Taylor Hall Rated Rookie - Toronto Expo /250

Living in Nova Scotia means a few things. One of the things is we don't get any cool card expos. Toronto has its fair share of expos and at those expos there are cool give-aways and autograph sessions that can make a person living out east rather jealous. 

eBay does allow me to at least buy things that I would have otherwise been given for free and Mr Hall is an example. Apparently this card was limited to 250 copies, but since it isn't numbered I guess I will never know for sure. However, this card is easily more rare than his Young Gun, his regular Rated Rookie and most other Taylor Hall rookies for that matter so I felt landing this for under 10 bucks was a bit of a steal. Of course, there are some that don't feel it is a true rookie and I respect that, but again beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Now that I have this card as well as Shattenkirk, Lehner, Omark and Fowler, it might be worth my time to try and track down the other 8 cards in the set.
Here is what the set looks like:

Cam Fowler /500
Derek Stepan /500
Linus Omark /500
Robin Lehner /500
Sergei Bobrovsky /500

Jeff Skinner SP /250
Nazem Kadri SP /250
Taylor Hall SP /250
Kevin Shattenkirk SP /250

Tyler Ennis SSP /100
Logan Couture SSP /100
Michael Grabner SSP /100
Tyler Seguin SSP /100

I always check my attic when I buy or move into a new house

Here is why:

http://sports.sympatico.ca/news/contentposting/baseball_cards_in_ohio_attic_might_fetch_millions/6ec2755b

I wish it would happen to me some day!

53-54 Parkhurst - Al Rollins

With 5 cards in the 53-54 set in my collection including the 5th most expensive card (Tim Horton), I guess you can say I am a long way from completing the set, but I am making progress. Well a little while ago, I landed 5 more cards bringing my total up to 10 which of course is 10% of the set. Here is what I would call card number 6.

53-54 Parkhurst #82 Al Rollins

I think it is safe to say this card is fair at best and most likely poor (The back is perfectly clean). Still, there is something cool about this card. I don't know if it is the landscape layout, the autograph that I will never own, of just the pose of Al as he drops the blocker and paddle down to try and stop one of the legendary greats. I am loving this set more and more with each card I get.

Adam Larsson Rookie - Pros and Cons of SP Game Used

I would like to begin this post by saying, I have never bought a pack or box of SP Game Used. I intend to at some point, but I just haven't yet. For those of you who have priced it out or bought a box the packs will run you about 35-40 bucks and boxes are between 180 and 200 bucks (depending on location and taxes).

I could have bought a box of 11/12 SP Game Used last week, but I instead went with Certified and I haven't lost any sleep over my decision. If you are unfamiliar with the product, you get 6 packs in a box and each pack has at least one hit. The hit is going to be a game used card. Sometimes there will be an auto on your game-used card and other times there will be a rookie in the pack as well. Rookies fall every three packs or two per box. Sometimes you can get a third rookie and the rookies are numbered to /699 or /99 this year. 

The problem with the product boils down to VALUE. 8 hits in a box (6 game used and 2 rookies) is a pretty nice box, but at 200 bucks you are getting your hits at 25 bucks a piece. The game used cards can often be had for under 5 bucks a piece for common players and the rookies are the same if you get a common /699. So in the end you can pay 200 bucks and end up with 50 bucks in cardboard. But, it is the chase for the big rookies, cool inserts and rare cards that make the chase that much more exciting, but if you are unlucky you can lose big. 

A while back I made a trade with Tim from the Real DFG and I landed this Adam Larsson card.

11/12 SP Game Used Adam Larsson Rookie /99

This is one of the base rookies that are numbered to 99. There are 10 cards in the set numbered to 99 and the numbering is a sticker on what is intended to look like a circuit board which is why it scanned funny. The card is pretty cool looking, much nicer than the 07/08 SP Game Used cards.

Glad to have this card as part of my collection and certainly glad to have so many fellow bloggers out there to make trades with!

