13-14 National Treasures 11-12 Panini Contenders Adam Henrique Yellow Plate 1/1

 When I bought a couple boxes of Contenders this summer I was hoping for a Henrique rookie. I did even better landing a rookie patch auto  but still if someone out there has a rookie auto I am certainly looking to trade for one.  During the mass flooding of plates I was able to land one of my number 2 PC Adam Henrique. While it isn't as nice as my Connolly and I don't have the print version of the card yet, it still is a nice addition!

Here is the front, I would have loved to see a sticker slapped on the front with an auto!

Here is the back side with the 1/1 print number.

What are your thoughts? Ever look for plates? Do you have any you are really proud of?

11-12 Contenders Two Box Break

So what to do. I know I have a small budget and I could buy one box of 13-14 Contenders and get any where from 4-7 hits or I could buy two boxes of 11-12 Contenders and get a min of 6 hits. I played the numbers and went with two boxes because I was hopeful of also getting a base set as well. SO, here are my hits in order of personal appreciation. (I got lucky and here are my 7 hits)

First up are TWO redemption for Greg Nemisz auto cards.

Since I didn't want to scan two redemption cards, I found a pic online of what it looks like redeemed. I got his NHL Ink card and his Contenders Auto Rookie /800. They are ranked 7th and 6th respectively.  Greg is a former Team Canada World Junior which I like but appears to be a career AHL'er which isn't fun from a collecting stand point. I am hopeful these two redemption go stale and I can request a replacement. 

The Calgary hot box(s) continues with an auto of Curtis Glencross. I was a little bummed out about this card but after reading the back he does know how the find the net. He had an off year last season but should be a lock for 20 goals this season. Not a bad auto to have.

Now we are talking! Zack is a former Team Canada World Junior and he plays an excellent role as power forward and agitator. Picture Brad Marchand with size and morals (at least more than Brad). The Hockey News projects some gains this year for Kassian with 16 goals and 39 points as their prediction. I hope he makes it, a fun card to pull for sure.

Two years ago this SP auto would have been loads of fun to pull. Right now I am less excited about it, but it is an SP auto which is somewhat cool and it will either have some great trade value or it will have a home in my collection for the meantime. I do like Reimer and wish him all the best this year in a crowded Toronto crease.

My second favourite hit was of a card I have been wanting for a while. I lost out on a few auctions for Atkinson a year ago and kind of forgot about him. This past year he played great and emerged as a future star with the Blue Jackets. 21 goals and 40 points isn't too shabby and both The Hockey News and I predict he will at least match those if not improve on them this year.

My last hit was far better than all the other cards combined. Look at that auto and patch. White, black, jersey, black, white. Rookie year patch auto of a main PC, doesn't get much better than that I say. I was stoked to pull this card and even though I ended up 10 cards short of a complete set, I consider these two boxes to be a major success.

There you have it another birthday gone, and another birthday hit. I think that makes 4 years in a row now and I am curious to see what next year will bring! Sorry it took so long to get this posted but I will have much more rolling in the near future as routines get established again and in spite of an annoying hand the show must go on!

Canada Post Screws Up Again and Panini America Makes It Right

So as many of you know, I moved about a year ago. When you move, there are lots of things to take care of and one of those things is mail forwarding. My wife and I had a debate over how long to forward our mail and I wanted to pay for a YEAR and she wanted to do the minimum of 6 months. Not knowing when some of my TTMs might make it back home to me I felt a year was totally worth it and in fact I was tempted to renew just in case. Well a couple days ago our year was up and I will just have to live with any super long returns just not making it back to me. However, returns from Selanne, Tretiak, and Backes are just a couple of the reasons why I was glad to forward for as long as I did.

Sadly, mail forwarding isn't always perfect because people are involved. I had asked for a product replacement from Panini last summer to replace a redemption that was going to take forever to get back and really was going to be crap anyway. It was a 12-13 Limited Devils Rookie Redemption and it turned out that they weren't going to be signed so I asked for a different card. The great people at Panini America offered me another card and it turned out to be this card.

11-12 Panini Contenders NHL Ink - Adam Larsson

However, what happened was they mailed the above card out and weeks later I wondered, where the heck is it? So I logged on to check the tracking and it turns out the card was delivered. But, I never received it. I then knew why, I FORGOT TO CHANGE MY MAILING ADDRESS. My first thought was, damn I am an idiot for not checking that first. But then I thought, why didn't it get forwarded? Canada Post first blamed me because it was a package and they don't forward packages, just letters. But then after a couple of days of "reviewing my case" they realized they did screw up too and offered me postage products to make up for the mistake. Panini on the other hand said they would wait to see if it came back as a "return to sender" . A few weeks later I contacted Panini again and they said it didn't arrive back but that they would resend a second card and they confirmed my new address with me and a week or two later the above card arrived.

