My Picks # 77: Jamie Storr

What's in your wallet? That's what popped in my head when I first saw this one. I got it from Chris over at Confessions of a Hockey Card Addict as part of the trade we made a little while back. I'd never seen one of these before and decided it had to be my next pick.

In case you're wondering, like I was at first, this credit card shaped card featuring Jamie Storr of the LA Kings is from the 1995-96 Leaf Studio Rookies set. It's got rounded corners, the raised text at the bottom, and even a neat little hologram in the lower right corner, just like actual credit cards. The only major difference is the size, as this is your typical 2.5" x 3.5" hockey card, while a credit card would typically measure about 2.125" x 3.375."

I don't usually show off the back's of the picks, but this one definitely needed it. As you can see they really went for the full look of a credit card with the black strip across the top as well as the facsimile "authorized" signature. Pretty cool if you ask me, or at least it's something you don't see every day.

Not really sure about the motivation behind this design, but it's still pretty nifty. Apparently there are 20 of these floating around out there, yet this is the first time I've ever seen one. Anyone else have any of these or seen them before?

MVP Stanley Cup Edition Update

A majority of the trade I worked out with Brett focused on my MVP Stanley Cup Edition master set project. I was able to pick up a few of the regular inserts as well as a couple of nicer cards. All together, with the Scripts included, I added 15 cards to the set.

I think I've mentioned this before, but rather than creating a separate label for the rest of the inserts, I'm just lumping them all together under one label. Here's a look at what I got:

The first of the regular inserts is this Teemu Selanne from the Stanley Cup Talent set. This one brings me to 18 out of 20 in the set. Now I'm just missing Joe Sakic and Eric Lindros. This seems to be the easiest insert set, so hopefully I can finish it soon.

Next were a pair from the Golden Memories insert set, Eric Lindros and Mike Modano. These two bring me to 6 out of 10 for the set. Now I'm only missing Forsberg, Yzerman, Brodeur and Jagr. These are a bit tougher to come by, but definitely not impossible to find. 

I like this set because it focuses on specific playoff performances and the design is fairly nice in my mind. In this case the Lindros focues on his 26 points during the 1997 playoffs and the Modano focuses on Dallas' Stanley Cup run in 1999. 

The last of the regular inserts was this Mark Messier from the Second Season Snipers set. It's the fifth card in the set and brings me to 3 out of 10 total. The other two I currently have are Eric Lindros and John LeClair. 

Now we're getting to the good stuff. This Taylor Pyatt is the first auto I've landed as part of the ProSign set. I really like the design of this set as it's got a nice full color photo and ample area at the bottom for some really nice on-card signatures. 

These next two were the most important as they brings me my first memorabilia cards for the master set. The first was this one featuring Kris Beech of the Calgary Hitmen. Beech was drafted by Washington, but is probably best known for being part of the Jaromir Jagr trade.

The other one features Milan Kraft of the Price Albert Raiders. Kraft was drafted by the Penguins and only appeared in parts of four seasons before heading for the Czech league. 

I really like the design of this set. It's simple and the colors in the background really allow the picture and the stick pieces to stand out. I wish there were more cards like this today, but I guess it's just too much work for the card companies to cut up those composite sticks. 

In addition to those, Michael over at Collecting for Kicks was kind enough to send a couple of inserts my way as well. The first was this Steve Yzerman from the Clutch Performers set.

The second was this Jeff Friesen from the Cup Contenders set. Man, some of the cards in this set are a real pain to scan. Look at how horrible they look. Oh well, they still look great in my binder and that's all that matters, right?

That's it for now. I'm starting to make some decent progress on this set now, but I've still got a long way to go. That's ok though, I've got plenty of time to keep working on it. 

Metal Universe Update: A Goalie Eight Pack

Metal Universe is one of those love it or hate it kind of sets. Me, I loved it as a kid and I still love it now. That's why I decided to try and build the set, as it's something kind of unique with it only really being produced twice in hockey.

That said, it literally has been forever since I updated this project, but again as part of the big trade with Brett from MHCO I was able to add a few nice pieces, which I should say were thrown in as extras. Thanks Brett!

As you can see there is a nice mix of 90's goalies here. The designs in this set seem to be the coolest on the goalie cards, with things like brick walls and the eyeballs. What I did notice though, is that some are reused within the set, like the Barrasso and Fichaud. 

