Huge Pile of 13-14 UD Game Used including many HOF'ers

I have mentioned in many posts previous how great my LCS is for finding random deals and the owner's dislike of game used cards. They have always tended to be in my favour and this batch I have to show off today are a result of his dislike and eagerness to unload game used cards on the cheap. 13-14 Upper Deck was bought in mass quantities by people in Nova Scotia in the hopes of landing one of their very own...Nathan Mackinnon. As a result lots of boxes were opened and at a rate of 2 per box game used cards found their way into the 3 for $5 bin. Thankfully Upper Deck included many Hall of Fame players and future Hall of Fame player in that release and here are some that I pulled and others than I bought from the 3 for $5 bin.


 Nick Lidstrom

 

Personally I wouldn't call him the best defenseman of my generation because there were so many who I felt were every bit as good, if not better. But there is no arguing with 7 Norris Trophies and 12 All-Star appearances. 

Dale Hawerchuk

 

 We all know I love this guy so I won't go on and on about him. I think his 81 goals in 72 games during his final year of junior to go with 183 points is just amazing.

Ron Francis

Ron is second all-time in assists with 1249. Can't remember who's first but this total is pretty impressive.

Ray Bourque

No player has taken more shots in the NHL than Ray Bourque. He is first with 6206 career shots.

Borje Salming

Only 3 players have been on the ice for more power play goals against than Borje (621). They are Chris Chelios (708), Ray Bourque (687), Mark Messier (683). Not bad company for a relatively unwanted stat.

Doug Wilson

Doug is a 7-time all-star who also won the Norris in 1982. He would score 39 goals and 85 points that season which are both very impressive.

Peter Forsberg

Peter's 1.25 points per game average leaves fans wondering what could have been for his career if not for feet and ankle injuries forcing him to miss time an a relatively early retirement.

Jaromir Jagr

Jagr continues his assault on the record books. 4th all-time in goals and points and rising!

Dino Ciccarelli

Dino was just solid all-around. However, best known for scoring and he finished up with 232 career power play goals which is good for 9th all-time.

Jari Kurri

Jari scored an impressive 39 short handed goals in his career which is good enough for 6th all-time. The leader in that department however scored nearly double that and I think played on the same line as him (Gretzky).

Paul Coffey

Another former Gretzky teammate. Paul is a 3-time Norris Trophy winner who nearly scored 50 goals in a season (48) which is a total I don't believe will ever be touched again.

Joe Mullen

Joe Mullen is a 3-time Cup winner and former leading American born scorer.

Guy Carbonneau

I've heard people argue that he belongs in the Hall of Fame. He is a 3-time Selke and Cup winner, both are pretty impressive.


Justin Faulk

Future superstar defenseman? At the moment in time, he is on pace to score over 30 goals which has only been done twice since 1990. Kevin Hatcher ('93) and Mike Green ('08)
 
Patrick Sharp

Patrick has already won 3 Cups and could find himself on a team this season to win his 4th. He owns a very respectable 10 goals and 22 point in 30 games while taking on a leadership role in Dallas.

Robin Lehner

Ok, not all my jersey cards are amazing. What does the future have in store for Robin in Buffalo. The future will definitely reveal it soon enough and I am guessing good things.

Benedict Kovalchuk

Once upon a time I would have enjoyed this card. Now I just own it and nothing more....

Well there you have it! I pulled a couple of these but for the most part, they were purchased at the LCS in my 3 for $5 bin which is pretty awesome and always being topped up which means I have a few more to share in a future post! If any interest you, please let me know as I could be convinced to part with some.

13-14 National Treasure Jaromir Jagr Jumbo Booklet Prime /25

Please excuse me and my behaviour for the past couple of months. You see besides my hand issues which hopefully are going to be corrected via surgery in the next month or so (fingers crossed as I am just waiting for OR time), I also got a new to me computer and I just haven't had time to hook up the scanner. Well now that it is break time I did find the time to hook things up so please expect more and more posts!

I assure you I am not growing tired of this blog or have anything better going on in my life. The hobby is still a passion and a large one at that. I have added tonnes of cards recently via trades etc. so I have plenty to share!

