Another Case of Cards Becoming Relevant

About 2.5 years ago I bought a couple boxes of 13-14 Contenders when they were being blown out and felt I did pretty good on those boxes. Some cards were surefire hits like a Malkin auto /25 which I would eventually trade away and others were sleeper hits. A couple that was a long-term dormant were these two cards. Recently my team traded away one of my favourite Devils of all-time Adam Henrique and the return was Sami Vatanen. While we gave up lots, I understand why we made the trade but at the same time we as a club haven't been quite the same in Henrique's absence and I can't help but think it has partly to do with the team missing what he used to bring to the dressing room.

With that being said, the Sami has been steadily improving and looking more and more at home with each passing game and I believe in the long term it probably will be viewed as a good move especially given Adam could always return once he hits UFA status in 2019.

13-14 Dominion Showcase Pen Pals Vatanen/Etem /99

Even though this card says it is Dominion, it was pulled from a box of Contenders. Features two on card autos, one of Sami Vatanen and one of Emerson Etem. At the time I thought Emerson could offer a great deal of potential for this card but it appears his career is pretty much done in the NHL/AHL and Sami is getting top billing in my opinion on this card.

2013-14 Contenders Quad Autos Anaheim Ducks

The second Vatanen auto came on this card which was pulled from the same box. This time, he is joined by Lindholm and John Gibson as well as Etem. Three out of the four have adapted well to NHL life and that makes this card a solid one for the collection. Having Sami on the Devils just adds that much more to it in the cool factor department and truly makes it a winner.

I did actually pull a third Ducks auto from the second box and it was a quad booklet of Fasth, Etem, Rakell and Andersen. Only Rakell is still with the Ducks but Andersen has been doing very well for himself as well which makes it a pretty decent hit as well.

I certainly enjoy when cards in my collection become much more relevant due to trades but as with any trade you usually lose someone too and while Henrique is no longer with us, I will continue to enjoy the cards I do have of him in my collection and wish him all the success in Anaheim that doesn't impact the Devils but I won't likely be chasing any of his Ducks stuff in the future. Meanwhile Sami should make us a better team in the long term and I look forward to our Cinderella year continuing in the second half.

Do you have any cards that became much more relevant to your collection thanks to a trade or signing?