Justin Faulk Rookie Card Observations

I've spent the last week buying Justin Faulk rookie cards on eBay and have made a few observations. My most interesting observation has been that Faulk's Score rookie card is selling at a much higher price than his Upper Deck Young Guns rookie card. Faulk's Score rookie card has been selling around $6, while his Upper Deck Young Guns rookie card has been selling for only $2. I've also noticed that a lot of bidders are neglecting to look for more recently listed cards and instead are driving up the price of cards that have been listed longer. If you play your cards right (no pun intended) you should be able to land Faulk's Young Guns rookie card for about $.99 with $2.00 shipping.

2011-12 Upper Deck Series 1 Justin Faulk Young Guns Rookie Card

This is the first image that I've seen of Justin Faulk's 2011-12 Upper Deck Series 1 Young Guns Rookie Card. I like the picture choice and the card's design - a great rookie card in my opinion.

2011-12 Upper Deck Series 1 Justin Faulk Young Guns Rookie Card

2011-12 Upper Deck Series 1 Release Tomorrow

Tomorrow (Tuesday November 8) is the expected release date for the 2011-12 Upper Deck Series 1 cards. However, unless  you've pre-ordered online, I wouldn't expect to be able to find these cards in the Triangle tomorrow. I'll post an update once they hit the shelves at Target. In the meantime, here is what you can expect to see from the Hurricanes.

Base Set:
#167 Jeff Skinner
#168 Jamie McBain
#169 Eric Staal
#170 Cam Ward
#171 Tuomo Ruutu
#172 Joni Pitkanen

McBain is probably a questionable choice in hindsight since he's sat for almost half of the team's games. I'd expect to see Jussi Jokinen, Jiri Tlusty, Tim Gleason, Tomas Kaberle, Brandon Sutter, and 2 of Bryan Allen, Jay Harrison, Alexei Ponikarovsky, or Zac Dalpe in Series 2. Sorry, Anthony Stewart, Tim Brent, Patrick Dwyer, Derek Joslin, and Brian Boucher, but I don't expect to see your cards included this year.

UD Canvas:
#C20 Eric Staal
#C21 Cam Ward
#C22 Jussi Jokinen

Interesting to see Jokinen included in an insert, but not in the base set. Also interesting that Skinner isn't included with these inserts.

Clear Cut Honoured Members:
#HOF-19 Ron Francis (Whalers)

Clear Cut Foundations:
#CCF5 Eric Staal/Jeff Skinner

Clear Cut Leaders:
#CCL-CRB Cal Clutterbuck/Dustin Brown/Tuomo Ruutu (Hits)
#CCL-GCS Michael Grabner/Logan Couture/Jeff Skinner (Rookie Goals)
#CCl-SCG Michael Grabner/Logan Couture/Jeff Skinner (Rookie Points)

Interesting combination for the first card. Nice to see Skinner included in several insert cards.

Signature Sensations
#SS-BN Brandon Sutter

Again, interesting to see Sutter included on an insert, but not in the base set.

UD Game Patch
#GJ-ES Eric Staal

Netminders
#N14 Cam Ward

Caniac Carnival: Checkers

Next, I will post a few cards of current Charlotte Checkers players. The first card is Jon Matsumoto's 2010-11 Upper Deck Series 2 Young Guns Rookie Card. Although it has a glossy finish like the other Upper Deck cards, Matsumoto's card held the signature pretty well.

2010-11 Upper Deck Series 2 Jon Matsumoto Young Guns Rookie Card

The second card is Zac Dalpe's 2010-11 Upper Deck Series 1 Young Guns Rookie Card. Dalpe is currently in the AHL on a rehab assignment, but should be a regular on the Hurricanes roster this season.

2010-11 Upper Deck Series 1 Zac Dalpe Young Guns Rookie Card

Caniac Carnival: Third Line

Next up is the third line. First is Brandon Sutter's 2009-10 Upper Deck Series 2 card. The signature has faded a bit around the edges, but not in the middle like a lot of the other Upper Deck cards. Perhaps the way that Sutter signs has something to do with this difference.