Here is one I have added thanks to my interactions on Hobby Insider!

13-14 National Treasure Jaromir Jagr Jumbo Booklet Prime /25

Please feel free to judge this book by its cover! This is my first booklet card and while they are annoying to store (still waiting on a one touch holder to arrive at my LCS) it is beautiful on the outside. The foil shines and the back has some pretty good information. It is numbered to just 25 copies which is pretty great too!

What is on the inside is just amazing! Devils game used jersey with a puck mark on it. The jersey is HUGE and well positioned! The Jagr photo is also pretty nice and you can just imagine him in the moment of concentration and he is about to explode up the ice. The only thing this card is missing is a beautiful Jagr signature! Of course this isn't signed and likely would have been out of my reach had it been signed too. So while it is but a mere game used card, there are so many elements I love about it, to me it is about the best it can get!

A cardboard tribute to Jaromir Jagr in honour of 700 goals and a rookie auto.

Growing up in the 90's, I have had a chance to really seem Jagr perform through out his career. I was always in awe of his skills and abilities. But since joining the Devils, I have really had a chance to see him as a person and man is he funny! Check out this video for a classic example. Jagr's favourite target is Dainus Zubrus who he has played with a few times. If you don't have the time to watch it, essentially Jagr says Zubrus should have won the Selke Trophy in 01-02.  The reason why is because when he joined the Caps and started playing WITH Zubrus, his own scoring went from 121 points down to 79 points and Zubrus was the one shutting him down. They are hillarious together and Jagr is often the instigator.

But, that isn't what the post is about, its about 700 career goals. That is pretty amazing, and it has only happened 6 other times by guys all in the Hall of Fame. Here is a look at all Jagr's "rookie cards" and a recent pick up, my first and only Jagr auto.

90-91 OPC Premier

 This one is my favourite of all his rookies and it is also the most "valuable". With a book price of 12 bucks, it is head and shoulders above the value of all his other rookies. It is also one of only two rookies with an action shot of him playing.

Here is the back side of the card, very simplistic and no previous season stats. I guess OPC wasn't interested in what he did in Kladno but they did give a good side profile of his mullet.

90-91 Pro Set

The other rookie with an action shot is one what I would consider to be his most underrated rookie. Not sure why I like the one as much as I do, but a good action shot on the front and loads of info on the back make it a pretty decent rookie. Book value is a mere $1.25 the lowest of his rookies. 

Here is the back side of the Pro Set rookie. Very young photo of Jaromir and his two previous seasons with Kladno are also listed.

90-91 Score American

My least favourite rookie of the crop are the the Score ones. Very dull and staged studio shot on the front. The blue writing on the front is one way to tell Score American and Score Canadian apart. Book value on this and the Canadian version are the same and it is about 2 dollars.

On the back, the text is all English in the US version and it actually has more info and different info than the Canadian version. Apparently Jagr isn't real flashy.. I hope that isn't the scout that placed Nedved higher than Jagr because he may have lost his job.

90-91 Score Canadian

Here in Canada we like red eh? Same front just Red text on the Score logo.

Here is the back, much less info but there are some in French too. The additional french is a quote which says that "In addition to handling the puck well, he is patient in heavy traffic." I always like reading the French text because sometimes you do actually get more or different info than the English text tells.

90-91 Score Traded

This isn't considered a rookie but I still like it included because it is what I wished his rookie looked like. Great action shot and the back is very well done as well. The book value on this card is about 2 dollars, a little more rare but lacking the rookie status hurts its attractiveness with some collectors.

Here is the back and there is a short story on Jagr here. Look, first goal against the Devils, 700th goal was for the Devils.

90-91 Upper Deck

This was the first Jagr rookie I ever scored and the one I have the most copies of too. Book value is about 4 dollars which is about what it would cost you given shipping costs online anyway but at cards shows and LCSs you can probably land it for under a dollar.

Here is the back of the card. One of my favourite backs of all time. Well laid out, useful info and good stats. 

