On to round two!

Well, it took 7 and a half games, but the Devils finally won a series and will be into round 2 for the first time in a while (2007). Henrique was the hero, but Marty really was the reason for us making it to round 2.

He put in a vintage performance last night seeing more than 40 shots and stopping all but two. Both goals were tough ones and he certainly can't be faulted.

As for the Flyers, I am concerned. We are hurting and there is no denying it. Kovy is going to be pounded because rumours are out that he is hurting and the Flyers aren't the kind of team that will go lightly on them. Fact is, we need our third and fourth lines to continue doing what they do and we could just have a chance!

One neat fact after the first round is Marty has more points than Jason Arnott, Jamie Langenbrunner, Peter Sykora, and Duncan Keith to name a few. Marty has the same number of points as Mike Green and Jeff Carter.

Another victim of generosity from Drop the Gloves!

The same day I received my package full of awesome extras from Chris at Confessions of a Hockey Card Addict, I received a second package from Drop the Gloves!

If you are a reader of sports cards blogs, then you will no doubt know about the website Drop the Gloves!. Casey who runs that blog has always been running contests and helping out fellow collectors for as long as I have been blogging and much longer I am sure. I have been lucky enough and I mean lucky to have had a trade or two with him and each time you are always treated to wonderful extras and he is just an all-round giving guy who appears to "live to give". I always feel bad because I am sure the debits and credits between us aren't balanced and I don't know if I will ever catch up.

Anyway, the other day he was giving away a few hits from some of his packs and I chimed in I wouldn't mind the Roman Horak "photo shoot used" card. I love rookies and I love memorabilia cards so those two together always have me, plus at free I am just that much more of a sucker!

So a few weeks later, I get a parcel like a few of my fellow collectors have!

 Here is the Horak card. A decent prospect with the Flames, but certainly has some more development ahead of him. 11 points this season in 61 games is a far cry from his point a game pace in junior.

In addition to this card was a large pile of Devils extras! Here are a small sample of some of the awesome goodies:

Scott Clemmensen Rookie

Clemmer was great in his years for the Devils. When called upon he was always reliable. I just hope he isn't on his game tonight. Devils need all the help they can get.

Love this card! Normally I don't go too crazy for base cards, but just a cool card and since I never bought a pack/box of this stuff, I don't think I would have ever had a chance at getting one.

Another base card, another gem. Same reasons as above, love that Casey sent this one my way.

Josefson OPC rookies x 2! Much better than just one!

Seeing double? One is actually much thicker than the other. The one on the right was designed to be a decoy card and it is neat to see them both together. I never knew Bowman did this and to be honest it isn't a bad idea!

One of my favourites of the stack was this little beauty. The Nufex looks nice on the rookies and Henrique is going to be a pretty decent Centre for us for many years. I figure him to have Zajac potential so don't be too surprised to see many 20-50-70 seasons from this guy!

Wow WOw WOW!

Travis Zajac rookie, yep I needed this one!


Thank you Casey so very much! I absolutely love everything you sent. In fact, it is gestures like this that which make me very thankful to be apart of one of the coolest communities and a chance to interact with some of the nicest people. Over the past two years I have had many trades, commments and emails with other bloggers and I have grown to trust and appreciate each and everyone of you. I certainly wished I started doing this sooner, but at the same time the community is continually growing so to be a part of it at anytime is certainly awesome.

I look forward to more trades and more discussions and more posts with everyone, so please keep up the good work fellow bloggers and I hope that everyone lands that hit they are chasing for!

Sometimes there are cards you NEED to have - Trade with Chris from Confessions of a Hockey Card Addict

Sometimes there are cards you NEED to own. Well a while back, Chris from Confessions of a Hockey Card Addict posted a pretty cool break. From a blaster box of 11/12 Certified he pulled a really sweet Tyler Seguin auto swatch. The swatch was a beautiful seam piece and the card was numbered to /25.

I needed this card, I wanted this card, I had to have it. While at a local swap meet, I saw a really nice UD MVP 2 on 2 Ovechkin card with a nice 2 colour Ovechkin swatch. I knew I had to pick it up because it would make the perfect trade bait. I sent my trade request to Chris, who has been extremely busy lately and still found time to hammer out a trade.

