13-14 Upper Deck Vladimir Tarasenko Young Gun

Vladdy Tarasenko has been on my radar ever since him and the Russians broke my heart at the 2011 WJHC. Tarasenko was the captain and scored the game tying goal in the third period after Canada has been up 3-0 after 2 periods. He would then set up the Breadman Artemi Panarin for the game winner 8 minutes later and Canada would have to settle for silver.

It would be a couple years before he would make his mark in the NHL but there is no doubt Tarasenko is a star and he is two goals away from 3 consecutive 30 goal seasons. During his rookie year he started to show signs of brilliance so I tracked down two of his rookie cards including this one here. Looking back I am not willing to say just yet he is the best of the Dual Rookie Class but he certainly is one of the best that includes Nathan MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov and Alex Galchenyuk just to name a few.

13-14 Upper Deck Vladimir Tarasenko Young Gun

Despite the larger print run than many rookies, Young Guns always are a fan favourite and as far as designs go, the 13-14 Young Guns design is one of my favourites of the past decade. Time will tell how the 13-14 class will fare but with players like Nail Yakupov and Valeri Nichushkin not panning out as expected and MacKinnon stuck doing it all by himself in Colorado the true star of the class might be a few years away from being decided. Players like Barkov and Huberdeau when healthy have begun to show great promise as well. What are your thoughts on the 13-14 rookie class? Has one player emerged as the tops of the group yet?

A Pair of Kucherovs

Last year I was involved in a hockey pool for charity that I was fortunate enough to win with my neighbour. The reason why we won was because I knew and believed in the Lightning more than the other 20 or so poolies at the table and we slaughtered the competition. In fact, of the 80+ 2 man teams in all the pools, no one came close to us. The reason why I knew so much about the Lightning was my PC boy Brett Connolly. However, since he departed to Boston I still have a soft spot for Tampa Bay and as a result have a few other players I follow on a daily basis and have subsequently added them to my collection. Nikita Kucherov is one of those such players.

Originally a member of the Triplets line he found instant chemistry with Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat. However, this season has been a bit tough on the trio at first. Palat came out of the gate cold with 2 goals and 7 points in 16 games before getting injured and then only recently has fired back up his offensive engine with 7 goals and 10 points in the last 10 games. Johnson also has had a season to forget with a frigid start with 11 points in his first 28 games and a number of missed games due to injury as well. Like Palat, Tyler Johnson has come back a bit of late with 13 points in his last 16 games to show TB fans he will have his scoring touch in time for the playoffs. Kucherov the third member of the Triplets has arguably been the most consistent member of the Lightning this season and is currently tied with Stamkos for the lead in point with 60 and second in goals with 28. He is one goal and 5 points away from career highs in both categories and with 9 games to go there is no reason to believe he won't beat those numbers.

So what options do Kucherov fans have for rookies? Well there are a few including the staple Young Gun rookie but if you are looking for an auto rookie well....keep looking. Apart from the UD Buyback Young Gun Auto Rookie /86 or Gold Version /25 there are none. Yep, he was missed by nearly all the manufacturers save for some non autographed versions. So, I was a little disappointed by this but was able to track down two decent cards nonetheless.


13-14 Panini Prizm Prizm Nikita Kucherov RC

No typo here, those are back to back Prizms because this is the Prizm parallel of Kucherov's Prizm rookie. This is the nicest looking rookie card in my opinion of all the ones you can dig up. That could be because I am biased to shiny things but this card does look pretty cool in the right lighting!


13-14 Upper Deck Young Guns Nikita Kucherov RC

Perhaps one of the more valuable rookies of Nikita Kucherov is his Young Guns rookie which for the record isn't a bad looking card either. Personally I am a fan of the 13-14 design and this card is a winner too. There are /100 and /10 versions of this card too for the hardcore Kucherov fans out there but I haven't broken the bank to try and track one down and perhaps might not ever but I won't say never either.

While I often wonder how neat it would be to have an auto rookie of Gordie Howe or Wayne Gretzky the truth is those card were created without autographs on them and that doesn't make them any less desirable. However, for some reason in today's world I find myself often preferring an autographed rookie over a non-autographed one and wonder if I am the only one in this department. The lack of any Kucherov auto rookies is a little unusual especially when you consider there are far too many Daniel Bang auto rookies from the same year but sometimes that is the luck of the draw I guess and card companies can only do so much for us needy collectors. So I will leave you with this one question, are there any auto rookies of players you like or wish you could have had that were never produced?

Fin Finds - 13-14 UD Series 1 Marc Staal Game Used Patch /15

My LCS seems to have little respect for GU cards with many living in the 3 for 5 bin or are labelled with unbelievably awesome prices. That is the case with this card.

Marc and I are from the same part of the world with both of us having been born on the Fort William side of Thunder Bay.

