The picture card was worth a thousand words.

And about 10 cents.

Patrick Kane's name is nowhere to be found on Sylvain Turgeon's trading card from the 1994-95 Pinnacle hockey set.

But when his 6-year-old face was spotted on it years later, the card became priceless to the Blackhawks All-Star forward and his family. "You could look at that picture and I'm just a young kid looking up at some hockey players, like any young kid would," Patrick Kane said.

After Kane became a star in the NHL many years later, the monetary value of the card went up as well.

The fact such a card exists is improbable.

That Kane happens to be sitting on his father's lap, staring wide-eyed at Hall of Famer Dale Hawerchuk, seems almost impossible.

Sandwiched between two Sabres players, Hawerchuk (No. 10) and defensemen Doug Bodger (No. 8), Turgeon is shown sailing through the air. A photographer captured the moment, Pinnacle used it as Turgeon's card and the unofficial Patrick Kane rookie card was born.

Only nobody knew it at the time.

Here are the stories of this card.

The card

Considered a common card worth about a dime for its first 13 years of existence, one sold for more than $70 soon after Kane established himself as one of the game's best players.

"That's some pretty good value," Turgeon said with a laugh. "There must be some reason behind it. It's because he's sitting in the stands."

"He has a smirk on his face, like he's laughing because Hawerchuk is tripping me. ... He still has that smirk when he's playing."

Bodger also is pictured on card No. 288 in the set, to the left of Turgeon and Hawerchuk.

The scene

The photo used on the card was taken at Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, where Kane and his father spent many a winter night, where the younger Kane often sneaked into hallways during intermissions to play hockey with his friends. "The Aud," as it was known to locals, was demolished in 2009. But it did not take with it the memories born there with the Kanes.

The family had four season tickets near the visitors' bench, where Kane often would listen in on the opposing team's chatter during games while wearing an away Sabres jersey.

"I'd sit there and see all the sticks and see all the players up close and personal, put my head up to the glass and hear what the coaches were saying," Kane said.

But on March 20, 1994, when the photo was taken, Kane's father had purchased tickets for the "Gold" section, against the glass, from a fellow businessman, as he sometimes did.

The elder Kane carried Patrick into the arena, which allowed him to sit on his lap – and allowed another guest to accompany the Kanes.

"I wish we saw who was next to me," Kane's father said. "Me and the family loved hockey so much. They were allowing me to carry Patrick in there till he was 7 or 8. Right before we went in the gate I would pick him up just to get another person in, whether it was my brother, my wife, two of the other kids or a friend."

Sylvain Turgeon

"The second overall pick of the 1983 NHL draft for the Whalers was a one-time All-Star who had 269 goals and 226 assists while playing for four teams during his 12-year career. He scored 40 goals during his rookie season, and a career-high 45 two years later.

Turgeon was drafted again in 1992, this time going to the Senators in the expansion draft. Turgeon, who was teammates with Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville and assistant Kevin Dineen with the Whalers, was just 30 when he played his last season in the NHL.

Turgeon said he was made aware of Kane's photobomb many years ago. Like Kane, he has signed his fair share of copies.

He also has kept a few for himself.

"You wouldn't believe how many people talk to me about the card," Turgeon said. " 'Do you know Patrick Kane is on your card?'

"I'm (heading) flat on the ice. It's an interesting picture. It's pretty wild to have a picture with him in the background and he's 5 or 6 years old."

Turgeon said he didn't recall how or when he found out Kane and his father were on one of the last cards ever produced of him.

But he shares in their enthusiasm all these years later.

"He must be like, 'What a dream,' right?" Turgeon said. "When you're a little kid watching a game and you end up on a card? How do I feel about? I feel great for him. I get a good laugh."

Doug Bodger

Bodger, a member of the British Columbia Hockey Hall of Fame, played with the Sabres for seven-plus seasons during his 16-year career. The ninth overall pick of the Penguins' in 1984 had 106 goals and 422 assists.

