Too rich for my blood

I'd never begrudge anyone's financial ability to cull together a set of Upper Deck's ultra top-shelf 2006-07 The Cup release, but those who can will be the ones to decide whether it's worth the money. For $400 per four-card tin, though, you better.

The premium of this deep-pocket product is a bounty of autographed jersey patch cards. You'll get two per pack, including one rookie version, numbered, at the most, to 75, save for a number-specific rookie subset. There's even safety-deposit box 1-of-1s circulating: NHL shields, press plates and, get this, the nameplate off of a game-used stick.

I'll tell you what, though. there are some pretty sweet cards. Take another look at that Wayne Gretzky jersey numbers patch card. It fetched more than $440 in an eBay auction tonight. This Evgeni Malkin card? Try more than $650.

But for every gem, you're going to find others, despite their limited numbers (base cards are limited to 249), that will disappoint.

This product definitely appeals to a well-heeled collector. Speculators will take their chances, too. Me? I'm staying on the sidelines. Besides, $400 buys 200 pucks.

Stick to scoring, Evgeni

I nearly spit out a mouthful of pop earlier tonight watching Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin drop his mitts and put Ottawa's Chris Phillips in a bearhug. Let's just say Malkin's more adept at dipsy-doodles than he is putting up his dukes. I'd hate to think, too, what would have happened had the Senators player been Chris Neil.

As for the clean hit that Pittsburgh's Colby Armstrong laid on Ottawa's Patrick Eaves, that's a textbook example of why you always have your head up. Thankfully, Eaves wasn't seriously hurt.

Another sweet pull

Every so often, when you least expect it, along comes a card that reminds you why you started collecting in the first place.

Years ago, it was all about getting your favorite player. Rookies didn't carry the premium they do today. Game-used memorabilia wasn't even on the drawing board. You got a stick of pink bubble gum.

These days, though, it's different. It's not uncommon to drop a couple hundred dollars on a rookie card. Game-used memorabilia is so common that even the most affordable box promises a card.

When you pull a card like this one -- a 2006-07 Fleer Hot Prospects Prized Prospects autographed jersey patch card of Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, numbered 120/199 -- you know you've gotten something special.

Granted, the two-color patch comes from a jersey used in a photo shoot and the autograph is on a sticker, not the card itself. Something tells me, though, that I'll learn to live with that.

Review: UD's 2006-07 Beehive

One of the problems with late-season card sets is they seldom reflect what has happened within the second half of the season. Take Upper Deck's latest offering, the 2006-07 Beehive, for example.

Let's see. Nashville's Peter Forsberg is still in his Flyers uniform. Detroit's Todd Bertuzzi is shown in one of his rare games with the Panthers. The Islanders' Ryan Smyth is, yep, you guessed it, shown with the Oilers. I'm sorry, but given today's technology, I believe there's plenty of time to show, at this stage of the season, players with their new teams.

Couple that with a 100-card set, featuring nothing but top-name players, and Upper Deck has produced another yet product that disappoints. At first, I said I would going to pass on this product. A trip to the card store, under the guise of needing rookie toploaders, was my undoing. Another lesson learned, I suppose.

Granted, there are plenty of variations, including 5 x 7 cards, autographs (including such old-timers as Patrick Roy, Ray Bourque and Tony Esposito) and scrap-filled memorabilia cards. I don't want to sound ungrateful, but my pulls were far from that lineup. Mine was Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom. Thrilling, huh? The autograph card? Chicago's Rene Bourque (not a sticker autograph, either).

The 60-card rookie subset, too, offers the usual suspects -- Boston's Phil Kessel, Colorado's Paul Statsny, Los Angeles' Anze Kopitar, Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal and San Jose's Matt Carle, Joe Pavelski and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

Though I didn't pull a true rookie card of Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, I did find the parallels shown above in my box. Buffalo's Drew Stafford and Nashville's Alexander Radulov stood out among the true rookie cards.

I do applaud Upper Deck for a kind of quirky innovation. Most card sets I have compile the teams in alphabetical order, beginning with Anaheim. The Beehive base set simply reverses the order, beginning with Washington's Alexander Ovechkin as card No. 1.

