10-11 Upper Deck Jeff Skinner Young Gun

Hockey fans like most sports fans can be too hard on athletes in my opinion and when it comes to hockey especially hard. When you look at football, or baseball chances are the athletes are in the early to mid 20 by the time they are a rookie and those few extra years can make a big difference when it comes to life under a microscope and the pressure of being a highly paid athlete. However in hockey, rookies are often nothing more than young adults who are 18-20 years old and perhaps new to the spotlight and pressures of being a pro athlete.

Let's take Jeff Skinner for example. Before you read any further or do any research, what do you think of? A player who had a good start and fizzled because of injuries? A player who just never reached his full potential?

Now, let's look at the Jeff Skinner I see, first of all he's only 25 years old! That's right, 25. Jeff can easily have another decade of hockey ahead of himself if he stays healthy. Truth is he did have a few concussions over a couple years early in his career but these past 3 years he's only missed 6 games in total. This past season Jeff scored 37 goals on a pretty weak Carolina team and was a huge reason why they were flirting with a playoff spot. His 37 goals this past year was good enough for 6th in the entire league. Over the past two years he's averaged over 30 goals a season and I truly believe the best is yet to come as he reaches into his prime. True 3 seasons ago Skinner's numbers were pretty pedestrian with him only scoring 18 goals and 31 points but the team as a whole was a disaster too.

After 7 NHL seasons Jeff Skinner has scored 20 or more goals 5 times and 30 or more goals 3 times. I believe he can easily reach 30 over the next 5-6 years and perhaps even has a 40 goal campaign or two in him. At 25 there's so much hockey left in this kid I am excited to see where his career will take him. As a Skinner fan, I hope I've convinced you the reader he is worth all the hype he once had back as a Calder Trophy winning 18 year old and might be worth grabbing a card or two of if you don't already have some in your collection.

10-11 Upper Deck Jeff Skinner Young Gun

Once upon a time his Young Gun would have set you back close to 50 dollars but now can be had for under 20 and I believe if he can show the world he's a consistent 30-35 goal a season player you will see those cards take a jump in value.

While I am trying to stand up for Jeff Skinner and his career, I know I am guilty of getting down on prospects who just don't mature as quickly as hoped or panic a bit when that sophomore slump trickles into their 3rd/4th season but patience will always win out with most of these kids because they are indeed humans like the rest of us and the game is a world unlike anything we live in.

Some other players who might be worth a look and some added patience are: Dylan Strome, Mikko Rantanen, Valeri Nichushkin and Jonathan Huberdeau.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and if you have a player you'd like to say still has star potential I'd love to hear about it!

A Successful International Experiment

So a while back Shane from Shoebox Legends writes to ask me if I wanted to participate in an experiment. I was flattered and immediately agreed to (for the sake of science of course). So fast forward a little over a week and in my mail was a wonderful care package of 9 cards in a PWE!  The best part is they all arrive safe and sound and what would have originally cost a finger or two to mail to Canada set Shane back nothing more than probably the hair off his knuckles!

I on the other hand, get ALL the rewards! Check them out!

Here is the gem of them all! My first Brett Connolly Young Gun! Despite having countless rookies and autos I never actually had this card (now I have 2, story to follow). Brett was recently traded to the Boston Bruins which did excite me because he was getting a new start after being buried low in the depth chart due to the hoarding of many young offensive forwards by Steve Yzerman.

Love this kid, just wish the coaches did. I have a couple of his rookies but this is the first Prizm one! Eric was a bit of a whipping boy for PDB, but since his firing, Eric has seen an increase in ice time and a decrease in scratches which will hopefully translate to a longer term deal next season (especially since we let Marek Zidlicky go).

I said that the Connolly YG was the Gem, but that is because I was expecting it. The real diamonds in the rough are this card and the next one.The Stadion cards are a Czech release from the early 2000's which feature players from all sorts of sports. Here is an awesome photo that I doubt Upper Deck would ever put on their cards. Scott has been wounded in action and I can almost picture this being taken while he was on the bench waiting to hear if the player got 4 minutes for the infraction! Or maybe it was a fight? Maybe it was a "no call". Well the cool thing about these cards, is there is a date stamp on the back which states when the photo was taken it this one was from Game 3 of the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals. Ville Niemenen took a 2 min boarding call against Scott in the first period so this could have been the result or maybe it was something missed. Either way, Scott didn't take any penalties during this game so it is safe to say it wasn't a fight. Love this card!