In with the old, and out with the young - Devils sign Marty and lose Parise

Well free agency is now a week old and in that time a large number of players have received new contracts. Some of those are with the same club as last season and others found new homes. My beloved Devils lost their captain Zach Parise and resigned a number of players including "senior" players Brodeur, Hedberg and Salvadore. 

Don't get me wrong, these are some good young players but I think we need to start moving in the rebuild on the fly mode and focus on some more youth. Our defense is young, but our forwards and goaltenders are among the oldest in the league and I really like the Marty signing, but I think we need to focus on getting some young goalies action in the NHL in the next two years. 

There are still some talented players available but most will require compensation through trade or rfa which sucks because it really isn't the approach I think we should be taking.

11/12 Black Diamond Martin Brodeur

I received this card in a trade with Tim from the Real DFG. This card features a nice two colour swatch and a solid black swatch of Marty Brodeur. Love that this card features all the Devils colours and don't get me wrong, I love that we resigned him. But I think we need to be using Marty to help condition one of our prospects.

The Devils also just lost Matt Taormina which is a little unfortunate. He is a talented offensive defensemen and for once we are starting to accumulate a large number of "prospects" at that position. It became a numbers game and I wish Matt all the best in Tampa, I suspect he will put up some good numbers this upcoming season if he can stay healthy!

Also as an aside, I think Parise signing with the Wild is the second worst thing that could happen to my collection of Parise cards. First off, he is no longer a Devils which sucks a fair bit, but also, no one is going to want my Parise cards anymore because he is gone into the abyss as far as collectors go. Does anyone out there actually collect Minnesota Wild cards? I don't see too many bidding wars for Mikko Koivu cards or P-M Bouchard autos. Unfortunately, he will be a great player on a small market team and the team itself I am predicting will win Zero Cups in the next 13 years. Not that I am hating on Zach, but I think that Minny is a long way away from being a Cup contender.

11/12 Panini Certified Two Box Break

So here are the results of my two boxes of 11/12 Certified. Even though one box was far better than the other, it was a pretty fun break in all!

11/12 Certified Base Card

Here is the front shot of the base cards. I ended up with 87 base cards and 1 double.

Back side

 I have always like the modern style of the Certified cards. Not everything needs a retro feel and Certified does a good modern looking card with a decent write-up on each.

The Hits

Martin St. Louis Fabric of the Game /25

 A pretty decent pull here. The was my first hit I got in the first box.

Mark Katic Freshman Signings

 This is the only rookie I pulled from the first box. A little unfortunate, but considering the other hits, I can't be greedy!

James van Riemsdyk Mirror Blue Auto /99

 YET ANOTHER JVR hit. He is like herpes to me it seems like, just keeps reappearing! All joking aside, the is a pretty decent auto and I love that it is rather limited as well. Shame his penmanship isn't all that attractive.

Milan Lucic Mirror Blue Materials /99

Another hit numbered to 99. I always liked the way this kid plays!

The big hit from box one!

In addition, I also landed a few inserts and a mirror red parallel of a common player.

Box 2 was much less exciting. There were a few insert cards and the hits below:

I ended up with 2 rookies:

The first one was a Cameron Gaunce auto, he is an up and coming defenseman for the Avalanche. He is also the older brother of Brendan Gaunce whose auto joined my collection last year in a box of Heroes and Prospects. The second rookie was Aaron Palushaj. The card is numbered to /499 and he has a name I can't pronounce. He has some talent I think, but I have yet to see him play.

The other two hits are plain in terms of swatch detail, I have a Fabric of the Game Brad Richards /25 and a Fabric of the Game Brian Gionta /99. Certainly a much less exciting box, but also makes me glad I grabbed both because if I just left with one box....which of these two would it have been? 

I am now faced with a tough decision. I have 87 out of 150 base cards and going after a set through boxes could get a little pricey especially if I break more boxes like box two. However, a base set might set me back 20 bucks or so and then that would end the hits. If anyone out there has base they want to unload, I will gladly trade and in the meanwhile I might try one more box in the fall.

If anyone is interested in the hits, most are up for trade!

