Loonies and Toonies Well Spent....According to me of course.

I raided my LCS's Dollar and Toonie bin again and found one or two cheapies online too. Here are the results, money well spent I think, tell me what you think.

10-11 UD Series 1 Young Guns Checklist

 These three are certainly off to great careers! Cost 2 bucks.

12-13 UD Artifacts Cody Eakin Team Canada /999

 Here is one for the PC. Cost a dollar.

07-08 Fleer Ultra Jaroslav Halak Rookie

 Halak attack! Took me 2 dollars to take him home.

96-97 BAP Pinnacle Jim McKenzie Auto

 Tough guy and tough auto! A former Devil for 196 games, won a Cup with us in 2003. A dollar? Yes please!

11-12 UD Mika Zibanejad

 Every time I say his name I think I am saying it wrong....He has loads of potential and is having a solid post-season! 2 Dollars...

10-11 SPX Jake Muzzin Rookie

 At the midpoint of the season some had him as a dark horse for the Calder. He isn't a finalist but he still might win something yet with the Kings. This was a dollar.

11-12 Limited David Rundblad Rookie Phenoms /299

 Another D-man prospect. This one had a tough season in the NHL and spent most in the AHL. I believe he will be a regular someday, 2 bucks on that bet.

02-03 Crown Royale Purple Patrick Sharp Rookie Parallel /799

 Patrick has been good the Chicago and Chicago has been good to Patrick. 2 dollars here.

05-06 UD MVP Zach Parise Rookie

Zach, I am no longer bitter about you moving. Here is the proof. I bought another one of your rookies...True it was only 2 dollars but remember...baby steps.

Thanks for reading, more coming soon!

Generosity from Shoebox Legends and a trade with The Hockey Card Closet

So now that the Sweet Shot love-in is over, I can get on to other posts that have been piling up on an already large list. This is an important post with a great act of kindness and a simple but fun trade to highlight.

First off, an act of kindness from Shane over at Shoebox Legends. I sent him a few cards that didn't belong in my collection and he was far too kind (especially if you consider he was robbed at the post office, insane shipping rates that now exceed what we Canadians overpay). He sent four cards, all Devils, all cards I don't own and all cards I do like having! 

Card 1: 05-06 Artifacts All-Stars Patrik Elias

 Our all-time leading scorer numbered to 899? Thank you!

11-12 Artifacts Emerald Zach Parise

 I was going to mention this in a later post, but I am over Zach ditching us! I still like him and understand to some degree why he left.

03-04 OPC Blue Brian Rafalski

 Only good memories of Brian here.

10-11 UD Retro Kovy

Love the 90-91 Retro cards and love Kovy....Together on a piece of cardboard....mind blowing.

Thanks a million Shane, next time I will try and make up for the shipping differences in this exchange and any other future ones :)


This next card is part of a trade I made with Kyle from Beware The Hockey Card Closet.

  

In a trade with Kyle we did two cards for two cards and this Khabby auto was the centerpiece. Despite his run-in with the law, he was and still is a pretty fine goalie. Over 300 career wins and 46 shutouts, not to mention, a gold medal at the 92 WJHC as a member of team CIS (remember those days). Neat auto in black sharpie on sticker with number. 

So there you have an expected card that looks great and some unexpected cards that are just awesome! Thanks boys and happy blogging!  

Toonie Treasures

My LCS has just continued to evolve over the past year or so thanks to Mike. He has taken the approach of moving lots of product fast rather than make more of each card slowly. It certainly is a business model that I think works for everyone, but then again my wife is the one with the business degree. All of these cards were in the 2 dollar bin which offers a good balance of value and coolness.

11/12 UD Young Guns Checklist

I am going to say that if this was one of my Young Gun hits in a box I would be happy, but not excited. At two bucks, I am excited. Three solid rookies including my boy Larsson. The other two were ROY finalists including the winner Landeskog.


08/09 UD Young Guns Checklist

I think any card with Stamkos on it from his rookie year is a home run. Both Doughty and Pietrangelo has become soild D-Men not unlike the early 90's when it was Lidstrom and Niedermayer.

05-06 UD ICE Zach Parise Rookie /999

 I bought one of these a while back in a lot deal with a Duncan Keith Ice rookie. I thought it was a pretty good deal to land both for under 10 bucks, but this takes the cake!