That, in itself, is not enough, though, to lift the Beehive product out of the scrap heap of disappointment that Upper Deck and its various nameplates have produced this season.

Review: 2006-07 O-Pee-Chee hockey

As much as it pains me, I have to give Upper Deck some credit for this 2006-07 O-Pee-Chee set. Aside from my standard complaint about the shiny surfaces, it's exactly what I expected -- it's a decent product for collectors.

Not only is there a big set (700 cards) to chase, including a 100-card Marquee Rookies subset (I pulled 19 out of each the two boxes I bought), but there's a nice twist to an old concept of multiplayer cards.

The so-called Showdown card features a 2006-07 rookie and a second-year player. It's my guess, too, that the one with Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby (the middle of the three shown above) will draw some interest. Can you imagine getting both players to sign that card?

The memorabilia cards are nice, but nondescript. It's affordable, too, with a box fetching between $36 and $52 in card stores. You don't have to worry about duplicates, either. Out of the two boxes, only 11 of 432 cards were doubles. That's pretty good, if you ask me.

If there's a knock on this set, it has to be directed at the photography. Very few cards I've seen show compelling action. In fact, some look like they were shot during warm-ups. For a set that carries a name so steeped in hockey card history, a little extra effort by Upper Deck's photo editors would have been appreciated.

Try getting this set signed

It looks like Upper Deck is borrowing from the Topps Total concept from a few years ago with its upcoming 700-card offering, 2006-07 O-Pee-Chee. (Patience is required.)

A 500-card base set, plus a 100-card Marquee Rookies subset, will be the biggest set of the season. And, for the record, Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin (shown at left, from Upper Deck's Web site) is card #564.

One of the nice things about a set this size is the inclusion of everyday players into the lineup. Among others, you'll find cards for Boston's Mark Mowers, Buffalo's Adam Mair, Detroit's Andreas Lilja, Minnesota's Wyatt Smith, Ottawa's Tom Preissing and Tampa's Nolan Pratt.

Besides Malkin, the rookie lineup includes, as expected, Boston's Phil Kessel, Los Angeles' Anze Kopitar, Montreal's Guillaume Latendresse, Nashville's Alexander Radulov, Pittsburgh's Jordan Staal and San Jose's fuzz-faced trio of Matt Carle, Joe Pavelski and Marc-Edouard Vlasic

Despite Upper Deck's Feb. 27 release date, a Tampa Bay-area card dealer, who I spoke with yesterday at a Toronto Blue Jays spring training game, told me that he's getting the cards next week.

Penguins have a few choices

Now that Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has stepped into the Pittsburgh Penguins controversy, asking the NHL to keep the team from leaving the Steel City, we should surmise that this entire affair is going to end in one of two ways:

1.) The city and state will cave in and provide the team with a state-of-the art, luxury-box-laden, rent-free arena, complete with all parking revenues, that will include posh three-bedroom, two-bath condos with underground parking spaces for Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal, or

2.) The Penguins will pack their suitcases and move their little webbed feet to one of the following locations and adopt a new nickname:

~ The Las Vegas CSIs. Forget the casinos, the showgirls, the all-you-can-eat-for-$2.99 buffets, the neon, the martini-loving mayor and the, ahem, criminal element. If I'm Penguins management, the make-or-break aspect of any deal moving the team is guaranteed exposure in CBS' popular crime-technology series, including guest spots for the team's stars.

~ The Kansas City Moes. Sure, some want the team to keep the Penguins nickname, but after such a bitter divorce, it's highly unlikely the team will want any mementos from its past. Alas, the Kansas City Penguins concept, which really never would have made much sense, simply floats away like an ice floe.

~ The Oklahoma City Dustbugs. The Blazers, a much better name, is taken and I'm pretty certain the team will have depleted its legal account in securing the move to wrestle away the name from the Central Hockey League team.

~ The Houston Refineries. Can't use the Rockets, Astros or Aeros. Texans is out of the question, too. Using Enrons wouldn't be too smart. What else is Houston known for? To me, the Refineries is a much better name than the Smog.

