A Double Box Break of 11-12 Rookie Anthology - Another Bride From My Wife

Ok so I am so very close to completing the set, what better way to attempt to finish it than buying 2 more boxes! Thanks to doing a task my wife didn't want to do, I landed myself two more boxes of my favourite 11-12 product. Here we go, nothing but hits and no frills at that.

Box Toppers

Topper 1

 Emelin is haunting me and this is my second one. I received the other as a NPN win from Panini. This one is up for trade.

Topper 2

Love this one, jersey/stick combo. I am keeping this one.

Rookies

Each pack has a rookie,  I am just pointing out my more notable ones and I am starting with Marcus. Marcus is a former Canadian World Junior so this one is a fun hit.

 Another former WJ, Leland won gold with Canada in 2007. Currently he is one of a few goalies looking to steal the vacant starting job in Calgary.

 Most rookies were Pinnacle ones and Gustav is the best of the bunch!

Game-Used/Player Worn Hits

Each box claims to have a couple of these and mine was no exception. I was lucky enough to hit another Pinnacle Starting 6. This one features a good selection of rookies from the 11/12 season. Henrique makes this one a keeper!

 What an odd combination. Despite it having Nicky Palms on it, I can live without this card for sure.

 Ryan Ellis!!! I hope we see him again!

 I didn't know Philly and Detroit were rivals.

Rookie Treasures

 Each box has one of these unless you are lucky.  Talbot......Rangers....Yuck.

 Teemu! I promised he would be back, another disappointing Oiler hit.

Case Hits

 I was fortunate enough to have two large hits as well. Here is proof Montreal is haunting me for sure! Dual patch/auto rookie parallel of Raphael Diaz aka Number 61. This one is numbered 14/15 and can be yours if you want to trade for it.

My favourite hit of the box.....Ryan Ellis Ice Breaker Rookie auto. These are one per case and I landed a PC guy. I really can't ask for much more (except maybe RNH).

There you go, sorry no big write-ups that I typically do but two boxes that I am pretty happy with but more than willing to trade more away. I did also finish my set which is an added bonus!

11-12 Panini Rookie Anthology - Brett Connolly Rookie Treasures /15

No time means all my great post ideas and box breaks must wait for another day. Here is a quickie to share:

11-12 Panini Rookie Anthology - Brett Connolly Rookie Treasures /15

Another PC pick-up. The top patch has a glint of silver in it and the bottom patch is all silver. Love this look of this card and it is reasonably rare numbered to just 15. After a 30 goal season in the AHL, I think Brett will be ready to be a full-time contributor next year with the Lightning.

11-12 Rookie Anthology - Slava Voynov

After the pain of the Stanley Cup finals subsided, I was happy that it was the Kings that won the cup instead of some other team (Rangers, Flyers, etc) if the Devils weren't going to be the ones to do it. I am also able to not let me love blind me completely and be rather objective when I watch a game and it is this objectivity that leads me to today's post. 

Slava Voynov impressed me a great deal in the Stanley Cup finals. I had no idea who this kid was really going into that series, but seeing how well he manned the blue-line, especially in offensive situations, I became a bit of a fan. He moves the puck well, skated well and I just remember him not letting the Devils out of their end whenever they would try and clear the puck on his side. Offensively he didn't register a single point in the Stanley Cup finals, but he always seemed to be creating chances and being in the thick of things. His performance won me over and meant that I needed to track down a rookie card. 

Here is what I got after the sting wore off....

11-12 Rookie Anthology - Rookie Treasures Slava Voynov /499

Great auto, numbered and even some extra marker action likely from being careless with his sharpie while signing the sheet of stickers. In all, a winner if you ask me and I am very happy to have this card and I still think he is going to be a superstar in the NHL. Last night he had a 3 assist performance against Nashville and that gives him 3 goals, 9 assists on the season in 20 games. I think that he has excellent potential and with Doughty, LA has a solid back-end for years to come.

Ryan Ellis Rookie Anthology Rookie Treasures

I swear I must have lost 15 auctions involving Ryan Ellis before I landed this one. There must be a few collectors out there who feel he is something special like I do. I really began to appreciate this kid during the '09 World Juniors when he was a member of the last gold medal Team Canada. He isn't the kind of defenseman who will block slapshots with his face and he isn't the kind of defenseman who will crush players with bone-jarring hits. He is the kind of defenseman who will score 4 points and lead his team to victory on the scoresheet. 

What I like most about this kid is he is a winner. Much like Eberle, he just finds ways to help his team win. So far in his young career he has won Gold in the World Juniors, the Ivan Hlinka, U17 and the U18 tournaments. Currently Ryan is playing for the Preds and has 4 points in 12 games so far, but it is only a matter of time before the points start rolling in at the NHL level.

11-12 Rookie Anthology Ryan Ellis Rookie Treasures /499

A simple card with a similar recipe to UD's SPX rookies. Two photo used swatches with a sticker auto and a relatively low print run.

Marcus Kruger Autos

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have actually gone out trying to get a few more Rookie Treasures rookies because I do like the design and they can be had for pretty reasonable prices considering what you get, player worn, /499 and autographed. I actually doubled-down on a pair of Marcus Kruger Rookie Treasure cards and an additional Kruger auto. 

Here is the Rookie Treasure. I don't need to scan both of them because both swatches and autos look very similar. If anyone is interested in one of them, I am sure I can part with one.

This auto is way more bad-ass! I love the photo, the auto is on card and it is numbered out of 50. The more and more I look at this one, it is by far a superior card and since I won't likely be buying any boxes of Prime, I think buying singles of cards like this one above are the way to go! Just a great card in terms of feel, photography and design.

11/12 Rookie Anthology Box Break - Hit by Hit 5

The last hit of the box was one I was expecting. Not necessarily Colin Greening, but I was expecting a Rookie Treasures. I am a fan of the cards, they look neat and they utilize both Relic and Sticker technology which are actually arranged in a eye pleasing format. I have since also picked up a few other Rookie Treasures, but that is for another day.

11/12 Rookie Anthology Rookie Treasures #122 Colin Greening /499

As far as the card goes, I like it a lot. As far as the player goes, there certainly are much worse rookies to be had in the 11/12 crop. Colin was a bit of a late bloomer and played his first full NHL season at the tender age of 25. He did put up some nice numbers 17 goals and 37 points and I think he could be a 20 goal, 50 point guy in the NHL. Given his age, he may only play 8-10 years but that too is a pretty decent number and no reason why he can't carve out a solid career. I already have one auto Greening rookie so landing a second wasn't as exciting as it might have been, but I think Panini did a pretty solid job with this set which was why I bought a second box and grabbed a few more Rookie Treasures cards.

Well that is it for hits, I have one more post to go where I will share my other rookie hits and then I will just do the second box in one post because it wasn't anywhere near as cool as this one was.