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.

Summer chores

With all this time on my hands, it's a good idea to put away last year's bounty. This one, from the 2006-07 In the Game Heroes and Prospects, is one of the nicest. The swatch, a shoulder patch, comes from a Kelowna Rockets jersey worn by Tysen Dowzak.

Review: 2006-07 Be A Player

One of my consistent criticisms of Upper Deck's hockey products is how it's early-season products seldom show players traded at the deadline wearing the colors of their new teams. Apparently, someone at 5909 Sea Otter Place got the memo.

Tucked within its autograph-heavy 2006-07 Be A Player release are cards of some of those sent packing all decked out in their new duds: Then-Buffalo's Dainius Zubrus, then-Calgary's Brad Stuart, Pittsburgh's Georges Laraque and St. Louis' Brad Boyes.

Heck, UD put out not one, but two cards of Nashville's Peter Forsberg. Seeing that Foppa's a free agent, though, I wouldn't expect to see too many more of him as a Predator.

By including these cards, Upper Deck has raised the bar for this season's sets. From the low-end Victory brand to even its staple Series I, the omission of these new looks in any 2007-08 release would be taking a gigantic step backwards.

As usual, these cards pose preparation chores for hounds. Though the bottom strip of the card is ready to go, it's doubtful that many players would take the time to sign there. The photos are pretty glossy. An attempt to sign one straight from the pack led to nothing but bubbles. An Eraser or baby powder will be needed.

My biggest complaint with this product is sheer value. I'm not so sure the autographs I pulled are worth the near $100 price I paid. Beyond those cards, the autographs (the Band-Aid variety) came from Antero Niittymaki, Tom Poti, Tim Taylor, Kimmo Timonen and Vesa Toskala. Rookie cards were San Jose's Matt Carle and New Jersey's Travis Zajac.

Maybe I'm simply being greedy, believing that a memorabilia insert would make the box (eight packs of five cards, with an average of one auto per pack) a much better deal. I guess that's what happens when you're starved for hockey. Another lesson, I'm afraid, has been learned.

I'll pass next time.

Preview: 2006-07 Sweet Shot

As proof in the pudding that Upper Deck keeps trotting out pure drivel for hockey products, I present the company's latest offering, 2006-07 Sweet Shot.

A 100-card base set that mixes players past and present, I believe it's nothing more than a late-season cash grab that offers very little for collectors. Players moved at the trade deadline, such as Philadelphia's Martin Biron and St. Louis' Brad Boyes, are shown in their old uniforms. The cards, which come in a tin, also lack true rookies.

As is mostly the case with Upper Deck's late-season offerings, only diehard collectors, or those with an unlimited amount of disposable income, will likely find this product worth buying.

Preview: 2006-07 SP Authentic

Given its stale photos, skimpy team sets and relatively weak Future Watch checklist, the 2006-07 SP Authentic is worthy of pausing before dropping big dollars. Yes, you stand a good chance of pulling a sweet autograph. Beyond that, though, I'm not so sure.

As usual, my biggest beef with this 100-card set is that it's another late-season product that fails to show traded players in their new uniforms. Case in point: St. Louis' Brad Boyes is shown playing for Boston, even though the product's so-called "release date" is three weeks later than the trade deadline.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, today's printing and distribution technology means, to me, nothing more than a lack of effort at Upper Deck. A last-minute seeding that freshens the lineup, even if it adds 72 hours to the production process, would certainly generate some urgency and, hopefully, create some positive press.

Thin teams sets are inherent to any 100-card offering. Take Tampa Bay's team set -- Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis. How many more cards do I need of them? I'm sure Lightning fans would have traded at least one of those guys for a Johan Holmqvist card. My trio would be Paul Ranger, Shane O'Brien and Holmqvist.

My final disappointment? The base Future Watch lineup. Other than Columbus' Fredrik Norrena and San Jose's Joe Pavelski, there's not much there. Even Phoenix's Enver Lisin, who bolted home to Moscow after 17 games earlier this season, has a card. Again, pretty thin.

Sabres collectors, however, should take note cards of five prospects: Mike Card, Adam Dennis, Michael Funk, Mikko Lehtonen (as a Predator) and Clarke MacArthur. The Flyers have five as well.

My advice: Check online auctions for must-have trophy cards, but wait for bargain bags of base sets to show up at stores.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Review: NHL Fleer Hockey

More than anything else, I have to give this set a passing grade based on one attribute: they don't have to be erased to remove the glossy coating. Just like the 2005-06 Parkhurst Hockey, another Upper Deck product, these non-glossy cards save plenty of set-up time.

