New York Islanders great Bryan Trottier’s rookie hockey card appeared in the 1976-77 O-Pee-Chee and Topps sets. The card in both sets was number 115. According to Beckett Hockey Magazine, the O-Pee-Chee version of the card sells for $30 to $60. The wider issued Topps version is selling in the $20 to $35 range.

Bryan Trottier rookie cards that were recently sold on eBay tell a different story. The O-Pee-Chee card sold in the $10.50 to $16.50 range and the Topps card sold only from $1.25 to $5.50.

What would make a Bryan Trottier 1976-77 rookie card valuable? Trottier is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame (inducted in 1997), a six-time Stanley Cup winner and owner of several major NHL individual awards.

Trottier played his junior hockey with the WHL’s Swift Current / Lethbridge Broncos for three seasons from 1972-73 to 1974-75. Bryan was elected WHL Player of the Year in his final season in Lethbridge while contributing 144 points for the Broncos.

Bryan was taken by the New York Islanders in the second round of the 1974 NHL draft, 22nd overall. He spent fifteen seasons with the Islanders before finishing off his NHL career with three years in a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey. As a rookie with the Islanders, Trottier won the first of his major awards by taking the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year.

The first four of Trottier’s six Stanley Cups as a player came consecutively with the Islanders starting in 1980. He would later win two in a row with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992. Bryan won one more Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche as an assistant coach.

In 1978-79, Bryan became the first player from a post original six expansion team to win the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s highest point-getter with 134. Trottier was also awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player that season.

Trottier finished up his NHL career with six 100+ point seasons. He is still first on New York’s all-time career assists and points list and second overall in career goals. Bryan reached the 50 goal plateau once. He appeared in eight NHL all-star games in his eighteen seasons. His number 19 was retired by the Islanders in 2001 and hangs from the rafters at Nassau County Coliseum.

The Hall of Famer is still active in NHL hockey today. After ten seasons behind various benches in the NHL and AHL, Bryan has moved up to the front office for the New York Islanders and has spent the past four seasons as Director of Player Development.