In the end, I sent a pile of cards to go after this baby, but it was TOTALLY worth it.

The foil board shimmers on top of my "mantle" and the swatch is likely from a rookie year jersey. The auto isn't as nice as my TTM one, but I still love it like a family member anyway (maybe a niece or nephew kinda love).

There you have it, I gave into my desire and paid much more in terms of BV, but the cards I sent were worth the card I received and then some. Also, Chris being the great guy he is, also sent a cool stack of fun Devils cards and a Matt Taormina SP Authentic rookie. I just hope Chris is enjoying his cards as much as I!



Making a BAP lot purchase....better.

So another BAP lot purchase found its way to my house. This lot was a little small being 4 cards but the price was also small and doing the math I couldn't TTM these guys for this price so I snapped them up. What made this lot awesome, was all the players were good, and I have been really wanting a Rod Brind'Amour auto for my collection. So here they are:

Ryan Callahan

 Being a Devils fan, I am not supposed to like this guy! However, he is a pretty decent leader and his growth over the last few seasons has been hard to ignore. He is the current captain of the Rangers and he is going to need to step up his game tonight if the Rangers want to remain a playoff team.

Rod Brind'Amour

 Rod was an awesome player whose career spanned 3 decades. He could do just about anything at both ends of the ice and he the face to prove it! He had 12 seasons with more than 20 goals and he finished with 1184 career points and 452 of those points were goals. He also won two Selkes as the leagues best two-way forward. Currently he is an assistant coach with the Hurricanes.

Dan Boyle 

 Here is the first of two Boyle autos. This one is from 06-07 BAP.

Dan Boyle 

 Here is the second Boyle auto. This one is from the 09/10 BAP set and Dan is featured on his current team. Having two Boyles isn't that important to me and I would certainly let one of these go in a trade.



So that was what was included in the lot. However, I sometime like to see what else a person is selling, especially if they do combined shipping. Well, this seller did just that and I was able to "up-size" my lot by one more auto.

Darren Helm

I have never bought or seen any cards from ITG's Canada VS The World product so that made this card at $1.50 that much more appealing. In addition, Helm was a former World Junior player which made this card a no-brainer. The auto is a sticker, but the back has half of it has a nice write-up about Helm's lone Team Canada performance. Helm is an excellent checking forward for the Red Wings and I am pretty happy adding this to my collection along with the other 4 autos.

I am curious to know if other collectors buy additional cards they might not normally have bought for combined shipping or if that is something people don't really care about?

Personally I found it turned an A- purchase into an A purchase!

94/95 Be A Player Auto Lot

94/95 Be A Player come out just as I was getting out of collecting hockey cards. With that being said, I do remember this product on the shelf and I remember the insane 20 bucks a pack they were going for in my LCS at the time. 

Sure you get an auto in every pack, sure there were some super rare and valuable autos, but fact is you likely were going to pull crap before stars 9.5/10 times. 

The cards were also damn ugly, look at them! They look like a collage thrown together by a 5 year old or some creepy chain-letter guy who made them in their basement between episodes of Dr Who. Either way, I never really liked them much and the on-card autos are often lost in the mess of shapes and patterns.

What complicated things further was a lack of an NHL license which meant that the players were often featured off the ice or wearing NHLPA uniforms.

With that being said, there was a lot of 9 autos up on eBay a while back and a 9 dollar bid brought them to me, which was a little steep but a HOF auto was in the mix along with some other quality players I remember from my childhood. Sorry about the bad scans, but trust me, they don't look any better in person!

Glen Featherstone

Glen was a tough stay at home defenseman who had a career high 20 points and 200 minutes in 90-91 with the Blues.

Dave Poulin

Dave was a former Selke and Clancy award winner. He had a couple 30 goal seasons and was a two-time All-Star. He also was born in the wonderful city of Timmins which has been home to a few NHL'ers such as Steve Sullivan and the Mahovlichs. Currently, Dave is VP of Operations for the Leafs.

Nick Kypreos

Nick won the Stanley Cup as a member of the New York Rangers in 93/94. He received his ring despite only playing in 3 of those games. What else did he do that post-season? Here is photographic evidence of what he brought to the table!

