09-10 Upper Deck Series 1 Retail Box Break

Last summer I picked up a couple boxes of retail hockey. Two 09-10 and one 14-15. The 14-15 was epic-ally awful. So bad I didn't want to spend any time scanning the cards to share them let alone rehash the experience. The one 09-10 was equally bad. Thankfully there was gone good box in the lot and I will share some of those with you wonderful folks today. If it had been the only box, then I would have called it a success. Sadly it needs to carry the weight of its crappy brethren so that in itself also diminishes the success here.

Without further ado, the top 4 Guns out of 6 I got and one game used card.

09-10 Upper Deck Dmitry Kulikov Young Gun

First up is Dmitry Kulikov. Kulikov is a pretty steady defenseman who currently is apart of a pretty solid blue line group in Winnipeg. Having grown up in Lipetsk, I am sure living in Winnipeg isn't as painful as some seem to find it given they get cold weather on occasion in that part of Russia.  

09-10 Upper Deck Artem Anisimov Young Gun

Artem hit a milestone this week scoring his 300th career point. It took him 600 games which is pretty decent, at that pace he'd be good for 41 points in an 82 game season. Playing 82 games in a season has been a challenge for Artem given he hasn't reached that total in the past 7 seasons. Still, he's a very dynamic player and can often surprise defenders with a great move or a superb pass.

09-10 Upper Deck James van Riemsdyk

Oh boy, back in 2009 this was a pretty coveted card. Second overall pick, loads of talent and potential and the sky was the limit. James in now in his 9th season, he's managed some great numbers including a career high in goals of 30 and he's cracked 60 points twice. This year he's on pace for 32 goals and 49 points. However, if we were to look at the 2007 draft class as a whole, he'd likely still be a first rounder but guys selected behind him (Voracek, Couture, Shattenkirk, Pacioretty, Subban, Simmonds, and Benn) may all get some consideration before JVR. With that being said, given the 50 Young Gun cards I could have hit, this is one of the better ones. 

09-10 Upper Deck Jamie Benn Young Gun 

The biggest hit of the box without a doubt is this one. Jamie was a 5th round steal for the Dallas Stars and as of today, ranks second in points from those selected in 2007 with 569 just behind Patrick Kane (805). Jamie has scored 20 goals or more in every season he's played except the lockout year and this season is on pace for 30 goals and 75 points. He's definitely an elite talent and this was one YG I was missing from my collection so in all a very nice hit.


The Game Used Card!

All retail boxes back then came with a single game used card and I think I did pretty well with Anze Kopitar!

So there you have it, been a while since I shared a box break but given how bad my luck has been in this department, you can probably understand how I didn't want to use up too much of my limited blogging time on some pretty spectacularly awful boxes. This was definitely a success but far from my best too.

How about yourselves? Any box luck lately?

Brodeur's 600th Win

On Tuesday, Brodeur reached another milestone during the 3-0 win over the Thrashers. Brodeur now has 600 wins and 110 shutouts during his regular season career. Both of these totals are NHL all-time highs and at this current pace, Brodeur could easily reach 700 wins by the end of his career and that would have him at 149 wins more than the second place Roy.

What is actually more impressive is the 110 shutouts. Each season the NHL seems to try harder and harder to increase scoring in the NHL and every season Brodeur consistently racks up the shutouts. He has averaged about 7 shutouts per full season and if he plays another 3 seasons that would run his total over 130 shutout and the next nearest goalie is Roberto Luongo who at 31 years of age his only 51 shutouts. Marty's shutout record could be as unreachable as Gretzky's 2857 career regular season points.


Below I have three of my favourite Brodeur cards from my collection

This first card is from the 06-07 UD McDonalds Set. These were tough pulls and I just bought two packs and found this in one of them. Odds of pulling a Clear Cut winner that year were 1:100 and of course I was really happy to see it was a Brodeur. I think this is the most valuable Brodeur card in my collection.



This card was a relatively recent pull. It is the only Brodeur relic card I own and it is from the 09-10 UD series 1.

