The Great Zo
Verified Trader,
The majority of this mail post will pick up from where the last one left off: a huge batch of cards from Dave Rearick. This assortment is dominated by a wide arrange of RCs, stretching from the early 70s to the just-finished 13-14 product year. There's just enough room at the end of the post for a few other recent rookie cards that I've acquired.
Mail Post #17 for 2014
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71-72 O-Pee-Chee 77 Syl Apps Jr. RC
71-72 O-Pee-Chee 198 Brian Spencer RC
71-72 O-Pee-Chee 207 Rick MacLeish RC
76-77 O-Pee-Chee WHA 38 Terry Ruskowski RC
85-86 O-Pee-Chee 152 Warren Young RC
87-88 Topps 2 Rick Tocchet RC
I'll start with some older rookie cards, including a Brian Spencer with some rather interesting artistry! Poor guy.
I now own both of Rick Tocchet's RCs -- Topps and OPC. 2-for-2 isn't a very big completion, but it still counts!
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89-90 Topps 168 Zarley Zalapski RC
90-91 Bowman 203 Wendell Young RC
90-91 Bowman Tiffany 173 Bryan Fogarty
90-91 Bowman Tiffany 203 Wendell Young
90-91 Bowman Tiffany 206 Mark Recchi
90-91 O-Pee-Chee 383 Ville Siren RC
90-91 Pro Set 144 Ville Siren RC
90-91 Topps Tiffany 250 Randy Gilhen
90-91 Topps Tiffany 280 Mark Recchi
90-91 Topps Tiffany 309 Wendell Young
90-91 Topps Tiffany 383 Ville Siren
I still have a lot of work to do on Bowman Tiffany and Topps Tiffany. I only added those sets to my wantlists in the past year or two.
Wendell Young is completed at 10-for-10, as are Randy Gilhen and Ville Siren at 4-for-4 each.
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90-91 Upper Deck American 351 Nolan / Primeau / Nedved / Ricci
90-91 Upper Deck American 548 Bryan Fogarty RC
90-91 Upper Deck Canadian 351 Nolan / Primeau / Nedved / Ricci
90-91 Upper Deck Canadian 487 Mark Recchi
91-92 Upper Deck American 644 Stephan Lebeau / Patrick Lebeau
91-92 Upper Deck Canadian 63 Martin Lapointe / Jamie Pushor
91-92 Upper Deck Canadian 644 Stephan Lebeau / Patrick Lebeau
91-92 Upper Deck Canadian 648 Chris Ferraro / Peter Ferraro
92-93 Pinnacle Canadian 411 Robert Lang RC
92-93 Upper Deck 496 Vladimir Vujtek RC
94-95 Parkhurst SE 260 Jarome Iginla XRC
Here's another batch from the early 90s, with three more rookie collection completions: Bryan Fogarty at 7-for-7, Mark Recchi at 12-for-12, and Jamie Pushor at 4-for-4.
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95-96 Donruss Elite World Juniors 26 Chris Bogas (0701/1000)
95-96 Parkhurst International 271 Alex Hicks XRC
95-96 Parkhurst International 343 Joaquin Gage XRC
95-96 Parkhurst International 526 Landon Wilson XRC
95-96 Parkhurst International 534 Mike Wilson XRC
97-98 Paramount 191 Lubomir Vaic RC
97-98 Score Penguins Team Set 20 Domenic Pittis
There's only one actual RC in this picture -- Lubomir Vaic's only rookie card. That's pretty obscure.
What about a player who never actually earned a rookie card? Chris Bogas earned a spot in the 95-96 Donruss Elite World Juniors insert set, which is not all that easy to find cards from. This was the only time that Bogas appeared in an NHL-licensed product. He never played in the NHL, but he did make it as high as the AHL/IHL, including two games with the Detroit Vipers in 00-01. If you're interested in Pre-RC / Non-RC stuff like this, I put together a comprehensive guide on the subject a couple years ago.
The Domenic Pittis card is one of many cards from the 97-98 Score team sets featuring players who also earned RCs in 97-98. Pittis appeared in several 97-98 products. There are even two players in the 97-98 Score team sets that did not earn any other NHL cards -- Yves Sarault and Pete LeBoutillier.
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00-01 Crown Royale 119 Serge Aubin RC (085/400)
99-00 Upper Deck Prospects 31 Ryan Craig
00-01 Black Diamond 74 Sebastien Caron RC (0145/1999)
00-01 SPx Rookie Redemption RR12 Ty Conklin
00-01 SP Authentic 100 Serge Aubin RC (390/900)
00-01 Upper Deck Prospects 47 Ryan Craig
00-01 O-Pee-Chee 307 Serge Aubin RC
Until recently, I didn't know that Ryan Craig appeared on a junior league card in the 99-00 Upper Deck Prospects set. Craig didn't earn his NHL RCs until 6 years later in 05-06.
The big news for this picture is that my Serge Aubin RC collection is complete at 20-for-20. That's a big one, and the Crown Royale RC wasn't easy to find! Sebastien Caron is also complete at 3-for-3.
