Predators: Pekka Rinne 2020-21 Allure

This update for my Predators collection is only one card, but it seemed like a good time for it after watching the Stadium Series last night. Unfortunately the wrong team came away with the win, but one of my favorite Preds was there and a part of the pre-game.

Continuing where I left off with my last Preds post, I have another piece for my 2020-21 Allure rainbow of Pekka Rinne. This is the 1917 NHL Shield variation and is serial numbered /17 on the back of the card. It looks just like the 2005 Shield variation, only here the outline of the shield is yellow instead of grey. It looks really nice in person.

Being numbered /17 I wasn't sure how much this would set me back, but I was pleasantly surprised when it popped up for sale at just $10 on eBay. I couldn't hit the buy it now button fast enough. This one brings me to 10 out of 26 for all the possible variations.

Here is a look at my updated visual checklist grid. 

While there are still plenty of gaps here, I love seeing all of the ones I have together. I keep cards like these stored in top loaders so they are easy to flip through and arrange all together. As far as completing the rainbow, I am going to only go after everything down to the /10 Purple Diamond variations. I've got a ways to go, but this will be a long term project and something to keep me busy with between other collecting projects.

Predators: Pekka Rinne 2020-21 Allure

I finished 2021 with a post about a newly started Pekka Rinne rainbow for my Predators collection, so why not start 2022 with a post about another Rinne rainbow? As you can tell from the title, this one is for Upper Deck's 2020-21 Allure set, which has a ton of parallels.

There are actually 26 different Rinne cards needed to complete this Allure rainbow. Now, some of these are 1/1's, so it is very unlikely that I would ever be able to actually complete it. The next lowest numbering is /10, so those are likely the top end for me.

Since I have yet to pick up a base card, we'll get things started with the Black Rainbow, which is one of the non-serial numbered versions. This one takes the base design and swaps the silver chrome for a black rainbow type foil. It looks really nice in person.

Up next in the non-serial numbered category is the NHL shield version, specifically the 2005 design. There are actually three different shield parallels, the other two (1945 and 1917) are numbered /45 and /17 respectively. I didn't like these at first upon release, but they are growing on me and I am glad to have this one as part of my rainbow now.

Now we're getting into the more rare parallels. This one is the Yellow Taxi version and while not serial numbered, they only fall one per mass blaster pack. This is one of my favorites and it looks amazing in person. It goes nicely withe the Predators colors too.

Up next we have something completely new from Upper Deck: the Leopard Print parallel. Seems like a really cheesy idea, but the execution was excellent. These are one of my favorites too. Definitely not a pattern I ever thought we would be seeing on a hockey card.

Moving back to regular colored parallels, we have the Red Rainbow version. This is the same pattern as the Yellow Taxi, just a different color. I do like the contrast it provides against the Preds uniform. This one is 1:5 hobby packs and is not serial numbered.

Now we're getting to some of the better stuff. The first die-cut parallel available is this Orange Slice version. These are 1:10 hobby packs and are not serial numbered. I really like how the die-cut follows the shape of the base design in the center portion.

My favorite of them all so far is this Pink Leopard print version. I mean, who would ever think of something like this? Love it. I mentioned this on Twitter a while back, but together this and the regular Leopard version remind me of Fred and Dino from the Flintstones.

So we're eight cards in now and finally getting to the serial numbered parallels from 20-21 Allure. This is the White Diamond version and is serial numbered /50. They have a white border and a really cool looking diamond foil pattern that looks great under natural light.

Last but not least is my first memorabilia version: the Red Rainbow Jersey version. This is not serial numbered and shares the same design as the regular red parallel. I got a great deal on this one and had to have it just for the yellow swatch to match the photo.

I guess nine cards isn't a bad way to start off a new rainbow, right? In reality, I got these over a few months at the end of last year, I'm just now getting to scanning and organizing everything. Part of that process is putting together a visual checklist grid, something I've really gotten into doing for any new rainbow project I've started. 

So between this and my Rinne OPC Platinum rainbow project, I've got plenty to be on the lookout for. Rinne was always one of my favorite Preds to watch so these will always be a good reminder of that. Now I just need to see what I can do about filling in the holes.