~ The Quebec Igloos. Really, this would be nothing more than a swipe at Pittsburgh. But, hey, can you blame them? Besides, it means another team in Canada, raising the total to seven (Thanks again, Drew). The team might also be able to integrate some elements of the old Nordiques logo/jersey into the new look.

~ The Portland (Ore.) Timbers. Yes, I know there's a United Soccer League team operating under that name. C'mon, though, second-tier soccer vs. an NHL team? Granted, it would be close. I'm sure the promise of free season tickets for two years to Timbers ownership and any ticket-producing fan will grease these skids.

~ My vote goes to the Orlando Nation. Now that the Seminole Tribe of Florida has completed its deal for the Hard Rock chain of cafes, hotels and music memorabilia, adding an NHL team (an idea I floated late last year) to its portfolio makes financial sense. Fans can stay at the hotel, listen to great music while downing a cheeseburger and a couple beers, try their luck at the slots and then amble over to watch a game. I'm sure, too, that many northern North American teams wouldn't mind a three-game, seven-day road trip to Florida in January or February.

P.S.: That freshly squeezed glass of grapefruit juice was excellent, too.

Review: 2006-07 NHL Rookie Class

Please, don’t believe that I’ve become a flak for Upper Deck, but the 2006-07 Rookie Class set offering is too hard to pass up.

This 50-card box set, though not technically rookie cards, features the top first-years players of the NHL’s 2006-07 season. You’ll get cards of, among others, Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal, Los Angeles' Anze Kopitar, Nashville's Alexander Radulov, and San Jose's Matt Carle and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

To me, a set like this is excellent for autographs. You’re not defacing a true rookie card, and lowering its value on the secondary market, and there’s the eventual thrill of finishing a relatively easy-to-do set.

And, for $20, it’s probably the best deal Upper Deck has offered this year. Now, if I could just convince them to do away with the shiny surface.

Review: Upper Deck Hockey Series II

In my world, there's very little that Upper Deck has done right. The Malkin boat docked too late. It's too slow to show teams and players in new uniforms. And, for the most part, Upper Deck, and its subsidiary titles, are the only show in town.

It's funny, though, how quickly perception can change. In this case, all it took was one box of Upper Deck Hockey Series II.

Cards of Anaheim players show the new uniforms. Same for the Sabres. The checklist also features cards of lesser-known players (think Atlanta's Greg de Vries, Colorado's Mark Rycroft and Minnesota's Kurtis Foster) that are useful in hounding. Each pack, too, contains an Upper Deck Victory update card, including rookie offerings of Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Radulov and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

What really sealed the deal -- this time and this time only -- was how I hit the jackpot, so to speak. Not only did I pull not one, but two, Malkin Young Gun cards (including a scarce High Gloss), but I also pulled a 1-of-1 Martin Brodeur press plate card (that's it, shown above). Pulling a Brad Boyes autograph card didn't hurt, either.

Granted, this may have been one of those so-called hot boxes, but just the chance to snag a Malkin Young Gun, this season's Holy Grail of Hockey Cardboard, makes this offering pretty hard to pass up.

What's better than one Malkin Young Gun?

How about two of them, including a High Gloss version (on left), in one box of 2006-07 Upper Deck Hockey Series II?

Granted, they are the checklist version. Still, though, two Malkins in a single box?

I must be in God's good graces.

Valentine's Day gift guide

In conducting a highly unscientific and biased study of Valentine's Day commercials, I've found that not a single one is geared toward the ladies. Mostly, they're designed to guilt men into buying everything from diamonds to bustiers to roses to a box of high-end chocolates.

I'm sorry, but aren't these commercials a little sexist? As far as I know, Valentine's Day is a two-way street. Though I'm reminded, on a daily basis, that women are smarter than men, I believe there's an unfulfilled advertising niche.

So, ladies, to even the playing field, so to speak, here are some suggestions to show your hockey-loving man that you do, indeed, care for him:

~ Tickets to this weekend's game, be it in the National Hockey League to the Southern Professional Hockey League.

~ One of those slick new RBK Edge jerseys. Sure, they may cost a pretty penny, but they are lighter, more form-fitting in design and have greater moisture-wicking technology.