In all, I don't think this could have come out any better for me. I had some stressful moments dealing with Canada Post etc, but in the end I believe Panini was the better of the three parties by stepping up and fixing MY MISTAKE and dealing me a homerun of a card. No stickers here, a nice on-card auto of one of the best Devils defense prospects. If it wasn't for DeBoer, Adam would have been a full-time NHL'er a while back.

Thanks Panini for making it right and that is another reason why you will be missed in the Hockey Card market. Top notch customer service.

A pair of Brett's for the price of a pack of Prizm!

Brett overload I know, but I do really like the kid and his cardboard is often found at real nice prices! I landed two great autos one from my favourite set 11-12 Certified and another from a set I don't typically collect but it was attached to the auction for the Certified so I went for it.

11-12 Certified Brett Connolly Rookie /499

This was the card I went after. I absolutely love the 11-12 Certified Rookies and when you combine that with my boy Brett, this is a must have for myself. I am not a huge fan of the white only swatch, but the autograph is awesome. The Certified set was very early to market in the 11-12 season and clearly Brett signed his stickers during the transition from junior to pro and his signature definitely reflects what he was signing in junior and even has his number 8 from Prince George on it.

When you compare his auto from the beginning of the season to the one at the end of the season you can see he shortening his last name up significantly

 11-12 Panini Contenders Brett Connolly Rookie /800

Here is a Brett rookie auto from later in the season and you can see when he started signing serious numbers of cards he shortened things up to basically a B, C and Y and there are no numbers with his auto here.

The latter appears to be the way he is signing now which is all good in my books but what I do like about the second card is it is ON card and I love the first one because the auto was done clearly before he was assigned 14 in the NHL and you see his old auto style.

Two fun cards for the collection and 7 dollars was all it set me back. Not too bad, I promise no Brett in my next post so if you are tired of them, don't worry! If you are loving them, I am working on another one or two...stay posted.

Minor PC Addition and some Preds

So with the sale of my damaged David Clarkson The Cup Gold I was able to buy the Henrique /99 from the previous post and this following lot. I had offered the selling half his asking price and he took it. I suspect because I was buying multiple lots from the guy he was very giving on his end. 

11-12 Ryan Ellis Certified Rookie /299

 Ryan Ellis is a bit of a minor PC for me. I loved this kid in Junior and even though he is trapped in Nashville I am still a fan and hope someday the Devils might be able to steal him away. He is an amazing offensive defenseman and I don't doubt he will be playing for Team Canada again someday too. Love the guy and the set, this card was a no-brainer.

11-12 UD Ice Ryan Ellis Rookie /1999

As I mentioned before, I dislike what UD did with the ICE brand pretty much putting no effort into the cards. But at the same time they do hold a nice "value" to them and getting an Ellis is an added bonus. My whole reason for the lot was the first card. Every other card in this lot was free so I don't mind getting this one for nothing.

11-12 Crown Royale Gabriel Bourque Rookie

 11 goals in 34 games last season does give me hope he will be an everyday NHL player, but I doubt he will put up many more than Phil Bourque's 22 goals in a season.

11-12 Panini Contenders Jeremy Smith Rookie /999

 Jeremy Smith is definitely facing an uphill battle with Nashville having Rinne already between the pipes. However, he has been a very good goalie at the AHL level and may someday find a new home as an UFA and get a legit NHL shot. Still waiting for his first NHL start in the meantime.

11-12 Crown Royale Roman Josi Auto Rookie

 This might be the diamond in the rough as far as the lot goes. Nashville seems to have no problem nabbing amazing defenseman and Josi is another example. Roman just signed a 7 year extension with the Preds and some are hailing it as a pretty great deal. He may never be a Norris candidate or a HOF'er but he will be a very solid top 4 defenseman on pretty much any club in the league.

11-12 Crown Royale - Jeremy Smith Rookie

We have seen Jeremy before, now it looks like I am becoming a super collector of his. (Not really, if you want one let me know I will gladly trade one away).

So two Ellis', a Roman Josi and a few others all for 8 dollars. I call that a successful purchase!

Another Great Trade with Cardboard Conundrum

You have to love a trade that is complete with a total of 3 emails! That is what happened with this most recent trade between Matt and I. He wanted a Crosby game used that I wasn't too attached too and I noticed he had two PC guys of mine so I had no problems at all with a nice two for one trade in my favour. Thanks again for an awesome trade Matt.

12-13 SP Game Used Team Canada Fabrics - Brett Connolly

 LOVE LOVE LOVE this insert idea. I am totally chasing all my PC guys that played for Team Canada.

11-12 Panini Contenders NHL Ink Cody Eakin

Another great card, this time a rookie year auto of Cody Eakin which features a nice and large on card auto. I did chase a legit auto rookie of his as well which I will share at a later date.

Sometimes the best trades are the biggest but rather the simpliest.