A Hattrick of Nic Petans

The World Juniors each year are a showcase of the young talent around the world when it comes to ice hockey and each year I seem to walk away with a new player or two to admire. A few years ago, Nic Petan wore the Team Canada colours and just seemed to dominate the tournament. It was his second appearance and after finishing 4th in 2014, he helped lead Team Canada to a gold medal in 2015 by scoring 4 goals and 11 points along the way in just 7 games. 

Success in a junior tournament by no means dictates success at the NHL level but I do believe this young 22 year old player has the potential to be a very solid second line NHL player and given he's a member of a very young and exciting Jets team, the future could be very bright for both him and his club. Over the past couple years I've managed to pick up a few of his cards:

2015-16 Upper Deck Nicolas Petan Young Gun

While I Nic'd the scan of this one from the internet, I did pull one or two of his cards during my quest for a McDavid young gun. He didn't stalk me as much as Larkin or Panarin but each time I hit him I was pretty happy with the outcome regardless.

2015-16 UD Contours Rookies Nicolas Petan /199

 Contours was a product that meant to be a little premium and a little different but alas I don't believe collectors jumped aboard the product like Crown Royale fans used to and as a result you can find this product still for a pretty reasonable price. My LCS has boxes for 89.99. I picked this one up for $5 which I'd do all over again.

2015 Upper Deck Team Canada Juniors Jumbo Jersey Nicolas Petan /199

 Game used Team Canada jersey? Yes please! I don't think this was from the Gold Medal winning tournament but then again I don't know for certain it wasn't. Either way, it was game worn by Nic Petan which is still pretty cool in a Team Canada game.

Nicolas Petan finished this past year by playing in 54 NHL games where he put up 1 goal and 13 points. Very modest numbers but he mostly was seeing bottom 6 time and support and I believe in time he could find himself higher up in the line up and as a result production will increase. In the meantime I wouldn't be surprised if we see 30 points from him in 2017-18 and more importantly I am excited to see what the Jets will be capable of this coming season after just missing out on a playoff spot. They did finish the season as the hottest team in the NHL with a 7 game winning streak so if that is any indication, look out Western Conference.

Thanks for stopping by!

Non-Identical Twin McDavids

Two years ago when McDavid was on the horizon of his NHL debut, I am willing to bet it was much like the Summer of 2005. I don't know for certain because I wasn't back collecting again at that point but it would very much be my guess. I missed the Crosby insanity which is a shame because I could have lucked into a couple nice RCs without tanking my financial situation. But alas I didn't and I missed out and given recent trends that appears to be a permanent thing. However, it's all good in my books, I do have an MVP and Ultra rookie of the best player to play the game since Mario Lemieux and some might even argue he's better than Mario (I won't do that today).

I was collecting when #CollectConnor was a thing and I was fortunate enough when the dust settled to have 5 different rookie year cards of him. Today I am sharing the twins.

15-16 Artifacts

These two cards feature a few similar traits. Both are from 15-16 Artifacts, both are numbered to /399 and both are redemptions filled by me and reside in my collection. I was fortunate enough to get them well below the trending rates at the time but I am sure they might have been had for even better deals at the end of his rookie season when he failed to win the Calder and spent half the season on the DL. However, thanks to the success Connor McDavid had last season most of his rookie stuff has steadily climbed and in some cases even beyond the initial hype prices. Please excuse my "scans" they are actually from a photo I took with my dying camera as I didn't wish to put them on my scanner and risk damaging them when I tried to pick them back up.

15-16 Artifacts Rookie Jersey Redemption Silver Connor McDavid /399

 These redemptions came out very nice in my opinion. After seeing the base rookies I must admit I do prefer the redemptions even though they aren't an "official" rookie card. I lucked out into getting a blue and orange swatch which look fantastic with the rest of the card. No eBay 1/1s when it comes to my numbering but then again I never cared much about those anyway.


15-16 Artifacts Rookie Redemption Ruby Connor McDavid /399

The rookie redemption series come in a variety of different levels depending on if it's a jersey or a regular rookie redemption. Depending on your luck and or budget you can try and chase the rainbow if you wished but for me these two are plenty and perhaps one day I will pass one of these each on to my two boys so they can have a piece of the player who might be the best since ...

Thanks for stopping by, hope to have a new post very soon!

A new minor PC - Blake Speers

How many PCs can a fella have? Probably as many as they want or can afford to chase/trade for, but in my case I usually stop ones and start others and while Brett Connolly is big in my collection and I will always follow along, I've officially stopped chasing his stuff and will just enjoy what I have accumulated. As a result I've started a couple small PCs to replace BC with and Blake Speers is one of them.

I really enjoyed his efforts at the 2017 WJHC and he looked really good last fall with the Devils and actually made the opening night line up. I suspect he will make it again this year but perhaps will manage to stick it out this time for the whole season. He's a very tenacious player who does very well at both ends of the ice and has lots of speed which seems to be the direction the Devils are going with their rebuild which makes him a perfect second/third line player.