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01-02 Upper Deck Hobby 423 Ty Conklin RC (SP)
01-02 Upper Deck Retail 423 Ty Conklin RC (SP)
01-02 Upper Deck Ice 54 Ty Conklin RC (1132/1500)
01-02 UD Challenge for the Cup 106 Ty Conklin RC (0873/1000)
01-02 SP Authentic 146 Ty Conklin RC (392/900)
01-02 SP Game Used 76 Ty Conklin RC (375/499)
01-02 Titanium Draft Day Edition 129 Ty Conklin RC (499/780)
01-02 Topps 359 Ty Conklin RC
02-03 SP Authentic 180 D Tarnstrom RC (242/900)
Here's a whole bunch of Ty Conklin -- eight RCs that bring his collection to completion at 21-for-21. Sadly, you won't find the Titanium 1/1 among the batch.
I haven't been able to determine which of the Upper Deck RCs is Hobby or Retail. The only way to know is to find an Exclusives parallel, where the picture will match the Hobby RC.
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02-03 Atomic 123 D Tarnstrom RC (1191/1300)
02-03 Crown Royale Retail D Tarnstrom RC
02-03 Vanguard D Tarnstrom RC (0833/1650)
02-03 Pacific Calder Adam Hall RC (286/825)
02-03 Private Stock Reserve Retail 179 D Tarnstrom RC (0318/1550)
02-03 Pacific Complete 599 D Tarnstrom
03-04 Upper Deck 245 Marc-Andre Fleury / Eric Staal / Nathan Horton (SP)
03-04 Upper Deck Honor Roll 147 Andrew Hutchinson RC (753/800)
All of this progress on Tarnstrom's cards means that I'm just one item short (UD Artistic Impressions) of completing his entire run of RCs. That also means I'm just one card short of never having to worry about getting around the Hobby Insider word filter again.
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02-03 Topps Heritage 146 Lasse Pirjeta RC
03-04 Pacific Complete 561 Andrew Hutchinson
03-04 Pacific AHL Prospects 15 Karl Stewart
03-04 Pacific AHL Prospects 58 Andrew Hutchinson
03-04 Pacific AHL Prospects 96 Michel Ouellet
04-05 SP Authentic Rookie Redemptions RR10 Jussi Jokinen (204/399)
05-06 UD Artifacts Jean-Philippe Cote RC (612/750)
05-06 Upper Deck Trilogy Jussi Jokinen RC (982/999)
05-06 Upper Deck Trilogy Jean-Philippe Cote RC (607/999)
I didn't give it a very prominent spot in the picture, but perhaps I should have -- the Lasse Pirjeta Topps Heritage RC completes his collection at 22-for-22!
Andrew Hutchinson is also complete at 8-for-8.
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05-06 SP Authentic Jean-Francois Jacques RC (0609/1999)
05-06 SP Authentic Jean-Philippe Cote RC (0457/1999)
05-06 SP Game Used Jean-Francois Jacques RC (388/999)
05-06 SP Game Used Jean-Philippe Cote RC (893/999)
05-06 SPx Jean-Francois Jacques RC (320/999)
05-06 SPx Jean-Philippe Cote RC (875/999)
05-06 Upper Deck Ice Jean-Philippe Cote RC (1357/2999)
05-06 Upper Deck Ice Jean-Francois Jacques RC (1031/2999)
05-06 Hot Prospects Jean-Francois Jacques RC (0434/1999)
The post now moves into the dreadful territory of 05-06, in which every 36-year-old spare defenseman earned about a dozen short-printed RCs.
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05-06 Hot Prospects Jean-Philippe Cote RC (0006/1999)
05-06 Upper Deck Rookie Update Jean-Francois Jacques RC (0458/1999)
05-06 Upper Deck Rookie Update Jean-Philippe Cote RC (1705/1999)
05-06 Ultimate Collection Jean-Francois Jacques RC (522/599)
05-06 Ultimate Collection Jean-Philippe Cote RC (514/599)
05-06 ITG Heroes and Prospects 330 Blake Comeau
06-07 Upper Deck Power Play Noah Welch RC
06-07 Flair Showcase 156 Noah Welch RC
06-07 UD Artifacts Blake Comeau RC (302/599) (Redemption)
There is good news for J-P Cote and J-F Jacques, the kings of the hyphenated first names. Both of their RC collections are now complete -- 9-for-9 for Cote, and 11-for-11 for Jacques.
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06-07 SP Authentic Blake Comeau RC (816/999)
06-07 Beehive Noah Welch RC (SP)
06-07 Be A Player Blake Comeau RC (262/999)
06-07 Hot Prospects Blake Comeau RC (1812/1999)
06-07 Ultimate Collection Blake Comeau RC (686/699)
06-07 Upper Deck Victory Noah Welch RC
06-07 Upper Deck Rookie Class Noah Welch
06-07 ITG Heroes and Prospects 45 Noah Welch
06-07 ITG Heroes and Prospects 122 Steve Downie
Two more RC completions here -- Blake Comeau at 6-for-6, and brain donor Noah Welch at 25-for-25. Yes, Upper Deck thought it necessary to include Welch on 25 different RCs (21 or 22 by strict definition).
