We Got Taylor Hall???

Hey all, I am sure you were expecting a post on this much much sooner but alas I was away out of town and the last post or two was scheduled and as a result this is the first chance I have had to post about the craziest 23 minutes in NHL history. I will focus on each aspect one at a time and I will start with the biggest impact to me personally....Taylor Hall!!

I don't think we fleeced the Oilers as much as some suggest, having seen Adam Larsson for the past few years and knowing his projection it is safe to say he will have a good and long NHL career and in Edmonton will finally get a chance to flash his offensive abilities. The Oilers also freed up some cap-space and they used that to sign Lucic and they have a free spot in the roster for Puljujarvi to grow and develop. I am sure everything is thinking why not Eberle or RNH? Well I am sure the Oilers would have preferred that in terms of talent but I am guessing there is also a chemistry aspect perhaps or Ray Shero had no interest in anyone other than Hall and finally got his man. In the end the Oilers will be a tiny bit better and maybe will get over the hump and in the meanwhile the Devils improve substantially and I am very very excited for this upcoming season (Oh boy, I'm starting to sound like a Leafs fan).


10-11 Certified Taylor Hall Auto Jersey Rookie /599

 I haven't shown this card off before and now is the perfect time. Love the set, love the actual game used swatch and Taylor will make a big difference for us this season. He played with Adam Henrique in junior and I am hopeful some chemistry still exists there when Adam scored 20 goals in 19 playoff games with Hall.

For those of you who have been long time readers might recognize these two cards that I still own and appreciate a tiny bit more after June 30th's trade.

10-11 Donruss Taylor Hall Rated Rookie - Toronto Expo /250

10-11 Donruss National Rated Rookies Taylor Hall /25

So what am I expecting as a Devils fan. Progress, if we can keep Cammy healthy and our forwards like Boucher and Blandisi continue developing I am thinking we can seriously contend for a wild card spot this year and break our playoff drought. As far as Taylor Hall goes, I am predicting 35 goals and 75 points for him...lofty but not unrealistic expectations for a player who has career highs of 27 goals and 80 points and is about to hit his prime years!

Taylor Hall Rated Rookie - Toronto Expo /250

Living in Nova Scotia means a few things. One of the things is we don't get any cool card expos. Toronto has its fair share of expos and at those expos there are cool give-aways and autograph sessions that can make a person living out east rather jealous. 

eBay does allow me to at least buy things that I would have otherwise been given for free and Mr Hall is an example. Apparently this card was limited to 250 copies, but since it isn't numbered I guess I will never know for sure. However, this card is easily more rare than his Young Gun, his regular Rated Rookie and most other Taylor Hall rookies for that matter so I felt landing this for under 10 bucks was a bit of a steal. Of course, there are some that don't feel it is a true rookie and I respect that, but again beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Now that I have this card as well as Shattenkirk, Lehner, Omark and Fowler, it might be worth my time to try and track down the other 8 cards in the set.
Here is what the set looks like:

Cam Fowler /500
Derek Stepan /500
Linus Omark /500
Robin Lehner /500
Sergei Bobrovsky /500

Jeff Skinner SP /250
Nazem Kadri SP /250
Taylor Hall SP /250
Kevin Shattenkirk SP /250

Tyler Ennis SSP /100
Logan Couture SSP /100
Michael Grabner SSP /100
Tyler Seguin SSP /100

Holiday Hits 4

The last of the holiday hits is one I bought for myself. Like many people I don’t mind getting myself a little treat over the holidays and I decided to go with a hobby gift this year. I normally don’t buy ANY cards except for hockey. However, I do have one love that almost matches my love for hockey and that is Audrey Hepburn. I found a card like this online one day and have been debating if I should try and get one on ebay. A few weeks ago, I found an auction that had her name misspelled so I decide to throw a max bid of 15 bucks and see if I could win it. Sure enough, for 15 dollars I had Audrey delivered to me. Some might think I over payed and I may have, but when it comes to love it is hard to put a price on that! I like the swatch, it is a fabric that I wouldn’t doubt was worn by her and the style is very neat. The photo is also very nice of her which must makes this card that much more attractive. On the backside there is a little write up about Audrey and the card is numbered 305/400. However, much like the ad, there is a spelling mistake on the back by Donruss citing her work with “UNISEF”.

What do you people think of these Hollywood swatch cards? Does anyone have any collections that extend beyond the sports world?