The Moose is no longer loose. ITG Superlative Volume 3 Mark Messier Edmonton Auto

Being a Devils fan, I probably disliked Messier as much as anyone out there during the 90's. I even felt that often he was one of the most overrated NHL players of all-time. If I was building a team, I would gladly have taken Mike Gartner or Dino Ciccarelli over Messier but I am sure I am in the minority there. However, there is no denying his accomplishments during his HOF career:

2nd in all-time Regular season games (1756)

7th in all-time Regular season goals (657)

3rd in all-time Regular season assists (1193)

2nd in all-time Regular season points (1887)

and he did all this without ever leading the league in any one category during the regular season.

ITG Superlative Vol 3 Mark Messier Auto Silver Edmonton

Here is the front side of the card featuring a very nice and large on card auto. In addition, you see the Moose in an Edmonton uniform and wearing the C. I love the intensity on his face, the Winwell bucket and the chipped teeth. In all, for a Messier card I would say it is nearly perfect.

Here is the back side and you can see it is a Silver version limited to just 20 copies. What is worth noting is there is another version called A-MM which I can only assume is a Rangers auto, but then again I guess I don't care enough to really solve this riddle. What is rather peculiar to me is that if you look closely at the bottom you see something strange.

The copyright on this card is 2010, on a product that was released in 2012/13. I don't think this is an error, but rather it has been a few years since the last Superlative release and I suspect ITG was making cards for a while before they finally released the product so as a result there are a couple different copyright years that may appear on this product. I just checked my Tretiak from this set and the copyright on that card is 2011.

So there you have it, a Devils fan with a Messier auto. Truth be told it was picked up at an insanely cheap price thanks to some very patient waiting by me (almost 2 years to pull the trigger) but I am glad I did wait and this card is exactly what I would want from a Messier auto. What are some of the painful purchases you have had to make (cards you sorta need to finish a set but really didn't want to shell cash out for)?