10-11 Dominion - Stephen Gionta Rookie

For those of you who don't know the New Jersey Devils, "we" are likely the most family oriented club in the NHL. If you are talented enough to make the NHL and play for the Devils and you have a sibling that plays hockey, the Devils will find a spot in the system for your Brother. Darcy Zajac, Jordan Parise, Stephen Gionta and even Chris Lamoriello has the GM gig in the AHL. Once you retire from NJ, you are usually offered jobs in the system in one form or another as well.

With all that being said, I never expect much from a sibling of a former/current teammate, especially if they were never draft because we pretty much take anyone that is related. However, in the past 18 months or so, Stephen Gionta has been a very very pleasant surprise. 

Stephen Gionta or Gionta's Brother as some Devils fans call him, has done more than anyone can ever expect of an undrafted, undersized over-achiever. Last season Stephen played one regular season game, and scored a goal. Then he played on the much heralded 4th last during our cup run where he scored 3 goals and 4 assists in 24 playoff games and really scored timely goals while just playing an average of 9 minutes a game. This season, he has been an invaluable penalty killer and his ice time has jumped up to an average of 13 min a game and he has chipped in 10 points in 34 games which isn't too bad for a 4th liner either. 

10-11 Dominion - Stephen Gionta Rookie

I already had a Victory Black rookie, but no autograph, so I fixed that problem by going for the Dominion version of his rookie which has a nice on card auto numbered to 199.

Young Guns vs Victory Black

As a hockey card collector I find it sometimes difficult to be able to go and build every set there is. In fact, I find it difficult to justify building sets that include ALL SP's. So when I buy boxes of products like UD, I tend to just focus on building the base set and what ever Young Guns I get are bonuses. I hope each season to land the big fish and it happens sometimes (Price, Kane and Stamkos) and other times I don't (Tavares and Hall) and I can either give up, or go and buy that card as a single if I want it. But really in the end, I don't feel a desire to try and get all 50 young guns for each series which is good in some respects because then I can trade my YG's for other YG's I do want or at the very least for other cards I would prefer.

So with the season almost in the books and my card buying is pretty much planned for the next couple of months, I am faced with the task of trying to gather up the remaining Devils rookies I didn't pull from packs. My goal is usually to have one copy of each Devils Rookie. I don't need all the Devils rookies from all the sets, but I try and get one or two versions of each player.

On Ebay, I found many different auctions for a Stephen Gionta rookie card. One in particular was for a Victory Black and the other for a Young Gun version. So my question is, not being interested in anything more than the single card, which do you choose? Keep in mind, in the case of Mr. Gionta, the Victory Black and Young Gun ended up being the same price.

Do you go for the better looking card?

Do you go for the better product?

Do you go for the rarer of the two?

I decided to go with the Victory Black. I put a bid in for 3 bucks including shipping and sure enough it was a winner.

Here is what the Young Gun Version.

Here is the Victory Black card I won.

-the card is in amazing shape and I am very happy with it, what you see on the top is a little tape residue on the top loader.

I decided to go with the rarer of the two. The production numbers are significantly different. I estimate there are anywhere from 50-80 times as many Young Guns as there are Victory Blacks. I like the idea that the card is a little more scarce and being able to get it for the same price as a young gun made me feel like I got a good deal. But now your turn, which would you have chosen?

Even looking at a card like a John Tavares RC. The Young Gun cards go on eBay for prices between 40 and 70 bucks, while Victory Black versions can be had for about 80-100 bucks. So again, you aren't paying a huge premium for a much more scarce card.