90-91 Score Jaromir Jagr Auto Rookie

Bought this online from a dealer who specializes in autos. Got the background story on it, felt it was worth a chance and when it arrived and I checked it out with a magnifying glass I felt very confident it is legit. Very interesting marker was used on this one. It isn't a sharpie but rather a chisel like purple marker. The front looks scuffed but the card is still in the screwdown the dealer sent it in and I haven't changed it yet. Really happen I got this one for  my collection and I was able to pay for it with some money I made from a private sale of a 1/1 card I had pulled a while back. I will share that story and the rest of my loot in my next post. 

Btw I was technically missing two Jagr rookies. There is one extra with Pro Set when you consider he has an Error and a Corrected one and I am missing the 90-91 UD French Rookie. Hope to land the French one some day but I would prefer to do it via trade instead of buying. 

Jaromir Jagr is now a Devil!

Wow! After losing two favourites of mine, we get back a pretty awesome player in the twilight of his career.

Let me be the first to say, welcome to NJ Jaromir!

Sets of Yesteryear - 91-92 Score Hot Cards

Here is another installment of "Sets of Yesteryear", and since we went all the way back to 1991-92 last time we might as well pick up another grossly overproduced set from that year. Some liked the Euro-stars, some hated them. Lets see what you all think of the 91-92 Score Hot Cards.

A little background, these cards came as a special insert for anyone wanting to by a blister pack of 91-92 Score Hockey. The blister packs came with 99 base cards and one insert card (if memory serves me right). The bad thing is I believe that the 91-92 Score Hockey (thanks to Collectors Corner for a cool review) was one of the ugliest set of all-time, the good thing is the Hot Cards look nothing like them! Here is the set in its entirety.

Card #1 Eric Lindros

I think Score made nearly a dozen cards of Lindros before he even played an NHL game. In some respects I think they felt that he was their ticket to printing money and in some ways that was true. I remember I bought two of these Blister packs at my local Sears store and I ended up with a Gretzky and a Jagr. The BV of the Lindros back in 1995 was 10 bucks and it has since dropped to a paltry $2.00. I really like this card as it features Lindros in his Team Canada World Junior jersey.

Card # 2 Wayne Gretzky

Love this card too, the action shot of Wayne streaking down the ice and a goalie who is out of the photo likely wetting himself in fear of the Great One all in black. The design is pretty simple with a full red border and a yellow accent in the trim. 

The backside is a paragraph of stats and information. I like that there is a photo on the back and the photo does differ from the photo on the front. The back design again is pretty decent and 20 years later doesn't look as terrible as other releases from the time period.

Card #3 Brett Hull

 During the early 90's every set and insert set NEEDED Brett Hull. The best goal-scorer from the early 90's period and the last player to an official 50 in 50 and last to score more than 80 goals in a season. I think the hooking Scott Stevens is doing in the background might get called in today's game.


Card #4 Sergei Fedorov

Another staple of any early 90's set was the hot upcoming prospects like Sergei Fedorov. With only one full season under his belt when this came out, he had much to prove and accomplish still, but if you look back at his career now, he is a shoo-in for the HOF.

Card #5 Mario Lemieux

 At the time this card came out, Lemieux had already begun his battle with back injuries and was limited to just a little over a quarter of a season. Still managed 19 goals and 45 points and may have been the best player in the set at the time.


 Card #6 Adam Oates

 Glad to see Oatesy get some respect by his inclusion in the set. At the time he was the other half of the Hull and Oates combo and some say Hull made him a super-star. Fact is, Oates made himself and proved it when he scored 45 goals and 142 points with the Bruins in 1992-93. If you were wondering who were his wingers at the time...it was likely a combination of Steve Leach, Dmitri Kvartalnov, and Vladimir Ruzicka. Definitely no Brett Hull!

Card #7 Theo Fleury

A cool goal celebration card featuring a star who lit the lamp often early in his career. That is a great looking Woody in his hand, btw.


Card #8 Jaromir Jagr

Either this is a practice or a warm-up photo because there are lots of empty seats over there and at the time everyone wanted to see Mario Jr.

Card #9 Ed Belfour

This is my favourite card in the set. I wanted nothing more in life than to be Ed Belfour when it came to street hockey. I even had the Hawks jersey to go along with the dream. The only goalie in the set, Score picked a fine player with Belfour being the reigning Vezina, Calder, and First-Team All-Star goalie.


