Starting Lineup - The Lost Years: 1990 edition

In 1990, Kenner significantly reduced the amount of baseball and football players produced in their Starting Lineup line. The MLB set was once again their largest, but the 87 player checklist in 1990 was roughly half the size of the 168-piece set in 1989. Same for the NFL line, which was reduced from 122 in 1989 to 66 in 1990. 

As I mentioned in my previous post, the NBA checklist increased in 1990, going from five players to seventeen. NHL figures were still three years away, but if Kenner had produced the 94-player set I listed in my 1989 mock checklist, there's a high probability that the 1990 edition would have checked in at around 50-55 figures. That means no more obscure subjects like Peter Sidorkiewicz, Paul MacLean, or Petri Skriko. From here on out it's stars only (for the most part..)

 *new player added in 1990

custom card by Gavin

Adams Division

Boston Bruins (3)

• Ray Bourque
• Craig Janney*
• Cam Neely

Buffalo Sabres (4)

• Dave Andreychuk
• Dale Hawerchuk (traded to Buffalo in June 1990)
• Daren Puppa*
• Pierre Turgeon

Hartford Whalers (2)

• Ron Francis
• Pat Verbeek

Montreal Canadiens (4)

• Shayne Corson*
• Stephane Richer
• Patrick Roy
• Denis Savard (traded to Montreal in June 1990)

Quebec Nordiques (1)

• Joe Sakic

custom card by Gavin

Patrick Division

New Jersey Devils (3)

• Kirk Muller
• Brendan Shanahan*
• Peter Stastny

New York Islanders (2)

• Mark Fitzpatrick*
• Pat LaFontaine

New York Rangers (3)

• Brian Leetch
• Bernie Nicholls
• John Ogrodnick*

Philadelphia Flyers (2)

• Murray Craven*
• Rick Tocchet

Pittsburgh Penguins (4)

• John Cullen*
• Paul Coffey 
• Mario Lemieux
• Mark Recchi*

Washington Capitals (2)

• Dino Ciccarelli
• Kevin Hatcher*

custom card by Gavin

Norris Division

Chicago Blackhaws (4)

• Chris Chelios (traded to Chicago in June 1990)
• Steve Larmer
• Jeremy Roenick*
• Doug Wilson

Detroit Red Wings (1)

• Steve Yzerman
  

Minnesota North Stars (3)

• Brian Bellows
• Jon Casey
• Mike Modano*
  

St. Louis Blues (2)

• Brett Hull
• Adam Oates
  

Toronto Maple Leafs (2)

• Vincent Damphousse
• Gary Leeman

custom card by Gavin

Smythe Division
 

Calgary Flames (4)

• Doug Gilmour
• Al MacInnis
• Sergei Makarov*
• Joe Nieuwendyk

Edmonton Oilers (3)

• Jari Kurri
• Mark Messier 
• Bill Ranford*

Los Angeles Kings (3)

• Steve Duchesne
• Wayne Gretzky
• Luc Robitaille

Vancouver Canucks (2)

• Trevor Linden
• Paul Reinhart

Winnipeg Jets (1)

• Phil Housley (traded to Winnipeg in June 1990)

The 1991 and 1992 Starting Lineup sets were even smaller than this. I'll probably combine the NHL mock-checklists for those two years into one post and wrap up this series next week. 


Thanks for reading!



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