11-12 Panini Rookie Anthology Cam Talbot Auto Rookie /499

As much as I love buying single cards with a purpose or strategy sometimes it is nice to just break a box and see what lady luck has in store for you. A couple years ago, I bought two boxes of Rookie Anthology and did pretty well. One card I hit wasn't terribly exciting at the time but I always liked the look of the card.


11-12 Panini Rookie Anthology Cam Talbot Auto Rookie /499

Perhaps it's all the blue on this card that I was drawn to or just the nice design, either way I could never bring myself to want to trade it to a Rangers fan (had chances to do so). After I pulled this card and thought to myself, 'hey this is a decent looking card', I went onto Hockeydb to see who he even was and if there was potential for awesomeness in him. What I saw was pretty lackluster. Still I learned that we shared the same birthday so I figured what the heck let's put this in the collection.

Less than 2 years later Cam was proving himself a very capable backup for the Rangers going 12-6-1 with a 1.64 g.a.a and an amazing 0.941 save percentage. He would follow it up with another great season winning 21 games and that success had the Oilers believing in him and they made a trade with the Rangers to acquire him. Fast forward to this year and the Oilers are thankful for that deal because the 29 year old goaltender from Caledonia, ON is off to a 8-3-1 start with the Oilers and they could find themselves in the playoffs before this season is over.

I love how collecting can sometimes have you rooting for the oddest players for the oddest reasons and for me it was all because I liked the look of this card and we happened to share the same birthday! Have any of you had sometime similar happen? Thanks for stopping by!

11-12 Rookie Anthology Devante Smith-Pelly Auto Rookie /499

I have mentioned this before but it is worth saying again, I love it when you pick up cards that seem rather irrelevant at the time and they suddenly become much more important thanks to a pick up in the player's play or a trade. IN this particular case, both are true. About a year or two ago I picked up this card because I thought the increased playing time in Montreal could make him a star. Sadly, that experiment didn't go so well and he was dealt to NJ where the increased playing time there seemed to bring out the best in DSP.

DSP got himself in a little hot water during his rookie year when it turned out many of his autographs were done with an autopen. Thankfully this isn't one such card so I do have a legit auto in my collection and after the 18 game tear he did in NJ, his signature should be worth a little more because he is a pending RFA so if the Devils are hoping to keep him I am guessing he will command upwards of 2 million per year on his next contract.

In his 18 games with the Devils he played a lot on the first line where he scored 8 goals and 13 points which I know it's a stretch to extrapolate that over an 82 game season but let's pretend anyway. If he could keep that pace over a full season that could mean 36 goals and close to 60 points. Now let's come back to Earth on our projections and if the Devils resign him and he can work the same magic, I don't think a 25 goal and 45-50 point season is unreasonable making him and this card a great pick up at a low price (Stefan Matteau and 4 bucks respectively)

11-12 Rookie Anthology Adam Henrique /99 Part Deux

Keeping on the Henrique theme until I get some of my set action sorted out and my huge surprise posted I am going with something that may look familiar. Same set, different card. 

11-12 Rookie Anthology Adam Henrique /99

This time it is 72/99 which has a different seam piece. Still in nrmt-mt condition and still signed by the man. The other thing that is different about this card then the other is the price. With a bit of change in my paypal account, I was able to steal this for half the price of the other one. Two Henriques, nearly identical and completely awesome.

Next post is some amazing collector kindness!

Some good news out of Devils land

In what I would call one of the strangest summers in Devils history, I finally received some news that I felt was post worthy as it plays a huge factor in my collection as well. As many of you know, I am a Devils fan during both good times and bad and seeing two of my favourite players take off (Clarkson and Kovy) has made the summer a little tougher. I have tried to turn this into a positive and I have had huge success online selling some of my Clarkson cards. To date, I move both my The Cup Rookies as well as my Game Used Spectrum which has allowed me some serious online spending. I am going to celebrate my sales and my team's recent signing in the next several posts. Here are some of the loot that I have landed thanks to my eBay sales!