These eight new additions to the set bring me to 66 of the possible 200 base cards, not a bad place to be at this point. I'd like to finish the set as soon as I can that way I can focus on some of the inserts, as I haven't gotten any of those yet. 

SCE Super Script Update

This is yet another part of the trade I worked out with Brett over at MHCO. It was one of the most important cards in the trade as it brings me one closer to completing my Super Script set. Much like the golds, I haven't made any additions to the set since April. 

Therefore this Filip Kuba, numbered 08/25 is a welcome addition to the collection:

This one adds another team to the mix and brings me to 22 total for the set, which is exactly 10% of the 220 card set. A bit of a milestone if you ask me, I mean 10% of a set numbered this low from 10+ years ago is pretty good, right?

This still isn't the end of the stuff I picked up in the trade, I'll have some more project updates in the coming days. This is when it's a good thing to be backlogged on posts. 

Gold Script Update

It's been what seems like forever since I updated this part of the MVP Stanley Cup Edition project. The last time I added any golds was back in April when I added five to the set. These pickups are a combination of some recent trades and a pretty good deal on ebay. 

This first one came from another trade with Chris over at Confessions of a Hockey Card Addict. It's numbered 56/100 and features Ivan Novoseltsev of the Florida Panthers. 

These next six are part of the trade I worked out with Brett over at My Hockey Card Obsession. This first is this Michael Nylander numbered 050/100. 

The second is this Jonas Hoglund numbered 073/100. 

The third is this Petr Svoboda numbered 078/100. 

The fourth is this Peter Bondra numbered 010/100.

The fifth is this Radek Dvorak numbered 091/100.

The sixth and final one is this Pierre Turgeon numbered 040/100.

Then there are these last three from the bay. I ended up with the trio for less than $10 delivered. The first and probably the best is this Mike Richter numbered 022/100.

The second is this Tony Amonte numbered 084/100.

The last one is this Tim Connolly numbered 077/100.

That's it for now. These bring me to 29 total in the set. That's kind of further that I expected I would be at this point as these things are getting harder and harder to come by. 

Thanks again to Chris and Brett for a couple of 'golden' maildays. 

Goaltending Gallimaufry: Recent Additions

Gallimaufry [gal-uh-maw-free] - A hodgepodge; jumble; confused medley.

In addition to the Jimmy Howard Between the Pipes card Michael from Collecting for Kicks sent over, he sent two perfect candidates for my Goaltending Gallimaufry project. Again, this just goes to show how great a group of people the hockey card blogging world is.

The first was this Sean Burke from 1997-98 Pacific Revolution. As you can see he is pictured with the Canucks, but is still wearing all of his Hurricane gear. Why, he was acquired in January of 1998 and I'm guessing this set came out toward the end of that season. 

The other one was this Martin Biron from 2007-08 Victory. As you can see, it's got him playing for Philadelphia and wearing what was left of his Sabres gear. He's got the "I've just been traded" mask going here as well. Biron was acquired by the Flyers in February of 2007. 

Next are a few Brett from My Hockey Card Obsession threw in as part of a trade we completed recently. I'll have the rest of the stuff I got in a few other posts soon.

This first was this Jeff Hackett form 2003-04 Victory. I consider this to be the holy grail of "gallimaufry" as you've got almost a full mismatch of gear, and then the picture is featured on a card for a separate team altogether. During the 02-03 season, he was traded to Boston and then signed with Philadelphia the following off season, resulting in this monstrosity.

Here's another one of Hackett, from the 2002-03 Rookie Update set put out by Upper Deck. That explains why he still has all Habs gear on this one, while the early season Victory card allowed time to capture his Bruins colored glove and blocker. 

This one's a bit older, but still works just perfect for the project. It's a Ron Hextall from 1994-95 Upper Deck. In this one you can see that he's still wearing his Islanders gear, as he was traded back to the Flyers after only one season in New York. 

This next one is another Hextall from the same season, featuring pretty much the same equipment setup as the one before it. As you can see he's got the blue and orange pads and glove. He does have an all black blocker, so maybe this was the beginning of his transition to black and orange equipment in order to match his new team. 

