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.

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).

Where's Eric?

As much as I'll champion In The Game's efforts to remain a viable entity within the hockey card industry, it's my belief that the company missed an opportunity with its 2006-07 Heroes and Prospects offering.

While much has been said and written about the Staal brothers becoming, with no intended disrespect to the Sutter brothers, the next First Family of Hockey. And, yet, when I review the product's checklist, the set features only three (shown above, in alphabetical order) of the brothers -- Jared, Jordan and Marc Staal.

Adding a card of big brother Eric would have created a set within the set. Even better, I believe, would have been a card showing all four together. Surely, that photo must exist, even if it's within a family scrapbook.

I'm left to wonder whether contractual obligations may have led to this omission, though the set does feature a number of current NHL players, such as Jason Spezza, Sidney Crosby and Cam Ward, from their AHL, junior or international playing days.

Going forward, perhaps ITG will heed this suggestion and make the effort to somehow honor the family. If it does, I hope ITG sends along its work.

An addendum: Here's ITG's response to my question: At the time that Heroes and Prospect was printed, we did not have Eric Staal under contract for autographs.

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.

Do the math

What's the difference between Anaheim's Teemu Selanne and San Jose's Marc-Edouard Vlasic?

That one is a seasoned veteran and the other is a rookie would be correct, but it's not the answer I'm looking for. Nor would the correct answer be that Selanne plays right wing and Vlasic, shown at left, is a defenseman. And don't even bother saying that Selanne is Finnish and Vlasic is French-Canadian.

No, what I'm looking for is the difference in career goals. That answer -- the correct one -- is 499. On a night when Selanne logged his 500th regular-season goal, Vlasic notched the first of his young career. Two milestones in one night. Pretty neat, eh?

Anyways, Selanne, who scored 76 goals in his rookie season (1992-93) with the Winnipeg Jets, became the 36th player to reach the milestone, tipping a shot past Colorado's Jose Theodore. Too bad, though, that the Ducks lost to Colorado, 3-2, in a shootout.

Vlasic, who spent last season playing for Patrick Roy and the Memorial Cup champion Quebec Remparts, was only in kindergarten during Selanne's rookie campaign. And while the significance of his goal, coming against the Kings' Dan Cloutier, might get lost in the aftermath of the Sharks' 6-3 victory over Los Angeles, I'm sure it's pretty special to him.

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.