The hits keep coming!! 1:2500 Hit

I am riding my hottest streak of my life. I just got back from the store where I was picking up some Tostitos for my wife when I decided to buy a pack or two of series 2 Upper Deck. In the second of two packs was a Young Gun of some Malone guy and this card!!

not the exact card because it is too dark in my house to take a photo, but this card nonetheless

A Brad Marchand Day with the Cup card. These cards are super rare and super uninteresting to me. I can't believe my luck, and if there are any Bruins fans out there going after this set or want this card let me know ASAP. I am going to fire it up on eBay this weekend if anyone wants it first. I would rather trade it to someone I know than sell it to some person on eBay. Also, I am not looking for anything crazy for it either as it isn't worth a lot to me personally.

I sure hope my luck continues! * I know it will end someday soon :(

My best hit ever?

It has taken me some time, but I finally made it to another card store that has been in my "area" for a while but I have only known about for a month or so. My wife found it in her travels and finally I had a moment and some birthday cash to go and check it out. Last year I had some great luck on my birthday when I pulled this beauty, maybe I could get lucky twice? Well when I got into the store I was a little surprised, he had lots of new boxes and practically no singles. The good news is, I was itching for a box or two so I guess I came to the right place, so I put aside my want list and looked around.

After talking to the owner about cards for 15 or 20 minutes, he started to let me know some "deals" which meant he was taking 10-15 bucks off each box for me! I then inquired about two lone boxes of 11/12 Certified I saw on the shelf and he said I could have them for a C note each (taxes in). The problem was, that was also the price Between the Pipes was selling for too. I had to make a decision, two of one, two of the other or one of each.

I asked him for a coin, he provided a Remembrance day quarter with a poppy on it, I flipped it and the answer was two boxes of Certified. I brought the boxes home and busted the first four packs. 

ALL had hits in them and the fourth pack yielded this monster!

This seam is bulging out of the card, much like ITG's hits tend to!

#/5. THIS IS A CROSBY numbered out of 5 and I LIVE IN NOVA SCOTIA. This card is only hotter in downtown Pittsburgh. The only question remains, what do I do with it! I love the card, but someone out there may love it more than I do. My wife wants me to hold onto it, but at the same time there are some hardcore Crosby fans out there that might want it more than I do.

Either way, this box so far is pretty solid! I will share this box and the other one when I am done busting, but I just had to share!

Adam Larsson Hot Rookie

This is the second last post about cards I picked up with my 100 dollars I would have spent on Score boxes.  One card I wanted to get was an SP rookie from the set because of a couple of reasons. The first reason is there was an SP'd rookie featuring a New Jersey Devil, the second being if I had bought some boxes I would have landed some of these cards so why wouldn't I try to land one.

Funny story about this card is it is actually the second one I have purchased. I sent the first one I purchased in a trade with another blogger (The Real DFG I think). Anyway, I landed this one for a little less than I paid for the first one, but it was the first price that I included in my 100 dollar spending spree.

11/12 Score Adam Larsson Hot Rookie

Adam came out of the gate hot for the Devils and played very well most of the season. However, his inexperience with long seasons did come to the surface toward the end of the season as he just seemed to run out of gas and found himself being a healthy scratch down the stretch. However, I think he learned a lot and will be an excellent defenseman in the years to come. The deep playoff run will certainly only help his career in the NHL.

Jordan Eberle Game Used Rookie

Here is another post about what I used my extra cash on instead of buying countless boxes of 11/12 Score. One thing I have really been wanting is a game used card of Jordan Eberle from his rookie season. I ended up buying this gem in the fall for an excellent price. The "value" of this card has nearly doubled as the season has gone bye which means I saved myself a few bucks because of my obsession over this kid has certainly increased!

10/11 Zenith Rookie Roll Call Jordan Eberle 

This card is a beaut in person. The crazy Nufex foil action in combination with a nice orange swatch is nothing but eye candy. My only complaint is a high-end product like Zenith should have serial numbered cards. I mean they went through all that trouble with Pinnacle, why not Zenith? Petty complaints aside, I really do like this card and being able to have a few extra bucks to pick it up certainly made it affordable.