Hockey Cards - What to buy?

[nally]

Could someone please tell me what a good box of hockey cards would be? I prefer Upper deck, but I have been out of the loop for about 10 years now. Please give me some suggestions and why you feel that is the set to go with. Thanks.

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[KL*]

Could someone please tell me what a good box of hockey cards would be? I prefer Upper deck, but I have been out of the loop for about 10 years now. Please give me some suggestions and why you feel that is the set to go with. Thanks.

Upper Deck is your only choice. They have an exclusive deal this year. That was a shortsighted move by the NHL and NHLPA if you ask me, but you didn't.

As far as what to buy, that depends on what you're looking for. If you want to get the rookies, Upper Deck Series I (and Series II when it comes out) would be the way to go, I think. The problem is that it's getting a bit pricey these days and can cost as much as Black Diamond.

You can get UD Powerplay for $3 a pack in the US, and you can buy it at any Target. There are rookie redemption cards 1:12 packs, and those are good for ten rookies per redemption. You would need to get two boxes and have good collation to get all fourty rookies.

In regular UD, the rookies are seeded one in every four packs, and half the rookies are in series I, half in series II. You could get lucky and hit a Crosby, or you could end up with Brett Lebda.

The rookies in Black Diamond are tiered, and the quadruple diamonds are a little over 1 per box on average. Your chance at a Crosby is not that great. You will get a few triple diamond rookies, which are less rare (and tend to be lesser players...think Wolski as a triple vs. Ovechkin as a quad).

Fleer Ultra should be coming out soon. You probably missed it, but Fleer went out of business and was bought out by UD. So while it will be Fleer Ultra, it is indeed an Upper Deck product. I am actually looking forward to that.

Your best bet is to just buy what appeals to you. There are going to be twenty UD products this year, if what I have heard is true.

Oh, keep in mind that there are no rookies in Victory or Be A Player. Don't waste your money on that.

 

[Porn*]

I bought a box of UD series 1...

check this out... for rookies I scored.

2 steen
1 danis
1 ward
1 phanuef
2 richards

in the box... i'm was STOKED>

jerseys... allison and antropov playmakers... the rest I dont really remember.

 

[DaveG]

interesting stuff snowman. Now I've been out of collecting for a few years but I'm thinking of trying to buy a full set of upper deck cards. Only problem there is that I haven't been able to find anywhere that has one. Did they stop producing full sets or is there a way to order them off of the internet anywhere?

 

[Hedberg]

Did they stop producing full sets or is there a way to order them off of the internet anywhere?

Yes, they stopped producing them, because of the shortprinted rookies.

 

[KL*]

interesting stuff snowman. Now I've been out of collecting for a few years but I'm thinking of trying to buy a full set of upper deck cards. Only problem there is that I haven't been able to find anywhere that has one. Did they stop producing full sets or is there a way to order them off of the internet anywhere?

90% of the fun of cards is opening the packs.

If you buy a set, you don't get any game used, no autos, no patches, no 1/1s, nothing.

 

[KL*]

I bought a box of UD series 1...

check this out... for rookies I scored.

2 steen
1 danis
1 ward
1 phanuef
2 richards

in the box... i'm was STOKED>

jerseys... allison and antropov playmakers... the rest I dont really remember.

I am really happy to see someone bust a box, not get a Crosby, and still be "stoked" at the rookies he pulled.

You did do really well. Phaneuf, Ward, and two each of Steen and Richards is one hell of a box bust. Too many people have Crosbymania, and consider any box that doesn't have a Crosby to be a dud.

Good for you!

 

[Hedberg]

I bought 2 boxes of Series 1

Box 1:
Petr Budaj
Jimmy Howard
Brent Seabrook
Zach Parise
Brandon Bochenski
Jeff Hoggan

Box 2:
Bret Lebda
Andrew Alberts
Alexander Steen
Yann Danis
Sidney Crosby
Cam Ward

 

[KL*]

I bought 2 boxes of Series 1

Box 1:
Petr Budaj
Jimmy Howard
Brent Seabrook
Zach Parise
Brandon Bochenski
Jeff Hoggan

Box 2:
Bret Lebda
Andrew Alberts
Alexander Steen
Yann Danis
Sidney Crosby
Cam Ward

See, I don't know if you should be happy or angry with that second box. Sure, it's great to pull the Crosby, but you also pulled a Lebda. Bittersweet, I guess.

 

[DaveG]

90% of the fun of cards is opening the packs.

If you buy a set, you don't get any game used, no autos, no patches, no 1/1s, nothing.

oh trust me man, I still buy packs even if I do buy a whole set for that very reason.

 

[KL*]

oh trust me man, I still buy packs even if I do buy a whole set for that very reason.

Are you looking to buy a set for investment purposes? Or just for the fun of it?

 

[KL*]

There's a guy on eBay right now with an 00-01 and an 05-06 Black Diamond complete base sets for $6.50 Buy It Now.

There are tons of sets up there. But they rarely sell the sets with the shortprinted RCs, just usually the base sets.

 

[DaveG]

Are you looking to buy a set for investment purposes? Or just for the fun of it?

fun of it and mostly to have an heirloom (sp) to pass down to be honest.

 

[Porn*]

I bought 2 boxes of Series 1

Box 1:
Petr Budaj
Jimmy Howard
Brent Seabrook
Zach Parise
Brandon Bochenski
Jeff Hoggan

Box 2:
Bret Lebda
Andrew Alberts
Alexander Steen
Yann Danis
Sidney Crosby
Cam Ward

Thanks snowman... great box indeed


ANd congrats on the crosby Hedburg sell it now...

