My Second Zistle Trade

Not long after completing my first ever trade on the card collecting website/community Zistle, I received another trade proposal from north of the border (Ontario, to be specific). Similar in scope to the previous exchange, for a handful of baseball cards I received a a few hockey singles to plug some gaps in my Wings / Jackets collections.

First up was this nice action shot of Nick Lidstrom on 2007-08 Upper Deck #1.

The design of this set, and for that matter many of the UD main sets, isn't necessarily mind-blowing but they do have a penchant for some great photography.

Even less appealing, aesthetically, are the Victory main sets. This Dominik Hasek #122 from the 2008-09 set illustrates this blah-ness perfectly. Being a budget card, the lack of bells & whistles is more than understandable.

Same goes for this #48 Rick Nash from the 2010-11 set.

Again with a great action shot, this time featuring both of my teams on the ice, is this 2009-10 Upper Deck #115 R.J. Umberger. Awesome photo.

From the 2008-09 Upper Deck set comes this #16 Rookie Class card of Adam Pineault. Of course, by the time this card was issued Adam was no longer a Blue Jacket but was instead in the Blackhawk's farm system. Taken by the Jackets in the 2nd round of the 2004 draft, the Massachusetts native would ultimately appear in only three NHL games - all with Columbus, including his debut against the Wings - before toiling away in the minors and Europe until retirement beckoned after the 2013-14 season.

And finally we have this Steve Yzerman #24 from the 1997-98 Pinnacle Inside set. Does anyone remember this set? The "first-ever hockey cards in a can" set? What a gimmick. I believe this particular card is the only one that I have ever owned from this set. They're cheap, so completing the Wings shouldn't be too much of a burden - so why not?

And there you have it - my second trade on Zistle. I can't say enough how easy trading has been, so far, on this site. If you're not a part of it yet, get on there and let's get trading!

My First Zistle Trade

For those collectors who are in the know, Zistle is a gem of an online collection manager / trading forum. Zistle isn't exactly new to me (I've been a member for nearly 4 years) but until very recently I didn't use for much more than cataloging my collection. Over the past couple of months I've made a conscious effort to get my extraneous singles/inserts posted to my trade list while doing what I could to flesh out my want list. The result - a trade offer from the one and only Captain Canuck (his blogs Waxaholic and Just A Bit Offside are on hiatus, but make sure to keep tabs on 'em). The lesson - make sure your want list is just as fully populated as your trade list! So on to the goods...

Very much a common to get the post going is this 2014-15 Upper Deck David Savard...

A couple of 2014-15 O-Pee-Chee commons to fill in the Wings gaps...

And from the same set, this Mitch Callahan Marquee Rookie...

Besides one NHL game (against the Jackets), Mitch has been a career AHL-er since being drafted in 2009. His physical play attracted the Wings' attention, but over time he's settled in to be more of a goal scorer than tough guy. Unfortunately he's likely to remain a fixture in Grand Rapids unless he moves organizations.

And the prize of the lot... a 2014-15 OPC Rainbow Foil Jack Johnson...

So yeah, this was by no means a blockbuster trade. BUT, it marks my first foray into the trading beauty of Zistle that I am hopeful will continue to bring needed cards to my collection. Now, if only everyone had their trade lists populated!

Random Snipes From Beckett

In my last post I mentioned the three new additions to my 1970-71 Topps Red Wings set that I recently picked up from Beckett Marketplace. Well, in order to ensure that the cost of shipping did not eclipse the cost of the cards, I added a couple of quarter-bin cards to round out the purchase.

2006-07 Upper Deck No. 73 Chris Osgood

Yeah, not a whole lot special about this card. Ozzie had returned to the Wings for the 2005-06 season after a couple of seasons away with the Islanders and Blues, but an injury early on sidelined him for most of the year. Even still, he posted a 20-6-0 record.

