtaining enough signatures of the Montreal Canadiens’ most prolific player, Maurice Richard, to add to each piece.

That’s certainly not an easy task, but Perisa noted there are enough authentic signatures of the Habs legend out there to do it. Ice It will use the same idea, seen in the popular jersey swatch technique found in hockey cards, where signatures will be cut from photos, cancelled checks, etc. and added to the finished piece.

Another question raised to me by many, since the project was unveiled, was how to get the same players to sign all 1909 copies of “Centennial?”

With current team rosters always changing, and former players limited by time constraints, some more insight was revealed. There will be 100 Canadiens players signatures on each piece, but with only a select few (the most notable players, such as Hall of Famers) signing all of the copies.

Perisa felt that this will also bring a uniqueness to each piece, as the remaining copies are finalized. The “roster” list on the site will eventually indicate which players will be featured on all 1909 prints.

For more information on pricing and the “Centennial” project, you can visit the IceItAuthentic website or send them an email.

A pair of autographed Habs pieces for the wall

Autographs are always a great collectible. For me personally, I enjoy meeting the player in person and getting a pic or little anecdote to go along with the experience.

Alas, some of the greats have passed on though the years so if you’re after a Doug Harvey, or John Ferguson sig, you’ll likely need to rely on a reputable source.

Continuing my browsing of Montreal Canadiens items of the June Classic Auctions event, I came across a pair of nice combo autograph pieces that highlights the past legends, both living and passed on.

The first is a great autographed lithograph of seven Habs Hall of Famers. Originally a run of 1000 pieces, this is number 0785 of the series. A great panoramic image of Henri and Maurice Richard, Guy Lafleur, Jean Beliveau, Serge Savard, Bernie Geoffrion and Gump Worsley, all signed by the subjects.

Measuring 18 x 39, it would look great framed up on the wall. Bidding was sitting at just over $200 at the time this article was put together. Considering three of the Hall of Famers are no longer with us, it’s a good one to watch.

The next lot is a piece that I can say I have a copy of.

This print fist appeared in the summer if 1993. I came across it in The Hockey News that summer, after the Canadiens had won the Stanley Cup. Given it was the pre-internet days, and figuring the chance to get all these autographs together was remote, I purchased one immediately. This framed 2ft x 3 ft poster was I believe limited to 1993 copies, so there are a few out there but it’s the first time I’ve seen one up for auction anywhere.

Marking the 100th Anniversary of the Stanley Cup, it bears the signatures of the Richards, Beliveau, Bob Gainey, Yvan Cournoyer and Patrick Roy.

Unlike my piece, which is safely preserved in it’s shipping tube, this poster comes beautifully framed and double matted. The cost of that alone is probably worth the current bid of $250.