#UDRAK Upper Deck Random Act of Kindness

Surprises come in all shapes and sizes and more importantly types. Good surprises are always preferred over bad ones and I don't think I am alone in this thought. Sure there are some that don't like surprises at all but the world is full of all types of people and I am one that loves a good surprise once in a while. Just before Christmas, Upper Deck sent me a good surprise. It was a completely unexpected and entirely enjoyed. I came home from work one day and sitting on my deck was this box. It looked cold and in need of a good home so I brought it in and took this photo.

I truly felt fortunate receiving this wonderful act of kindness.

Inside was all this cool stuff! I loved the Young Guns shirt and a load of Devils and two boxes of Upper Deck Series 1 which I hadn't had a chance to break any yet. Here is a close up of some of the great things that were in my UDRAK package. 

16-17 UD Series 1 SP2 William Nylander 

A pretty awesome prospect who finished this year with a solid 22 goals and 61 points. A Calder winning performance in some years.

16-17 Upper Deck Midnight Adam Henrique and Damon Severson /25

Upper Deck sent me the whole team set and I have decided to showcase my two PC players I received from the set.

16-17 Upper Deck Victory Black Miles Wood

Once upon a time Victory Black were some of the scarcest cards on the market with a print run of 5. Lots has changed since 05-06 but they are still a pretty cool card to get via NHCD or a Card Expo. I was fortunate enough to get a Miles Wood and a Pavel Zacha.

16-17 Upper Deck Victory Pavel Zacha

Pavel learned a great deal in his first season. During times he showed some great flashes and I'm excited to see how the Devils and Pavel grow and improve next season. This card is a beauty, definitely one of the better Victory designs in the past decade.

12-13 Fleer Skybox Autographics Patrik Elias

You may remember this card from a previous post which featured my tribute to Patrik Elias. It was Upper Deck that sent me this card and given the legacy he had as a Devil it was a very nice inclusion.

2015-16 SP Game Used Patrik Elias

More Elias!!! There were a number of other Elias beauties including this card and the next one.

2015-16 Upper Deck Top Draft Pick Jaromir Jagr

What a great looking retro card. Love the 90-91 design and seeing a young Jagr sporting a deer in the headlights look and puffy mullet are key components to this card's awesomeness. While his time was brief with the Devils, it was nice to see him continue to be so successful.

14-15 Upper Deck Premier Jaromir Jagr /249

Another Jagr, this time from his days with my beloved Devils. I have said this before but I am a fan of the Upper Deck Premier product line. Perhaps even more so than The Cup.

14-15 Upper Deck 25th Anniversary David Clarkson Auto Young Gun /25

The collector I am from 5 years ago would have felt this was the best card he has ever been given. In those past 5 years, David left NJ, went to Toronto, and unceremoniously was shipped to Columbus. Chances are he will never play again. During that time I had lots of chance for reflection and healing from a move that stung me a great deal but meant even more to Clarkson as a person. I would say I am a fan once again but only of his time in NJ and that will be how I choose to remember him. This card definitely exhibits those days well and I love the photo of him during training camp which adds to the cards authentic feel. Thanks for a gem Upper Deck!

2016 Team Canada Wayne Gretzky Program of Excellence Rainbow

The Great One in his 1987 Team Canada uniform? Yes please! This series was like my personal 1972 since I was not in existence for the Summit Series.

15-16 Fleer Showcase Hot Prospects Trio O'Neill/Blandisi/Hrabarenka

A nice little trio here. I believe if we can keep Blandisi after the expansion draft, he will be a solid producer for the Devils organization. So much potential and hopefully his diving days are done.

15-16 SP Game Used Sergei Kalinin RC /51

Shame we lost Kalinin during this past season. He's a solid defensive forward who would be great for any bottom 6. Best of luck and hope to see you back in the NHL soon!

15-16 Upper Deck Ice World Junior Championship Robby Fabbri /1299

A nice little Team Canada addition here. Robby is a pretty solid forward and one reason why the Blues will continue to be a playoff team.

Upper Deck was so kind to also send along some boxes to break open. I am going to share some of the highlights that I discovered in the boxes. I was fortunate enough to complete a base set from the two boxes which is an awesome start!

16-17 Upper Deck Series 1 Steve Santini Young Guns Exclusive /100

Wow!! What a hit. While there were bigger names in the box, to get a Devils player is a fantastic outcome for me.

16-17 Upper Deck Signature Sensations Jori Lehtera

I was also lucky enough to hit a case hit on my second box! This is my second ever Signature Sensations I have ever pulled.

16-17 Upper Deck Series 1 Game Jersey Matt Duchene

I also hit a Matt Duchene jersey card. Nice sized swatch and I like the larger photo too. I'm hopeful this summer the Devils can land another scoring forward or two via trade. Eberle, Duchene or Landeskog would all be good outcomes.

16-17 Upper Deck Series 1 Young Gun Josh Morrissey

Other than my Exclusive, this is probably the most exciting Young Gun I hit. Josh had a very very impressive rookie season in Winnipeg and I believe he will be a fantastic defenseman for the Jets in future years.

16-17 Upper Deck Young Guns Canvas Connor Brown

I did also hit a Canvas Young Guns from Toronto. While it wasn't Mitch Marner, I did get both a base and canvas Young Gun of Connor Brown. Brown was a nice surprise for both myself and the Leafs this season. Brown hit 20 goals this year and added 16 assists. I am not sure what his ceiling is but I am guessing he hasn't hit it yet.

2016 Team Canada Nolan Patrick

Is this foreshadowing? I would be pretty pleased to see him in NJ.

2015-16 Upper Deck Series 1 Gretzky/McDavid SP1

A Gretzky/McDavid card? Oh my, thank you very much! Definitely one of my favourites from this amazing random act of kindness.

