08-09 SPX Winning Combos Bobby Hull/Dale Hawerchuk Game Used

Do you ever find a killer card online and find yourself checking out the seller's other items just to see if there was something out there you didn't know you needed until you saw it? Well need is a pretty arbitrary word and I am sure I need more cards about as much as I need a hole in the head (my parent's words not mine) but truth is you never know sometimes until you look. This card was one that I discovered in such a fashion and was able to land it for a couple dollars as a combined purchase.


08-09 SPX Winning Combos Bobby Hull/Dale Hawerchuk Game Used

I think this card is a great idea. Two former Jets who are both members of the Hall of Fame. The best Jet from the WHA days meets the best Jet from the NHL days. If Bobby held on for a few more seasons he could have even played with Dale, how great would that have been? After scorching the WHA for 303 goals and 638 points in just 411 games, Bobby was not the same player he was after the WHA folded and decided to call it quits after one season in the NHL split between the Whalers and Jets.

Dale Hawerchuk is the NHL Jets all-time leader in Goals (379), Points (929), and Power Play Goals (122). He is second in Assists with (550), 3 behind Tomas Steen and second in Game Winning Goals with 29, 2 behind Doug Smail. Dale would eventually get traded and put up some great numbers in Buffalo before making stops in St. Louis and Philadelphia. 

So I am not sure if you are wondering this, but I will pretend you are...Is that actually a Bobby Hull Jets jersey?

Well, lets look at the back, specifically the guarantee. 

I have professed this on a few occasions, I am NOT an English major. In fact, I am not the best writer by a long shot, but I do believe I am reasonably literate and I am going to hope the person making the text on these cards understands the rules of the English language. Based on those assumptions, I am left with the idea that Dale's blue swatch is event worn (Jets Alumni game perhaps) but more importantly Hull's swatch is game worn! Now I could be wrong and they just listed the Game-Used first because its more exciting but I want to think the Hull is actually game worn. 

If you look at his swatch it is definitely an older style jersey piece and would work for the time period in question. My only concern is he played just 18 games for the Jets that season and I am not sure how many jerseys he had for that time period and Hawerchuk swatches are plentiful so why would they use an event used one? 

In the end I have the rules of the English language and appearances supporting Hull Game-Used and I have probability theory supporting Hull Event-Used. I may never know which is right but my heart wants to believe that swatch is Game-Worn so I will go with that for now but of course always welcome your opinions too!

09-10 OPC Premier John Taveres Auto RC /299

John Tavares has been a class act in my opinion from the moment the spotlight was thrown on him as a 15 year old. He ripped apart the junior ranks setting national records and even beat a Gretzky record in the process for goals by a 16 year old. However, this past season has been a tough one for him and with all the attention Crosby has received few have noticed that John hasn't been filling the net much this year after just missing out on an Art Ross trophy last year.

Currently he's on pace for 60 points which would represent his lowest point output for a full season since his rookie year. John does have 4 points in his last 4 games and 10 in his last 12 so he could be gearing up for a strong second half. I personally hope that this is true.

I am fortunate enough to already have a rookie or two of John's and his auto but one card I always really wanted was his OPC Premier rookie (even more so than his young gun). Not sure what the draw is exactly, but I do love the design from that season for OPC Premier, and having a relatively low print run with swatches and signatures is always a nice plus in my books.


09-10 OPC Premier John Taveres Auto RC /299

This is a pretty solid specimen. Gold signature, all Islanders colours are represented with a couple two colour pieces and its numbered 232/299. I think it's pretty funny how I am drawn to certain cards more than others especially when I am sure there are many more valuable and desirable ones out there. However for me, I would gladly take this card over his SPx rookie etc any day!

Thanks for stopping by, next post is going to be a sets of yesteryear as its been a while since I have done one of those. 

The second best result I could hope for! And Namestnikov

So obviously the best I could hope for would feature the Devils in the Cup final against a scrub team and they would win in 4 straight. However, that wasn't even close to happening so my two adopted teams (Hawks of course) and the Lightning are in the finals. While Brett Connolly is no longer in Tampa, I still really enjoy watching them play and have kind of adopted them as one of my teams. I also banked my hockey pool heavily on TB and with a 24 point lead and the entire Triplet line on my roster it is safe to say I won that pool.

So who do I want to win the Cup? I honestly don't know. I have been cheering for the Hawks since the 1990 and I have followed the Lightning pretty closely over the past couple seasons and they have some very deserving players on the roster. I guess I will just sit back and enjoy what will probably be an amazing Cup final and be happy no matter who wins.

Speaking of winning, here is a little gem!


14-15 SPx Spectrum FX Red Rookie Auto /399 Vladislav Namestnikov

























It is almost unfair the amount of young talent the Lightning have in their system. While it is pretty easy to give all the credit to Steve Yzerman, the fact of the matter is the scouting staff has done an amazing job drafting early, drafting late and even finding undrafted talent (Tyler Johnson). When you have a 3rd overall pick (Drouin) sitting in the press box that just shows the world the amount of talent on your roster.  One player who doesn't always get much press is Namestnikov. He finished up his rookie season compiling 9 goals and 16 points in 43 games after putting up over a point a game in the AHL this year (35 points in 34 games). He currently is playing on the 4th line but is available to jump up on the higher lines if an injury were to occur. Namestnikov is only 22 years old and symbolizes the bright future Tampa will have going forward win or lose after the season.

08-09 SPx Winning Materials Hull and Hawerchuk

Normally I write something before the card, but not today. Check out that card. What are your thoughts? Anything surprising? Arguably two of the best players to ever wear the jersey (Selanne is in that discussion too). Swatches are small, but hey, these are two Hall of Famers here! Jersey swatches are different! Can you believe one is game used and the other is event used? Probably, UD loves doing that. But, it turns out the Hull is the game used and Hawerchuk is event used. As it stands, in my Hawerchuk collection, I now have 2 event used and 3 game used Hawerchuk swatches. But more importantly, I have my first game used Hull! Best part, you can't see this on the card but I paid 2 bucks! Never in a million years did I expect to get it but I did. Would you pay that price knowing one is essentially a fake? At the time I didn't know it was a fake but the swatch on the Hull looked very real to me and that is why I pulled the trigger. I know have Bobby Hull autos and a Bobby Hull game used. I do hope to get his rookie some day so I will hold off on the HOF post for now....but that will be a pretty tall order!