Bodger found out about the card about 11/2 years ago while reading an article in The Hockey News.

His brother, a collector, dug through his stash of cards and gave one to Bodger.

"It is crazy if you think about it," Bodger said. "It's so clear. (Kane's) staring at the play and he has a big smile on his face.

"It's quite the shot – sitting on his dad's lap, laughing, with a LaFontaine jersey on. It's special, a kid watching you one day hoping to be where you are. You can see it in his eyes, 'I want to be out there.' "

Bodger shared the enthusiasm Kane showed on the card after he discovered he shared a card with the Hawks All-Star.

"At the time I had a hockey store in town," Bodger said. "We pulled it out and showed everyone in the store: There's Patrick Kane right there. They were like, 'No way; that's incredible.' "

Dale Hawerchuk

The Jets made the 1982 Rookie of the Year the first overall pick of the draft, ahead of three other Hall of Famers, including Chris Chelios.

The five-time All-Star had 518 goals and 891 assists during his 16-year, Hall of Fame career. He topped 100 points in six of his first seven seasons.

Hawerchuk is now the coach of the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League.

Patrick Kane

The Blackhawks selected Kane first overall in the 2007 draft. He was rookie of the year in 2007-08, playoff MVP in 2013 and league MVP and scoring champion in 2015-16, becoming the first American-born player to earn such distinctions in league history.

He has helped the Blackhawks to three Stanley Cups and is fifth in franchise history in goals and points.

The only copy of the card the younger Kane owns was placed in a red frame and hung above the light switch in the bedroom of his childhood home, where it still is today.

"Like any kid, you thought it was the coolest thing in the world," Kane said. "When you find out it's almost like, for a little moment in time, you're part of the NHL."

Patrick Kane Sr.

Like he did every Saturday, Kane's father was sorting through the mail a couple of years after that game at his Jeep dealership in suburban Buffalo when he opened an envelope from a customer.

He thought his eyes were lying to him. There was the first of the many thousands of trading cards on which his son would appear.

"Open it up and it says, 'Mr. Kane, you probably already have a hundred of these, but I figured you'd like one more,' " Kane said. "We had no idea it existed. I couldn't believe it. I was jittery and excited."

He called his son and soon sent one of his salesmen, who knew a bit about trading cards, to a hobby shop two blocks away to pick up some more.

"He bought 10 for a dollar," Kane said.

The game

Neither Kane remembers much from the game.

The Senators were visiting the Sabres for the second and final time that year, and it was the only game Turgeon played there that season, meaning the photo had to be taken that day.

Hawerchuk recorded a pair of power-play goals to go with an assist. Bodger also had an assist in what was a 6-2 victory for the Sabres, who improved to 37-27-9.

The game was rough with 132 minutes of penalties. There were two fights – Bill Huard vs. Randy Moller and Dennis Vial vs. Brad May – in the first period alone, not to mention unsportsmanlike and abuse of officials penalties.

There were three more fights in the third period, including two involving Rob Ray, one of which was against Vial, who later received a game misconduct.

Blackhawks radio analyst Troy Murray had an assist in the game for the Senators, while Turgeon was held without a point. Turgeon played 11 more games that season, his second-to-last in the NHL.

The aftermath

Before Kane reached the NHL, his father visited a card shop in suburban Buffalo.

He was there to secure some more copies of the card. It was his first time visiting and the owner of the shop, unaware of who Kane was, gave him one. "I said, 'How much do I owe you?' " Kane said. "He said, 'You don't owe me anything.' " I said, 'Why not?' He said, 'It's not really worth much.' "

Then Kane explained that it might have some value some day and pointed to him and his son.

"This is the first hockey card I was ever on, so it gets a lot of attention," Patrick Kane said. "I don't know how many people know about it, but every now and then someone will come up and say, 'Hey, you know you're on this hockey card?'

"It's pretty funny."

Not to mention worth way much more than a thousand words to the Kanes.