15-16 UD Ultimate Platinum Blue Relic Cory Schneider

The best for last? Depends on your taste of course but this is the most unique piece of the package!! Love the tag. 

Well there you have it, a sampling of my truly phenomenal UDRAK package. If you are reading this and are a sports fan, I hope you too are able to receive on someday as it's truly a cool experience and one that I don't imagine many companies do for their customers. What makes this package truly remarkable is I didn't even ask for it or sign up or enter any contests. It just showed up and the people at Upper Deck know my interests and just dropped a box of kindness on my lap. There were even other PC players in the package like Adam Henrique and Damon Severson which I didn't get a chance to share yet but will at a later date. One last time, thank you Upper Deck and thank you for stopping by. More posts to come very soon!

08-09 Upper Deck Cory Schneider Young Gun

As a person who has been a Devils fan since 1987 I have been pretty lucky to have missed the very early years and most of the time the Devils had Martin Brodeur and some guy backing him up. Don't get me wrong, I love our history and I fondly remember Chris Terreri, Craig Billington, Rollie Melanson and of course Sean Burke. But, with that being said Martin was the man for so many seasons it is still even strange this day to look at our club with all of its players and see someone other than Marty in goal.

The past few seasons have been tough but one area where we still have been very blessed is in goal and I find it strange that internally I don't have this drive to try and grab up everything Cory. His numbers are remarkable and the games he keeps us in each night or even steals are just fabulous for the Devils organization which has lead me to ask myself, why am I not goo-goo for Schneider's cards? I honestly don't know why, but I do have a few of his autographs and game used cards and here is just my third Schneider rookie!

08-09 Upper Deck Cory Schneider Young Gun

The first Schneider rookie I ever got was one I pulled from a pack of OPC. Then about a year or two ago I picked up this auto rookie. I knew eventually I would cross paths with his Young Gun and alas I can say I have one and it's a very nice card when you see it for yourself. I don't think I really had "looked" at one until this one arrived in my collection. Looks like the Canucks were in town to face the Blue Jackets. I love the hovering puck!

So with this card in the collection, I don't want to say I am done with Cory but I don't see myself running out and trading the farm to add any more or saving up for months to try and buy a The Cup rookie. However, should someone offer me one for trade and the deal sounds right I just might. I guess you could call me a causal Schneider collector but I assure you despite that title, I am a big fan of what he has done for the club and hope that he will get us back into the playoffs!

08-09 OPC Premier Cory Schneider Auto Rookie /299

As we all know, life goes on. Still its tough to see a fixture of an organization leave and in the past couple years the Devils have had two mainstays step aside for the next generation with both Marty and Lou moving on to some degree. The amazing thing, is I just need to say their first name and chances are you know who I am talking about. Well the future is now, or so they say and lets start collecting in that direction



08-09 OPC Premier Cory Schneider Auto Rookie /299

Cory is not new to the organization and I have added a couple of his cards to my collection over the years. I had two autographs to this point, one numbered to 99 and another to 25. But as far as rookie went, I only had one lowly rookie and it was from 08-09 OPC which I pulled from a pack. So I wanted to rectify the situation a while back and I was able to do so by acquiring the above card. 

Nice on card auto with actual game-used event used swatches. What a shame they say game on the front and event on the back. I'm sure many have already gripped about this so I will move on to the nice on card auto and decently low print run of 299. I've said this before and I'll say it again for value, it's hard to beat OPC Premier and Sweet Shot when their Young Gun counterparts are far more plentiful and far less cool in my opinion. 

11-12 Certified Cory Schneider Auto Gold /25

Bought this one from a LCS with money from my Cheevers as well. This isn't going to get anyone too excited but it worked for me. Love the Certified Mirror Autos, while the gold looks odd with most NHL uniforms, this one included, the print run is very exciting. 

Numbered to 25 and from Cory's pre-Devils days found its way to me for just a couple bucks.

11-12 Certified Cory Schneider Auto Gold /25

This is my second auto for Corey Schneider and my second in a Canucks uniform. I might trade one some day to get a Devils uniform one but then again given how affordable these are I just might need to be patient and I can find another for under 5 at the LCS or online somewhere.

This is my trade of the year: Part 2 of 3

When the Devils acquired Schneider at the draft I was shocked and unsure how I felt about it. Within a few minutes I felt good about it especially when you frame it as Horvat for Schneider. True the Devils could have drafted someone else and time will tell if there were any huge prospects to come later in the first round but fact is we didn't draft anyone and we got a pretty solid goalie.

12-13 SP Game Used Inked Sweaters - Cory Schneider

I was having trouble debating if I should buy a Schneider already on the market or wait for him to be in a Devils uniform and Matt fixed that problem for me by trading this card to me. Game used, autographed not a bad combo, just wish it was a rookie card. I do have one of his rookies (OPC) and some day I might add more.

So far he has looked pretty solid which is exciting but also sad as it reminds me Marty's days with the Devils are nearly through!

Wow, that was not the draft I was expecting.

Short post here today, I have a new scanner that I haven't hooked up as of yet. I have a busy day today hosting a neighbourhood BBQ for Canada Day and we just finished hosting the 2013 NHL draft and the Devils who don't have another first round pick until 2015 shipped our 9th overall pick to the Canucks for Cory Schneider.

Funny how a card in your collection all of a sudden becomes much more relevant. 

08-09 OPC #703 Cory Schneider Rookie

This scan was borrowed from COMC.com, but this is my only Schneider rookie at this point

I really think the trade was a good idea, but time will tell if Cory is the real deal or not. In the meanwhile, any Canucks fans looking to unload their Cory Schneider autos and rookies please feel free to contact me.