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06-07 ITG Heroes and Prospects 144 Steve Dowine
06-07 ITG Heroes and Prospects 168 Blake Comeau
08-09 UD Artifacts Brendan Mikkelson RC (692/999) (Redemption)
08-09 UD Champ's Trevor Smith RC
08-09 Ultimate Collection Brendan Mikkelson RC (004/299)
08-09 Upper Deck Victory Tim Wallace RC
09-10 Ultra Spencer Machacek RC (SP)
09-10 UD Artifacts Tim Wallace RC (859/999)
09-10 O-Pee-Chee Spencer Machacek RC
More RCs and more completions! Trevor Smith (3-for-3) and Brendan Mikkelson (6-for-6) are done, and Tim Wallace (with one card in the next picture) just has one more to go.
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09-10 Upper Deck MVP Spencer Machacek RC
09-10 UD Champ's Spencer Machacek RC
09-10 Black Diamond Spencer Machacek RC (Triple Diamond)
09-10 Collector's Choice Spencer Machacek RC
09-10 SPx Tim Wallace RC (251/499)
09-10 SP Game Used Spencer Machacek RC (239/699)
09-10 SP Authentic Spencer Machacek RC (661/999)
09-10 Upper Deck Ice Spencer Machacek RC (159/499)
09-10 UD Black Spencer Machacek RC (128/499)
Machacek never played for the Blue Jackets before being traded to the Penguins organizaition, and then heading to Europe at the end of last season. Still, in cases like this, I usually keep the cards on my wantlist.
The UD Black card features the "A" patch -- one of two in his last name.
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11-12 Pinnacle Warren Peters RC
11-12 Crown Royale Warren Peters RC
13-14 Upper Deck Overtime 52 Alex Killorn
13-14 Upper Deck Overtime 71 Mark Barberio
13-14 Upper Deck Overtime 77 Mike Kostka
13-14 Upper Deck Overtime 81 Radko Gudas
13-14 Upper Deck Overtime 83 Ryan Murray
Warren Peters is one of the most interesting cases in the history of rookie cards. He made his NHL debut with the Calgary Flames in 08-09, and played at least ten games in the NHL for each of the next four seasons. Keeping in mind that this was well into the era of absolutely nobody eligible getting skipped from earning a RC, it was very strange that Upper Deck completely ignored Peters for so many years. Panini even ignored him for their first year in the hockey market, finally including him on two RCs in 11-12 -- the two cards pictured here. Late to the party as usual, Upper Deck gave him a post-RC in the 12-13 Upper Deck Young Guns subset. Peters also appeared in the 99-00 Upper Deck Prospects set, which makes it very likely that he holds the record for the longest period of time between appearing in a major-issue non-NHL product and earning a legitimate RC -- 12 years.
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13-14 Black Diamond 232 Cory Conacher RC (Quadruple Diamond)
13-14 Black Diamond 242 Boone Jenner RC (Quadruple Diamond)
Here are two of the three 13-14 Black Diamond quads that are on my wantlist. The only one I still need is Ryan Murray.
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13-14 Fleer Showcase 103 Andrej Sustr RC / Eriah Hayes RC / Jayson Megna RC (373/399)
13-14 Fleer Showcase 116 David Warsofsky RC / Brian Gibbons RC / Kevan Miller RC (198/399)
13-14 Fleer Showcase 119 Dmitrij Jaskin RC / Mark Barberio RC / Zach Sill RC (181/399)
The themes for the Fleer Showcase multi-player RCs are sometimes rather loose, but there are some connections that actually work for these three cards.
Sustr and Megna both played for the University of Nebraska at Omaha in the WCHA, while Hayes played with a different school in the same league -- Minnesota State at Mankato.
Warsofsky (Boston University), Gibbons (Boston College), and Miller (Vermont) played for three different Hockey East schools.
The last card makes the most sense -- all three players (Jaskin, Barberio, and Sill) were members of the Moncton Wildcats of the QMJHL.
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13-14 SP Authentic 248 Richard Panik RC (0970/1299)
13-14 SP Authentic 315 Mike Kostka RC (906/999)
13-14 Panini Prizm 381 Brian Gibbons RC
13-14 Select 373 Brian Gibbons RC
13-14 Panini Contenders 136 Brian Gibbons RC (564/600)
13-14 Panini Contenders Legacies CL-22 Dave Andreychuk (113/499)
My favorite card here is the Dave Andreychuk insert -- the only one that isn't a rookie card. It commemorates Andreychuk leading the Lightning to the Stanley Cup championship in 2004.
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Base Cards from 00-01 Titanium
Dave also gave me some big help toward my 00-01 Titanium project. Here is another helpful stack of base cards.