Kirk Maltby

Kirk was a solid checking winger who did what had to be done! A couple rings to show for his hard work too! Red Wings have kept him in the fold as a pro-scout.

Luc Robitaille

Most prolific scoring Left Winger in NHL history. 668 career goals including 8 straight 40+ goal seasons. Glad to have my first Lucky Luc auto. Didn't want to send a TTM his way as he has been on some hard times lately and I think that would have been insensitive.

Derek King

Former 40 goal man and current assistant coach of the Toronto Marlies. Just another nice auto in the lot!

Ted Drury 

Hey a Drury auto! Oh wait, its Ted. Wish it was Chris, but then again Ted has scored one more NHL playoff goal than I have so I guess he is alright.

Fredrik Olausson

Freddy was a pretty solid NHL defenseman who did put up some decent offensive numbers in the late 80's and early 90's. Maybe his best season being in 91/92 where he had 20 goals and 62 points. He did win a Cup in 2002 with the Red Wings and is an assistant coach right now with HV71.

Kris Draper

Kris will always be remembered by me for his World Junior Hockey contributions (he won gold in 90 and 91), but many people also will recognize that he was one hell of a checking centre who had 4 Cup rings and a Selke Trophy. Draper has also won a World Hockey Championship and a World Cup of Hockey. Kris retired this past summer and is currently working as the Special Assistant to the GM for the Red Wings.

Nice autos and ugly cards, that is pretty much what 94/95 Be A Player has to offer. I don't ever see myself going after any remaining unopened boxes, but if another auction should offer a good deal like this....anything can happen!

11/12 ITG Captain - C Box Break

At long last, my box of Captain - C arrived at my LCS. I went in and picked it up immediately and that night I got down to the brass tacks and ripped this baby. The box boasts 10 cards, 5 base and 5 hits. Of the base cards, you get 3 regular at a print run of 150 copies and 1 gold card with a print run of 50. After that you get three hits and from other breaks I notice it is usually 2 autos and 3 game-used.





Upon opening my box, I can see the cards are lying flat because of the cards is bulging which I thought was a pretty good sign. On the top of the pack was Sprague Cleghorn's ghostly face. It looks like he is trying to challenge me possibly, well Sprague, here we go!




(These are in order from top to bottom of the pack)





Sprague Cleghorn Base /150



I love the look of the cards. A nice classy foil look and simple photo of the player's face and shoulders. No emblems allowed here, but sometimes you do catch a peak of a captain's crest.





Back side

Most breaks I have seen neglect the back, but we all know I love back-sides, so here it is for your viewing pleasure! Simple all text and no foil or holograms.

Ted Kennedy Base /150

Not THE Ted Kennedy, but rather 1954-55 Hart Trophy winner Ted Kennedy. Solid career which was entirely with the Leafs and included 5 Stanley Cups. Teeder also lead the league in assists once.

David Backes Base /150

Happy to get this one. Over the years I have become a bit of a Backes fan. I need to get a letter of to him before the post-season is over!


Zdeno Chara Base Gold /50

Wasn't too excited to pull this one, certainly is up for trade.



Shea Weber Base /150

I wonder what Shea thinks of "Webering"? Funniest thing I have seen in a long time!

Now time for the hits!

Ed Van Impe Auto

Wow.


Kirk Muller Auto

Well Kirk, it looks like I win! Kirk stood me up for a TTM request despite my Devils fan status and after more than a year, I am a little bitter. Well, I guess I get the last laugh Kirk as I got your stinking autograph anyway! I likely would have enjoyed the Lemieux Sweepstakes Second Place Prize more if he would have signed for me. Nevertheless, I was a fan of his as a kid and getting the auto is a little bitter-sweet.

At this point, the box has been a bit of a dud. But, things get a little better, after all there is that bulge to look forward too....


Denis Savard Game Used Silver /90

The swatch is a beautiful red and a pretty good size too. Not a bad start for the final three cards.

Franchise Captains Barber-Clarke-Tocchet Gold /10

Wow (for real this time). Two really nice seam pieces that just explode out of the card. Tocchet's is a simple black piece but the Clarke and Barber ones are amazing. This is the hit of the box by far! Numbered to 10 is a great added touch and value. I hope to possibly trade this to a Flyers or Clarke fan.


