SCOUTING THE RANKS

Looking for an achievable PC goal? Try tracking down the complete run of Kansas City Scouts cards.

If the quality of a hockey team was measured exclusively by its logo, the Kansas City Scouts would go down as one of the NHL’s all-time greats. eir distinctive emblem was modeled a er e Scout, a 10-foot tall statue of a Sioux Indian on horseback that is located in a secluded park overlooking downtown

KC. Nearly a half-century later it remains a classic, with vintage jerseys still popular with fans.

Unfortunately for the Scouts, they were judged by their on-ice performance. And unlike the logo, they were pretty lousy.

e NHL wasn’t kind to expansion sides in those days, as the results quickly made clear. A er building a roster from the league’s castoffs, the Scouts went 1554-11 in their inaugural season. ey were shut out 13 times, including an ignoble 10-0 loss to the defending champion Philadelphia Flyers.

ey were somehow worse the next season, falling out of playoff contention with a stunning 1-35-8 freefall over their final 44 games to finish the campaign in last place. ey shed fans as quickly as they dropped points, leading to a franchise transfer to Colorado where they would become the Rockies and, later, the New Jersey Devils.

Despite this ignoble history, the Scouts le behind some amazing cards that are affordable as well as being a time capsule of the league’s grooviest decade. It requires only a modest budget and a modicum of searching to track them all down. Looking for a place to start? You can’t go wrong with these 10 classics.