Player Prospecting - Nick Bjugstad

Player prospecting is one of the things I enjoy most about the hobby. Being able to say you were collecting the player before they hit it big is loads of fun for me and in some ways I enjoy seeing the "value" of some of my cards increase (even though I don't sell many). This post is about a kid I see being a star in the league someday, Nick Bjugstad.


2014-15 Upper Deck Young Gun

A staple in many people's collection is their player's Young Gun. I have gotten away from this with some players opting for more "value" but this one was a throw in with the next card so it was hard to say no.


2013-14 SP Game Used Rookie Auto Gold

The rookie auto golds are pretty fun and always a great value. Many times you can find these for a hair more than the pack of the basic Upper Deck cards. I was pleased that I landed both for basically that price.



2013/14 Select Auto Rookie /399

This past season I was a huge fan of Select. You get auto rookies for a Young Gun price. The print run is also very nice usually /399 which makes them much more rare than Young Guns too. I will miss this product this season but I will be on the look out for a replacement.

So what makes Nick so special? Hockey's Future has him ranked as a 7.5 which is a pretty decent score and shows he has solid potential.Nick lead the Panthers in scoring last season despite being a rookie and he even finished in the 5 in rookie scoring despite playing for a team that scored the second fewest goals in the NHL. This season he has experienced a bit of a sophomore slump which happens but I hope to see him bounce out of it by the end of the season.

13/14 UD SP Game Used Justin Schultz Rookie Auto Gold

I remember when Justin Schultz made his decision to sign with the Oilers after a pretty interesting competition between NHL clubs for his services. I thought, how good could this kid actually be? Well first pro-season, he made the NHL all-rookie team, also won AHL defenseman of the year after only playing in 34 games and made Team Canada at that years World Championship. Not a bad start to a career. After that season, I was really looking forward to getting some auto of his and here is what I found at the LCS a little while ago. 

13/14 UD SP Game Used Justin Schultz Rookie Auto Gold Level A

The rarest of the gold autos are all the ones everyone wants. Really happy to steal this for a third of the cost of a pack! This kid is dynamite and if the Oilers could ever get going in a positive direction, expect big things from Justin.