Hi Everybody! It isn't Dr. Nick...

Hey all, still not dead but somedays it probably felt like it. Truth is I am still around, I have been tweeting a bit lately and a bit during the summer and early fall. One of the reasons is it is just so easy to post and interact and it can be done anywhere. However, I am dedicated to start posting here, especially after a few years of limited posting and content. One project I do have on the go for all those who are into Twitter or Pro Set please check me out @ProSetCards.

I can't leave you hanging on here without posting something so here is a gem I found on COMC ages ago.


90-91 Upper Deck Sergei Fedorov Young Gun French

Once upon a time I remember when I was a kid and we had satellite tv there used to be these QVC-style sports card auction site/sales site. Usually it was just sales and my step-dad and I would watch it for hours. The guy pretty much always said (Neear-mint to Miiint). The grainy standard def broadcast of the early 90's wouldn't betray his analysis either. On this channel I saw Brett Hull OPC rookies selling for 150 dollars and this about card was pushing close to 100 dollars on some evenings. I paid $1.58. Money very well spent because I remember laying on the floor wishing I had that card because I thought someday it will be worth some serious money. Well turns out it isn't but the memories are priceless and that is the true value! Anyway, I hope this post finds you all well and I promise to be back in a day or two! Cheers.

The Russian 3

Back in 1992 the NHL was an explosive and exciting league and offensive numbers were high and no one was aware of the decline that was eventually to follow. Selanne and Mogilny tied for the most goals in the league with 76 and 14 players in total would score 50 goals that season. Mario Lemieux had an amazing 69 goals in 60 games. If Mario played the full 84 games he may have scored 96 but fact of the matter is streaks and slumps happen but I do believe he might have scored 90 that year.

What was equally exciting was the promise of all the young stars in the league and in particular Fedorov, Mogilny and Bure. Fedorov was coming into his own setting a career high in goals (34) and points (87) while just playing 73 games. Mogilny as previously mentioned scored a career high 76 goals and 127 points. Meanwhile, Bure scored his first of consecutive 60 goal seasons and he would flirt with that total a few more times in his short career.

Having lived through this golden age of hockey I have always been interested and enamored with these three superstars and hope all three make the Hall of Fame some day. As a result I was pleased to land all three in autograph form. What is another cool tie is all three have their rookie cards in Upper Decks 1990-91 release where Bure and Fedorov were listed as Young Guns. However, Mogilny had already played an NHL season with the Sabres so he didn't get the same cardboard treatment but nevertheless is a rookie in the set. Seeing these cards as a kid and wanting to pull them out of every pack I believe only adds to my nostalgia with these three players. So here are their autos, please enjoy!

2015 Leaf Signature Series MVPs Sergei Fedorov Auto

Unlicensed products can really be amazing or really awful. What Dr. Price and ITG accomplished in their over 10 years of making products like Heroes and Prospects and others must be acknowledged. I believe ITG was a fantastic company that did quite a bit with very little and pushed other companies to step up their game and use their licensing to it's fullest. Since the buy out, Leaf has tried to continue the trend but to be honest with you I really can't comment on the product as I don't really own many pieces or have tried purchasing any packs or boxes. I do own a couple singles with the being one of them and I like the card and feel that it's a good product. Given collector's hesitation towards this product, secondary market prices are low and this card was had for a very good price (about half book value).

95-96 Be A Player Global Training Alexander Mogilny Auto

The second auto of my trio is a card from the mid-90's. If I have one regret it wasn't loading up on boxes of this stuff once upon a time. With that however, who would have known that little from this era would have been very desirable. Even over time lots of the auto stuff has diminished to very affordable prices too and this potential HOF on card auto was a very affordable 10 dollars.


99-00 Upper Deck Retro Inkredible Pavel Bure

Despite Mogilny's 76 goal season and 473 career goals in less than a 1000 games, most would probably name Pavel Bure as the best goal scorer in the bunch. Personally I do consider him and Alex equals in those regards but with that being said, Bure was the most explosive of the three. Hard to say what may have happened if he didn't have all those injuries (how many times have we said that about a player) but two 60 goal seasons and a couple near misses showed everyone what he was capable of accomplishing. I love this card and the large and prominent auto. Florida isn't how I'd like to remember him but nevertheless this was a pleasure to add to the collection.

Do you have any memories of these three lighting it up? Would you have a preference of one over another on your team? If I could pick one it would be Sergei because he was the most complete but if I had just one game to play, Bure in his prime would be pretty awesome too. Thankfully the Devils did have Mogilny and we do have a Cup to show for his efforts! Thanks for stopping by!

00-01 Private Stock Game Gear Sergei Fedorov Patch /175

The more and more I look around it seems that during my nearly 10+ year hiatus from the hobby I missed out on some pretty neat cards and products. While I have added some of the stuff out there I missed I am sure they are thousands upon thousands I will never get to see. The whole Metal Universe for example, is a concept I missed out on but apparently was well loved. 

Game used cards have been around for over 15 years now and I suspect they are here to stay. While they aren't as loved, as rare or as valuable as they once were, it is still a chance to get close to a player and own a piece of the game. Here is one card I picked up from a time I wasn't collecting and is so filthy it is amazing!  

00-01 Private Stock Game Gear Sergei Fedorov Patch /175

Check out that swatch! Clearly this jersey is either so heavily used it was stained or it was just never washed after it left Sergei's back! Either way, I LOVE it. True there could have been more intricate or cool swatches off that tire/wing but the dirty white mixed with the red is pretty cool in my books. Definitely a nice swatch from a future HOF'er! With this and his rookie card I am all set for when he is inducted as I will have the two of three I am always looking for. With that being said, he was such a big part of my hockey life growing up and a player I always respected that I probably will try and chase his auto too. Surprisingly though for being a modern star, there aren't loads of his autos out there and they actually sell in the 25-40 dollar range so hopefully I can land one via trade.

Rescued from the "pound"

Here are a couple more random couple dollar cards from my LCS. 

54-55 Parkhurst Eric Nesterenko

Here is a pretty cool looking card in pretty rough shape. There appears to be a bit of a scrum with a few fallen players and Nesterenko is all poised to make them pay with a goal! This is a second year card of Eric Nesterenko which features him in a Leafs uniform. It would be a couple years before Eric would land in the Windy City and post his finest numbers and win a Stanley Cup with the 'Hawks.And as Sal would tell you, many many more years until he would hit the silver screen only to be shunned by the academy for his role in Youngblood.

01-02 UD Series 2 Sergei Fedorov FJSF Game Used

Once upon a time, getting a game used card was an EVENT! Case hit! Back when I wasn't collecting these gimmicks came along and were highly sought after and over time they became rather common and less magical. I saw this former 1:144 pack hit sitting in my LCS for 3 dollars and I thought that I could use a card like that. I do have one Fedorov game used already (with the Blue Jackets) and I knew I needed a nice Red Wings one because in my own heart of hearts, he will always be a Red Wing to me. 

Well there you have it, two odd ball cards sitting in the cheap box that I rescued and I assure you these cards are now being loved properly in a good home.

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.