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00-01 Titanium Retail 132 Scott Hartnell RC (127/199)
This RC is an entry for my Scott Hartnell stash. I already have his Hobby #/99 version.
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00-01 Titanium Hobby 106 Denis Hamel (90/99)
00-01 Titanium Hobby 110 Shane Willis (46/99)
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00-01 Titanium Hobby 128 Mathieu Garon (73/99)
00-01 Titanium Hobby 138 Justin Williams RC (04/99)
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00-01 Titanium Hobby 143 Evgeni Nabokov (62/99)
00-01 Titanium Hobby 150 Trent Whitfield (72/99)
Finally, in one of the most important parts of my deal with Dave, I received six new cards from the 00-01 Titanium Hobby short print set. Of these six cards, Justin Williams is the only true RC, but Williams is one of the last actual RCs on my wantlist that feature a player still active in the league.
With these six cards, I'm up to 35/50 short prints! I only need 15 more. The best players still on my wantlist are Mike Comrie, Martin Havlat, and Marty Turco.
That's the last batch from my huge transaction with Dave Rearick -- a deal that spanned two mail posts and 34 pictures! Thanks for your help, Dave -- you're always one of the best in the hobby.
I'll close this post with a few key rookie items that arrived recently in the mail.
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13-14 National Treasures Past and Present Autograph
-- Alex Killorn / Dave Andreychuk (/99) (Redemption)
Alright -- for those of you who don't know the story behind this card, please read this thread.
I'm going to redeem this card immediately and hope for the best. Whatever Killorn card I receive, it will be something I keep for my collection.
I got lucky on this one -- it went up for a BIN at about half the price that the last few have sold for.
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07-08 The Cup Jack Skille RC (224/249)
Jack Skille started the season as a former Blue Jacket, but he rejoined the team after being picked up on waivers from the Islanders. He seems like a good fit in the lineup.
This Cup RC contains a swatch from the main Blackhawks crest. The patch piece has two colors and three layers -- black, yellow, and black.
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09-10 The Cup Matthew Corrente RC (103/249)
Matt Corrente is playing with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL, part of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization. He may never make it to the Bolts, but in case he does, I couldn't pass up a three-color Cup RC for under $10. This swatch has red patch, black patch, and white jersey.
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13-14 Crown Royale Alex Killorn RC (01/99)
Alex Killorn has been playing on the top line for the Lightning, usually slotting alongside Steven Stamkos and Ryan Callahan. This is one of Killorn's best rookie cards, with a clean signature and a huge prime jersey swatch. The swatch is blue and white, with two huge seams -- one down the middle to divide the colors, and another blue seam across the top of the swatch window. As if this card wasn't nice enough, it's also the first copy numbered!
I now own five RCs from the Silhouettes subset of 13-14 Crown Royale. The only one I still need is Ryan Murray of the Blue Jackets.
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13-14 The Cup Cory Conacher RC (117/249)
An awesome Cory Conacher card from Norm (trekrun) opened up my last mail post, and three new Conacher cards will close out this one. This is my first Cup RC from the 13-14 product, and it's a pretty nice one! The swatch contains five layers and three colors (black/red/white). It appears to be from the Ottawa shoulder patch.
Cory Conacher was picked up by the Buffalo Sabres on waivers on March 5, 2014. Panini had Conacher pictured with the Sabres on a sticker auto card in Rookie Anthology (released May 30), and hard-signed in National Treasures (released August 29). The Cup did not come out until October 22, yet Conacher was still pictured with the Senators -- seven and a half months later. Yes, I miss Panini already.
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13-14 The Cup Rookie Brilliance Cory Conacher
This is my first autograph from any of the Brilliance insert sets in The Cup. It's a unique-looking card that wanted to own an example of, and Cory Conacher was an easy (and inexpensive) choice.
This card is extremely thick -- said by Upper Deck to be 360pt stock. It's almost as thick as two standard The Cup patch rookie cards lined up together. The acetate signature is located on the top layer of the card, and the area under the signature is a very large hollow opening. The logo image behind the signature is recessed deep into the card, producing a Shadowbox-like effect, but made even more stunning with holofoil on the lower layer. The signature appears to float over the holographic Cup logo. It's a card that really has to be seen in person to be truly appreciated.
This card is part of Group B of the insert set, released at 1:12 packs with only ten players in that grouping. Thus, it's not exactly a tough pull, and it was fairly easy to find a copy.
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13-14 Ultimate Collection Cory Conacher RC (30/99)
My final Cory Conacher card for the mail post is perhaps not as visually stunning as the last two, but it has them beat on print run. Conacher was included in the high tier of rookies in Ultimate Collection, earning this key autographed RC with only 99 copies printed.
I'm currently 18-for-31 on Cory Conacher's RCs, with one or two incoming. He's the one player I'm focusing my completion efforts on for the 2013-14 season. I'm almost two-thirds of the way there!
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News and notes:
** It should be fun to start getting my next posts together. It looks like I'll be closing out 2014 with a very large assortment of cards of a certain Bruins/Panthers/Stars goaltender.
