The wait is over

If you're looking for what will likely be an affordable Evgeni Malkin rookie card, meaning the first available within a moderately priced box, look no further than Upper Deck's MVP product.

It seems that Upper Deck's pricey Trilogy product carries a Malkin rookie card. But at $20 a pack or $160 for a premium-loaded nine-pack box (five cards per pack), that's a little too rich for my blood.

Given that MVP is at the lower end of the pricing scale ($55 a box - 24 eight-card packs with one jersey card), it's certainly worth picking up a couple boxes to improve your chances.

In fact, I'm heading off on a mini-journey to Shortstops, a card store in Palm Harbor, Fla., to test my luck. I'll check back in a couple hours.