The Greatest Goalie in Devils History and Possibly NHL History Retires

I definitely owe Marty more than I can ever mention in a post. I could probably dedicate an entire blog and fill it with 691 posts and STILL not do him justice. I have been a Devils fan since 1987 and in those nearly 30 years I have been a very very spoiled fan. 3 Cups, 2 other Cup final appearances and many many more playoff appearances. In the mid-late 90's when he was putting up his best numbers he was often overlooked because of the great tandem of D-men in front of him. It was almost like he was being punished for being on a good team. That didn't happen to Ken Dryden, but for some reason it happened to Marty. Still he never complained and kept putting up HOF numbers and finally in the 2000's he got his due. 2 Olympic gold medals and a HOF career. Now he is transitioning to stage two of his life and I suspect he will be just as successful there as he was on the ice. I look forward to his Devils return next year where he will likely join management in some capacity and I hope to see him as our GM some day (assuming it is a fit and something he wants).

In the meantime, here is a nice card my BFAM (Brother from another mother) Tom sent me a couple months back.


13-14 Artifacts Tundra Trios Brodeur/Elias/Kovalchuk

This card features three neat players. First is the GOAT Devil Marty, then our franchise leading scorer Patrik and finally what some may call our greatest mistake Ilya. This card is nearly perfect, I would love to have seen a white swatch and maybe a D-man instead of Kovy.

Been a while, so here is a Devils post.

 Every year it is doom and gloom when the experts make predictions about the Devil's upcoming season and two years ago we showed that we are still among the elite in the league and even last season we were off to an amazing start and two key lengthy injuries did us in. I do have hope for the 13-14 NHL season and part is because of our prospects and part is because of Kovy the Super Forward! He may never win the Selke, but I am willing to bet there will still be some hardware in his future at some point, hopefully a Conn Smythe.

Here is some Kovy fun!

12-13 OPC Wrapper Redemption All-Stars #AS-18 - Ilya Kovalchuk

For all you OPC nuts out there, Upper Deck has decided to continue the Wrapper Redemption Program in Canada. I am sorry for my friends South of the border, but if you know someone in Canada, I am sure they would help!

 10-11 OPC Retro Black #264 - Ilya Kovalchuk #008/100

All black and red with a hint of green. That sounds like the history of our beloved uniform.

1+7 = 8.....does that make this an eBay 1 of 1?

Ilya Kovalchuk 05-06 SP Authentic Chirograph Auto

Well it looks like there might be a season after all, of course I will still wait to see that there are actual games played before I am going to fully think this lockout is over! I hope that all those players overseas who didn't have season ending injuries are all ready to come back and play for their respective NHL clubs. 

For Devils fans, we have been pretty lucky as Kovy has avoided injury thus far and sits in a tie for 4th in KHL scoring with Ovechkin. What also might have some Devils fans excited too is the last time the league played a half-season, we went on to win the Stanley Cup! Of course, that all means nothing, but at the very least we all might have some hockey to enjoy!

Here is another Kovy treasure I landed in the summer. I believe I actually STOLE this card, and almost didn't big on it at all. The seller didn't list Canada as a place to ship to, but I talked them into accepting my bid and lucky for me I won the card and it was my cheapest Kovy auto yet! Like my other three autos, no stickers here and I was really happy to land it in my collection.

05-06 SP Authentic Chirography Ilya Kovalchuk

Nice auto as always with Kovy, and this was done in Blue Sharpie much like my auto here. My other two Kovys, here and here are signed in Black Sharpie.

ITG Ultimate Memorabilia 8th Edition

While I am catching up on posts, here is a little gem I picked up with some Christmas cash (a little late I know). Having picked up my first Kovy auto thanks to a trade with Casey from Drop The Gloves!, I was hoping to land a second one and here is what I ended up with.

For starters, the dealer wasn't a douche like some might be. If you notice, this card is numbered 17/30. Some dealers would call this a "1/1" or a "player number mojo hit" or some crap like that. This dealer just posted a nice respectable ad on ebay and for less than 10 bucks plus shipping, I have my second Kovy auto.

This like other ITG Ultimate cards came in its own ITG case which presents good and bad things. I like that design and the special serial numbering, but of course I don't like that once this baby picks up some scratches, you are more or less stuck with them in a "foggy" case. This card was shipped with a plastic sleeve over top of it which I have kept for storage-sake but I can see some people running into issues with scratched up cases on some pretty nice cards.

Do any of you have ITG Ultimate Memorabilia cards? Have you ever bought a pack or box of this stuff? At about 200 a pack, I haven't chanced it yet mainly because singles can be found for 10-20 bucks a piece which means you can buy the contents of a 200 dollar pack for about 30-60 bucks. That scares me a bit, but then again I am sometimes a coward with my cash....