Card #10 Jeremy Roenick

 Even though NHL '93 was a year or two away, Score made him the last card in the set. At the time Roenick had his first 40 goal season and the best was still yet to come. I personally love seeing the old Easton Aluminum sticks.

In all, I think the set is still reasonably attractive and has aged rather well when compared to the 91-92 Score base cards. It offers much more star power than the Euro-Stars set did but at the same time, it is a smaller set and not as nice looking to me personally. The book value of the set these days is 15 bucks with the most expensive card being Gretzky which books for 8 dollars. I managed to pick up a complete set at my LCS for the change in my pocket at the time which I think was like 3 bucks.

So what are your thoughts on the set? A must have or a must avoid? I personally think it would be a fun addition to someone's collection and gives you a reason to avoid 91-92 Score! I give this set a 4/5. Decent design, nice player selection and a couple cool photos you can really appreciate!

Sets of Yesteryear - 1991-92 UD Eurostars

Another thing I am going to do on my blog is feature sets and subsets (both good and bad) that I have picked up over the years. In cases that are subsets I will try and show as many or all the cards and in the case of sets I will highlight some of my favourites. First one I am going to do is the 1991-92 UD Euro-Stars insert set. I managed to get many of these cards back in the day, but a couple months ago, my local card shop was selling complete sets for like 2 bucks so I snapped one up.

This set was released during the 1991-92 season as a 1-per jumbo pack insert with the 1991-92 UD hockey. Packs featured 17 cards including 1 Euro-Star card instead of 12 cards in the regular hobby packs. The set itself consisted of 18 cards featuring many of the young European NHL'ers as well as a couple veterans. One notable exclusion was Pavel Bure, for some reason Robert Kron made it into the set instead of him. Well, strap on your time machines and lets party like its 1992!    

Card 1 - Jarmo Kekalanien

Jarmo was a pretty popular name in the NHL at one point, those of you in my age range might also remember Jarmo Mylyss of Minnesota and San Jose fame. However, Jarmo Kekalainen was more Euro than Star and only lasted in the NHL 55 games.


Card 2 - Alex Mogilny

The first true star in the set. Mogilny may or may not find himself in the Hall of Fame, but the kid does have a Cup ring, 8-30+ goal seasons and a 76 goal season which really was sensational for all those that remembered it! As you can see from the card fronts, the design is very similar to the 91-92 UD Base set and the Euro-Stars emblem on the front features the flag from each country the player was born in.

Here is what the backs of the cards look like. Simple and all text.


Card 3 - Bobby Holik

One of the best two-way players in the whole set. He could punish you with hits or punish you on the score sheet. Bobby might be best remember by some for scoring a huge 9 mill a year deal from the Rangers, but I will always remember him for his 9 seasons with 20+ goals.


Card 4 - Anatoli Semenov

Anatoli was nearly 30 when he finally came over to the NHL. During the 80's he was one of Moscow Dynamo's best offensive players before coming over to the Atlantic. Unfortunately, there wasn't much left in the tank and he couldn't produce the same number in the NHL. He did bounce around a few clubs before retiring in 97 after scoring 68 goals and 194 points in 362 NHL games.

Card 5 - Petr Nedved

Petr was the second overall selection in the 1990 NHL draft. That means that he was picked higher than 250 other players. He did put together a rather nice career which includes career highs of 45 goals and 99 points in 95-96 with the Pens. I really think he did turn out to be a top 10 pick in the draft, even maybe a top 5 pick. However, Canuck fans, if you could do it all over again, do you think Jagr might have been the better Czech choice?

Card 6 - Jaromir Jagr

Very few would disagree, one of the best players in the set and one of the best players to play in the last 20 years period. I have never been too sure where I stand with him personally, but I do respect his talent!

Card 7 - Tomas Sandstrom

Oh what could have been! Sandstrom was a player who had just great natural goal scoring talent, but he trouble staying in the line-up. There were two occasions where he scored 40+ goals and both time were seasons he didn't even get to 70 games played. During his 15 year career he would only average 65 games a season but still managed to average 26 goals a season. His rookie card can be had dirt cheap and I think he was one of the best Finnish players of all-time.