Ryan Murray Junior Captains Silver /50

This hit is going to make this box a decent or a great box. Ryan is projected to go top three in this year's draft and this card could become a little more desirable as a result. A nice finish to a bad start really!

Well there you have it, after a few weeks of waiting, this box took about 2 minutes to open. You have to love hockey cards, after all where else can you spend 100+ bucks and get 2 minutes of enjoyment?(don't answer that, this is a family website)

My wife asked me if it was a dud or a good one and after a moment I decided it was a break-even box for me. I feel that I did get value for my money, but apart from the game-used portion I wasn't too jacked about this box.

As for as availability, I would like to keep one base card (Backes) and I will likely keep the Muller and everything else is up for trade if they interest you.

Recent TTM Successes

Been a pretty slow month for autos, but I did get a few. Here are some of the successes I have had recently which I have been posting up on Dirty Dangle.com


Tyler Seguin
This kid had a great start to the year, and even though he cooled off towards the end, he certainly showed what he can do this year. I expect the growth to continue and he will be a solid 80-100 point kid in the future.

Carey Price

Around the same time everyone else was getting their autos, I was getting somebody else's auto. I had mailed away a really nice Ovation rookie and got back a cruddy OPC rookie. At least it was signed which is a success, but my hope was to have it on a nice rookie card instead. Win some, lose some.

Keith Yandle

Keith was kind enough to sign both cards I sent him. Love the auto and he actually took my cards on a trip because he mailed them from Phoenix, and I had mailed them to him in another state.

Johan Hedberg

Awesome back-up goalie for the Devils and an even better signer! He signed all three cards I sent, and this one is by far my favourite!


Thomas Vanek

Been a fan of him for a while! Vanek had a tough second half of the year, I can't help but think he was fighting through some injuries or something. I hope to see him back in 40 goal form soon. Thomas personalized one card I send and signed this Top Guns card as well! I love the personalized ones.

80-81 Topps Hockey

Another Christmas post! One thing I wanted to do was try and get myself a significant set which I might not have normally bought with my hockey card budget. In addition, I am also trying to acquire one set from each year hockey cards were produced so when I saw an auction for a 80-81 Topps set on Boxing Day I decided to set my limit and try and win it.

The set was advertised as being an unscratched 80-81 Topps set. That was all, no other information. With about 3 hours left in the auction I based my bid on the set likely not being completely mint. There were low res-scans of Wayne and Ray but that was about it.

When the auction ended, I won the set for about a dollar less than my max. Then came the waiting game. Luckliy the set arrived about 4 days after paying which was pretty sweet.

In the binder, here is page 1.

The first page features a few Record Breaker cards most notably was Gretzky's record for being the youngest player to ever score 50 goals. The Bourque RB is for setting a record for most points by a rookie defenseman. Both cards were in nr-mt shape.

Page 4

I already had a Liut rookie in OPC form, here it is in the Topps form unmolested. One of my top 25 favourite cards of all time.....Hmmm....Seems like a post idea.

Page 10

Gretzky All-Star Card....about a mint as they get...Love it.



Page 21

Gretzky team leader card is pretty cool, but I also like the Bob Murray card next to it.



Page 23

Gartner rookie! It is also in great near-mint shape and it is my first Gartner rookie too.


Page 28

Gretzky 2nd year. I did a switch-a-roo here because the one that came with the set was actually better than the one I bought about 6 months ago! The one that came with the set is Near-Mint-Mint where the one that I bought a while back was less than Near-Mint when I finally took it out of the top-loader.

Spare Gretzky

Here is the one that arrived in the set. Nicer puck and better centering. Best part, 4 sharp corners and a perfect surface. The one that came a while back has a indentation on the surface.


Did I forget anything?

Oh yeah, Ray Bourque

This card isn't mint. Which I had to figure something was going to be wrong with this set. The card is in pretty good shape though and for what I paid, I believe I got an AMAZING deal. If I were to grade the Ray Bourque rookie, I would think EX condition likely. There are no creases or dents, but the corners are fuzzy.

So another set ticked off the checklist and a steal of a deal if you ask me. This set would have qualified for my Value Vintage list if it wasn't for the shipping. But having a few spare 2nd year Gretzky cards are nice, especially as trade bait!