~ A box or two, not a couple of packs, of Upper Deck Hockey Series II cards. You must know, too, that the Evgeni Malkin Young Guns rookie card, if he's lucky enough to pull one, will be worth considerably more than that $39.99 trinket he bought you at Wal-Mart.

~ A Bauer Vapor XXX Lite hockey stick. Don't worry, he'll know what to do with it. Just make sure you know if he's left-handed or right-handed. It'll makes a world of difference.

~ Round-trip tickets, lodging and meals for two to Toronto as well as admission to the Hockey Hall of Fame. You're on your own, though, trying to get tickets to a Leafs game.

Oh, yeah, don't forget a Valentine's Day card for him, too.

You can thank me later.

Malkin 1, Magnitogorsk 0 (SO)

How does Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin celebrate a judge's decision to toss out Metallurg Magnitogorsk's requests that would have sidelined the talented rookie?

It's simple. He scores the game's first goal, adds an assists, and then provides the deciding goal in an extended shootout in the Penguins' 5-4 win over the Montreal Canadiens.

The Magnitogorsk team, which was seeking money after losing its hometown boy to the bright goal lights of the NHL, claimed that Malkin violated his contract when he fled the club last August.

Sunday morning homily XI

Kudos, I suppose, are due to Upper Deck for providing not one, but two cards, of Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin within the Young Guns subset of its Series II release. As I reported yesterday, Malkin has two cards within the subset. This card, shown at left, is the Young Guns checklist.

It should come as no surprise that I'm not the biggest fan of Upper Deck, seeing that it owns all of the licensing for NHL trading cards. In essence, Upper Deck is a monopoly. That's why I don't mind helping out the little guy, paying a little more for a box of ITG Heroes and Prospects, provided I can find any here in Tampa Bay.

As a consumer, I want to have choices within the hockey card industry. And branding cards with such names as Fleer and Parkhurst, as Upper Deck has done, is a cheap attempt at tricking uninformed hockey collectors. Unfortunately, though, this lack of competition means I'll have to give my money to Upper Deck if I wish to continue in this hobby.

The only way I can protest, other than writing these little ditties, is to limit the brands that I'll buy. So, other than Upper Deck Series I and II, the mainstays of any collection (primarily because of the value of the Young Guns subset), I'll be limiting my future purchases to the Fleer and Parkhurst brands, solely because those cards require no prep work for autographs.

What about these deals?

Over at Wicked Bruins Fans, blogmaster Jaci (sounds like a rap name, doesn't it?) isn't asking for too much from her beloved Bruins. She wants them to play hard and win games. I mean, who doesn't want their hometown team to fulfill those goals.

In response, I've proposed these trades:

To Tampa: Brad Boyes, Stanislav Chistov, Brad Stuart and Hannu Toivonen
To Boston: Ruslan Fedotenko, Vaclav Prospal, Doug O'Brien, Luke Richardson and Marc Denis

To New York Rangers: Andrew Alberts, Milan Jurcina, Petr Tenkrat and a No. 1 draft pick
To Boston: Ryan Hollweg and Fedor Tyutin

Any feedback?

Finally, some hockey

After a pretty thin January down here in Tampa, I'm really looking forward to the month of February. Not only do we have tickets to six games, including the Bruins, Penguins and the Dallas Stars, but seven hounding adventures, including Los Angeles and Phoenix of the Western Conference, as well.

Malkin's Young Gun card

Earlier this season, I broke the news that hockey fans would have to wait until the release of the Upper Deck Hockey Series II for a chance to score this season's Holy Grail of hockey hardboard -- a Young Guns version of Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin.

Guess what? It's here. Or, should I say, they're here. As a premium, I suppose, Malkin is also featured on the front of the Young Guns checklist. The one shown at right, card No. 486, is the regular Young Gun card. Card No. 495, showing Malkin in a home uniform, is the checklist card.

Others Young Guns sure to be worthy of chasing are Nashville's Alexander Radulov (card No. 476) and San Jose's Joe Pavelski (card No. 487).

Drawing strong regional interest will be Boston's Matt Lashoff (card No. 453), Buffalo's Drew Stafford (card No. 456), Calgary's Dustin Boyd (card No. 461) and Tanpa Bay's Karri Ramo (card No. 474).