I also want to point out that Adam Henrique will be a PC of mine as he will be a Devil for 6 more seasons and given he has scored more important goals than many players in Devils history this clutch kid is a no-brainer for me to collect seriously.

11/12 Rookie Anthology Rookie Treasures Adam Henrique /99

Here is my first huge landing in the Henrique world. This is without a doubt one of his finer and more valuable rookies and it is pretty cool that it is numbered 66/99. I love the two colour seam piece with a standard black swatch below. Too bad it isn't including his number 14 in the auto but I guess that is because he signed a huge sheet of stickers early in the NHL season.

11-12 Certified Adam Henrique Rookie /499

One of my favourite products released in 2011-12 was Panini Certified and their rookies are some of the nicest cards in my opinion. A great large swatch with foil board and an auto. I actually landed two of these cards but one of the sellers contacted me and basically said you won it for too cheap so I am selling it to a friend. A true shame because it was a pretty awesome black swatch which I thought would look awesome with the red one in my collection. At least one of my sellers was honest and sent me the one you see above. Adam's sophomore slump and wrist injury have brought many of his rookies down in value and made collecting him a bit more affordable so I am hoping to scoop up low and enjoy them as he gets back to his rookie year form.

So here is the first a few posts based on my eBay sales, stay tuned for some good vintage and another PC lot pickup. 

A Double Box Break of 11-12 Rookie Anthology - Another Bride From My Wife

Ok so I am so very close to completing the set, what better way to attempt to finish it than buying 2 more boxes! Thanks to doing a task my wife didn't want to do, I landed myself two more boxes of my favourite 11-12 product. Here we go, nothing but hits and no frills at that.

Box Toppers

Topper 1

 Emelin is haunting me and this is my second one. I received the other as a NPN win from Panini. This one is up for trade.

Topper 2

Love this one, jersey/stick combo. I am keeping this one.

Rookies

Each pack has a rookie,  I am just pointing out my more notable ones and I am starting with Marcus. Marcus is a former Canadian World Junior so this one is a fun hit.

 Another former WJ, Leland won gold with Canada in 2007. Currently he is one of a few goalies looking to steal the vacant starting job in Calgary.

 Most rookies were Pinnacle ones and Gustav is the best of the bunch!

Game-Used/Player Worn Hits

Each box claims to have a couple of these and mine was no exception. I was lucky enough to hit another Pinnacle Starting 6. This one features a good selection of rookies from the 11/12 season. Henrique makes this one a keeper!

 What an odd combination. Despite it having Nicky Palms on it, I can live without this card for sure.

 Ryan Ellis!!! I hope we see him again!

 I didn't know Philly and Detroit were rivals.

Rookie Treasures

 Each box has one of these unless you are lucky.  Talbot......Rangers....Yuck.

 Teemu! I promised he would be back, another disappointing Oiler hit.

Case Hits

 I was fortunate enough to have two large hits as well. Here is proof Montreal is haunting me for sure! Dual patch/auto rookie parallel of Raphael Diaz aka Number 61. This one is numbered 14/15 and can be yours if you want to trade for it.

My favourite hit of the box.....Ryan Ellis Ice Breaker Rookie auto. These are one per case and I landed a PC guy. I really can't ask for much more (except maybe RNH).

There you go, sorry no big write-ups that I typically do but two boxes that I am pretty happy with but more than willing to trade more away. I did also finish my set which is an added bonus!

11-12 Panini Rookie Anthology - Brett Connolly Rookie Treasures /15

No time means all my great post ideas and box breaks must wait for another day. Here is a quickie to share:

11-12 Panini Rookie Anthology - Brett Connolly Rookie Treasures /15

Another PC pick-up. The top patch has a glint of silver in it and the bottom patch is all silver. Love this look of this card and it is reasonably rare numbered to just 15. After a 30 goal season in the AHL, I think Brett will be ready to be a full-time contributor next year with the Lightning.

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. 

