Ryan Whitney wore this 2006-2007 Black Set 2 game worn jersey during the most productive season of his career.
Whit scored 59 points and played in 81 games which were both career highs.
The former Boston University defenseman was a vital part of the Pittsburgh Penguins resurgence and return to the playoffs that season.
He represented the Pens in the YoungStars game at the 2007 NHL All-Star game festivities.
As the Penguins continued to surge over the next few seasons, Whitney was deemed surplus to requirements and traded to the Anaheim Ducks for a package that included Chris Kunitz. The Pens went on to win their first Stanley Cup of the Sidney Crosby era after the trade.
Thanks to his podcast Spittin’ Chiclets, Ryan Whitney has become one of the most well known media figures in hockey since retiring.
The Pittsburgh Penguins wore their Black Set 2 jerseys in 19 games from January 16th, 2007 to April 3rd, 2007.
Ryan Whitney played in 18 of those 19 games, scoring 2 goals and 14 assists for 16 points in this sweater.
Whit’s gamer has decent wear with a nice smattering of puck and stick marks in the sleeves and near the hem of the jerseys in the white areas.
The right sleeve has a huge 3-4” cut that appears to have been repaired but has come mostly undone. Above it is another unrepaired hole next to the sleeve numbers. The left sleeve has a similar, but bigger unrepaired hole next to it’s sleeve numbers. Both sleeves have a solid amount of burns and stick/puck marks.
There is a solid, large board burn in the right shoulder patch that looks more like a stick mark than a burn.
There are several loose threads on the jersey. These can be found on the sleeve numbers, the crest, and on the back nameplate. On the back hem there is a very generous amount of pilling on the left side in and around the gold stripe coming down the sweater.
These shirts featured glacial twill customization on the letters and numbers and have a Cutting Edge Sports set tag in the hem.
One frustrating aspect of this game worn jersey is that there are virtually no Getty photos of Ryan Whitney (or the Penguins) wearing black in the second half of the season prior to the playoffs.
There is one photo of Whitney and it is matched to a faint stick mark on the right sleeve, but since there are no other photos there has been no chance to match the other wear. Given the nature of that wear, I feel like matching it would be pretty easy, but we’ll have to live with what we’ve got.
This piece was an excellent addition to my Spittin’ Chiclets collection and completes my Ryan Whitney “one jersey from every team he played for” collection: Boston University, Pittsburgh, Anaheim, and finally Edmonton.