A Pair of Blackhawks Sweet Shot Rookies

Surprise surprise, here I am with more Sweet Shot rookies. What can I say, I am a sucker for these cards and I believe they both are worth sharing so here they are!


07-08 UD Sweet Shot Patrick Kane Rookie Jersey RC /599

First up is the 2015-16 Art Ross Trophy Winner Patrick Kane. This card is numbered to 463/599 and has three swatches including a two colour swatch. 

What I like most about the backside of this card is you get a small "did ya know" in the upper right hand side.


07-08 UD Sweet Shot Jonathan Toews Rookie Jersey RC /599

While I do like Patrick Kane, I am an even bigger fan of Jonathan Toews. I would totally add him as a PC if I could afford to but sadly his stuff is a little rich for my blood so I have to pick and choose what to add from him. Love this card though with all three Hawks colours appearing on the front.

Here is what the card looks like from the back side of things. You have to love that Team Canada saw so much potential in Toews that they put him on the roster before he even played in an NHL game given the number of NHLers who could have played in his spot.

Thanks for stopping by hopefully you aren't getting too tired of the Blackhawks cards of late, I promise something different next time!

07-08 Sweet Shot Sweet Beginnings - Carey Price Rookie /599

Well, since I don't have my latest Tall Boy scanned and I have a free moment, why not feature a different pick-up in the last few months. Given his win last night which could be his last of this season, I am featuring Carey Price.

 07-08 Sweet Shot Sweet Beginnings - Carey Price Rookie /599

This season he was on fire and carried a pretty average Habs team into the stratosphere. Please forgive my scan, I didn't want to take it out of the one touch holder and clearly that was a mistake as it is pretty blurry. I assure you this is a gem and I love the Sweet Shot cards because they are filled with frills like player worn swatches and serial numbering but can be had for less than a Young Gun of the same player.

My other awesome Twitter trade over the summer

While my last trade post mentioned someone who wrote me up about trading, this post is about a trade I initiated myself. During the dog days of summer I had a chance to really be active on twitter which has pretty much ground to a halt now that school is back in session. However, during that time I saw a retweet by Upper Deck which involved a collector named Jeff who likes to break ultra high-end cards. He is chasing the Rookie Bookmark set from the 11/12 The Cup set so he bought some boxes and shared the results. In his break he hit a Devils rookie I had been trying to find on the cheap and I decided to contact him if he would be willing to trade it. 

He was more than willing and we were able to come up with a pretty good deal for both sides. Not long after he has hit more Devils cards and I was able to make a second trade with him as a result. Here are the cards I got from my two trades with Jeff.

 11/12 The Cup Adam Larsson Auto Patch Rookie /249

Sure it is a plain white patch but what do you expect from a Devils emblem! It features lots of white.


07/08 Upper Deck Sweet Shot Martin Brodeur Sweet Stiches /299

This was a throw in by Jeff to balance out our first trade. The card became much more significant when I traded a few of my Brodeur game-used away to Tom a few weeks after getting this card. I am now on the hunt for a Brodeur Auto Patch that I hope to land someday in the next year or so.

13/14 Panini Prime Prime Jon Merrill Prime Time Rookies /25

A little chipping on the card is a downer, but numbered to 25 and an on card auto are all awesome pluses! This isn't my first Merrill card and I doubt it will be my last either!


So a couple trades down already and maybe even more in the future with Jeff. Thanks for two great trades Jeff and I wish you the best of luck with your Rookie Bookmarks. 

07-08 Sweet Shot Marc Staal Auto

At long last, the final of the Sweet Shot posts. This time it is my fellow Thunder Bay boy Marc Staal. This is my second rookie year auto of a Staal boy with my other being a 06-07 Jordan Staal BAP one (I actually traded away my original and bought another after traders remorse). I still have yet to land an Eric Staal, but I may have to try and get it through the TTM route!

07-08 Sweet Shot Puck Signings Marc Staal 

Here is another puck signings for the collection. Silver sharpie on a fake puck. Very similar auto to Jordan's which is very cool to see and even Eric's has some similarity so some day these will be a neat trio! I actually landed this card for free last year thanks to eBay dollars.

07-08 Sweet Shot Nick Backstrom Rookie

Here is my second last Sweet Shot post of a rookie that I really really wanted to have. Nick Backstrom next to Jordan Eberle is the second most desirable player I wish was on the Devils. Nick has had a bit of a bounce back year in terms of points even if his goals are still down a little bit. Nick through today currently sits in 3rd for assists with 33 and 11th for points with 39. I just salivate at the thought of him and Kovy playing on a line together. However it is wishful thinking unless the Caps decide to blow their team up (never going to happen). Nick currently is a couple years in on a 10 year contract so even nabbing him on the free agent market isn't very likely to happen soon.

Unfortunately this is just a regular Backstrom rookie numbered to /599, I am very pleased to have it in my collection. This is my second bigger range Backstrom to go along with his Young Gun rookie. His cards are very affordable for his skill level and can be had for the same price as many semi-stars in their respective sets.

07-08 Sweet Shot Petr Kalus Auto Rookie

And I keep them coming, this is the last of my auto rookie Sweet Shot posts, worry not there are still more other Sweet Shot posts on their way. Mr. Kalus is by no means a household name, but the card is still a looker in my opinion. Petr's situation is an interesting one because he only has 11 NHL games in his career yet, has 4 goals and an assist. I think it was a case of Petr not producing in the AHL therefore he never really got another NHL shot when time would come for call-ups. As a result, Petr is overseas and I am guessing he will likely never be back. Still, it is a Sweet Shot rookie and it set me back less than 2 dollars so, why not? 