11-12 Rookie Anthology - Slava Voynov

After the pain of the Stanley Cup finals subsided, I was happy that it was the Kings that won the cup instead of some other team (Rangers, Flyers, etc) if the Devils weren't going to be the ones to do it. I am also able to not let me love blind me completely and be rather objective when I watch a game and it is this objectivity that leads me to today's post. 

Slava Voynov impressed me a great deal in the Stanley Cup finals. I had no idea who this kid was really going into that series, but seeing how well he manned the blue-line, especially in offensive situations, I became a bit of a fan. He moves the puck well, skated well and I just remember him not letting the Devils out of their end whenever they would try and clear the puck on his side. Offensively he didn't register a single point in the Stanley Cup finals, but he always seemed to be creating chances and being in the thick of things. His performance won me over and meant that I needed to track down a rookie card. 

Here is what I got after the sting wore off....

11-12 Rookie Anthology - Rookie Treasures Slava Voynov /499

Great auto, numbered and even some extra marker action likely from being careless with his sharpie while signing the sheet of stickers. In all, a winner if you ask me and I am very happy to have this card and I still think he is going to be a superstar in the NHL. Last night he had a 3 assist performance against Nashville and that gives him 3 goals, 9 assists on the season in 20 games. I think that he has excellent potential and with Doughty, LA has a solid back-end for years to come.

Ryan Ellis Rookie Anthology Rookie Treasures

I swear I must have lost 15 auctions involving Ryan Ellis before I landed this one. There must be a few collectors out there who feel he is something special like I do. I really began to appreciate this kid during the '09 World Juniors when he was a member of the last gold medal Team Canada. He isn't the kind of defenseman who will block slapshots with his face and he isn't the kind of defenseman who will crush players with bone-jarring hits. He is the kind of defenseman who will score 4 points and lead his team to victory on the scoresheet. 

What I like most about this kid is he is a winner. Much like Eberle, he just finds ways to help his team win. So far in his young career he has won Gold in the World Juniors, the Ivan Hlinka, U17 and the U18 tournaments. Currently Ryan is playing for the Preds and has 4 points in 12 games so far, but it is only a matter of time before the points start rolling in at the NHL level.

11-12 Rookie Anthology Ryan Ellis Rookie Treasures /499

A simple card with a similar recipe to UD's SPX rookies. Two photo used swatches with a sticker auto and a relatively low print run.

More Free Autos? Panini Lives to Give!

Well I guess lightning can strike twice as Panini presented me with TWO NPN autos from the Rookie Anthology release. I bought a couple of boxes in the spring/summer and I decided to mail away for a chance to win. I sent in my max of two requests and as luck should have it they both produced winners! Here they are, and they are pretty nice if I say so too!

11/12 Crown Royale Alexei Emelin Auto Rookie

11/12 Crown Royale John Moore Auto Rookie

This is my first Emelin auto which is kind of nice, but also extends my Canadiens curse....The Moore auto is my second, I also bought one I will share at a later date from the 11/12 Limited set.

I have said it before and I will say it again, collectors certainly appreciate fun like this even if you can't always win. The cost of the postage is more than worth the chance at some free fun and I want to thank Panini for running the NPN contests and I hope they continue!

11-12 Rookie Anthology Box Break 2 and an Oversize Crosby

So box two started with a great deal of hype considering how much luck and success I had with my first box. However, there is something to be said about all good luck must come to an end. Here is my less than stellar second box.

11/12 Jason Spezza Luxury Suite

The bonus pack yielded a Luxury Suite card which is pretty cool if you ask me, however it is Jason Spezza who I have a serious surplus of! This one is up for trade!

11/12 Limited Brendan Smith Phenoms Silver /50

Likely the hit of the box is this card. Brendan Smith is a pretty decent prospect for the Red Wings, he had 7 points in 14 games on the Detroit blue-line and will have some pretty good ice time once this lockout is sorted out. 