Another thing I like about this set is how an effort was made to show some, but not all, of the summer free-agent signings (shown above) in their new uniforms. Again, it's my belief that I'd rather get a card of Ottawa's Chris Kelly or Denis Hamel than one showing Martin Gerber shown in his Carolina Hurricanes uniform.

With a low price, you shouldn't expect too many premiums, namely jersey cards or autographs. There are a couple of neat insert sets, though. The Netminders, in particular, will be put to use over the rest of the season.

You might be disappointed in the rookie offerings, too. Most are late-season callups with only regional interest at best.

For the money, though, this NHL Fleer Hockey set should become a staple for any card-carrying hound.

Review: Upper Deck Hockey Series I

Even though this is the base set for any serious hockey card collector, I find myself increasingly disappointed with each new release. Simply put, while the photography is on par with the past, my complaints are within the design, which appears unbalanced, and an increasing number of horizontal photos, which, to me, should be reserved only for cards of goalies.

My biggest complaint, though, focuses on the outdated look for two teams, the Anaheim Ducks and the Buffalo Sabres. If Upper Deck has the time to capture Anaheim's Ryan Shannon, above right, in the Ducks new uniforms for his Young Guns card (#202), why did every other Anaheim base card, including Corey Perry (#1), above left, shows last year’s Ducks uniforms? I can’t tell for certain about the Sabres, either, as there was none listed in the Young Guns. But all of the base cards of Buffalo’s players I pulled showed last year’s look.

I know that Upper Deck will trot out its tired line of wanting to get the product to market as quickly as possible. But, if it’s able to show Shannon in the Ducks’ new look, why not everyone else in the Anaheim team set? Working for a daily newspaper, I am very familiar with deadlines. Unless Upper Deck is using equipment from the days of Johannes Gutenberg, its effort, or lack thereof, is worthy of a demotion to the minors.

As for the design, the horizontal name bar looks like it’s running too high on the cards, rendering a look that’s slightly off-balance or, like there’s something missing below the line. But when they use a horizontal photo, the name bar is much tighter against the bottom.

Autographs hounds, too, will need to know that cards will still have to be baby powdered, erased or rubbed for ink to stick.

If it weren’t for the Young Guns (and even this Series I crop, despite something of a rarity, is less than stellar), and the inclusion of second-year players and those who changed teams at the trade deadline, I wouldn’t lose a whole lot of sleep passing on this product. I suspect, though, given this set’s reigning popularity that I’m in the minority.

Brothers in cards

One of the neat things about the 2006-07 Upper Deck Series I Young Guns set is for only the second time, I believe, it contains brothers, Boston’s Yan Stastny (#203) and Colorado’s Paul Stastny (#207), the sons of Hall of Famer Peter Stastny.

To the best of my knowledge, the only other time this happened was with the 1999-00 Upper Deck Series I Young Guns, with Vancouver’s Daniel Sedin (#165) and Henrik Sedin (#166).

If I’m wrong, please let me know.

Why bother?

One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to hockey cards, besides that glossy coating that requires "erasing," happens early every season.

In Upper Deck's rush to satisfy demand, the company pushes out cards, under its litany of brand names, that are a waste of time and money. Take a look, please, at the 2006-07 Fleer Ultra cards above. At first glance, it's reasonable to believe that these players remain with the teams of the uniforms they're wearing.

A closer look at the fine print, though, proves different. Each card's front carries the team that each player has since moved to this season. For Chris Pronger, let's hope his wife likes Anaheim better than she did Edmonton. For Eric Lindros, it's on to Dallas, where he certainly won't be the lone star. And for Doug Weight, it's time to take his Stanley Cup ring back to St. Louis.

Granted, any knowledgeable hockey fan should know about those offseason moves. So, why does Upper Deck continue to insult our intelligence? It's almost like the company is trying to sneak one past us.

Instead, why doesn't Upper Deck wait until updated photos showing the players in their new uniforms become available and include those in its Upper Deck Series I product? I know I can live with one less card of Pronger, Lindros and Weight. Couldn't you?

In their places, perhaps these early season sets could include cards of such players as Anaheim's Francis Beauchemin or Dallas' Stephane Robidas or St. Louis' Bryce Salvador. They may not be top-tier stars, but I know of one autograph collector who certainly wouldn't complain.