2009-10 Upper Deck Series 2 Brandon Sutter

Second is Patrick Dwyer's 2010-11 Donruss card. Although glossy, the Donruss cards also kept a clean signature so these may also be an option in the future. The white outline also helps to make the signature stand out.

2010-11 Donruss Patrick Dwyer

First Look: Justin Faulk Rookie Card

I've confirmed that Justin Faulk will be included in the November 8th release of Upper Deck Series 1. Since the Upper Deck rookie cards are widely considered to be the best rookie cards, I'm eagerly awaiting this release. In the meantime, I've noticed that Faulk's 2011-12 Score rookie card has appeared on eBay. At the moment they appear to be a bit overpriced, but the price will likely drop once eBay becomes flooded with more of this card.

2011-12 Score Justin Faulk Rookie Card

On a side note, if anyone has any Hurricanes singles that they want to trade, I'm actively looking to acquire singles to get autographed in the future. I'm particularly interested in players that I don't have a lot of singles of already: Anthony Stewart, Alex Ponikarovsky, Jay Harrison, Bryan Allen, Brett Sutter, Tim Brent, Jiri Tlusty, etc. I've got a lot of singles from other teams that I'm willing to trade.

Caniac Carnival: Second Line

Next up is the second line (or at least the second line until Jokinen got hurt last night). The first card is Jussi Jokinen's 2009-10 Upper Deck Series 1 card. As you can see, Jokinen's signature is small relative to other players. It also does not show up well on this card since he signed right over his body.

2009-10 Upper Deck Series 1 Jussi Jokinen

The second card is Tuomo Ruutu's 2008-09 Upper Deck Series I card. This card ended up being particularly bad for signatures. As you can see, Ruutu's signature has faded considerably. I think that I'll stick with the Score cards from now on.

2008-09 Upper Deck Series 1 Tuomo Ruutu

Caniac Carnival: First Line

After a rather long delay, I'm ready to post more of the cards that I got autographed at the Caniac Carnival. I will begin posting the cards again by line. The first card is Eric Staal's 2009-10 SP Authentic card. I really thought this would be a great card for autographs since it has a white background which provides great contrast for a black Sharpie. However, as you can tell, the signature is faded in places due to the card's glossy finish.

2009-10 SP Authentic Eric Staal

The second card is Jiri Tlusty's 2010 Score card. This card was part of the Hurricanes team set that I bought at the event. I think that these Score cards are the best for autographs because they don't have a glossy finish. As you can see, the signature is very clean and hasn't faded.

2010 Score Jiri Tlusty

Caniac Carnival: Hopefuls

I'm going to focus on NHL hopefuls in my next several posts. First is Jerome Samson's 2010 Score Hot Rookies rookie card. The Eye was selling last season's team set for $2.99 so I picked one up to supplement the cards that I brought. This Samson card came out of the team set. Second is Drayson Bowman's 2010 Score card. This Bowman card also came out of the team set. I actually had another Bowman card that I brought, but Bowman was wearing a black jersey so the signature wouldn't have shown up. Next up: Zach Boychuk and Zac Dalpe.

Jerome Samson 2010 Score Hot Rookies Rookie Card

Drayson Bowman 2010 Score

Caniac Carnival: New Faces

My first post of autographed cards from the Caniac Carnival will focus on new faces - Anthony Stewart and Alexei Ponikarovsky.  The first card is Stewart's 2006 Victory rookie card with the Florida Panthers. The second card is Ponikarovsky's 2011 Upper Deck Series 2 card with the LA Kings. As you can see, the Stewart card took the signature better with no blips. On the other hand, the Ponikarovsky card shows a few blips, which is typical with autographs on glossy cards.