11/12 Rookie Anthology Rookie Treasures Blake Geoffrion /499

My Montreal curse continues in this box as well, after landing Diaz and Palushaj, here is another Hab! Another one up for trade!

11/12 Rookie Anthology Rookie Rivalry x 2

 My box yielded two rookie rivalries instead of a Certified or other game used card. I am a little sad at this because of the fact the combos really mean nothing to me at all and I was really hopeful of another Certified rookie. These are both up for trade too!

In all, I still enjoyed opening the box and it gave me a few more base cards closer to the set, but as far as ratings go, this box was a failure compared to my first one which was tailor made for me. BTW, I just used my digital camera to scan these in because I really didn't feel like lugging them to my computer which has a scanner on it. Sorry for the glare :)

Around the time I busted this box, I opened my Toys R Us repack and here is the Crosby Gem I landed!

Nothing too special about it except that it books for more than any of the other cards listed above! I guess I wasn't so much unlucky as my luck was just in a different box than I hoped!

Eakin and Gudbranson

While I have made it no secret that I have been a big fan of the Rookie Anthology product, I see no reason why I can't mention it again! This product speaks to me and I have enjoyed buying two boxes of the stuff and getting a few singles online as well. Here is another one of those singles.

11/12 Rookie Anthology Rookie Rivalry Eakin/Gudbranson

Even though this card isn't numbered and doesn't book for very much, that certainly doesn't deter me from dropping nearly 3 dollars on it (including shipping). These are two former Team Canada World Junior players who I really enjoyed seeing wear Red and White for Canada and both are looking like they will have some pretty solid NHL careers. Just another cool card from my favourite set from 11/12.

Marcus Kruger Autos

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have actually gone out trying to get a few more Rookie Treasures rookies because I do like the design and they can be had for pretty reasonable prices considering what you get, player worn, /499 and autographed. I actually doubled-down on a pair of Marcus Kruger Rookie Treasure cards and an additional Kruger auto. 

Here is the Rookie Treasure. I don't need to scan both of them because both swatches and autos look very similar. If anyone is interested in one of them, I am sure I can part with one.

This auto is way more bad-ass! I love the photo, the auto is on card and it is numbered out of 50. The more and more I look at this one, it is by far a superior card and since I won't likely be buying any boxes of Prime, I think buying singles of cards like this one above are the way to go! Just a great card in terms of feel, photography and design.

11/12 Rookie Anthology Box Break - The Rookies

With the big hits all out of the way, there was still 6 other packs with rookies in them. Here they are in no particular order. 

Each box usually has one of these rookies from the Contenders release. 

Not sure if Harry Z was a big threat for the Calder trophy, but he did make it to the NHL and suited up for half a season so that is saying something. Harry also got himself into a little hot water a few years back with a video camera and a young lady. I guess the past is behind him and he could have an NHL future if the league ever resumes.


Each box usually has like 4 of these Pinnacle rookies featuring their Nufex technology.

True these cards are much nicer than a decoy or a 10 cent off coupon, but fact of the matter is, there really isn't much value in these cards which makes shelling out 12 bucks a pack and ending up with this as your hit a bit depressing. But at the same time, getting 4 in a box in addition to the other hits does feel a little more like icing on the cake. Nilsson joins a long line of Islander goaltenders to have played since DiPietro was drafted.

Dylan Olsen is not a household name yet and may never score more NHL goals than he has fingers in a season, but he is dependable and as a former first round pick will have expectations of being a steady defenseman who can chew up some NHL minutes. So far in 28 NHL games he does have an assist, and there are likely more of those to come.

Cody was a former member of team Canada at the 2011 WJHC and I just loved seeing him play. He does a little bit of everything on the ice and even though he may not put up the same offensive numbers he did in junior, I think he could be a solid top-6 NHL'er some day.

Speaking of the Canadian World Juniors, here is another! As far as rookies go, these last two were fun additions to an already cool box.

Crown Royale update rookies fall around 1 per box as well and I think I landed one of the better ones.