Predators: Pekka Rinne 2020-21 OPC Platinum

Continuing one of my recent Predators posts, I have a couple more awesome OPC Platinum pickups to share. These both come from eBay and help get me a little close to completing my newest rainbow project. They of course feature Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne.

The first and my favorite of the two is the Yellow Traxx parallel. This one is serial numbered /249 and adds some color to the recent Traxx designs. I love the look of the yellow borders, especially with the Preds colors. Another cool feature is how on the backs of these cards the entire perimeter has been changed to yellow to match the front.

The other one is the standard Rainbow parallel. This one is not numbered and is the same as previous versions where the chrome foil just has a nice rainbow effect added to it. While these are not the rarest, they do look amazing in hand, especially under natural light.

These two bring my Rinne rainbow total to 5 out of a possible 18 versions. Below is an updated look at my visual checklist grid for this one. I really love the look of these things. Being able to see all the different versions at once is great.

Not a bad start considering this product was just released. I'm on the lookout for the remaining versions, but will only pull the trigger on them when the price is right. I feel like some listings are way overpriced, so these might take a while to finish up.

Predators: Pekka Rinne 2020-21 OPC Platinum

O-Pee-Chee Platinum has become one of my favorite products from Upper Deck lately with all the cool base card parallel designs every year. I love trying to put together the rainbow for any of these sets. They look amazing when completed. While I know I'll probably not get the Golden Treasures 1/1's, it is still a fun chase and relatively attainable.

In the case of 2020-21 Platinum, of the Predators included in the checklist, I've decided to chase the rainbow for Pekka Rinne. He was always one of my favorite Preds to watch the last few seasons along with Viktor Arvidsson, who is not a part of this set.

Knowing that there are 18 different versions of Rinne to go after, this seemed like a fun project. To get things started I picked up a Red Surge parallel from eBay. These are exclusive to the Target blaster boxes and fall 1:7 packs. Definitely a nice looking card.

Up next is the new Aquamarine parallel numbered /499. This one I picked up in another Twitter trade. While the idea is a bit out there for the background, it actually turned out pretty nice. I would think these are a must have for any Sharks collectors out there.

Last we have the returning Violet Pixels parallel, which is numbered /399. These have been one of my favorites the last few years. They just look amazing in hand when the light hits the surface. In the past they weren't even serial numbered, so this is an upgrade.

Similar to what I've been doing with some of my Jimmy Howard cards, I put together a cool visual checklist grid for these Rinne parallels. I find this is a neat way to look at the cards all together and quickly see what I'm missing from my rainbow.

As you can see, I'm only just getting started here. I've got three out of a possible 18 different versions of this card. For now I'm making the assumption that the Color Wheel design will be back like the last four years. If not, then I will update accordingly.

Predators: P.K. Subban Radiant Materials

When it comes to plain jersey cards, there does not seem to be many designs lately that immediately grab my attention. Cards like these have become so common over the past two decades that they're no where near as impressive anymore. Outside of my PC players, it will really take an awesome design for me to want a simple jersey card for my collection.

Well, thanks to another excellent design from Upper Deck, I found one of those jersey card designs that I just had to have. In this case it was the Radiant Materials set from 2018-19 UD Black. Here's a look at the P.K. Subban version I grabbed for my Preds collection.

The background design is what immediately got my attention. I'm a huge fan of backgrounds like these and try to use them quite a bit whenever I'm throwing together my own custom card designs. I even use things like this as the wallpaper on my desktop and phone sometimes. Seeing it used on a hockey card is just awesome.

I like this background so much that I've been trying to reverse image search it to find the original design, although I haven't had much luck yet. There are a ton of cool images that are very similar, but nothing I've searched has provided the exact match yet.

When I bought this one, I intentionally chose the plain white swatch as it goes with the Predators away jersey that Subban is wearing in the photo. Maybe one day I'll grab a copy that has a gold swatch too. Those would look pretty nice together if you ask me.

Predators: MVP Postseason

Talk about good timing. The 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs start tonight and I have the perfect pair of cards for the occasion. As you may have seen in previous posts on here, I'm working on the 2017-18 MVP Postseason set for the Predators, which depicts their run from the previous season when they fell short in six games to the Penguins.