Card 8- Robert Kron

Robert Kron was the rookie shorthanded goals leader in the 90-91 NHL season. Not really an offensive star, he did break 20 goals twice and lasted a solid 771 games in the NHL. A good player yes, a Euro-Star...maybe not.

Card 9 - Sergei Fedorov

In the early 90's his rookie cards were must, I remember a french UD version of his rookie selling for nearly 200 dollars. If the dotcom bubble busting in 2000 didn't cause that guy to take a bath with his toaster, knowing the rookie is only worth $4.50 today might! With that being said, Fedorov took a page from Steven Yzerman and did an amazing job evolving from an elite offensive threat to an even better two-way player. Another amazing player in this set!

Card 10 - Esa Tikkanen

Ahhh the Tick. Tikkanen and Claude Lemieux are the two names that come to mind when you combine clutch with agitation. In 1990 the Oilers won the Cup without Gretzky and one of the main reasons was Esa's 13 goals during that post-season.    

Card 11 - Christian Ruuttu

If you were to spell his last name in Scrabble, it would use almost all the U's in the bag. Ruuttu had some pretty solid years with the Sabre from 86-91, but then fall off a bit before being out of the NHL at the age of 31.

Card 12 - Peter Bondra

Certainly one of my favourite players in the set! Bondra was one of the more under-appreciated goal scorers from the 90's who still managed 500 career goals in 1083 career games. He has a higher career goals per game average than some HOF's including Yzerman, Howe, Believeau and Shutt. If he had been able to stay a little healthier or had a quality centre, I felt he could have had 600 goals easily.

Card 13 - Mats Sundin

If I could ask Mats Sundin one question, it would be: "Do you wish you could have stayed in Quebec?". There is no doubt that Mats was a great player and a good leader. Just imagine him with Sakic, Forsberg, and Roy. When Quebec moved to Colorado, they could have easily won a few more Cups with Sundin in the line-up.  

Card 14 - Dominik Hasek

The only horizontal card is for the only goalie in the set. Love him or hate him *I am the latter, he is one talented player and this card is a pretty good one from his rookie year. Of course, being an insert card it isn't classified as a true rookie, but for collectors of Hasek, this card is a must.

Card 15 - Johan Garpenlov

Anyone who has the complete set of 90-91 UD will remember Johan as the other guy on the Young Gun Checklist with Sergei Fedorov. He spent a majority of his career with expansion teams and was greatly inconsistent collecting 20 goals seasons and non-20 goal seasons. His most successful season was with the Panthers when they went all the way to the Cup final in 96, he scored 23 goals that season and another 4 goals in the playoffs. He would only score 23 more regular season goals in the next 4 seasons before leaving the NHL for the Swedish Elite League in 2000. 

Card 16 - Alexander Godynyuk

Please don't let the number fool you, this isn't Doug Gilmour. Alex wasn't even brought in to the NHL to score, but what he was brought in to do isn't entirely clear. He didn't last very long and is another example of a player that was more Euro than Star.

Card 17 - Ulf Samuelsson

I am not sure even after all these years if Ulf is allowed back in Boston yet. While he might be best remembered for laying the knee on knee hit that would hamper the rest of Cam Neely's career, he was a reliable defenseman who won a couple of Cups with the Pens.   

Card 18 - Igor Larionov

So what if he was 31 years old, he was Euro and a Star right? Still I might have complained more if Sergei Makarov had made the set! In reality, Larionov did have a very long and product NHL career despite the late star. His best NHL season came at the age of 35 when he scored 21 goals, 71 points. Igor was named to the hockey hall of fame in 2008.

Well there you have it, the 1991-92 UD Euro-Stars set. 18 cards of some of the best players in the NHL at the time born outside of North America. I do think it was a shame Bure was not included, but apart from that, the set is strong and has aged rather well. For as much as I disliked the super over production of cards from UD that year, this set is a nice little collection that would fit in 2 binder pages and offers collectors a nice assortment of Europe's best. I certainly give this set a favorable 4.5 out of 5.