Anthony Stewart 2006 Victory Rookie Card

Alexei Ponikarovsky 2011 Upper Deck Series 2

Caniac Carnival Autographs Preview

I got a total of 16 autographs at the Caniac Carnival. My plan is to release scans of 2 autographs a day for the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned for the first two tomorrow night. Here is a preview of all 16:

Caniac Carnival Review

The Caniac Carnival turned out to be a huge success. The autograph session was divided into five tables in different areas of the arena, each with about 9 players. 600 wristbands were distributed and an hour was allotted for autographs. I was able to make it to 4 of the 5 tables in the hour. The table breakdown was a follows:

Table 1 - Jokinen, Krueger, Levi, Lowe, Peters, Ponikarovsky, Samson, Staal (Eric)
Table 2 - Bellemore, Boychuk, Brent, Durno, Gleason, Muse, Roy, Sanguinetti, Sutter (Brandon)
Table 3 - Boucher, LaRose, McBain, Murphy (Mike), Nash, Rissanen, Skinner, Terry
Table 4 - Allen, Bowman, Dwyer, Faulk, Matsumoto, Rask, Ruutu, Stewart, Sutter (Brett)
Table 5 - Dalpe, Harrison, Jordan, Kaberle, Lindstrom, Murphy (Ryan), Pitkanen, Staal (Jared), Tlusty

I skipped the Skinner table because it had the largest line and I wanted to allot enough time to get as many autographs as possible. I didn't have singles for most of the prospects and new players, but still got more autographs than I expected. I ended up with: Jokinen, Peters, Ponikarovsky, Samson, Staal (Eric), Boychuk, Gleason, Sutter (Brandon), Bowman, Dwyer, Matsumoto, Ruutu, Stewart, Dalpe, Murphy (Ryan), Pitkanen, and Tlusty. For some reason, I didn't have any Kaberle cards from the packs that I opened over the last 3 years and forgot to grab one out of my older cards. I will post some scans of the autographs that I got later in the week.

Hurricanes Carnival Preview

I've neglected posting for the last 2 weeks due to other commitments, but hope to start posting more often beginning this weekend. In the last 2 weeks I've bought a couple of lots of Hurricanes cards - mostly to collect singles of players for autographs. On that note, the Hurricanes will be hosting their annual Caniac Carnival on Sunday with an autograph session in the morning. I will be arriving early in order to get a wristband and hope to get some singles autographed. I'll post my results later that night.

Josef Vasicek - Lokomotiv

In light of today's tragic news, I decided to take a look at Josef Vasicek's cards since he was a former Hurricane. I was very disappointed to discover how many people seemingly want to profit from the tragic news. This morning, just after the news broke, there were about a dozen Vasicek cards on eBay for between $1 and $5. Now, there are four pages of Vasicek cards, listing for as high as $25. Other than these grossly overpriced cards, one card in particular caught my eye, as it features Vasicek in his Lokomotiv uniform and has Russian typeface. This card was listed before the news broke, so it is still available at an affordable price.

The $2,500 Jeff Skinner Card

Jeff Skinner's 2010-11 The Cup Gold SP autographed patch rookie card (# /53) is currently listed for $2,500 on eBay. This is one of the highest priced Skinner cards that I've seen on eBay in a while. A few others are listed between $1,000 and $2,000. Currently, the highest priced Skinner card with a bid is a similar The Cup autographed patch rookie card (# /99) at $504. As a comparison, there is a Wayne Gretzky rookie card listed at $100,000, a Sidney Crosby rookie card listed at $25,000, and a Steven Stamkos The Cup autographed patch rookie card for $19,000.

City Lights Follow-Up

2011 Pinnacle City Lights - Jeff Skinner

I finally got my Jeff Skinner City Lights card in the mail today. I mentioned this card a few weeks ago because the front of the card features the Charlotte skyline, even though the series is intended to feature the player's home city (Raleigh). I think the back of the card is even more interesting than the front. The top of the back says, "City of Raleigh" across the top. So, I'm not exactly sure where the mixup happened. Also on the back is some lame information about Hurricane Hazel: "The most potent hurricane to ever hit North Carolina was Hazel, a Category 4 beast that struck on the border with South Carolina on Oct. 14, 1954. The storm virtually annihilated Long Beach, N.C., a town that saw only five of 357 buildings left intact following Hazel's 150-mph winds."