16-17 Upper Deck Blake Speers Young Gun

 What every PC needs if the card exists is a Young Gun version. I don't have the acetate version yet but they are out there. I'd be willing to make a trade for one if anyone has one to part with.

15-16 Leaf Heroes and Prospects Blake Speers Prospect Auto /80

 Also who could start a PC without an autograph of the player? This one is fun because it's him in a Greyhounds jersey and represents him prior to being in the NHL.

There you have it a couple to kick off a minor PC. I do have a couple more I will share but those will come at a later date! Thanks for stopping by.

85-86 OPC Kirk Muller Rookie

So when I was a kid just getting started into collecting, I always had an eye for "vintage". Of course the concept of time was still relative so for me anything that was older than 90-91 was considered vintage by my little developing mind. One card I remember distinctly on my want list was the 85-86 OPC Kirk Muller Rookie. It didn't book for much at the time 4-5 dollars and even today it still doesn't book for much $4.00 in the most recent Beckett Hockey Monthly. So when I was at a card shop back in like 1991, the same one where I shelled out 8 dollars for an Upper Deck Ed Belfour Star Rookie, I saw a Kirk Muller rookie for $5.00.

I still remember it like it was yesterday, it sat there in the display case in a 10 count card holder and the card had a bit of curl to it. Later in life I'd learn it's called the OPC curl and basically all the OPC card if left for a long extended period of time outside a toploader or other case it would start to curl on you a bit. So I brought my purchase home with me and was perplexed by why it had curled and figured that I could just flatten it out and shove it into a toploader and that's just what I did. However, in the process of flattening it I created a new problem and that was I damaged the card in a new way...wrinkles/ripples in the center of the card. I was pretty bummed out but still enjoyed owning the rookie card of the best Devils player ever (at that point) and over the years somehow that card managed to disappear.

Several years ago, I was able to build an 85-86 Topps set which got me another Muller rookie this time in Topps form. However, a hole was still there from my childhood and about 2 years ago I was at the LCS and the owner had a bunch of new stock which included a bunch of vintage cards and in there I found myself an 85-86 OPC Kirk Muller rookie in fantastic non-curled shape in the 3 for 5 bin. You better believe I left with it.

85-86 OPC Kirk Muller Rookie

While I always believed that we should have been the ones to get Mario Lemieux and it should be him in this jersey, things still worked out ok and in the end it would be a trade that sent Kirk Muller to Montreal that helped them win a Cup and eventually us win a Cup too. Glad to have you back in the fold Kirk and I promise to just leave you as is.

73-74 OPC Billy Smith RC

Sometimes a mint card isn't what is needed in a collection, sometimes just having a nice copy is sufficient enough. While it is my hope to collect at least one set a year from 1910-present, I know that goal isn't too realistic. However, having some key single rookies is rather doable and one of the biggest from the 73-74 set without a doubt is Billy Smith! 

73-74 OPC Billy Smith RC

Not exactly an exciting photo of a goalie in action but it is perhaps a bit better than a studio shot of a goalie in his equipment sweating it out under the lights.

Here is the back side of the card. Interestingly enough, this particular year OPC used two different types of card stock one with a light back and the other with a darker back. This is a dark back version. Even his rookie card predicted that Billy doesn't mind mixing it up with players in front of his net.

While I am not a big Islanders fan or even a huge Billy Smith fan, I greatly respect his career and accomplishments and this card falls under the category of me wanting to own every significant player's rookie card in the history of hockey which is a massive under taking in itself and the best part is it's a project that will never end! Thanks for stopping by and until next post...

13-14 The Cup Scripted Swatches Nail Yakupov /35

Nail Yakupov had a decent start to his NHL career. He was a finalist for the Calder and the future seemed bright. However, in the past year or two many fans are beginning to think he is just another Alexandre Daigle and are considering him a bust. I am thinking perhaps the right situation hasn't presented itself and given he is only 23 years old I want to believe there is hope yet. As I write this, no Canada Day signings have happened yet but I believe someone will sign this kid. Heck, I'd love it if New Jersey took a shot and perhaps we'd be rewarded with a solid second line winger.

Fact of the matter is he needs to change a bit, get a little tougher on the puck but with the right coach and atmosphere this kid's career is salvageable and there are a few teams that could do it for him. In addition to the Devils, I believe clubs like Tampa, Florida, LA or Vegas could benefit from a one dimensional scorer. Time will tell where he signs but regardless, I still wish Nail all the best and hope these past few seasons will be nothing more than a slow start and he will blossom into a 30-30-60 player I know he's capable of being.

13-14 The Cup Scripted Swatches Nail Yakupov /35

About a year ago I put a low ball offer in on this particular card and won it! It's a great looking card with a huge patch and you can actually see three colours on it. The auto is solid and I am pleased to have his number 10 on it to go with some of my other auto rookies of his where he signed them 64.

Thanks for stopping by and no matter where you are or who you cheer for Happy Canada Day / Happy Free Agency Day.