2022 was a very good year for the PC. It was tough to choose my top-10 cards for the year, so I decided to only focus on those with a print run of 6 or less, which still includes a lot of fun pickups.
#10 Rare Blank Back
2021-22 O-Pee-Chee Travis Sanheim Red Border Parallel Blank Back (1/1)
I love OPC for its retro feel and Easter eggs. My favorite Easter eggs are the retro blank backs, which are said to have a print run of between 5 and 10. But this is the first year I pulled a red border parallel blank back, which has the lonely 1/1 inscription on the back.
#9 Personalized Goalie Memorabilia
2017 President's Choice StickHandle Dan Cloutier (1/1)
2022 President's Choice In The Crease Jumbo Memorabilia Tuukka Rask Trapper (1/1)
2022 President's Choice In The Crease Jumbo Memorabilia Mackenzie Blackwood Trapper (1/1)
Dr. Price knows how to cut memorabilia pieces right.
#8 Solid Stick Pieces
2021 President's Choice Stickrack Update Game-Used Triple (/3) Lemieux, Crosby, Malkin
When you see numbers 66 and 87 on stick shafts, you don't need to question who they belonged to.
#7 1/1 Autos
2015 Leaf/ITG Superlative Signatures Gold Prismatic (1/1) Lemieux, Yzerman, Bower, Ullman
This is the only Leaf set that I collect, and it's still one of my favourite all-time sets. I love the on-card autos, mix of recent stars and legends, solid memorabilia (acquired from ITG and Dr. Price) and limited production run (only 1000 7-card boxes). They also do a decent job of hiding the team logos.
#6 Signed Printing Plates
2019-20 The Cup Carey Price Quad Printing Plate Booklet (1/1)
2015 Leaf/ITG Superlative Signatures Printing Plates (1/1) Fuhr, Hodge, Hall, Joseph
On-card autos make these printing plates more interesting.
#5 Game-Worn Shields
2015 Leaf/ITG Superlative Shields (1/1) Desjardins, Tie Domi, Friesen
2022 President's Choice In The Crease Complete Logo (1/1) Niemi, Varlamov
Three old-school orange shields, and two modern silver shields.
#4 Habs Legends
2022 President's Choice Solid Gold Triple Memo Richard (skate), Plante (pad), Morenz (glove) (/2)
2015 Leaf/ITG Superlative Famous Fabrics 4 Richard (skate), Beliveau (jersey), Roy (pad), Plante (pad) (/5)
Guy Lafleur's passing undoubtedly rekindled my passion for the Habs legends.
#3 Eight Goalie Autos
2015 Team Canada Master Collection Team Canada Signatures 8 (/5) Vachon, Fuhr, Hextall, Fleury, Price, Mason, Dubnyk, Pickard
Love it.
#2 Vezina Cards
2022 President's Choice Solid Gold Vezina Trophy Winner (/6) Vachon, Vanbiesbrouck, Theodore, Lundqvist
Honourable Mention: 2000-01 BAP Vezina Memorabilia Patrick Roy (print run not precisely known, but estimated to be about 20)
I missed the boat on last year's Vezina Collection, but this year's Solid Gold allowed me to pickup some nice Vezina memorabilia.
#1 Made To Order
2022 President's Choice Gardiens de But (1/1)
Vezina (pad), Hainsworth (sweater), Plante (pad), Dryden (stick), Roy (pad), Price (stick)
I've never actually seen a single card that featured the six greatest Habs goalies, so Dr. Price made it happen for me this year.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/197185332@N03/q97SLu0Mat
