The best we'll get

A look at Upper Deck's checklist for its 2006-07 Hockey Series I is lacking what will become this season's Holy Grail of hockey hardboards -- a Young Gun card for Evgeni Malkin.

To date, I've found one Malkin card, a 2006-07 Fleer Ultra Rookie Redemption #251.

It's my guess that the shoulder injury Malkin suffered in his preseason debut in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, and subsequent later start of his season, Oct. 18, 2006, against New Jersey when he scored his first goal against none other than future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur, contributed to the delay until the Series II release.

That's too bad. Other than Boston's Phil Kessel, shown above, Los Angeles' Anze Kopitar and San Jose's Matt Carle, there's not much star power to the Series I Young Guns lineup. Either that, or we were extremely spoiled last season.