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!

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': 2003-04 Upper Deck Victory

Two of the sixteen packs contained in the "value box" that I picked up from Meijer a few weeks ago were 2003-2004 Upper Deck Victory. For the sake of brevity, I've combined the crackin' of these two packs into one post. First off, I have to say that the 2003-2004 UD Victory base set design is one of the worst in the history of hockey cards. Superimposing the player photo on the card graphic gives the cards a bit of a cheap look to them. I prefer the old-school look, with the focus being the players and not flashy use of "artistic expression". I must not be alone in that sentiment, since Victory sets subsequent to this one have ditched the extreme design elements.

Anyway, on to the 12 cards contained in the two packs. First up are my team collection pulls:

Both are Red Wings, obviously, and neither are dupes. That's not saying a whole lot, though, since I had zero cards from this set prior to this Datsyuk anad Legace pull. Despite my general dislike for the design, I will pursue completing the team sets for this issue since Victory is one of the sets I regularly include in my Red Wings and Blue Jackets collections.

Each pack contained an insert, but both were of the Freshman Flashback subset:

The scans don't do justice to the use of foil, and the cards do look better than the photos (and the base set, for that matter). I'm still not pleased with the excessive use of color on the left side of the cards, or the cheesy glow to the edge of the player, but the effect isn't as horrific as that of the base cards.

Igor Radulov played two seasons for the Blackhawks before heading to Russia during the 2004-2005 season, where he's been playing ever since. Niko Dimitrakos stuck with the NHL a little longer, being traded to the Flyers in March of 2006 for a 3rd round draft pick - ouch. After a couple of more seasons in the AHL, Niko headed East to play in Europe. In 2011 he was back in North America looking to make a return with Vancouver, but was released during training camp. A short stint with the AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins followed before Niko returned to Germany.

The remainder of the two packs worked out like this:
10: Simon Gamache - Atlanta Thrashers
77: Sammy Salo - Edmonton Oilers
118: Janne Niinimaa - New York Islanders
132: Todd White - Ottawa Senators
136: Ray Emery - Ottawa Senators
145: Shane Doan - Phoenix Coyotes
151: Rico Fata - Pittsburgh Penguins
197: Michael Nylander - Washington Capitals

Anyone else think that the 2003-2004 UD Victory set was one of the ugliest in hockey card history?

Pack Crackin': May 5th, 2012 - Part 1

Living in central Kentucky means going without many of the comforts you would normally find in larger metropolitan areas. Major-league sports franchises, for one, and - equally as important - local card shops. Within 30 miles of my home there is exactly one LCS, and they never stock anything hockey related. So it's with great sorrow that I am reduced to satisfying my pack addiction through outlets such as Walmart, Meijer, and today's pusher - Target. I'll admit that I've never picked up a pack at Target before, so while Mrs. Hockeyfan and I were out rushing from errand to errand, I found a spare few minutes to see what they had to offer. Not much, as it turns out. I picked up a pack each from Victory and both series of Upper Deck. I was about as thrilled as you are, but here's what I ended up with... starting with the Victory pack:

2011-12 Victory 220: Aaron Palushaj

By far the most remarkable card was this Aaron Palushaj rookie. Perhaps the most valuable, book-wise, of the Victory Rookie subset, this card stands out to me because Palushaj is a fellow native metro-Detroiter. Besides the local connection, he's a great candidate to become an addition to my USA-born TTM collection. I haven't been brave enough yet to ship off a card to any teams north of the border, so how long it takes to get his John Hancock is anyone's guess. For now his RC will be added to my trade list.

The remainder of the pack was comprised of:
48: Michael Frolik - Chicago Blackhawks
103: P.K. Subban - Montreal Canadiens
130: Jason Spezza - Ottawa Senators
133: Mike Richards - Philadelphia Flyers
177: Phil Kessel - Toronto Maple Leafs

Trade bait, every bit of it.