Paul Stastny’s rookie year in 2006-2007 provided jersey collectors with a rare opportunity. When he switched jersey numbers during the first half of the season he gave “jersey heads” like me twice as many options when it came to making rookie jerseys.
Early in the season his jersey looked like this:
About 25 games into the ’06-’07 season he made a number switch and his jersey ended up looking like this, and it still does:
I covered the story behind the entire number switch with John-Michael Liles in a previous post on my site found here.
These two jerseys are blank authentics that I had lettered into Stastnys. In this Avalanche jersey era, during the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons, fans had three styles of jerseys to get customized: the white, the burgundy, and the alternate. Since Stastny decided to switch numbers this gave fans six options instead of the normal three options to have jerseys made. Since this is a rookie jersey it makes things even more fun and interesting.
So when people come up to me and ask, “What’s going on with your Stastny jersey? He never wore number 62.” I am more than prepared with an explanation for them. And if other collectors choose to get a number 62 Stastny rookie jersey in any of the three versions available at the time, they will have a few things too: a pretty cool jersey, the respect of knowledgeable and die-hard Avalanche fans, and an explanation for the people that ask you about your jersey. How can anyone possibly go wrong with those options?