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Our final new piece for the time being has finally arrived. Before I begin, I cannot stress enough how much I love adding pieces of unknown NHLers to the collection. The storied journeys of fighting through adversity to make a short stint in the NHL is stuff of gold, even greater in my eye than the stories of the greats. Anyways. I digress.

Born on October 31, 1967 in Windsor, Ontario, David Anthony Gagnon was a star goaltender for Colgate University of the ECAC. After a great 28-3-1 season with Colgate and a trip to the Championship game in 1990, the Detroit Red Wings took notice and signed Gagnon for the 1990-91 season. In the span of that single season, he made his way from the ECHL to the AHL and then to the NHL. Gagnon was one of six goaltenders utilized by the Red Wings at some point during that season. He made his NHL debut on January 25, 1991 against the St. Louis Blues after Tim Cheveldae surrendered seven goals. Gagnon fared slightly better in that period stopping 16 of 18 shots in an eventual 9-4 defeat. His next game came on January 28, 1991 against New Jersey with Scott King backing him up in his own NHL debut. With Cheveldae out with the flu, Gagnon was given the start in goal, however, he surrendered four goals on ten shots in about 15 minutes of play before King took over in the eventual 6-2 loss. Gagnon never played an NHL game ever again. That year, he did win the playoff MVP award with the Hampton Roads Admirals of the ECHL after posting a 10-1 record with a 2.32GAA in the playoffs and winning the Championship. In 1993-94, he once again was the playoff MVP in the ECHL when he led the Toledo Storm to victory, posting a 12-2 record. He played one full season in the IHL in 1995-96 before playing out the remainder of his career with the Roanoke Express of the ECHL from 1996-2001. So all in all, Gagnon was a great goalie at the ECHL level, but just could not cut it at the higher levels.

In two career games, Gagnon posted an 0-1-0 record with a 10.29GAA and a 0.786% save average. He appeared in zero NHL playoff games.

The sweater you are looking at right now is a 1990-91 Detroit Red Wings sweater worn as a back-up by Dave Gagnon while on recall with the Detroit Red Wings sitting on the bench. While he never saw game action wearing this item, he did take part in pre-game warmups and got the greatest seat in the house in the NHL. It has some staining throughout from an unknown source and is pretty much the main source of wear on it, as could be expected from a back-up only worn sweater.

Acquired from: Classic Auctions

Dates of Game Use: Unknown

Photomatched: No