Up first is Filip Forsberg. This one is #PS6 in the set and unlike the Rinne and Subban I posted previously, this one shows the Predators in white playing one of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final games in Pittsburgh. Those were not fun to watch as a Preds fan, that's for sure.

The other one is #PS4 and features Colton Sissons, also shown playing in Pittsburgh. I will always remember him for his hat trick in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final against the Ducks that sent the Predators on their way to the Stanley Cup Final.

So that completes this cool little set from MVP and serves as a nice memento for that playoff run. While I usually keep my cards stored in boxes, I would actually consider somehow framing these up with like a Stanley Cup Final patch or something. That would be cool. Here's a quick idea I mocked up in Inkscape. Kind of makes me want to now.

The only displaying of cards on the wall I've ever done consisted of those small wooden plaques. I had a ton of those as a kid. I've never done any custom framing though. I might need to think about it now. Anyone have any experience with doing that?

Predators: Forsberg SPGU Banner Year

Do you ever come across a set that you think is awesome, but then it feels like its not all that popular with other collectors? Well, for me that is the Banner Year sets from SP Game Used, specifically the Stanley Cup Final versions. I don't know what it is about these, but I really like them and its nice to have something a little different in my PC.

The latest addition to my Predators set from eBay is part of the 2017-18 SP Game Used set and features Filip Forsberg along with a piece of a banner used during the festivities surrounding the 2017 Stanley Cup Final between Nashville and Pittsburgh.

This one goes nicely with the Josi that I picked up a while back. In fact, both have nice two-colored yellow banner pieces, which look great with their uniforms. There are actually four Predators in the set, which leaves me needing the P.K. Subban and Pekka Rinne versions.

Even though my team ended up losing that year, these cards and any that show the Preds in the Final for that matter are cool little reminders of how much fun it was watching that playoff run. I think I mentioned this on one of my Knights posts, but I'm leaning toward focusing my Preds collection on players that were part of that 2017 team. 

These Banner Year cards along with the MVP Postseason cards specifically focus on the Final and all have images taken during that actual series. I think these will be my primary Preds focus moving forward, along with any base cards with pictures from the Final.

Predators: Trade Pickups

From the trade that keeps on giving, I was able to grab a few new Predators cards from The Real DFG along with the awesome Arvidsson, Hasek and Stefan stuff I already posted. It has been a while since I picked up any new base Preds cards due to not attending the local card show, so it was cool to get some newer stuff from the latest O-Pee-Chee release.

Up first is card #422, a Retro parallel of Ryan Johansen. At first I wasn't a huge fan of these, but the more I see them the more I am starting to like them. The simplicity really helps.

Then there were three base cards starting with #266 featuring Filip Forsberg. This new OPC design is better than some of the last few, but nothing too spectacular.

 

Up next was card #85 featuring Mikael Granlund. 

 

Last but not least is card #446 featuring 2020 Norris Trophy winner Roman Josi.

Now I just need to work on completing the Predators team set for O-Pee-Chee. There are 17 total including the team checklist card, so I've definitely got a ways to go. Not sure how long that will take though as I really don't grab singles like this unless they are part of a trade or come from the dime boxes at card shows.

Predators: MVP Postseason

At this point I would consider the Predators to be my #3 team behind the Red Wings and Golden Knights. That doesn't mean I'm not still on the lookout for more Preds cards, I just don't put as high of a priority on it. Plus, my main source of new stuff, card shows, haven't been an option around here for months now because of the whole pandemic thing.

When I do find something I want on eBay, it will usually have to be more than regular base cards for me to be able to justify the shipping costs. In this case I was able to find a great deal on two cards I've been after for over two years now.

First is 2017-18 Upper Deck MVP Postseason #PS8 featuring Pekka Rinne.

Second is 2017-18 Upper Deck MVP Postseason #PS2 featuring P.K. Subban.

 

I was able to get the pair for under $9 delivered. Not a bad deal considering I've seen them listed for quite a bit more in the past. I know these are short prints, but not what the actual print run would be, so its difficult to judge what they should be going for.

 

While its unfortunate they lost to the Penguins, that Predators 2017 playoff run was some of the most fun I've had watching hockey in recent memory. Having several cards dedicated to their appearance in the Stanley Cup Final is pretty cool.

