Pretty bummed about losing Clarkie, a Savard Auto could cheer me up I guess.

As you all know I WAS a huge Clarkson fan. So Toronto fans, congrats on landing what I think is a very good player and if you have seen any Clarkson cards on here that interest you, please contact me. With that being said, once upon a time, Savard left the Windy City to be a Hab (a trade instead of a free agent). Many felt he belonged as a Canadien even though they passed up on him much like all 29 other teams passed up on Clarkson and the Devils were the only club to give him a shot. (The wound is still raw I know).

Anyway, Savard did carve himself a second identity with the Habs and even won a Cup with them. I am not sure what Clarkson's future holds for him in Toronto, but I am pleased Lou has helped the Devils move on and I think we are a much better team now, than we were at the end of the season. Time will tell if that is true or not.

10-11 Luxury Suite Denis Savard Auto

Here is a nice on-card auto of a Hall of Famer and 1000+ point man. I have decided to try and land an auto of every one who has cracked the 1000 point mark and I will post a list someday of my progress. I know lots of other collectors out there have projects similar and I think it would be a fun idea. HOF list might be impossible with all the players long passed away etc, but 1000 point men might be more doable!

Is it me or does his first name look like FERN?

Box Break Loot from Cardboard Conundrum

As I get through my posts, I need to share some fun loot from a box break a while ago with Matt from Cardboard Conundrum. Initially I had signed up for the Devils, but then my secondary team wasn't terribly interesting to me, but Matt was kind enough to trade me for the Islanders so here we go, three boxes (10-11 Luxury, 11-12 Anthology and 11-12 Enforcers)

I will kill all suspense and say that I hit nothing of note on the Anthology box except a Pinnacle rookie of Anders Nilsson.

The Luxury Suite box was my best success with three cards:

Gotta love J-T, he is showing why he was the first overall pick in 09 as he sits 5th in goals with 16 at the moment. Boring swatch, but a nice hit regardless.

 My favourite hit of the lot and not just because it is a rookie auto. I think this kid is a good defenseman and he has potential to be very good offensively. Overall, the best card in terms of my "value" I place on each card.

I really felt this kid could have been a good offensive defenseman. I am not wrong about that at the AHL level, but it looks like I may have over-estimated his NHL potential.

Is it me, or does that auto look wrong? I actually had to look online to see if there was a mistake with the stickers on this one....Turns out there wasn't and Gillies starts with an M.

There you go, another great Conundrum break. I think I ended up ahead on this break even if all my good hits were Islanders. 

Cheap Chiros Part 2

So the first two autos weren't that great, but I do promise there are some good autos in that lot. Here are the next couple from the lot. 

10-11 Certified Philip Larsen Rookie Auto /1299

Philip has a beautiful signature...behold! His offensive game is offensive, but he does chew up NHL minutes and was a +11 last season in 55 games.


10-11 SP Authentic Colby Cohen Future Watch Rookie /999

Here is a nice on-card auto of a player I had never heard of before. Sounds like a good excuse to do research right? Well what did I find, that he was in the NHL for a brief 3 game stint. However, he has been toiling between ECHL and AHL with very limited production so I would safely say that his NHL career is likely over as far as cardboard is concerned.

10-11 Luxury Suite Zac Dalpe Rookie /499

I have a few rookies and autos of this guy and if he EVER makes it big, I am going to strike it rich!! Slowly I am losing faith with each passing year, but anything is possible as injuries and trades happen and much like Zach Boychuk, Zac Dalpe may find his chance with another organization.

There you go, a bunch of good old rookie autos which brings the total to 5 autos down, 12 more to go!