The National Hockey League 75th Anniversary

Hockey Stars Biographical Series

October 9, 1992 (51 Silks)

Gretzky, Bossy and Potvin

To celebrate the N.H.L.’s 75^th anniversary, Colorano, in addition to issuing a Silk for each of the 3 stamps in the N.H.L. set, also issued a special series of Silks headlining the 3 Hockey stars named in the heading. Seventeen different cachets were created - one Silk for each of the 3 National Hockey League stamps.

The 17 different cachets feature an original painting and 14 pictures of Wayne Gretzsky and one Silk each of the original paintings of Denis Potvin and Mike Bossy. Short biographical sketches of each of the 3 Hockey Stars appear in the lower right hand portion of  the Silk relating to the player depicted in the cachet.

Each of the images below can be selected to see a higher resolution images of the Silks.

Gretzky

In 1988, Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings. With the L.A. Kings, Wayne continued his winning ways and while there, he scored his 802^nd goal, passing Gordie Howe as the all-time leading scorer as well as becoming the all time point leader with 1,852 points. In his 7 seasons with the L.A. Kings, Wayne amassed a total of 231 goals, 606 assists for a total of 837 points over 437 regular season games played.

Before retiring in 1999, “the Great” Gretzky spent his last 3 years as an N.H.L. player with the New York Rangers. He scored 57 goals, 192 assists for 249 points over 234 regular season games.  During his 20 years in the N.H.L., he played in 1,487 regular season games, scored 894 goals, 1,963 assists for a point total of 2,857–an unequalled hockey record unlikely to happen again.  Small wonder he was nicknamed 

“The Greatest!!”

Bossy

Mike “the Boss” Bossy played 10 seasons in the N.H.L. with the New York Islanders from 1977 to 1987.  Chronic back pains forced him to retire at the early age of 32. During his career, ‘the Boss” amassed 573 goals, 553 assists for a point total of 1,126 in 752 games. He was the first rookie to score 50 goals and topped 60 goals a season 5 times. He also scored 68 goals in 1980-81 equaling the legendary Maurice Richard’s record.

Potvin

Denis Potvin played 15 seasons in the N.H.L. with the New York Islanders from 1973 to 1988. He served as Team Captain during the glory years when the Islanders won 4 consecutive Stanley Cups (1980 to 1983 incl.). As a defence man, he set a number of all time records which have subsequently been surpassed. During his 15 N.H.L. seasons, he scored 310 goals, 742 assists for  total points of 1,052 in 1,060 regular season games– a very impressive record for a defence man!!

Picture Cachets