** Columbus is just going to mess up their draft pick, right? Still, it's hard not to have some faith after what they've done the past two seasons!
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
--Andy
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/
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Mail Post #17 for 2014
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71-72 O-Pee-Chee 77 Syl Apps Jr. RC
71-72 O-Pee-Chee 198 Brian Spencer RC
71-72 O-Pee-Chee 207 Rick MacLeish RC
76-77 O-Pee-Chee WHA 38 Terry Ruskowski RC
85-86 O-Pee-Chee 152 Warren Young RC
87-88 Topps 2 Rick Tocchet RC
I'll start with some older rookie cards, including a Brian Spencer with some rather interesting artistry! Poor guy.
I now own both of Rick Tocchet's RCs -- Topps and OPC. 2-for-2 isn't a very big completion, but it still counts!
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89-90 Topps 168 Zarley Zalapski RC
90-91 Bowman 203 Wendell Young RC
90-91 Bowman Tiffany 173 Bryan Fogarty
90-91 Bowman Tiffany 203 Wendell Young
90-91 Bowman Tiffany 206 Mark Recchi
90-91 O-Pee-Chee 383 Ville Siren RC
90-91 Pro Set 144 Ville Siren RC
90-91 Topps Tiffany 250 Randy Gilhen
90-91 Topps Tiffany 280 Mark Recchi
90-91 Topps Tiffany 309 Wendell Young
90-91 Topps Tiffany 383 Ville Siren
I still have a lot of work to do on Bowman Tiffany and Topps Tiffany. I only added those sets to my wantlists in the past year or two.
Wendell Young is completed at 10-for-10, as are Randy Gilhen and Ville Siren at 4-for-4 each.
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90-91 Upper Deck American 351 Nolan / Primeau / Nedved / Ricci
90-91 Upper Deck American 548 Bryan Fogarty RC
90-91 Upper Deck Canadian 351 Nolan / Primeau / Nedved / Ricci
90-91 Upper Deck Canadian 487 Mark Recchi
91-92 Upper Deck American 644 Stephan Lebeau / Patrick Lebeau
91-92 Upper Deck Canadian 63 Martin Lapointe / Jamie Pushor
91-92 Upper Deck Canadian 644 Stephan Lebeau / Patrick Lebeau
91-92 Upper Deck Canadian 648 Chris Ferraro / Peter Ferraro
92-93 Pinnacle Canadian 411 Robert Lang RC
92-93 Upper Deck 496 Vladimir Vujtek RC
94-95 Parkhurst SE 260 Jarome Iginla XRC
Here's another batch from the early 90s, with three more rookie collection completions: Bryan Fogarty at 7-for-7, Mark Recchi at 12-for-12, and Jamie Pushor at 4-for-4.
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95-96 Donruss Elite World Juniors 26 Chris Bogas (0701/1000)
95-96 Parkhurst International 271 Alex Hicks XRC
95-96 Parkhurst International 343 Joaquin Gage XRC
95-96 Parkhurst International 526 Landon Wilson XRC
95-96 Parkhurst International 534 Mike Wilson XRC
97-98 Paramount 191 Lubomir Vaic RC
97-98 Score Penguins Team Set 20 Domenic Pittis
There's only one actual RC in this picture -- Lubomir Vaic's only rookie card. That's pretty obscure.
What about a player who never actually earned a rookie card? Chris Bogas earned a spot in the 95-96 Donruss Elite World Juniors insert set, which is not all that easy to find cards from. This was the only time that Bogas appeared in an NHL-licensed product. He never played in the NHL, but he did make it as high as the AHL/IHL, including two games with the Detroit Vipers in 00-01. If you're interested in Pre-RC / Non-RC stuff like this, I put together a comprehensive guide on the subject a couple years ago.
The Domenic Pittis card is one of many cards from the 97-98 Score team sets featuring players who also earned RCs in 97-98. Pittis appeared in several 97-98 products. There are even two players in the 97-98 Score team sets that did not earn any other NHL cards -- Yves Sarault and Pete LeBoutillier.
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00-01 Crown Royale 119 Serge Aubin RC (085/400)
99-00 Upper Deck Prospects 31 Ryan Craig
00-01 Black Diamond 74 Sebastien Caron RC (0145/1999)
00-01 SPx Rookie Redemption RR12 Ty Conklin
00-01 SP Authentic 100 Serge Aubin RC (390/900)
00-01 Upper Deck Prospects 47 Ryan Craig
00-01 O-Pee-Chee 307 Serge Aubin RC
Until recently, I didn't know that Ryan Craig appeared on a junior league card in the 99-00 Upper Deck Prospects set. Craig didn't earn his NHL RCs until 6 years later in 05-06.
The big news for this picture is that my Serge Aubin RC collection is complete at 20-for-20. That's a big one, and the Crown Royale RC wasn't easy to find! Sebastien Caron is also complete at 3-for-3.