 

[budscweizer16]

Upper Deck is usually the best value, but this years are not as good as years before IMO and are more money.
SP Authentic hockey is good value
Artifacts from this year are around 10 a pack but u get quite a few hits per box
Black Diamond is a fun one, i especially like the different Diamond variations.
Stay away from MVP, Power Play and Victory

 

[KL*]

Upper Deck is usually the best value, but this years are not as good as years before IMO and are more money.
SP Authentic hockey is good value
Artifacts from this year are around 10 a pack but u get quite a few hits per box
Black Diamond is a fun one, i especially like the different Diamond variations.
Stay away from MVP, Power Play and Victory

I bought two packs of PowerPlay. One had a Glen Murray three colored jersey. The other had a redemption for a Wayne Gretzky PowerMarks Auto.

I like PowerPlay.

SP Authentic, SPx, Trilogy, Ultimate and Exquisite will be incredible this year.

 

[hfboardsuser]

Re: Lebda. I'm actually a big fan of these kinds of cards. I get this weird inkling of joy whenever I pull a Neil Little or a Billy Tibbets or a Ryan Bayda. I like the diversity they bring to a set and I'd love to see more of them. This obviously isn't the opinion of most fans, and some want to get rid of them completely, but I think that would be tragic. People who buy in boxes know how boring it can be to pull Sundin, Sundin, Sakic, Forsberg, etc., one after another. Everyone has those and you see them year after year. But it's fun to break up the monotony with the card of a minor leaguer, especially if it makes you go "WHO?". Besides, who keeps those around?

Oh, and if you really hate them, and never want to see it again, please mail your unwanted cards to:

44 Lister Centre
Room 639
Edmonton, AB
T6G-1H9

I'll give them a good home!

 

[19Yzerman19]

Re: Lebda. I'm actually a big fan of these kinds of cards. I get this weird inkling of joy whenever I pull a Neil Little or a Billy Tibbets or a Ryan Bayda. I like the diversity they bring to a set and I'd love to see more of them. This obviously isn't the opinion of most fans, and some want to get rid of them completely, but I think that would be tragic. People who buy in boxes know how boring it can be to pull Sundin, Sundin, Sakic, Forsberg, etc., one after another. Everyone has those and you see them year after year. But it's fun to break up the monotony with the card of a minor leaguer, especially if it makes you go "WHO?". Besides, who keeps those around?

Oh, and if you really hate them, and never want to see it again, please mail your unwanted cards to:

44 Lister Centre
Room 639
Edmonton, AB
T6G-1H9

I'll give them a good home!

I second that!! another nice home would be:

628 Robeson St
Fall River, MA 02720
USA

 

[Hedberg]

ANd congrats on the crosby Hedburg sell it now...

Thanks. I think I'll keep it though.

 

[KL*]

Re: Lebda. I'm actually a big fan of these kinds of cards. I get this weird inkling of joy whenever I pull a Neil Little or a Billy Tibbets or a Ryan Bayda. I like the diversity they bring to a set and I'd love to see more of them. This obviously isn't the opinion of most fans, and some want to get rid of them completely, but I think that would be tragic. People who buy in boxes know how boring it can be to pull Sundin, Sundin, Sakic, Forsberg, etc., one after another. Everyone has those and you see them year after year. But it's fun to break up the monotony with the card of a minor leaguer, especially if it makes you go "WHO?". Besides, who keeps those around?

Oh, and if you really hate them, and never want to see it again, please mail your unwanted cards to:

44 Lister Centre
Room 639
Edmonton, AB
T6G-1H9

I'll give them a good home!

Hey, I am right there with you. I have one of the best Dave Reid and Dave Tanabe collections in the world. That's not saying much, they were/are in about one set per year.

But when you're looking to pull the Carters, Richards', Wolskis, Wards, Budajs, Steens, Ovechkins and Crosbys, and you have paid over $100 for a box, pulled the other five RCs get all excited with one pack left and end up with a Lebda, that's not very fun.

 

[KL*]

Thanks. I think I'll keep it though.

Sell it now, then buy it back in the offseason if you really want one. The base UD RC isn't going to hold much value once the really good Crosby RCs come out.

 

[Porn*]

bingo...

oh yeah, i got a wolski too, on ebay

for 3 buckeroos.

 

[bobbyboucher24]

I got back into collecting in a big way about 5 years ago. At first, I collected a little of everything, especially Flyers. Then, I tried to concentrate or just a few players, due to the high costs I was encountering trying to have a collection with variety. Now, its almost exclusively Marian Hossa. Being part Slovak, I became a big fan of his years ago and still pick up 2-3 really nice cards of his a month, almost entirely through eBay. Busting packs was/is still a lot of fun, but I found myself with a ton of cards I didn't really care about, and scanning them to sell on eBay/going to the post office was a pain. Other than Artifacts patch cards, I haven't seen too many really interesting cards yet this season.

 

[BChockeyfan]

Depending how much you wanna spend, usually the mid level to top end Upper Deck releases are good. The high end stuff is out of my reach, but you know there's gonna be a low numbered, autographed, jersey patch rookie card of Crosby in one of those expensive UD packs for sure.

I hear since Pacific went out of business, there's a lot of their product around that can be had for cheap.

 

[Hedberg]

Sell it now, then buy it back in the offseason if you really want one. The base UD RC isn't going to hold much value once the really good Crosby RCs come out.

I know.