Predators: September Card Show Pickups

A couple of weeks ago I made it out to the Troy sports card and collectible show. This was the fourth time I've been to that show this year, which is actually quite a lot for me. Each time I've been able to find some cool stuff for various collection projects. This time was no different and I brought home some cool new Preds cards. 

Up first is my favorite of the bunch, this Filip Forsberg Violet Pixels parallel from 2018-19 O-Pee-Chee Platinum. I love these things, even if they are just simple base card parallels.

Both that and this next one featuring Pekka Rinne came from one seller for $1 each. This one is from 2018-19 Black Diamond and is the first card I've owned from the set. Honestly, I didn't even know there was a Black Diamond set last year, this was the first I'd seen of it. Its kind of a neat design, although it is hard to tell from the scan.

After that it was onto the quarter bin where I was able to get my first Eeli Tolvanen card. This Marquee Rookie is from 2018-19 O-Pee-Chee Platinum.

Sticking with Platinum, I was able to get this rainbow parallel of Kyle Turris. I didn't notice until I went to scan the card that there was some kind of black smudges all over the front of the card. Oh well, it still looks cool so I won't complain about it.

The last one is a UD Canvas card from 2017-18 Upper Deck featuring Calle Jarnkrok. Interestingly, Jarnkrok was originally drafted by the Red Wings back in 2010. He played a couple seasons for Grand Rapids, but never suited up for the Wings. He was part of the trade that sent David Legwand to Detroit. Looks like a pretty bad deal now, doesn't it.

That's it for now. Nothing too fancy, but at least it adds some variety to my Predators collection. Now I just really want to get myself some more of the O-Pee-Chee Platinum parallels, especially the Violet Pixels. There are at least a few more Preds in that set.

Predators Collection Total: 84

SCE Tribute Update

I mentioned this in an earlier post, but I have to say again that 2019 has been a great collecting year for me so far. I'm on track to post here more than I have in any of the last five years. Part of the reason for my renewed interest in collecting has been Upper Deck's 2019-20 MVP set with the tribute cards to my favorite set: MVP Stanley Cup Edition. 

There are both Silver and Super Script versions available as a new 100 card set. These are almost identical to the originals, although with a few exceptions. They also added the newer Colors & Contours parallels into the mix, which is kind of cool too.

Here is my first tribute Super Script featuring one of my favorite current Predators: Viktor Arvidsson. This is card #61 in the set and is serial numbered 09/25. I was lucky enough to land this on eBay for just $0.99 plus a few bucks for shipping.

These things look awesome in person and I'm looking forward to finding some good deals on more of them. It should be a little easier to find them for this tribute set since it just came out and there are only 100 of them as opposed to the original set of 220. 

Super Script Tribute Total: 1/100

Box Break: 2019-20 MVP

As a birthday present to myself, I recently bought my first actual box of hockey cards in over six years. I was kind of surprised that I needed to go all the way back to February of 2013 for my last hockey box break on here. It really doesn't feel like its been that long. It makes sense for me though as boxes really don't do all that much for my main collecting projects at the moment. I'm better off putting my money towards singles for those. 

However, like most collectors I really do enjoy opening a new box of sealed packs. Even if this was just a retail blaster box, I was looking forward to possibly pulling some of the MVP Stanley Cup Edition tribute cards. Since this was retail, the only shot I had would be the Silver Scripts. The tribute Super Scripts and Colors & Contours are hobby exclusives.

This blaster cost $19.99 and came with 21 packs, 5 cards per pack. Here is a look at the front of the box featuring Red Wings prospect and former 6th overall pick Filip Zadina.

Here is what's available in one of these blasters:

     - Base Set (200 cards)
     - Base High Series SP's (1:4)
     - Puzzle Back Variations (1:8)
     - Silver Script Parallels (1:7)
     - Gold Script Parallels (1:21)
     - Stanley Cup Edition Silver Scripts (1:10)
     - Supernovas (1:50)
     - Net Crashers (1:34)
     - Laser Shots (1:25)
     - Laser Shots Red Parallels (1:100)
     - Rookie Redemptions (1:4000)
     - 2019 NHL No. 1 Draft Pick SP (1:12500)

I'll be happy as long as I get some of the Stanley Cup Edition tribute cards. Based on the listed odds, I can reasonably expect to end up with two of them. We'll see how that goes.