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01-02 Upper Deck Hobby 423 Ty Conklin RC (SP)
01-02 Upper Deck Retail 423 Ty Conklin RC (SP)
01-02 Upper Deck Ice 54 Ty Conklin RC (1132/1500)
01-02 UD Challenge for the Cup 106 Ty Conklin RC (0873/1000)
01-02 SP Authentic 146 Ty Conklin RC (392/900)
01-02 SP Game Used 76 Ty Conklin RC (375/499)
01-02 Titanium Draft Day Edition 129 Ty Conklin RC (499/780)
01-02 Topps 359 Ty Conklin RC
02-03 SP Authentic 180 D Tarnstrom RC (242/900)
Here's a whole bunch of Ty Conklin -- eight RCs that bring his collection to completion at 21-for-21. Sadly, you won't find the Titanium 1/1 among the batch.
I haven't been able to determine which of the Upper Deck RCs is Hobby or Retail. The only way to know is to find an Exclusives parallel, where the picture will match the Hobby RC.
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02-03 Atomic 123 D Tarnstrom RC (1191/1300)
02-03 Crown Royale Retail D Tarnstrom RC
02-03 Vanguard D Tarnstrom RC (0833/1650)
02-03 Pacific Calder Adam Hall RC (286/825)
02-03 Private Stock Reserve Retail 179 D Tarnstrom RC (0318/1550)
02-03 Pacific Complete 599 D Tarnstrom
03-04 Upper Deck 245 Marc-Andre Fleury / Eric Staal / Nathan Horton (SP)
03-04 Upper Deck Honor Roll 147 Andrew Hutchinson RC (753/800)
All of this progress on Tarnstrom's cards means that I'm just one item short (UD Artistic Impressions) of completing his entire run of RCs. That also means I'm just one card short of never having to worry about getting around the Hobby Insider word filter again.
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02-03 Topps Heritage 146 Lasse Pirjeta RC
03-04 Pacific Complete 561 Andrew Hutchinson
03-04 Pacific AHL Prospects 15 Karl Stewart
03-04 Pacific AHL Prospects 58 Andrew Hutchinson
03-04 Pacific AHL Prospects 96 Michel Ouellet
04-05 SP Authentic Rookie Redemptions RR10 Jussi Jokinen (204/399)
05-06 UD Artifacts Jean-Philippe Cote RC (612/750)
05-06 Upper Deck Trilogy Jussi Jokinen RC (982/999)
05-06 Upper Deck Trilogy Jean-Philippe Cote RC (607/999)
I didn't give it a very prominent spot in the picture, but perhaps I should have -- the Lasse Pirjeta Topps Heritage RC completes his collection at 22-for-22!
Andrew Hutchinson is also complete at 8-for-8.
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05-06 SP Authentic Jean-Francois Jacques RC (0609/1999)
05-06 SP Authentic Jean-Philippe Cote RC (0457/1999)
05-06 SP Game Used Jean-Francois Jacques RC (388/999)
05-06 SP Game Used Jean-Philippe Cote RC (893/999)
05-06 SPx Jean-Francois Jacques RC (320/999)
05-06 SPx Jean-Philippe Cote RC (875/999)
05-06 Upper Deck Ice Jean-Philippe Cote RC (1357/2999)
05-06 Upper Deck Ice Jean-Francois Jacques RC (1031/2999)
05-06 Hot Prospects Jean-Francois Jacques RC (0434/1999)
The post now moves into the dreadful territory of 05-06, in which every 36-year-old spare defenseman earned about a dozen short-printed RCs.
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05-06 Hot Prospects Jean-Philippe Cote RC (0006/1999)
05-06 Upper Deck Rookie Update Jean-Francois Jacques RC (0458/1999)
05-06 Upper Deck Rookie Update Jean-Philippe Cote RC (1705/1999)
05-06 Ultimate Collection Jean-Francois Jacques RC (522/599)
05-06 Ultimate Collection Jean-Philippe Cote RC (514/599)
05-06 ITG Heroes and Prospects 330 Blake Comeau
06-07 Upper Deck Power Play Noah Welch RC
06-07 Flair Showcase 156 Noah Welch RC
06-07 UD Artifacts Blake Comeau RC (302/599) (Redemption)
There is good news for J-P Cote and J-F Jacques, the kings of the hyphenated first names. Both of their RC collections are now complete -- 9-for-9 for Cote, and 11-for-11 for Jacques.
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06-07 SP Authentic Blake Comeau RC (816/999)
06-07 Beehive Noah Welch RC (SP)
06-07 Be A Player Blake Comeau RC (262/999)
06-07 Hot Prospects Blake Comeau RC (1812/1999)
06-07 Ultimate Collection Blake Comeau RC (686/699)
06-07 Upper Deck Victory Noah Welch RC
06-07 Upper Deck Rookie Class Noah Welch
06-07 ITG Heroes and Prospects 45 Noah Welch
06-07 ITG Heroes and Prospects 122 Steve Downie
Two more RC completions here -- Blake Comeau at 6-for-6, and brain donor Noah Welch at 25-for-25. Yes, Upper Deck thought it necessary to include Welch on 25 different RCs (21 or 22 by strict definition).
