eBay Score: Tomas Popperle

Is it really a "score" when the player is someone that no one (or very few people) have ever heard of? If the card fills a void in your collection, then you bet your ass it is! Which, of course, is the motivation behind my eBay pickup of this 2007-08 SPx #160 Tomas Popperle 573/999 rookie card (or Tomáš Pöpperle, for the perfectionists).

Tomas was a product of the sometimes questionable draft practices employed by the then-GM of the Blue Jackets Doug MacLean. In the 2005 draft, which say the likes of Kris Russell and enforcer Jared Boll become Jackets, MacLean snagged Popperle in the fifth round. While those taken ahead of him in the draft have each laced up their skates several hundred times in the NHL, the Czech native saw action just twice - both times during the 2006-07 campaign. Tomas stayed in the AHL for a part of the following season before returning to the Czech Republic, where he continues to play.

As for the card itself, I'm not a huge fan of the design. Too much of the player is obscured by graphic flourishes, and the "digital" font is just a pain in the ass to read. Yet, it fills a void so the $.099 (plus shipping) I sent to the seller in Quarryville, PA is justified.