This one's an excellent piece for the collection, as I can't really think of a better contrast of equipment and uniform than black/red and teal/white. This one is from 1996-97 Donruss Elite and features Ed Belfour, who was traded to San Jose midway through the season after turning down a contract extension with Chicago. 

Here's another one featuring Eddie the Eagle in his red and black Blackhawks gear while wearing the teal of San Jose. One thing I will say about this set is that I hate scanning them, you can't really get an idea of how the card actually looks without actually holding it. 

Fast forward a few years and you have this next one featuring former Red Wings backup Kevin Hodson with the Tampa Bay Lightning. This one, from 1999-00 OPC shows Hodson with most of his Red Wings gear, most likely during the end of the 1998-99 season when he was traded in a deal that sent Bill Ranford and Wendel Clark to the Wings. 

This one features one of the best mask designs ever, as Steve Shields was traded from Boston to Florida in October of 2003. The result was him wearing all of his Bruins gear with the Panthers, as evident by this card from 2003-04 Beehive. 

Now, let's go back a few years to 1996-97, where this card from the Leaf Limited set features Damian Rhodes of the Ottawa Senators. As you can see, he still has his leg pads from Toronto. He was first traded to the Islanders, then to the Senators in January of 1996. 

This next one involves another Maple Leaf, this time Tom Barrasso. The picture on this card from 2002-03 OPC features Barrasso in a Leafs uniform with red and white pads. Those are from his time in Carolina, from where he was traded to the Leafs in March of 2002. 

This next one is a bit older and features Jimmy Waite of the San Jose Sharks. As you can see, he is shown in his Sharks gear minus the mask of course. It was the last piece of equipment he changed after he was dealt to the Sharks in June of 1993 by the Blackhawks. 

Here's another one featuring Waite with the Sharks. This time you get a better look at the overall equipment set up and while the mask is the only mismatch, that is still enough to make it in the collection as it sticks out like a sore thumb against the teal and white.

This last one features Jeff Reese of the Hartford Whalers. On this 1994-95 Parkhurst card, he is shown in a Whalers uniform with contradicting white and red leg pads. That's because he was traded from Calgary in November of 1993.

That's it for right now. These were some great additions to the project. I still have a few more to share that I found searching through my collection, but I'll save those for another post. Thanks again to Michael and Brett for these awesome additions!

Goaltending Gallimaufry Count: 25

It's That Time Again...

It's that time of year again. Preseason hockey is in full swing and most significantly for me the Red Wings got things started in Pittsburgh last night. I've been waiting for what seems like forever since they were defeated by the Sharks in last years conference semi-finals. 

If only I had the NHL network, then I could have actually watched last night's 3-2 loss for the Wings. Oh well, with the internet nowadays you don't really miss anything. This includes something pertaining to my main PC guy Jimmy Howard. 

It looks like he's rocking some new pads and gloves this year, same mask though, which is fine because it's awesome. That's cool, I was hoping he would get away from those Vaughn iceberg pads and the new one's look great. 

Another interesting picture is this one of #24 Pavel Datsyuk. That's right, 24, not 13. In case you didn't know, Datsyuk is wearing the #24 of his former teammate and friend Ruslan Salei during this pre-season. It's a nice way for Salei to be remembered. Hopefully either Panini or Upper Deck will use a photo from the pre-season. It would be the only other number he's worn since #56 in his first pre-season back in 2001-02. 

I hoping to make it down to the Joe for one of the few home preseason games, but we'll see. What I'm really looking forward to is the regular season, which opens October 7th for the Wings. Only 15 days left...

Thoughts: Printing Plates

Printing plates are one of those things in this hobby that you either love or you hate. A lot of people think they are legitimate 1/1's and a lot of people do not think they are legitimate 1/1's. Everyone is entitled to their own opinon, so here's mine. 

The only issue I have with plates is the 1/1 stamp on them. Since there are four of basically the exact same plates for any given card, shouldn't they be numbered out of four instead? I know that's not as attractive as the 1/1, but I think the serial number should reflect what's actually there. Then again, this opens up another can of worms because any simple parallel set (i.e. blue, gold, emerald, black) could fall under the same line of thinking.

I guess if I'm going to consider something like my Howard Black Diamond Platinum 1/1 a legitimate 1/1, even though it's just another 'version' of the base card, then a plate would be a 1/1 in my book as well. That's the best part about this hobby, I can make the rules for myself and no one can make me say or do otherwise.

