At the tail end of the 1990-91 season, Jim Paek found himself in the right place at the right time. Despite only playing three regular season games, Paek was tapped to stabilize a battered Pens defensive squad that had lost three players to injury. He performed admirably, even scoring a goal (assisted by Lemieux) in the 8-0 blow out of the North Stars to clinch the Stanley Cup. The following season he made the team as a proper rookie and helped them to win a second straight championship, playing 49 games and collecting eight points as a shut down defenseman.

This jersey was worn during his first full season in the NHL, and features stick marks, board burns, paint transfer, and ten team repairs! Of particular note are several large repairs on the black band of the cuffs. The number “2” is written on the wash tag in the upper right corner, as was standard for set 1. During this era for game worn jerseys, trainers routinely scrubbed out stick marks after the game, so at first glance the jersey appears to be rather clean, but upon further inspection shows quite a lot of hacking and whacking!

The jersey is matched to a Cameron Coca Cola/Elby’s Big Boy card, as well as screen grabs from a 10-2 drubbing of the expansion Sharks on December 17th, 1991.

This is the third Paek jersey that I’ve acquired, as he was my favorite player as a kid. Absolutely thrilled to have this in my collection!