Review: 2006-07 Power Play Hockey

Though it's December, and this product had a release date of late October, I won't let Upper Deck off the hook for not getting around to showing teams in new uniforms and all of the players, not just some (as shown above), with their new teams.

C'mon, I know that these card projects take time, but even with a release date three-plus weeks into the season, one would think that was plenty of time, not even including training camps or preseason contests, to update say maybe 15-20 cards to freshen the product.

Sadly, though, it's not enough time to save Upper Deck or its 2006-07 Power Play Hockey set.

Perhaps I'm spoiled working in the newspaper industry, where we must produce a new product every night drawing from resources, licensing restrictions and technical difficulties all around the world. It's not that I'm calling the good folks at Upper Deck lazy or anything, but they might want to incorporate (with all apologies to the creature) a three-toed sloth into their corporate logo.

To the set's credit, it does show, among others, Zdeno Chara, Andrew Raycroft and Chris Pronger (the picture on the card is the same as a recent cover of The Hockey News) in the uniforms of their new teams. And, get a load of the Martin Havlat card (above, second from left). I wonder how many of those he'll end up signing.

My opinion? Between outdated photos, too many all-too-familiar faces within the 100-card set and rookie cards of late-season call-ups (I mean how many rookie cards do we need of Toronto's Brendan Bell and Philadelphia's Ryan Potulny?), I wouldn't bother asking Santa Claus for these cards.