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06-07 ITG Heroes and Prospects 144 Steve Dowine
06-07 ITG Heroes and Prospects 168 Blake Comeau
08-09 UD Artifacts Brendan Mikkelson RC (692/999) (Redemption)
08-09 UD Champ's Trevor Smith RC
08-09 Ultimate Collection Brendan Mikkelson RC (004/299)
08-09 Upper Deck Victory Tim Wallace RC
09-10 Ultra Spencer Machacek RC (SP)
09-10 UD Artifacts Tim Wallace RC (859/999)
09-10 O-Pee-Chee Spencer Machacek RC
More RCs and more completions! Trevor Smith (3-for-3) and Brendan Mikkelson (6-for-6) are done, and Tim Wallace (with one card in the next picture) just has one more to go.
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09-10 Upper Deck MVP Spencer Machacek RC
09-10 UD Champ's Spencer Machacek RC
09-10 Black Diamond Spencer Machacek RC (Triple Diamond)
09-10 Collector's Choice Spencer Machacek RC
09-10 SPx Tim Wallace RC (251/499)
09-10 SP Game Used Spencer Machacek RC (239/699)
09-10 SP Authentic Spencer Machacek RC (661/999)
09-10 Upper Deck Ice Spencer Machacek RC (159/499)
09-10 UD Black Spencer Machacek RC (128/499)
Machacek never played for the Blue Jackets before being traded to the Penguins organizaition, and then heading to Europe at the end of last season. Still, in cases like this, I usually keep the cards on my wantlist.
The UD Black card features the "A" patch -- one of two in his last name.
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11-12 Pinnacle Warren Peters RC
11-12 Crown Royale Warren Peters RC
13-14 Upper Deck Overtime 52 Alex Killorn
13-14 Upper Deck Overtime 71 Mark Barberio
13-14 Upper Deck Overtime 77 Mike Kostka
13-14 Upper Deck Overtime 81 Radko Gudas
13-14 Upper Deck Overtime 83 Ryan Murray
Warren Peters is one of the most interesting cases in the history of rookie cards. He made his NHL debut with the Calgary Flames in 08-09, and played at least ten games in the NHL for each of the next four seasons. Keeping in mind that this was well into the era of absolutely nobody eligible getting skipped from earning a RC, it was very strange that Upper Deck completely ignored Peters for so many years. Panini even ignored him for their first year in the hockey market, finally including him on two RCs in 11-12 -- the two cards pictured here. Late to the party as usual, Upper Deck gave him a post-RC in the 12-13 Upper Deck Young Guns subset. Peters also appeared in the 99-00 Upper Deck Prospects set, which makes it very likely that he holds the record for the longest period of time between appearing in a major-issue non-NHL product and earning a legitimate RC -- 12 years.
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13-14 Black Diamond 232 Cory Conacher RC (Quadruple Diamond)
13-14 Black Diamond 242 Boone Jenner RC (Quadruple Diamond)
Here are two of the three 13-14 Black Diamond quads that are on my wantlist. The only one I still need is Ryan Murray.
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13-14 Fleer Showcase 103 Andrej Sustr RC / Eriah Hayes RC / Jayson Megna RC (373/399)
13-14 Fleer Showcase 116 David Warsofsky RC / Brian Gibbons RC / Kevan Miller RC (198/399)
13-14 Fleer Showcase 119 Dmitrij Jaskin RC / Mark Barberio RC / Zach Sill RC (181/399)
The themes for the Fleer Showcase multi-player RCs are sometimes rather loose, but there are some connections that actually work for these three cards.
Sustr and Megna both played for the University of Nebraska at Omaha in the WCHA, while Hayes played with a different school in the same league -- Minnesota State at Mankato.
Warsofsky (Boston University), Gibbons (Boston College), and Miller (Vermont) played for three different Hockey East schools.
The last card makes the most sense -- all three players (Jaskin, Barberio, and Sill) were members of the Moncton Wildcats of the QMJHL.
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13-14 SP Authentic 248 Richard Panik RC (0970/1299)
13-14 SP Authentic 315 Mike Kostka RC (906/999)
13-14 Panini Prizm 381 Brian Gibbons RC
13-14 Select 373 Brian Gibbons RC
13-14 Panini Contenders 136 Brian Gibbons RC (564/600)
13-14 Panini Contenders Legacies CL-22 Dave Andreychuk (113/499)
My favorite card here is the Dave Andreychuk insert -- the only one that isn't a rookie card. It commemorates Andreychuk leading the Lightning to the Stanley Cup championship in 2004.
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Base Cards from 00-01 Titanium
Dave also gave me some big help toward my 00-01 Titanium project. Here is another helpful stack of base cards.
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00-01 Titanium Retail 132 Scott Hartnell RC (127/199)
This RC is an entry for my Scott Hartnell stash. I already have his Hobby #/99 version.