This card is a classic, I must own about 6 of them. This is of course the only legitimate Brodeur rookie card. That year Score pretty much covered the entire first round of the 90 draft. As a result, this is the only card that year to feature Martin Brodeur in an NHL set. Upper Deck that season focused on the top 10 picks so you can find Drake Berehowsky or Scott Scissons in their set which I am sure are still in high demand.....somewhere... but of course no Marty.

As you can see, in 1990 the Dirt 'stach was pretty popular!

Hot Packs Part 2

Upper Deck's base sets are always a great value for the average collector. Their pack/box prices are always reasonable compared to some of the other products and at about 4 bucks per pack you get some nice quality cards, good photography and the young guns cards tend to hold their value especially for the stars.

Scenario 2

09-10 Upper Deck Series 1

6 packs

Total cost with shipping $22.00




First off at a cost of less than 4 dollars and each pack having a young gun I would take this deal just about any day. Of COURSE the hope with buying 09-10 Series 1 is that you get a John Tavares RC but there are some other decent prospects in the set and getting 6 for $22 could be a decent deal.


Young Gun #1 Alec Martinez




I would first of all have to say WHO? I follow hockey pretty closely, and this was not a name I was familiar with. In a system where the team is stocked with really good young talent, especially at the defense position, Alex tends to be near the bottom on the depth charts. I see Alec going between the AHL and NHL for a majority of this career. Value 2/10


Young Gun #2 Mike Santorelli



I have heard of Mike, but not much about him. Doing some research has shown me that both Mike and Mark (brothers) are in the Nashville system and Mike has had some success offensively, but difficult to tell right now what his future and his brothers has in store. I can see him making the NHL on a consistent basis, but I don't see him on the same level as Patric Hornqvist but he could find himself some third line minutes down the road again. 2 goals in 32 games doesn't usually land you on the first line. Value 3/10

Young Gun # 3 Jhonas Enroth

I remember Enroth from the World Junior Championships from a few years back. He is a pretty good goaltender stuck in a system with Ryan Miller. Millertime means little time for Enroth, but with "5-hole" Lalime as a back up, Buffalo make look to move Jhonas up sometime in the next season or so. He has starter potential and is playing well in the AHL right now. I hope he is able to find some permanent role at the NHL level because he could be star much like his fellow Swede Henrik Lundqvist. Value 5/10


Young Gun # 4 Michal Neuvirth

Well is Michal was not in Washington I would have been much more excited about pulling him. In my opinion Varlamov is the man of the future, and Neuvirth is likely a future back-up or a former Capital. Personally, I think there are a few teams that could use a young goalie like him and he does have much potential, but in Washington there seems to be a small log-jam of goalies there and his currently injury has him down at Hershey now. He does have a great deal of potential and I rate his value at 6/10.


Young Gun # 5 T.J Galiardi

Well Galiardi is making the most of his current situation. He is a young player, on a very young and rebuilding team so as he gets nearly 20 minutes a night he himself 8 goals, 16 assists in 45 games. He has a lot of the tools to be a good second line player and if he can learn to shoot more he may make a pretty decent career out of it. Hard to tell right now where he will be in 5 years, but he is only 21 and has found himself playing full time on a team that will be really good in the coming years. Value 6/10



Young Gun # 6 Tyler Myers

I saved him for last for obvious reasons. Tyler Myers is a monster player with what seems to be never-ending potential. He is a 20 year old who plays like he is 30 and really in my opinion defensively reminds me of Marc Staal, but offers the offensive potential of a Chris Pronger. He is huge, intelligent and seems to be a real team player. Right now he is the leading candidate for the Calder Trophy but it is a very tight race and offense usually trumps defense. I think he is the best All-Round defensemen to debut in the NHL since Dion Phaneuf. I think as time goes by and he bulks up a little bit he could fashion himself a spectacular career. Value 8/10

So in all for $22 I got one really good rookie. If I had pulled a Tavares, that would have been a huge success and made this unquestionably a 10/10 but, no Tavares, Duchene, Kane, Hedman or van Riemsdyk. Myers was a quality pull and some of the other rookies do offer some potential. I wouldn't call this a bust, with plenty of sub-par rookies in the set I could have easily pulled 6 Jay Rosehills so I think in all I did ok and would definitely try this deal again.

Overall Value 5/10