Andrew Shaw only played about half the season, but still managed a great rookie campaign. Andrew actually had the 4th highest ppg average among rookies who played at least 30 games. Only the three Calder finalists had higher ppg averages.

11/12 Rookie Anthology Box Break - Hit by Hit 5

The last hit of the box was one I was expecting. Not necessarily Colin Greening, but I was expecting a Rookie Treasures. I am a fan of the cards, they look neat and they utilize both Relic and Sticker technology which are actually arranged in a eye pleasing format. I have since also picked up a few other Rookie Treasures, but that is for another day.

11/12 Rookie Anthology Rookie Treasures #122 Colin Greening /499

As far as the card goes, I like it a lot. As far as the player goes, there certainly are much worse rookies to be had in the 11/12 crop. Colin was a bit of a late bloomer and played his first full NHL season at the tender age of 25. He did put up some nice numbers 17 goals and 37 points and I think he could be a 20 goal, 50 point guy in the NHL. Given his age, he may only play 8-10 years but that too is a pretty decent number and no reason why he can't carve out a solid career. I already have one auto Greening rookie so landing a second wasn't as exciting as it might have been, but I think Panini did a pretty solid job with this set which was why I bought a second box and grabbed a few more Rookie Treasures cards.

Well that is it for hits, I have one more post to go where I will share my other rookie hits and then I will just do the second box in one post because it wasn't anywhere near as cool as this one was.

11/12 Rookie Anthology Box Break - Hit by Hit 3

Hit three was as exciting as it was disappointing. It appears this season, I have the curse of the Canadiens as any of my cool rookie hits appear to be Habs. This marks my SECOND Certified Rookie to play in Quebec and joining Aaron Palushaj  is Raphael Diaz. I absolutely love the design of the Certified rookies, but I am not even close to the biggest Canadiens fan on the planet. 

The only extra perk from this hit is it is /99. I guess in the Rookie Anthology release they made a few of the Certified rookies SSP and this counts as one of them. I don't know why Diaz stickers would be hard to come by, but at least there is a little more "value" in this hit than some of the other Certified rookies. With that being said, I certainly would consider trading this hit!

11/12 Rookie Anthology Box Break - Hit by Hit 2

Here is my second hit from the box, a rookie rivalry card featuring two decent prospects Cody Hodgson and Marcus Kruger. I like the concept of the dual rookie cards and we all know that Vancouver and Chicago have had some run-ins in the last few years. I think the concept is cool because this could be a marquee match-up in coming seasons, but Cody is now in Buffalo and some other "Rivalry" combinations are a little lame. I guess it was a case of Panini taking a good idea, and running too far with it. 

Anyway, I think the concept does work well here and I am very pleased to have these two youngsters as my second hit in the box.

11/12 Rookie Anthology Box Break - Hit by Hit 1

When it was announced that Rookie Anthology was going to be released and the idea of a one-hit per pack approach was going to be used I was intrigued. After seeing a few breaks online, I decided I needed a box for myself. I really enjoy the concept of a rookie focus release as well as an update for many other releases. The base set isn't too shabby either, anyway lets take a look.

Base card design

Here is the front side. Nice glossy photo with a smart use of gold foil. The cards look premium and feel that way too. 100 card base set makes this attempt-able, but after two boxes and some help, I am still a little away from finishing it.

Back side

Here is the back of the card, they have 11-12 statistical information on an 11-12 product. I don't know if the traditionalist in me likes this or not, but the design is decent with lots of information and a certain "Certified" feel to go along with it.

Each box boasts 4 hits plus a bonus hit. In addition to those hits you should also walk away with another 6 rookie cards from products like Pinnacle, Playoff Contenders, Crown Royale etc.

I began my break with my bonus pack and wow did I ever like how it began:

11-12 Limited Banner Season Brad Marchand /25

 This is an on-card, game-used auto of a player who is both hated and loved in Nova Scotia. I like the design and layout of this card and the fact that it is really rare at just 25 copies increases its appeal to me. Not a bad start to this box!