Also, regarding the Gold Scripts. For whatever reason these are not serial numbered anymore. I believe this is the first time for that. As far as I know, all of the Gold Scripts over the years have been numbered, and that's going back to the original set from 1998-99.

Onto the results. Let's start with the base set. Overall this is a nice design. I like how the top and bottom of the card are filled with the grey lines going every which way. Not sure what the six slashes at the top are for, but they look cool. The left and right sides having the photo extend to the edge was a good choice for this set.

The top six shown below are all for my team collections. Looks like this box favored the Preds over my other teams. I also included a checklist and the two regular high series SP's. I believe these are the first cards I've pulled of McDavid and Matthews. That just goes to show you how long its been since I opened any new packs or boxes.

All together there were 88 based cards and no duplicates as far as I noticed. While six out of 88 for my teams isn't the greatest, I'll take it. Now I just need to get some more of the Wings cards to catch up to the my other two teams. Here's a look at the backs.

The back has a big team logo at the top, the players name with pronunciation, their vitals, and up to five years of stats. The lines and shapes mimic the front of the card and help tie the two together. Overall not too bad, kind of what you would expect from MVP.

The other high series SP's were the Rookies. I ended up with four of those, the best for me being Colin Bkackwell of the Predators. I don't know much about him. Apparently he was drafted by the Sharks back in 2011 and has been playing mostly in the AHL ever since. He's had six games of NHL action with the Preds in 2018-19.

The rookies are identical to the regular base cards other than the word "Rookie" replacing the six slashes at the top of the card. I like when base and rookie cards are similar like this with just the one feature that differentiates them. The others I got were Zack MacEwen of Vancouver, Trent Frederic of Boston, and Kevin Boyle of Anaheim.

Next up we have the standard Silver Script inserts. In this case they should be called grey scripts because there is no silver foil to be found. If anything, it looks more like a silver paint marker than anything, so I guess they're ok calling it silver after all. I got three of these including the Nick Ritchie below, a rookie of Ryan Poehling and Brent Burns.

Stepping up one level from the Silver Script we have the lone Gold Script of the break. This one featuring Jared Spurgeon of the Wild is actually a really nice looking card. The facsimile signature is actually gold foil so it really pops in the light. They also changed the top and bottom of the card to a nice gold color. I really need to get some of these for my Golden Knights collection. Gold Scripts for my Golden Knights, talk about a golden opportunity...

In addition to the scripts, I was able to pull three of the puzzle back variation, which actually kind of beat the odds. I probably should have only gotten two. Either way since none of them are my PC teams, it really doesn't matter. I got this one below of Carey Price's blocker, one with Kucherov's mid-section and one with Marchand's right glove.

Before I get to the best of the box, I wanted to show off the two inserts I got. The first was this Net Crashers of Sidney Crosby.

The other was this Laser Shots of Evgeni Malkin.

Now for my favorite part of the break and the reason I bought this box in the first place: the MVP Stanley Cup Edition tribute cards. I was able to get two for my collection. The first was card #63 in the set featuring Alexander Wennberg of the Blue Jackets.

The second was card #75 in the set featuring Jamie Benn of the Stars. These things look great in person, although the bottom edge is really starting to bother me. I wish they would've stopped the net looking patter before the bottom like the original design. Something just seems off with it continuing down to the very bottom edge.

Not bad overall. This was a fun little break for around $20 and I even got a nice variety of stuff for my various collecting projects. Anything other than my PC teams and the tribute silver scripts is available. I'd love to do some team for team swaps of base/inserts as I've got a ton of stuff just sitting around in boxes. Leave a comment below if you're interested.

Also, since I shared all my PC additions in this one post rather than breaking them out, I've included updated totals at the bottom. This is more just for my own tracking purposes.