Review: 2006-07 Upper Deck MVP

Keeping my word, as I always try to do, I've just finished busting open two boxes of Upper Deck's MVP offering for this season. And, up until the final pack, I was prepared to share my disappointment in the product.

As I opened that 48th pack, many with the help of my hound-in-training, Colin, any impending disappointment was wiped away by the last card. Yessiree, buddy, I got my first Evgeni Malkin rookie card.

It's not so much any financial value that others may place upon the shiny piece of cardboard (more on that later), but for all the hype that Malkin has received, I believe Upper Deck and its subsidiary, Fleer, owe it to collectors to make sure every box, especially those at the mid-level price range, carries a Malkin card.

Bottom line, Upper Deck, it's all about value. Even if I spent only $35 for a box, I believe it's going to be a waste of money if I don't get the rookie du jour. Last season, it was Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Dion Phaneuf and, once the playoffs ended, Conn Smythe winner Cam Ward. Honestly, even without yesterday's crowded playing field, I don't believe it's too much to ask.

Seriously, I was relieved at seeing that Malkin card. Granted, it was nice getting a Jordan Staal rookie card. The Marc-Edouard Vlasic was a nice little bonus, too. But it wasn't until I saw the Malkin card that I felt I received any value for the $110 I paid for the two boxes.

I suppose I could start voting with my wallet, and stop buying cards by the pack or box until Upper Deck makes that kind of commitment to its customers. It's easy enough to cherry-pick on the secondary market, or gobble up lots of unwanted commons for our autograph stock.

It's my guess, though, as it is with many things that I see in life, that I'd end up standing alone. In a sense, I've already started. Back in the heyday, when Upper Deck, Topps, Pacific and Be A Player had twice-monthly product launches, I would gobble up as much as I could.

These days, I've become much more finicky. If it wasn't for the opportunity to score a Malkin or a Staal, I would've passed on the MVP offering. Sure, it showed Anaheim and Buffalo players in their new uniforms. It also has just enough second- and third-year players, as well as the obscure common, to appeal to autograph hounds. And I certainly won't complain about my memorabilia cards -- two double-sided game-used jersey cards (though one featured Curtis "The Oxygen Thief" Joseph and Dan Cloutier).

No, what I dislike the most about these cards is that dadgum glossy coating. If you're an autograph hound who collects on cardboard, you know what I mean. Glossy cards require prep work -- from piles of white eraser debris to messy baby powder to rubbing it off with your fingers. Any way, it's a royal pain in the patootie.

One final thing, too. One would think that you could put together the 297-card base set out of the 384 cards from two boxes. Guess what? It'll take at least three to complete a set. Now that I have what I want, though, I won't even bother.

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.

Review: 2006-07 ITG Heroes and Prospects

They may not be the cheapest cards in the world, but I seldom quibble over the price for a box of In The Game's Heroes and Prospects hockey cards. The 2006-07 edition, the third such release of the line, certainly doesn't disappoint.

Crisp photography, clean design and a decent lineup, including Angelo Esposito, Evgeni Malkin and John Tavares (shown above), should draw plenty of attention from collectors and hounds alike. Besides, it helps to keep independent ITG in the game.

Granted, this year's edition doesn't feature the first-card star power of Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby or Malkin, but if you're lucky, you'll draw a memorabilia card with one of the biggest swatches of game-used fabric you'll ever see.

Because the cards don't qualify as "true" rookie cards (though some are definitely worth putting away), most become an integral part of my autograph stock. Once a player has been in the league for a season or two, and their rookie cards are tucked safely away, I'll use their AHL or junior cards from these ITG sets to round out my four-card setups.

My only criticism, though, is ITG's update set offer. Spending another $34.95 (with pack wrappers) to $39.95 for 50 cards seems a little steep. Knock $10 off the price and it would become, at least in my opinion, a tad more palatable.

Nope, I didn't forget

What? Did you really believe I'd let the first day of a new year pass without a posting? Wasn't gonna happen, I tell ya. No way, not on my watch. Hell, I'm just getting warmed up.

Wanna know the reason why? Even if you don't, I'm gonna tell ya. No, I haven't been drinking all day. Nor have I been sleeping all day, even after watching that ball drop on TV last night.