Just for kicks, here's a look at some Cup plates from the last six years:

I really like the idea of printing plates as they are a bit more exciting than a plain old white jersey swatch that's been done a million times before, although plates are heading the same direction now.

As a player collector I do not actively pursue printing plates for my Jimmy Howard collection. Why? Well, for one, I almost never see them and two, I don't consider them to be part of my want list. That's another one of the good things about collecting, I can set my own parameters for any given project.

What are your thoughts on printing plates? Ever pulled or bought one? Finally, do you think the 1/1 tag on these things is legit? 

Captured on Cardboard #7: Owen Nolan

I'm sure you probably know where I'm going with this one and that would in fact be the 1997 NHL All-Star game played in San Jose. This was the 47th All-Star game and ended in a 11-7 win for the Eastern Conference. Interestingly enough, Nolan wasn't the only player to score a hat trick in this one, Mark Recchi also did it and walked away with the MVP.

That said, Nolan still produced the most memorable moment of the game. In front of his home crowd, he found himself in alone on The Dominator, Dominik Hasek, and pointed to the top corner before firing the puck past Hasek. That capped off the hat trick for Nolan.

First, here's a look at the card:

This is another one from 1997-98 Upper Deck with the Game Dated stamp on the front, although even without the stamp and description on the front, it would be pretty difficult to not realize where this photo was taken. So even though this one's a gimme, it works for this series and I wanted to show it off.

Now, here's a look at the video:

There are a few good looks at the point where the photo on the card was taken. The live action one is around the 0:37 mark. After that, there are plenty of replays that provide some different angles of this great moment.

How about that Fox Trax, remember that? I thought it was the coolest thing as a kid watching hockey on TV at home, but now when I watch it I just think it's a bit much, don't you? This video makes me miss the old days of hockey on ESPN (and yes, I know this was on Fox) with guys like John Davidson.

My Picks # 76: Pavel Bure

Here's another pick that shows how much better inserts were back in the 90's when jersey cards and autos did not come in nearly every single pack of cards. This one is a 90's Snapshots of The Russian Rocket, Pavel Bure, from Upper Deck's 1999-00 MVP.

 

The scan does not do all that much for this one, it looks much better in your hand with the light reflecting off of it as it's printed on a kind of rainbow foil board. Overall, I really like the design. it's simple and focuses the most on the four different images on the front.

This is the only one of these I have in my collection and I thought it was the coolest thing back when I pulled it from a box when I was younger. Like I said, inserts like these were what it was all about for me back then, so I can still appreciate it today.

What I really like about this one is that it shows the same player in four different jerseys. That's something you don't really see all that often. It's kind of neat to see the changes over time as the photos are in chronological order starting with the earliest one on the left.

Here's a nice little tribute video I found on YouTube. It goes along pretty well with the card as it's got plenty of Canucks highlights with some Panthers stuff thrown in, and no Rangers highlights. The only thing missing is the all star game.

My Picks # 75: Curtis Joseph

This pick comes from an interesting set from the mid-90's, Sky Box Emotion. This set was kind of unique at the time because it used adjectives like rabid, psyched, fearless, etc to describe what was going on in the picture.Sure, some are kind of corny and don't make the most sense, but some just made perfect sense, like this on featuring Curtis Joseph.

Besides the obvious meaning of the word, rabid can be defined as violent, raging, uncontrollable, extremely zealous or enthusiastic, or fanatical. How perfect is that for the mask he's wearing in the picture? 

Now if there's one place in hockey that pop culture references are popular, it would be in the design of goalie masks. I've seen everything from television shows to movie stars and musicians represented. I think of all of them tough, Curtis Joseph has the best connection between his nickname, the Stephen King book/movie and the design on his masks. 

With such a clever mask design like this that can be adapted to pretty much any team color imaginable, why wouldn't Cujo go with the same design from team to team? Here's a look at a the six other variations of the mask I know of, all the way from Edmonton to his second stop in Toronto. 

For me personally, the Wings mask is the best. It is up there with the best in team history, even though it was only used for the better part of two seasons in Hockeytown. Which one is your favorite of the bunch? 