07-08 Sweet Shot Petr Kalus Sweet Beginnings Auto /100

Not entirely sure what that auto says, but it is on-card with blue sharpie and my guess is Petr Kalus, though I wouldn't be surprised if it said "Kelp Way"

07-08 Sweet Shot Bryan Little Rookie Auto

Here is another Sweet Beginnings Auto, this time it is of former 30 goal scorer Bryan Little. Bryan was a junior hockey scoring machine! He broke 30 goals as an OHL rookie at the age of 16/17 and during his four seasons amassed 153 goals and 342 points with the Barrie Colts. Bryan also represented Canada at the WJHC so you know I am a fan. However, Thrasher Jets fans must be getting a little frustrated because after an awesome 31 goal sophomore season, he has struggle to hit that total again. Bryan is only 25 years old and I think he still has some good seasons ahead of him especially once the Jets build some depth in the forward position and get Bryan some support.

07-08 Sweet Shot Bryan Little Sweet Beginnings Auto /100 

Unlike the Carter, there is some colour variation with the swatches and like the Carter a nice signature with a blue sharpie that is ON-CARD which is a nice bonus in a product that was designed to be higher-end. Really really like these cards and someday I wouldn't mind having some of the big guys from this set (Toews, Kane, Backstrom etc) with the auto variation. I recently watched a Toews version of this card sell for over 150 dollars so I am not sure if it is in the budget anytime soon...

07-08 Sweet Shot - Ryan Carter Rookie and Rookie Auto

So I guess I have a small confession here and that is I have a guilty pleasure called Sweet Shot. Particularly the 07-08 release. A long time ago, or so it seems, I busted a box of this stuff with very little success. However, on the secondary market I have bought autos of Radulov, Marc Staal, Erik Johnson, and a few other cards I will share at a later date. The next few posts will be a love-fest for 07-08 Sweet Shot so you may want to come back or ignore my blog for the next few days :)

Today, current Devils 3rd/4th liner Ryan Carter is the focus. I have a pair of Carters the first being the standard base issue rookie which is numbered to 599.

07-08 Sweet Shot Ryan Carter Sweet Beginnings Rookie /599

Here is the front, I like the design of these a fair bit and I really don't know why. The swatches of course are all photo-shoot/event-used stuff and in this case all the same colour. Still I am a fan and I can't tell why.

Both cards have similar back and what I do like is there is a small burb that almost goes unnoticed in the upper right about each player.

07-08 Sweet Shot Ryan Carter Sweet Beginnings Autograph /100

I also have the autographed version of the card. These are almost identical with numbering being limited to 100 and of course the signature.

The next couple posts will be all my Sweet Shot pick-ups over the last year which were obtained via eBay, LCS and trade.

Erik Johnson Auto

Yet another Puck Signings from the 07-08 UD Sweet Shot release. I am a sucker for the silver sharpie, what can I say? This auto is from his rookie year and his auto seems like a glorified EJ 6.

I have much respect for this kid's hockey skill and not very much respect for his golf cart driving skills. The only question about the incident I have is, how many did he drink before that happened?

As the Avalanche continue to grow and improve, expect his numbers to do the same. I think he is easily a 10-15 goal and 50-60 point a season defenseman. Of course, that is assuming he stays healthy and there are no more freak accidents in his future. This auto like some of my other Puck Signings set me back about 4 bucks with shipping.

07-08 Sweet Shot

So maybe it was the lack of sleep due to a newborn, or maybe I convinced myself it was a good idea by watching too many box breaks on youtube. But I decided to drop 65 dollars (shipping and tax included) on the 'bay to get a box of 07-08 Sweet Shot. I told myself hey, about 6 bucks, 5 cards, 3 hits and the payout could be really cool!!! In fact, with the deep rookie pool from 07-08 I am bound to get someone decent right?

So the ride begins with Sir Patrick

A neat little tin, inside the cards are in a see-through package so looking right up at me as I open the box is a base card of....

Zetterberg. Base cards design is pretty nice, I don't mind them at all. At 65 bucks a tin I don't believe I will try and build the base set. The base set consists of 100 cards, mostly stars and Beckett lists the value between 20-50 bucks. Definitely don't see the value in trying to build this one!!

Next in the pack was base card number two and it was Dion Phaneuf. Both stars in their own right but nothing I was really in love with yet.... Now on to the hits. The first hit was..

Not a bad card. The puck signings are silver on a black rubber insert. The card isn't numbered but I love the penmanship and it is his rookie year so it means a little more to me than a regular auto of a third line player. The next hit was..

Dany Heatley. This card was numbered to 299, many fans will remember Dany was involved in a motor vehicle accident that almost ended his career and did end the life of Dan Snyder. He did bounce back from the accident and tragedy to have himself a good career so far. I was not excited about this one because there are much better cards out there including many current HOFs. So at this point I am telling myself, one card to go and it is going to be a rookie! Rookies are my favourite part of collecting so I know this last card could be good. Kane, Toews, Backstrom heck even Andy Greene would be fine...

Jared Boll....sigh.....Well it is a rookie....that is what I wanted....but Jared's skills are likely more appreciated in an octogon than an ice rink. He is a fighter, he isn't a scorer...in fact he has compiled 13 goals in 218 games over 3 seasons. He is a regular NHL'er so it isn't the end of the world but I would say that I got a dud as far as rookies are concerned. (the card is white, it just for some reason scanned a little goldish)

So did I get 65 dollars in cards here? I don't think even a Sens fan would agree here. I do have a nice Patrick Roy Tin, there must be some value there! In the end I think it was a bad idea especially if I used the 65 dollars for I used the money for this. If I pulled something numbered to /25 or /15 then I would say it was a success or even one of the better rookies I would have a smile on my face. This is likely the last Sweet Shot tin I will ever buy which is good because they also have stopped manufacturing this product after 07-08 season. Have you ever bought a tin? Would you ever buy one?