1990-91 Topps No. 34 Daniel Shank RC

Daniel who? Yeah, pretty much. A promising winger, Shank scored 11 goals for the Adirondack Red Wings in the 1989 Calder Cup playoffs to earn a spot with the parent club for the 1989-90 campaign. He had a decent run - 11-13-24 in 57 games - but, after just 7 games with the Wings in the 1990-91 season, Daniel was traded off to the Whalers for Chris Tancill. After one season in Hartford, Shank would spend the reast of his career in the minor leagues. Have a look at the blurb on the back of his card. Man, somebody didn't have a very high opinion of this guy.

2001-02 Upper Deck No. 54 Rostislav Klesla

I actually kinda dig the design of this set. The colors work well, with just enough contrast, and a lot of space is devoted to the front photo and back text. It would have been nice for the back photo to be more than just a cropped headshot of the front, but whatever. A nice card of Rusty early in his career.

Back in Blue

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post, which seems to be a recurring theme on this blog, but to get rolling again I'd like to showcase my latest eBay wins - a couple of Blue Jacket relic cards that I picked up from a seller in Canada for less than $4.25 (including shipping).

The first is this Derick Brassard 2010-11 Upper Deck Game Jersey insert (GJ-BR) from Series 1.

The swatch isn't very exciting (but it was game-used) and the card design, particularly the font, is rather meh, but a jersey card is a jersey card. Brass, who along with Derek Dorsett and R.J. Umberger has become the face of the Blue Jackets since the departure of Rick Nash, isn't having a spectacular year so far. But then again, he's not at all an offensive powerhouse. Although he has only 2 goals this year, his goals-per-game average is actually right on the money when compared to his output from last season.

Next up is this Gilbert Brulé 2005-06 UD Ice Cool Threads insert (CT-GB).

Brulé was a big deal for Jackets fans in the mid 2000's. As the club's first-round pick (6th overall) in the 2005 draft, fans and team executives expected a lot out of the Edmonton native. Instead, Brulé turned in three forgettable and injury-plagued seasons before being shipped off to the Oilers for Raffi Torres (who is also no longer with the team, leading me to consider the G-man one of the worst of the 1st-round busts). The card isn't much more exciting, especially considering that this is a "photo shoot jersey", but as I repeatedly say when dealing with Blue Jackets relic cards - a jersey card is a jersey card.

Pack Crackin': 2008-2009 Collector's Choice

Moving on to the next pack in the Meijer value box, we have 2008-09 Collector's Choice. Now, this has always been considered a "lower end" offering and the design has typically reflected that line of thinking over the years. The base cards of this particular set aren't too awful, with the team logo in the background of the card reverse being a nice touch. That being said, the inserts aren't much to write home about.

Found one per pack, the Silver Choice Reserve cards are pretty basic, with an embossed log in the lower right and a silver border distinguishing them from the base set. The logo reminds me a little of the Stadium Club Members Only set, but other than that this isn't a bad parallel.

I guess I lucked out with this pack, scoring a second insert in the form of a Dany Heatley Stick Ums card. I'm not a fan of sticker cards, and the look is rather reminiscent of the junk wax era of the early '90s, so into the trade bin it goes. Also, isn't that an unfortunate photo of Dany?

The one keeper I snagged was this poorly scanned Lidstrom base card. It's not a dupe, so that's good. The rest of the breakdown:
172: Sergei Fedorov - Washington Capitals
199: Zach Parise - New Jersey Devils
253: Marc Savard / Tim Thomas / Zdeno Chara - Boston Bruins

Pack Crackin': 2008-2009 Upper Deck

Dipping back into the good ol' value box, we have here a pack of 2008-2009 Upper Deck. Disappointment set in once more as I quickly discovered that there would be zero additions to my collections from this pack. Not only that, but the insert cards don't seem to be in very much demand despite their BV:

Although Michael Frolik had respectable rookie and sophomore seasons, the centerman's production dipped in the 2010-11 campaign and was nearly non-existent last season. Frolik has two more years remaining in his contract with the Blackhawks, but unless he can ratchet up his production it's doubtful that he'll crack the third line.

This Eric Staal Super Skills insert is pretty nice looking and shows a modest BV, but again the demand just doesn't seem to be there for this particular card of the Hurricanes' captain.