Cardboard Creations: Last Line of Defense Part IV

It's been a few days now since I've been able to share another set of these. This one's been sitting in the queue and I don't have anything else to post at the moment so it works. This set's got a nice mix, especially considering there are several types of mask styles represented and even two guys who went mask-less.

 

This will be the first set in which I've never seen any of the goalies actually play for the Wings. Reindeau would be the closest, but I didn't get into hockey until a few years after he moved on from Detroit. 

It's getting to the point where it's even harder to find quality images for this set. It's even gotten as bad as taking a screen capture from a video in some cases. 

It might be a while before I post another set of these as I don't have any pictures waiting to be used and I have a lot of projects to update in the next little while.

Project Status

Number of Former Wings Goalies Completed: 36
Number of Former Wings Goalies Remaining: 43

My Picks # 74: Arturs Irbe

Here's another card from the latest group I was referring to in my last 'my picks' post. I know I've seen this card posted somewhere on the internet before, but I thought I'd show it here anyway, and I think you can see why. By the way, in case anyone is wondering, this one comes from 1995-96 Topps Stadium Club.

Right away, one thing I believe is unique about this card is the fact that the picture is from the inside of one of these specialty entrances. Most of the time I've seen pictures of this kind of thing, it's from the outside looking in, the exact opposite of what you've got here.

I think of all of these entrances I've seen over the years, and even though I despise San Jose, they've had the best one by far. I mean how cool is it seeing the players skate out of a shark's mouth with all of those huge teeth?

Here's a better look at it from the outside:

It's also not all that often you see a picture of players from the backside, but in this case it works with the rest of the photo on the card. Click here to check out Puck Junk for a good example of when a photo from behind doesn't work, at all.

That's it for now, I've got a few packages recently and some more on the way so I should be able to update several of my projects in the coming days, so stay tuned...

My Picks # 73: Trevor Linden

The other day when I was searching through one of my monster boxes of old base cards for stuff for my goaltending gallimaufry project, I came across a few more cards I thought I'd share as my picks. The first of the group is this Trevor Linden from 1995-96 Topps. 

There are a few things to look at here. The first thing I notice about this card is the fact that it's horizontal, where most of the cards in this set are vertical. Altough, I guess with the photo they chose, this one would have to be a horizontal wouldn't it?

In addition to the photo just being a pretty cool action shot, it's got something you don't really see all that often on a card. Look closely at Linden's stick, the blade end is almost a perfect 90 degrees from the butt end. Now that's interesting, isn't it?

Now that I've found this one, I wonder how many cards are actually out there that capture the actual breakage of the player's stick mid follow through. Almost sounds like a good idea for a mini PC project. I'll let someone else take that one though, as my current goaltending gallimaufry project is enough for me.

Thoughts: The Cup vs Dominion

A lot of people are building this up to be an epic showdown between the two highest-end card releases of the year. That's all well and good, but I've got my own take. 

For me, it's not about the super high end stuff that you can get (i.e. Gretzky, Lemieux, Roy, etc), it's about my main PC guy Jimmy Howard. Whichever of the two offers me more in that regard, will be the winner of the two in my mind.

Now, I'm not afraid to admit I can't afford to go and bust case after case of this kind of stuff, frankly I think that would be dumb even if I could afford it anyway. Why? Because I care more about my PC needs than trying to make money out of busting packs and boxes. 

In the case of The Cup, there are absolutely no Jimmy Howard cards to be found. Epic fail in my mind, so I'm going to steer clear of it altogether. Dominion however, is another story. I was just perusing the Dominion checklist put out on The Knight's Lance and I was pleasantly surprised. At first glance there were around ten Howard cards for me to chase.

I did a little more digging and found these 19:

Base /199
Sapphire /10
Emerald /5
Black /1
Jerseys /99
Jerseys Prime /25
Jerseys Prime Brand Logo /6
Jerseys Prime Number /25
Jerseys Prime Laundry Tag /5
Jerseys Prime Nameplate /25
Jerseys Prime Patch /25
Peerless Patches /19
Signatures Ruby /50
Signatures Sapphire /10
Signatures Black /1
Plates Black /1
Plates Blue /1
Plates Red /1
Plates Yellow /1

Immediately this makes Dominion the winner in my mind. Does that mean I'm going to bust any of it? Probably not, I think I'll wait until his cards hit the market and hopefully buy or trade for them. We'll see...