In 1971, Rogie Vachon realized he had lost the starting goaltender job in Montreal. Newcomer Ken Dryden stole the show in the playoffs the previous year, leading the Canadiens to their 15th Stanley Cup win. There was no way the Habs wouldn’t make Dryden, a 23-year-old phenom, their guy going forward.
This left Vachon, a talented goalie in his own right, without a job. So he demanded a trade.
Very early in the 1971-72 season, the Canadiens granted his wish, trading him to recent expansion team Los Angeles.
The Kings were not very good, especially defensively, and especially at goaltender. Vachon started as backup to starter Gary Edwards, but it wasn’t long before Vachon took over the starting role.
This left the folks at O-Pee-Chee–who were still putting together their first series of hockey cards for the new season–scrambling for options.
They couldn’t leave a starting goaltender and budding star out of their set. But they didn’t have photos of Vachon playing with the Kings. Time was critical. They had to do something.
What followed was a card that left no doubt as to how Vachon’s first offering with the Kings came together.
In the photo, Rogie’s smiling face and brown wavy hair are clear. That’s definitely Rogie Vachon from the chin up.
But everything else? Definitely not Rogie Vachon.
The folks at O-Pee-Chee clearly used a stand-in wearing a Los Angeles Kings jersey for Vachon’s body. The neck line, skin tone, and chest hair are all dead giveaways. It almost looks like Rogie is poking his head through one of those carnival style “head in hole” stand up boards.
When hockey writer Ken Reid asked Vachon what he thought of the card, Rogie said, “I guess they didn’t have a very good budget that year.”
Look, it’s hard to blame O-Pee-Chee too much here. They certainly get an “A” for effort. The technology at the time wasn’t great and they had to put together a full set of cards representing as many star hockey players as possible. They could easily have just left Vachon off the checklist.
But they didn’t, and now Vachon has a brilliant piece of early 70’s photo editing to occasionally laugh at when he signs autographs.
Of course, the folks at Topps and O-Pee-Chee eventually got full photos of Vachon in his Kings gear for later releases:
In terms of value, Vachon’s 1971 O-Pee-Chee doesn’t sell for much. A few dollars in near mint condition, and the all-time record sale is a PSA 9 that sold for $275 back in 2013.
If you want to grab a copy for yourself, Greg Morris Cards has one right here: 1971-72 O-Pee-Chee Set Break #156 Rogatien Vachon NR-MINT *GMCARDS*
— Sources: “Hockey Card Stories” by Ken Reid, hockey-reference.com, vintagecardprices.com