The rest of the pack came out like this:
7: Matthias Ohlund - Vancouver Canucks
26: Jeff Halpern - Tampa Bay Lightning
34: David Perron - St. Louis Blues
72 - Brandon Dubinsky - New York Rangers
117: Rostislav Olesz - Florida Panthers
180: Phil Kessel - Boston Bruins

Pack Crackin': 2010-11 Upper Deck Victory

A few days ago, whilst posting about the two 2003-04 Victory packs acquired via the Meijer value box purchase, I offered my opinion regarding the sheer ugliness of that particular set's card design. Apparently not ones to learn lessons, the Victory designers put together another questionable set in their 2010-11 product - a pack of which found its way into my recent bulk purchase.

Each pack is advertised as containing either a rookie or "Superstar" insert. My pack, of course, contained just this rookie:

Defenseman Adam McQuaid had a short, quiet start to his NHL career. He notched just one point in 19 games on the Boston blue line. His sophomore season was not much louder, but culminated in a Stanley Cup ring. Entrenched on Boston's third pairing, he's not one to shy from a fight or a big hit.

As for additions to my personal collections, this pack contained only one - #47 Steve Mason (CBJ). For some reason my scanner just couldn't handle the color contrast properly, so no scan. It's not like you're missing anything. At least the card isn't a dupe.

The remaining cards break down like this:
5: Lubomir Visnovsky - Anaheim Ducks
11: Patrice Bergeron - Boston Bruins
60: Kari Lehtonen - Dallas Stars
101: Jaroslav Halak - Washington Capitals

Pack Crackin': 2009-10 Upper Deck Series I

Now that the Stanley Cup hangover has subsided a bit, it's time to get back to crackin' open the packs from the $20 value pack I picked up at Meijer. Today we have Upper Deck's 2009-10 Series I, and what a disappointing pack of cards this is. First, the insert:

Yep, not much to get excited about. The card design is kind of groovy, in a '70s Studio 54 sort of way, but there's not a lot of demand for this particular card and it does nothing to plug the holes in my collections.

In fact, nothing contained in this pack helped me out on the Red Wings / Blue Jackets front. Ah well, such is life in the world of hockey card collecting. Here's the breakdown of the rest of the contents:

1: Phil Kessel - Boston Bruins
9: Ryan Miller - Buffalo Sabres
95: Semyon Varlamov - Washington Capitals
144: Loui Eriksson - Dallas Stars
145: Teemu Selanne - Anaheim Ducks
162: Matthew Lombardi - Phoenix Coyotes
192: Sam Gagner - Edmonton Oilers

Pack Crackin' - June 8th, 2012

I'm normally not one for breaking open boxes of multi-brand packs, the likes of which lurk on the shelves of major retailers such as Meijer and Target. Lately, however, I've been intrigued by a few posts in the card collecting blogosphere touting some decent finds to be had in these types of products. So on my next trip to Meijer I snagged this hefty specimen for the grand sum of $20.

Boasting sixteen packs and two memorabilia cards - guaranteed - it seemed like a decent deal. I figured the "randomly selected" memorabilia inserts would be lame (more on that a little later), but the chances to pull some other inserts from the unopened packs was enticing. As far as the packs go, here's what the box contained:

The quality represented here isn't too shabby, though the duplicate Victory packs and the Power Play pack were somewhat disappointing. At least the variety is relatively contemporary - and there was no Pro Set to stink up the place.

First up from the guaranteed memorabilia cards is this 2006-2007 Joe Nieuwendyk SP Game Used Jersey, number AF-JN. The two-color swatch is actually kind of nice, but there's no place in my collections for this card so off to the trade list it will go.

The other memorabilia grab is this 2005-2006 Sergei Samsonov UD Game Jersey insert, number J2-SV. Less impressive than the Nieuwendyk card, but still avoiding the "plain white" pitfall, this card also does not fit with any of my collections. There appears to be little demand for it on eBay, so in the trade list it will sit.