13-14 UD Series 1 Marc Staal Game Used Patch /15

Being a collector who has busted countless packs of UD's base set I can attest these patch cards are nearly impossible to pull. Since getting back into the hobby in 2007, I probably have busted over a case or two of this stuff and while the is a small number to some, that is still a pretty significant number of boxes. In that time, I have pulled loads of game used cards, countless Young Guns and even more inserts. I however have only managed to pull 1 patch card and 1 autograph card. The patch card was a pretty epic experience and it is a card that probably has diminished a fair bit in value due to saturation but is still a card I cherish a fair bit. The autograph was of Ryan Potulny and I certainly don't hold it in the same light!

Landing a fellow Thunder Bay boy in patch form with a really low print run is a nice deal if you ask me, what sweetens it is the fact it cost a fin! Yep 5 bucks for a card that if I spent 4 bucks on a pack and pulled I would have danced a jig. Hmm, am I finished with packs for good now?

Complete Hall of Fame PC - Paul Coffey

Given this size and this scope of this PC. I want to try and formalize how I present it. This is my first attempt and I am hopeful that I get it right the first time and don't have to tinker with it too much. As some of you know, my plan is to get at least 2 out of 3 key cards in a HOF player's career. My plan is to try and own a rookie card, an autographed card and/or a game used card. In some cases a rookie card might be too far out of my reach so I will gladly settle for an auto and a game used. In other cases, an autograph might be nearly impossible so I will have to chase a game used and a rookie. 

With many of the modern players (1980 to present, I will do everything I can to try and go 3 of 3). 

While I have a number of these "done" I am planning on starting from scratch and sharing them in a common format.

What is complete: In the case of Paul Coffey I was able to go 3 for 3.

Card 1: 1981-82 OPC Rookie

This is a card I had for a while, mailed it away to be signed TTM and never saw it again. I was able to buy another to replace it and I just tried to get one in the same condition as the last. Some day I hope to get the set and then maybe get a copy in better shape but for now this is more than fine for me!

Card 2: 2012-13 Artifacts Paul Coffey Auto Black /5

Currently this is my first and only Paul Coffey auto. I do plan on getting his 97-98 BAP one someday since I am working on that set but this is definitely a nice card to have as part of his PC. I am a little sad Upper Deck put a sticker meant for an Oilers card (#7) instead of a Penguins card (#77) but I guess the sticker monkey wasn't too concerned. 

Card 3: 13-14 Upper Deck Game Jersey Paul Coffey

Here is a nice solitary jersey swatch in plain white. It could have been from his Pittsburgh days, at least that is what I am pretending. Just a cool shot of him playing from the 91-92 season which was a Cup winning season if memory serves me right.

Card 4: Bonus! 10-11 ITG Decades 80's For Your Country Silver /30

The only card I actually pack pulled! This one is an Oilers swatch and an old one at that. Love the colour contrast with the other swatches on this one plus the low print run and the multiple HOF'ers. Safe to say this one card will be pulling more than double duty!

Paul's Career:

Paul had a fantastic NHL and International career which made him a shoo-in for the HOF. He has a number of NHL records and I like to think he was my era's Bobby Orr. He didn't change the game for defenseman because Bobby and others already did that but he did dominate his position and that was evident by his career totals, 3 Norris trophies and his many untouchable records for a defenseman. I like to think his 48 goals, 28 game point streak and 8 points in one game are probably records that will stand for a very long time or never be broken. 

Paul appeared in 7 Cup finals and won 4 times all with Edmonton. Paul also represented Canada a number of times as well and won 3 Canada Cups and was on the Silver medal winning World Cup team in 1996. 

Paul was inducted into the HOF in 2004 which I believe was his first ballot. Today Paul is coaching junior hockey in Ontario and running a car dealership. His cards are all relatively low priced and autos usually can be had for under 20 dollars. Game used cards due to the large number out there can be had for well under 10 dollars and his rookie card today books for 50 dollars with high graded ones often receiving a hefty premium. 

My thoughts:

I believe Paul is definitely one of the best offensive defenseman that I have ever seen play and when he was with the Oilers he did a lot of work for the forward and in many ways I like to think as dominant as Gretzky was, Paul did have an impact on the forward's offensive production thanks to his amazing skating and puck moving skills. Same could be true for the converse, Paul also benefitted from an amazing set of forwards. 

Career Regular Season Numbers:

Gm 1409 Goals 396 Assists 1135 Points 1531 Plus/Minus+294


Final Fact:

Currently Paul Coffey sits 5th in all-time playoff scoring with 196 points. The next nearest active player chasing him is Marian Hossa who is nearly 70 points behind.

More Birthday Breaks - 2 Packs of Upper Deck Series 2

Back from camping but I don't have to time to write up my big two box break so I thought I would share a fun moment and a pair of packs. My oldest son (Quinn who is 4) asked me what I wanted for my birthday and he gave me top options toys or hockey cards. I was very surprised that he seemed to think the hockey card answer I gave him was a good answer (though I am sure he would have loved it if I wanted a toy). So to help him out I picked up two packs of UD Series 2 which he in turn gave to me on my birthday. Before I opened the packs I was secretly hoping for a Duncan Keith base card because he is Quinn's favourite player (because he was on Team Canada) and sure enough I actually got one which in turn I put in a top loader and gave back to him as a gift. 