07-08 BAP Auto Tobias Enstrom

Here is a rookie year auto of Tobias Enstrom. If this kid was in Toronto he would be getting as much praise as Jake Gardiner, however he is stuck in the Winnipeg Thrasher organization and back to back 50 point seasons mean your auto is in the two dollar bin. He did only have 33 points last year, but he was hurt for 20 games.

06-07 Bee Hive Booth /100 and Zajac

A Booth rookie /100 had to come home with me and the Zajac was a rookie I didn't own already so these two are likely my least biggest savings but still two good cards that found a loving home!


I will keep sifting the boxes and sharing what other good stuff I can find. Parise is up for trade if anyone is interested.

05-06 UD Ice Rookie Lot

About a month or two ago an auction was up online for a Zach Parise Ice rookie and a Duncan Keith Ice rookie. I ended up in a little bit of a debate with myself on this one. I own both of their Young Guns, and in the case of both of them I do have another one or two other low end rookies. So, the debate was, "Do I need these cards, or do I just want them?".

I am sure some of us have been in this situation before, so my debate ended with, if I can land them both for under 10 bucks with shipping....then sure I need them.

I threw my bottom line bid in, and luck should have it, I won.

So here are the prizes:

Zach Parise #/999

What I like about this card is he is wearing his number 9 jersey. Many of his rookies feature photos from the preseason with him wearing 51. The card is numbered which is also cool and is valued a little low compared to some of the other cards in that set!

Duncan Keith #/2999
2999 rookies isn't exactly a limited production run when you consider this is supposed to be an upper-end card, but certainly the price was right and I am a pretty big fan of Duncan Keith.

However, with that being said, I certainly don't need this card and probably if I was contacted by a big Keith fan I could be convinced to trade it. Parise on the other hand could also become trade bait depending on the Devils success resigning him. Either way, I felt I did quite well on these pick up and Ice Rookies always look nice in one's collection.

Card of the Week - Drew Doughty

Well with Stamkos all locked up for the next 5 years, the last two restricted free-agents worth talking about are Doughty and Parise. I was reading some trade rumours on The Hockey News which suggests that one rumour has Doughty being traded to New Jersey for Parise because the Doughty contract talks have stalled.

The Devils made a great move yesterday by trading Brian Rolston to the Isles for Trent Hunter which I am sure if we wanted to free up more space someone would take Hunter for a 3rd or 4th rounder. With over 7 mill in cap space, the Devils could easily sign either Parise or Doughty. Both are a General Manager's dream and the Devils could find a use for both. If we sign Parise, we would have a first and second line that are equally dangerous and if we sign Doughty, we could possibly have the best defense in the NHL in 4 years. Either way, I am pleased and punch and I think Yogi's big season prediction may very well come true!

Which ever team Doughty ends up joining in the fall will truly benefit as this kid is far from reaching his potential. I don't see why he can't be every bit as good as Lidstrom became in the NHL. I think many may agree with this as in just 3 seasons he has developed into a fine defenseman with an incredible offensive up-side.

08-09 Fleer Ultra #259 Drew Doughty Ultra Rookie

For the first time in a number of years, there is no Fleer Ultra set. Do you miss it? Personally, I would buy the odd blaster or a stray pack here and there but never attempted the set. I liked the product, but felt it was too redundant with Upper Deck's base set so I went with the better value each time. What was cool about the Ultra sets were the redemption cards. Buying the occasional pack here and there would yield me very few of these redemption cards but that is exactly how I got this one. Just the luck of the draw and the cashier picked the right pack for me.

The front of the card is nice, good clean photo and the Ultra Rookie foil makes the card pop! I think the 08-09 Ultra Rookies are a great alternative to probably the worst Young Gun design year I had ever seen.

Back side of the card

Here on the back is a recycled picture from the front with the stats and a little write up. No need to adjust your monitors the back side of the card does have a fair bit of light blue on it with a white trim. There are his previous year's stats along with his OHL totals.

How I received the card: Pulled redemption from pack

Beckett Value: $8 - 20

It will be interesting to see what products Upper Deck decides to product next year. I personally would rather see Ultra on the market place than Panini's Donruss and Pinnacle products. But I assume UD still owns the license to Ultra and with fewer sets being produced I think UD made the right choice dropping Ultra in favour of the mid-market base Upper Deck set.