Here is another one, this time Scott Gomez is celebrating a goal! No games this time, this game is from April 20 2001 and while the Devils lost this game 3-2 to Carolina, they would go on to of course win the series and make it eventually to the Cup final. This particular game, Scott Gomez was one of the goal scorers but Arturs Irbe stopped 37 of 39 from the win. Based on these two cards I am very tempted to try and see others from this set. I am not sure how many Devils make an appearance but these two are great examples so far.

Yikes! Ok, don't judge a book by its cover but I have a hard time seeing him as a goalie coach! Maybe the accountant or something like that but not goalie coach. Well, it turns out boys and girls that the goalie coach for the 1980 USA Miracle on Ice team was Mr Strelow! He was only with the Devils for one season but he did coach in San Jose and Washington as well.

Leading scorer in Devils history! Sweet!

Some more Elias! Awesome!

In addition to these 7 cards, there was also base cards of Zach Parise and Brian Gionta filling out a PWE stuffed with 9 cards. Every card made it safe and sound and I want to thank Shane again for including me on a pretty awesome experiment. Hopefully it isn't 3 weeks until my next post either :)

My. Best. Upper Deck. Pack. Ever.

Funny story the other day. I decided to go into some sketchy second hand store and just look around. Wandering past the old Bee Gees records and overpriced used xbox games I see a few packs of cards. For 75 cents I could get myself a pack of 88 Donruss Baseball, 91 UD Baseball, 90-91 Pro Set Series 2 and the list of crap went on. Then out of the corner of my eye on a dirty back shelf was a box of 09-10 MVP and 10-11 UD Series 1. I see a price of 2.99 on the UD Series 1 so I ask the lady if I could see the box. The guy working behind the counter in a gruff manner asks what do I need to see the box for? I respond I wanted to know if they were retail or hobby packs. He said they are hobby. By that point the box is now in front of me and then I said, I feel lucky so I would like to select my own three packs. Before they could respond I just grabbed the top right pack, bottom left pack and then a pack 2 down on the bottom right. Then I walk to the cash and pay 10.25 which included tax.

Then I tell them, I don't search packs because I prefer to get rookies over jersey cards.

Then I proceed to open the packs.

Pack 1.

Looking in through the top I can already see I have a jersey card. No rookie, but cool nonetheless.

The card is a Mark Recchi jersey card which has a black swatch.... good start.

Pack 2.

Looking in I see lots of cards, rookie potential in there.

However, no rookies to be found but I do find a 90-91 variation of Brent Seabrook. Not bad because I don't have any of these cards.

Pack 3.

Looking into the top, something isn't right. I see three cards. One huge and thick one and two small ones. My adrenaline gets pumping because I have NEVER pulled what I think this is out of ANY pack before. Sure enough it is a patch card! And better yet, the card is of a player who is pretty darn good and has MUCH potential!

A three colour swatch with orange and white being patch pieces.

The card is numbered 06/15 and I am jacked.

Without a doubt this is the best card I have ever pulled from an UD pack and maybe the best I have ever pulled period. Not back for feeling lucky and the best part I felt was, this was all on my birthday!

Please forgive the photo, a little crude but time has not been on my blogging side lately as I finish up my last two Masters courses!

Prospects with Potential - Matt Taormina

Something I really wanted to do with this blog was to find time to "prospect" the prospects. I like most hockey fans, I have an interest in the young kids and like to make predictions on how their careers will turn out. I have had some hits and some misses. Finally, I will put into print, what I think and possibly make a huge ass of myself in the process. I am not going to always choose the obvious choices like Crosby (I think most knew he would do fine), but at the same time I am not too delusional to think that Jordan Smotherman is going to be a HOF player.

Matt Taormina is the first player I am going to go out on a limb on and I think for good reason. This kid was never drafted and very much reminds me of another undrafted diminutive defenseman with a knack for putting up points.....Brian Rafalski. Matt signed with the Devils last season and then proceeded to tear it up for the Lowell Devils finishing third in team scoring with 50 points. He moves the puck well and though he isn't the strongest defensively he for the most part isn't a liability either. Currently he is a minus 2 on a team that really is playing bad hockey and apart from a minor injury it doesn't appear that he will be leaving the NHL anytime soon. He is smart with the puck and passes it well on the PP. I believe when the Devils get their offensive issues worked out, he may put up about 30 points this season. I think he has much too learn much like Brian did in Europe but give him 2-3 years in the NHL and Matt will easily be a 40-50 point d-man in the NHL and for a kid who was never drafted that is quite an accomplishment.

Here is his 10-11 UD Young Gun RC. Currently I do not have any of his cards, but I am always looking, so if you have one to trade let me know and we can try and work out a deal. I see big things for Matt and maybe he could end up as good as Rafalski and should he miss that mark, the very least he will be a quality #3 or 4 defenseman for years to come.