1970-71 Topps/OPC Sticker Stamp Ron Ellis

There are 33 unnumbered and blank-back sticker stamps in the 1970-71 Topps/OPC Sticker Stamp insert set. I still need Gordie Howe to complete the set, but I have my eye on three different eBay auctions, so it shouldn't be too long.

These sticker cards were issued as an insert in the regular issue wax packs of the 1970-71 Topps hockey release, as well as in first series wax packs of 1970-71 OPC. There is no discernible difference between the Topps and OPC stickers.

Ron Ellis played 16 seasons in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs and won the Stanley Cup in 1966-67. He played in 4 All-Star Games and all 8 games of the 1972 Summit Series. Ellis scored a career-high 35 goals in 1969-70, and was eventually the last player remaining from the 1967 team to play with the Leafs.

Like many Leafs of old, he was treated horribly by Harold Ballard and Punch Imlach during "the mismanagement years" of the era. Ellis was unceremoniously cut from the team by Imlach partway through the 1980-81 season, and he retired at age 35.