11/12 Artifacts Brett Connolly Auto Rookie Redemption /99

The Connolly Craziness continues. I used some Paypal sales money a while back and landed this beauty. This card is a case hit and I was fortunate enough last year to land a case hit in Brendan Gallagher but when I saw what they were selling for, I unloaded my fast and got more than the value of the box for mine. Lucky for me because Brett has been brought along slowly, many collectors are bailing on him as a prospect and I was able to land the 5th best prospect according to Upper Deck in 11/12 for a little more than the cost of a pack of 11/12 Artifacts! Crazy I know!  

11/12 Artifacts Brett Connolly Auto Rookie Redemption /99 

In person this is a superb looking card. There is dimpling and foil all over this card it is superb. The big reason for my interest is actually the autograph. I have one from junior and NHL with the number 8. I have some with his number 14 and now I finally have one with 28. He wore 8 in junior but some of his NHL cards have them because he signed stickers at the beginning of the season before he was assigned 14. He also signed some stickers while he was in the AHL were he wears the number 28. He also wore 28 at the WJHC which makes this sticker choice odd for this card...more in my next post.

Here is the back of the card showing he was number V in a set of XVI (16). The prospects were ranked by Upper Deck based on desirability (my guess) and that is why Mr. Connolly is number V on the card and number II in my heart. Adam Larsson is the only Devil from the set for some reason, even though Adam Henrique had the better season.

There you have it, my super collection is a little more super. More in the next post!

Alex Vasyunov Redemption

Last summer before the hockey season started, I made a trade with Luke from the cardboard review. The trade was pretty simple; I sent him a Joe Thornton Acetate card in exchange for two Devils rookie cards. One of those cards was a Panini Luxury Suite Alex Vasyunov rookie redemption. However, Wednesday September 7th happened and Alex was on board with the Lokomotiov Yaroslavl team and perished with his team mates. Like the rest of the hockey world, I certainly mourned the loss of both Alex Vasyunov and Karl Rachunek. The story of how Alex even ended up in the KHL was clearly one of choice. The Devils made it clear to Alex with the large number of young forwards in our system, a spot on the Devils roster was not guaranteed and a two-way deal would be the only one on the table. Alex, wanting to play top-level hockey decided to reject the Devils 2-way offer on June 28th and play the upcoming season in the KHL. The Devils were fine with this choice as Alex would play a decent level of hockey and would still be their property when he decides to return back to the NHL.

Amazing what could happen from the outcome of one choice. If he had taken the two way deal, he would certainly still be here with us today instead of being apart of one of the greatest tragedies in hockey history.

Well, Panini the other day honoured my redemption request after over 9 months. The card they sent wasn’t an Alex Vasyunov autograph, it wasn’t even from the Luxury Suite set. Here is what I got instead:

This card is from the 10/11 Zenith Set.

Nick Leddy isn’t a name I was very familiar with. Doing a little bit of research, he is a defenseman with some offensive potential. This past season, Leddy put up 37 points which was second to Keith’s 43 points among Chicago’s D-Men. Hockey’s Future ranks Leddy a 7.5 which translates into an Ehrhoff or Tallinder calibre defenseman. I am pretty happy with the substitution, but of course I certainly wish this tragedy hadn’t happened, but it did and this appears to be how Panini is dealing with those redemptions.  

Fly my pretties, fly!

Ok, so I am not unleashing an army of monkeys. But yesterday I finally assembled an army of He Shoots He Scores redemption cards, 200 to be precise. I packed them up and sent them off in the hopes that they will return with something good. Well, not really return, the rules state they will not be returned, but a redemption card numbered to 20 will be sent back in exchange for my points. Who will it be? That part is kinda fun. I looked at the list, and odds are 50-50 I will be really happy with the results. When it arrives I will share.

Maybe Nail?

Have you ever done the exchange program with ITG? Were you happy?