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00-01 Titanium Hobby 106 Denis Hamel (90/99)
00-01 Titanium Hobby 110 Shane Willis (46/99)
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00-01 Titanium Hobby 128 Mathieu Garon (73/99)
00-01 Titanium Hobby 138 Justin Williams RC (04/99)
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00-01 Titanium Hobby 143 Evgeni Nabokov (62/99)
00-01 Titanium Hobby 150 Trent Whitfield (72/99)
Finally, in one of the most important parts of my deal with Dave, I received six new cards from the 00-01 Titanium Hobby short print set. Of these six cards, Justin Williams is the only true RC, but Williams is one of the last actual RCs on my wantlist that feature a player still active in the league.
With these six cards, I'm up to 35/50 short prints! I only need 15 more. The best players still on my wantlist are Mike Comrie, Martin Havlat, and Marty Turco.
That's the last batch from my huge transaction with Dave Rearick -- a deal that spanned two mail posts and 34 pictures! Thanks for your help, Dave -- you're always one of the best in the hobby.
I'll close this post with a few key rookie items that arrived recently in the mail.
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13-14 National Treasures Past and Present Autograph
-- Alex Killorn / Dave Andreychuk (/99) (Redemption)
Alright -- for those of you who don't know the story behind this card, please read this thread.
I'm going to redeem this card immediately and hope for the best. Whatever Killorn card I receive, it will be something I keep for my collection.
I got lucky on this one -- it went up for a BIN at about half the price that the last few have sold for.
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07-08 The Cup Jack Skille RC (224/249)
Jack Skille started the season as a former Blue Jacket, but he rejoined the team after being picked up on waivers from the Islanders. He seems like a good fit in the lineup.
This Cup RC contains a swatch from the main Blackhawks crest. The patch piece has two colors and three layers -- black, yellow, and black.
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09-10 The Cup Matthew Corrente RC (103/249)
Matt Corrente is playing with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL, part of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization. He may never make it to the Bolts, but in case he does, I couldn't pass up a three-color Cup RC for under $10. This swatch has red patch, black patch, and white jersey.
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13-14 Crown Royale Alex Killorn RC (01/99)
Alex Killorn has been playing on the top line for the Lightning, usually slotting alongside Steven Stamkos and Ryan Callahan. This is one of Killorn's best rookie cards, with a clean signature and a huge prime jersey swatch. The swatch is blue and white, with two huge seams -- one down the middle to divide the colors, and another blue seam across the top of the swatch window. As if this card wasn't nice enough, it's also the first copy numbered!
I now own five RCs from the Silhouettes subset of 13-14 Crown Royale. The only one I still need is Ryan Murray of the Blue Jackets.
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13-14 The Cup Cory Conacher RC (117/249)
An awesome Cory Conacher card from Norm (trekrun) opened up my last mail post, and three new Conacher cards will close out this one. This is my first Cup RC from the 13-14 product, and it's a pretty nice one! The swatch contains five layers and three colors (black/red/white). It appears to be from the Ottawa shoulder patch.
Cory Conacher was picked up by the Buffalo Sabres on waivers on March 5, 2014. Panini had Conacher pictured with the Sabres on a sticker auto card in Rookie Anthology (released May 30), and hard-signed in National Treasures (released August 29). The Cup did not come out until October 22, yet Conacher was still pictured with the Senators -- seven and a half months later. Yes, I miss Panini already.
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13-14 The Cup Rookie Brilliance Cory Conacher
This is my first autograph from any of the Brilliance insert sets in The Cup. It's a unique-looking card that wanted to own an example of, and Cory Conacher was an easy (and inexpensive) choice.
This card is extremely thick -- said by Upper Deck to be 360pt stock. It's almost as thick as two standard The Cup patch rookie cards lined up together. The acetate signature is located on the top layer of the card, and the area under the signature is a very large hollow opening. The logo image behind the signature is recessed deep into the card, producing a Shadowbox-like effect, but made even more stunning with holofoil on the lower layer. The signature appears to float over the holographic Cup logo. It's a card that really has to be seen in person to be truly appreciated.
This card is part of Group B of the insert set, released at 1:12 packs with only ten players in that grouping. Thus, it's not exactly a tough pull, and it was fairly easy to find a copy.
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13-14 Ultimate Collection Cory Conacher RC (30/99)
My final Cory Conacher card for the mail post is perhaps not as visually stunning as the last two, but it has them beat on print run. Conacher was included in the high tier of rookies in Ultimate Collection, earning this key autographed RC with only 99 copies printed.
I'm currently 18-for-31 on Cory Conacher's RCs, with one or two incoming. He's the one player I'm focusing my completion efforts on for the 2013-14 season. I'm almost two-thirds of the way there!
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News and notes:
** It should be fun to start getting my next posts together. It looks like I'll be closing out 2014 with a very large assortment of cards of a certain Bruins/Panthers/Stars goaltender.
** Columbus is just going to mess up their draft pick, right? Still, it's hard not to have some faith after what they've done the past two seasons!
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
--Andy
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/
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