Alright, on to the packs. To avoid an excessively long post (and to give me fodder to keep the blog active for several days), I'm going to dedicate one post to each pack. Working from left to right starting in the bottom row, first up is the 2006-2007 Upper Deck MVP pack. Of the eight cards in the pack, the only one earning a spot in my personal collection is this #88 Sergei Fedorov:

The card design of this set is quite nice and rather classy, though I never did like the silver signatures emblazoned across the front. Ruins a good TTM opportunity. Anyway, no matter what you may think of Federov, he's one of the very few players that appears in both my Red Wings and Blue Jackets team collections.

The insert card of the pack is this Markus Naslund Gotta Have Heart (HH24) pull. A nice looking card, but once again no place in my collections and practically no eBay value.

The remainder of the pack broke down like this:
116: Jarret Still - Edmonton Oilers
117: Jason Smith - Edmonton Oilers
171: Martin Brodeur - New Jersey Devils
225: Curtis Joseph - Phoenix Coyotes
240: Joe Thornton - San Jose Sharks
292: Alexander Ovechkin - Washington Capitals

So there you have it.  I'll have much more in the coming days, but now it's time to get ready for the short trip to Cincy to watch the Reds take on succumb to my Tigers.

Pack Crackin': May 5th, 2012 - Part 3

The third and final pack I picked up at Target was from the Upper Deck's 2011-12 Series 2 release. Like the Series 1 pack I had acquired during the same trip, there was only one card of any significance:

The Bill Sweatt Young Guns card seems to be averaging about a buck on eBay, so no real value has yet been assigned to the Vancouver winger's RC. Reportedly a defensive-minded player, Sweatt made his NHL debut this past December for the Canucks, participating in only two games before being sent back down to the Chicago Wolves. His time with the Wolves this past seen has been moderately productive, as he racked up 34 points in 74 games with a +9 rating. If he sticks with the Wolves next season, I'll likely fire off this card looking for a TTM auto from the Illinois native.

The rest of the mediocre pack broke down like this:
272: David Booth - Vancouver Canucks
273: Manny Malhotra - Vancouver Canucks
287: Mathieu Garon - Tampa Bay Lightning
340: Evgeni Nabokov - NY Islanders
400: Jeff Carter - Columbus Blue Jackets
408: Semyon Varlamov - Colorado Avalanche
417: Jussi Jokinen - Carolina Hurricanes

While much of this Canucks-biased pack will be headed to the trade list, I was mildly pleased to pull a Jeff Carter CBJ card. It fills a hole in my collection, for sure, but his lame performance in a Blue Jacket sweater this season leaves a sour taste. It is ironic, though, that after throwing a hissy fit over being traded from the Flyers to the Jackets he's ending up with a legitimate shot at The Cup.

Pack Crackin': May 5th, 2012 - Part 2

The second pack I acquired from my trip to Target was from Upper Deck's Series 1 release. The design of the 2011-12 UD set is much more appealing than the Victory product, so it's always a pleasure to add more of these cards to my collection. The insert card from this pack is from the Canvas subset:

I think these cards have a pretty classy look to them and, at 1:6 odds, are not difficult to come by. I'm not an Evander Kane fan, though, so this one is destined for the trade list.

The Steve Downie common that I pulled has an outstanding photo. Now that's one helluva celly! You'd think he just tied up Game 7 of The Finals. Unfortunately I already had a copy of this card, but even if I didn't it's headed to the trade list for one of you Lightning fans to snag.

This Shane Doan common didn't catch my attention for what's in the foreground, but for how UD totally screwed up the beyond-the-glass scene. First, and not at all a screw-up, is the goblinesque white-haired woman sending Mr. Doan the stink-eye. Classic! But UD screwed the pooch on the placement of their logo. Instead of covering the mustache-less Wilford Brimley look-a-like, they slap it right across the hockey hottie sitting next to Mrs. Snarls. Way to go, Upper Deck.  Way to go. Anyway, card 53 was not already on my trade list - but it soon will be.

The rest of the pack worked out like this:
32: Jaroslav Halak - St. Louis Blues (dupe)
93: Patric Hornqvist - Nashville Predators
94: Ryan Suter - Nashville Predators (dupe)
136: Niklas Kronwall - Detroit Red Wings (dupe)
141: Kari Lehtonen - Dallas Stars (dupe)

Not a great haul, by any means, and with a slight Nashville slant. My loss is your gain.