In addition, I also got two pretty awesome cards in those packs. Here is one of them: 

A Cory Conacher Rookie Materials card. Oh how the mighty have fallen. He went from being an early contender for the Calder Trophy to being on his fourth team in just two years. I think if anyone is going to bounce back, the Islanders are the perfect place to do that feat. It worked for Matt Moulson so why not for Cory Conacher? It won't be easy on a team with lots of young forwards but his experience should set him apart and I hope for a big year for him.

The other card was a pretty sweet OPC rookie of Nathan MacKinnon. That is my second MacKinnon rookie with my other being a Select one. While the hits aren't huge, two hockey fans got something fun out of those two simple packs and my son and I shared a fun moment together and I hope there are many more of those in my future.

Coming up will be my two box break and guess what? Richard makes a return!

Dirt Cheap Game Used Post 1

Does anyone care about Game Used Cards anymore? If you go to my LCS the answer is no. They are practically giving them away now which is fine by me because I love them! Here is one of HOF member Joe Mullen. 

13-14 UD Series 1 Joe Mullen Game Jersey (Group F)

I have his auto and his rookie many times over. Finally I have the third piece of the puzzle and that is a piece of game used memorabilia. I still have yet to post my list of the HOF project but when I can grab all three I will especially for how cheap this one was ($1.50).

Who's your daddy? Henrique is pwning many NHL goalies at the moment.

 With nine goals his last 6 games, Adam Henrique has been on fire. See photo below for what that might look like.

11-12 Score Hot Rookies Auto Adam Henrique

With 9 goals and 2 assists since the Olympic break, Adam Henrique has been playing the best hockey of his NHL career. 11 points in 6 games has helped the Devils stay competitive at a time when the team hasn't been playing the best defensive hockey. I got these two cards in a trade with Sebastian from Hell's Valuable Collectibles. During one of his posts he made mention of the card below and the card above. I decided that I would try and make an offer he couldn't refuse for the card above and he was kind enough to accept and send along BOTH cards. A great deal for all involved I assure you.

13-14 Upper Deck Series 1 Game Jersey - Adam Henrique

While my collection is loaded with Henrique autos and memorabilia. I actually didn't have of his stuff that was actually "game worn". Too much player or event worn but nothing legit so Sebastian helped me out there by sending along this card too. He also included a 13-14 Score Henrique base card which I didn't have as well so many thanks go out to Sebastian and I look forward to our next trade as well. 

*Late note, no sooner do I hit publish and I get a message that Adam Henrique was this week's third star. Last week he was second star so this young man appears to have shaken off last year's sophomore slump and turned around a slow start this season.

A Yak-tacular parcel from Matt P.

I finally crawled out from the rock I have been stuck under called life! Been far too long since my last post especially since I have been hanging on to a beauty parcel from fellow blogger Matt P at Cardboard Conundrum. Matt and I have made several trades over the years and a couple weeks ago he gave me the heads up that a parcel was coming my way. Well not knowing what to expect especially since we didn't make a formal trade, I was absolutely floored by what he sent.

The package was actually a pretty big box and inside was a retail tin of Titanium. The first thing that met my eyes was Nail!

13-14 Titanium Nail Yakupov Oversize Rookie

This is a 5x7 rookie of Yakupov who I have been trying to scoop up some cards of while I can still afford to collect him. This was a nice addition to my collection, thanks Matt.

13-14 Black Diamond Jersey Nail Yakupov

More Yakupov! Here is my first player worn card for Nail. Nice to see the blue and orange swatches together. This card is just plain cool and a welcome addition to my collection. 

13-14 Upper Deck Damien Brunner Young Gun

Here is another card that is a great addition to my collection. I have been wanting to land a Brunner to my collection and when my boxes yielded nothing I was on the look out but hadn't been able to land one yet. Instead, Matt sends one my way and saves me all the trouble. Not only does he send one, but he sends a second!

13-14 Artifacts Ruby Damien Brunner Rookie /299

Check it out, a Brunner in a Red Wings uniform. Damien is with the Devils this and next season so having a couple rookies is a must in my opinion. Awesome stuff Matt, thanks!

11-12 Limited Mattias Tedenby /299

The final card in the awesome package was a Mattias Tedenby card. This is actually my first Limited base card and I am happy to give poor Teddy some love. This kid has been sent up and down like a paddle ball for the last few years and even suffered a gruesome accident last season in the AHL. I do wish Teddy the best and if he can learn to play both ends of the ice and play stronger on the puck he does have a future with the Devils.

Well there you have it, an absolutely awesome package from Matt P. Matt, many thanks once again, this was totally fun and unexpected your package is going on its way today or tomorrow so I hope you enjoy it too!