Nope, I've been working. I've put together my final puck orders for the season, barring the Tampa Bay Lightning making a deep run into the Stanley Cup playoffs. I even have to order a puck, if it's possible, from the Oklahoma City Blazers.

And, in putting that list together, I'm better prepared to make a prediction. It's my guess that I'll add another 125 pucks to our collection, ending the regular season with a total of 1,268.

Who's on the list? You should recognize the names. If you don't, you've come to the wrong place, brother.

Here's a random sampling, just to name a few, in order of appearance, more or less, in Tampa in 2007: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Marty St. Louis, Olaf Kolzig, Bryan McCabe, Mats Sundin, Patrik Elias, Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez, John Madden, Brendan Shanahan, Petr Prucha, Fedor Tyutin, Alexander Frolov, Anze Kopitar, Lubomir Visnovsky, Vincent Lecavalier, Wayne Gretzky, Georges Laraque, Yanic Perreault, Alex Auld, Zdeno Chara, Stanislav Chistov, Tim Thomas, Brad Richards, Jeff Halpern, Eric Lindros, Marty Turco, Shawn Bates, Mike Sillinger, Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley, Rod Brind-Amour and Tim Gleason.

Those will work, don't ya think? Wanna know something else? Every single one, from the biggest star on down, will only add to the collection. Some day, that Guinness book is gonna come calling.

Christmas Eve homily

As you can see, I found another set of cards available in a collectible tin, this one featuring Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff. I just wonder, though, how long it’ll be before I can get it signed.

Now, if a proposal floated by the NHL gains support from teams, my wait might not be that long.

With Columbus and Atlanta trading conferences, divisions would be streamlined. The biggest benefit, from a hound’s standpoint, is the new schedule would bring a team to every NHL city at least once every two years.

Being in Tampa, I’d hope the northern teams, such as Calgary and Edmonton, would jump at the chance for an extended road trip through warmer climates every other January or February.

Aside from that, though, there’s really no other benefit to hounds. Tampa’s new division would contain teams that already frequent the St. Pete Times Forum – the Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Flyers, Capitals, Hurricanes and Panthers.

In fact, losing Atlanta means we’d get to hound Ilya Kovalchuk, Marian Hossa and Kari Lehtonen far fewer than the four times a season we do now. I suppose, though, that having teams like Vancouver, Minnesota and Detroit would more than make up for that.

An odds-on favorite?

Now that even Mario Lemieux says that relocation of the Pittsburgh Penguins is on the table, I’ll raise again the opportunity that exists (first item) for the Seminole Tribe of Florida to make a play for the team. Wishful thinking on my part, I know, but can you blame me?

Given the Tribe’s sovereign (meaning tax-free) status and its established gambling licenses, snapping up the Penguins would give them another entertainment option and source of revenue. Putting the team near one of its hotel/casinos, even at the expense of building a state-of-the-art rink, would create a wintertime destination for northern snowbirds.

Besides, what hound wouldn’t want a regular opportunity to score autographs from Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal and Marc-Andre Fleury. I know I would.

Want Scotty Bowman’s autograph?

If you do (and, really, what hound wouldn’t?), I hope I’ll see you next Saturday night as the Montreal Canadiens play the Tampa Bay Lightning at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Another milestone

This is the 200th posting of the season. For those who stop by regularly, I appreciate your support and look forward to sharing more insight, commentary and, as always, hounding adventures.

Yes, indeed, we’ll wait for Malkin

A few weeks ago, when I came across the 2006-07 Young Guns checklist, I said we’d have to wait until the release of the Series II Young Guns for this season’s Holy Grail of hockey hardboard, a Young Guns card of Pittsburgh's uber-rookie Evgeni Malkin.

A glance at the back of the Phil Kessel Young Guns Checklist (#250), above right, proves the point. Malkin, I’m afraid, isn’t listed.

After reviewing the checklist, though, I feel the need to add to the must-haves of the Series I Young Guns, namely Pittsburgh’s Jordan Staal (#239). As you can see, above left, I pulled the Young Guns card for San Jose’s Matt Carle (#241). The Stastny brothers, Paul and Yan, are worth the chase, too.