Updated Golden Knights Collection Total: 34
Updated Predators Collection Total: 79
Updated Silver Script Tribute Total: 3/100

Predators: August Card Show Pickups

This year has been a bit of a resurgence for me when it comes to card collecting. Now that I've found the monthly card show in Troy, MI, it's been relatively easy to find new singles for my Golden Knights and Predators collections among other things. I also feel like I'm enjoying collecting more now than any other time in the last few years.

Last month I was able to make it out to the Troy show again and came away with another nice stack of cards for my growing Predators collection. 

This was also the first time I've ever left a card show having made money. On a whim I decided to take my collection of excess McFarlane figures to see if any of the dealers would buy them off me. I had a box of about 20 of them from a variety of sets. They've just been taking up valuable space in my basement and it was time for them to go. 

Luckily there was one dealer with a table full of other McFarlane figures and he was open to acquiring a few more. We made a quick deal that meant cash in my pocket and extra space in my basement. Definitely a win win. I even ended up spending less on cards than I made on the sale, hence the making money part. Now onto my Predators haul.

Up first we have this gorgeous rainbow parallel from 2018-19 OPC Platinum featuring Pekka Rinne. Now that I've seen some more of the parallels from these sets, I am really starting to become a fan of this particular offering from Upper Deck. And this is the most basic of the parallels so they only get nicer from here.

I have to say that is probably one of the best looking scans I've posted here in a long time. By that I just mean the way it perfectly captured the gradient of the rainbow foil from top to bottom. Things like this usually do not show up this well.

Here's another one that was easy to spot in the quarter bin. This one featuring Ryan Ellis is a retro rainbow parallel from 2018-19 OPC Platinum. Its an interesting design to say the least. Not sure how I feel about it just yet. Also, just like the Rinne, the rainbow effect is difficult to see in the scan, it looks so much better in person when the light hits it.

Continuing with OPC Platinum, I was also able to snag this neat In Action card of Filip Forsberg. I like how the cropped the photo so the words run in front of Forsberg's legs, but behind his gloves and stick. It really gives the card some depth. This also has more of a chrome/mirror finish on the front and shows just how dirty my scanner really is.

Switching gears, next we have a red parallel of Ryan Johansen from 2017-18 SP Authentic. I really like the look of the last few SPA base sets. They use some crazy geometric designs that somehow all work together. The best part, which you can't really tell from the scan, is how the player image is glossy while the rest of the card has more of a matte finish.

Sticking with SPA, but jumping forward to 2018-19, I was able to find several base cards in a dime box. Up first is Ryan Ellis. The overall design is very similar to the previous year shown above, although there may be slightly less of the geometric background craziness.

Then there was this Filip Forsberg. 

The third one was Pekka Rinne. I wish there was some more variety in the photos on all these Rinne cards I've gotten lately. I can think of at least three that have him in almost the exact same pose. None are bad, I just wish there was something different occasionally.

Along with the three base SPA cards, I was able to find another red parallel, this time of Rinne. It is essentially the same design as the base card other than the grey background and foil being changed to red. It looks more like a really dark shade of pink if you ask me. 

Switching gears once again, I was able to make a nice dent in the Preds checklist for 2019-20 MVP. This was the first time I had seen these cards in person and I have to say I kind of like the overall design. I just wish they would get away from the newer cursive looking MVP logo and go back to the original. Up first is Filip Forsberg.

Up next is Roman Josi with a cameo from Rinne, again in a standing position.

My favorite Predator to watch is still probably Viktor Arvidsson. He's a smaller guy but has some incredible speed and hands. I've seen him score some amazing goals the last couple of seasons and hop there is more to come here soon.

Up next is card #70 in the set featuring Ryan Johansen.

Here we have defenseman Ryan Ellis. This time we can see the Preds other goalie, Jusse Saros, in the background. I love the gold pads he went with last season, although they looked a little better with the road white jerseys. This setup was almost too much gold.

Last but not least we have Wayne Simmonds, who actually isn't even on the Preds at this point. He signed with New Jersey over the summer joining fellow former Pred P.K. Subban.

So that's it for another Predators card show haul. Even though these are pretty much all base cards it was still very enjoyable searching for them at the show. The benefit of most collectors not caring about base cards like these is how cheap I can get them. Usually at these shows they run me just $0.10 each, maybe $0.25 if they are from a higher end set.

Predators Collection Total: 75