1996 Team USA Olympic Jersey - Pat LaFontaine

Misc. Observations: This is going to look really good in my living room - a 1996 USA Olympic jersey signed by Pat LaFontaine. I've had the jersey since 1996, but just decided to get it framed this week. The framing is still a work in progress, so disregard the uneven sleeves for the moment.

Jamie McBain - Autographed Jersey Swatch

Due to the popularity of Jeff Skinner's rookie cards last season, Jamie McBain's rookie cards quietly flew under the radar. However, McBain is definitely a player to watch in the future, so his rookie cards are worth the investment. I posted a couple of McBain rookie cards that I picked up earlier, but my favorite McBain rookie card is this SP autographed jersey card. As I mentioned earlier, autographed jersey rookie cards are currently the most desirable rookie cards on the market. While the most popular of these cards are colored jersey swatches (i.e. red, black, silver, etc), white swatches can usually be picked up at a bargain price.  As a result, I decided to settle on this white swatch card after missing out on a few colored swatches earlier this summer.

Inaugural Season Autographs Preview

Since Bob Wage was nice enough to give me a mention tonight on Canes Country, I figured I should back track a bit for new visitors to my blog. I would recommend reading my "Introduction" post as it provides some good background on why I started this blog. As I mentioned in the introduction, I gathered a lot of Hurricanes autographs during their inaugural season. I'm planning on posting many of these over the next few weeks, but need some time to get them out of storage. As a preview, here are a few that I was able to locate today.

The first is a Jeff O'Neill card that I got autographed at the Hurricanes first fan event in Greensboro during the summer before the Hurricanes began their first season in North Carolina. You'll notice that O'Neill is wearing a Whalers jersey since no Hurricanes cards had been produced yet. You can also see how the signature has faded over the past 10+ years - this is one reason why I don't like glossy cards, they don't hold signatures like the older non-glossy ones do.

This next card is a Stu Grimson card that I also got signed during the fan event. As you can see, this card held its signature much better than the glossy O'Neill card. This is one of the reasons why I really like this card, not to mention the overall clean look of the Upper Deck cards from this era (another reason why I liked the UD retro cards so much this year).






When the Hurricanes first moved to North Carolina, Keith Primeau probably was the most popular player on the team. However, his time in Carolina lasted for only a few seasons before he was eventually traded for Rod Brind'Amour. Despite any ill feelings towards Primeau as a result of his departure, I really like this card because of the cool camera angle. The card actually features Primeau in a Detroit Red Wings uniform, but it's hard to see, so at the time, it could easily pass as a Hurricanes card. I think the signature adds a nice touch to the card.




The final card that I'll mention tonight is this Glen Wesley card that I also got autographed at the fan event. Again, Wesley is wearing a Whalers uniform since no Hurricanes cards had been printed yet. I got this card signed in red because I thought it would stand out better against Wesley's dark pants. Honestly, I think that I may have been the only person at the even getting cards autographed as I don't recall anyone (this includes my hockey teammates that were in attendance) else even knowing who any of the players were besides Primeau. I've got several more Wesley cards that I also got signed that I'll post later in the week.

Zach Boychuk

Zach Boychuk is another player that I've been following for a couple of years after meeting him during the Hurricanes U class two seasons ago. I picked up a few Boychuk autographed cards that I've previously posted, but more recently came across Boychuk's Private Signings autographed card. The scan of this card doesn't do it justice - it's one of the nicest looking cards that I've ever seen. It's also nice to see larger signatures on cards rather than the smaller ones that are pretty common. I also prefer to see the signatures on the actual card itself, rather than on a sticker that is affixed later.

Conditioning Camp Observations

I drove over to Raleigh Center Ice today to watch the Hurricanes conditioning camp. It's ironic that the camp is now referred to as "Camp Rosie" because Chad LaRose was not in attendance. In his absence, it looked like Bryan Allen was directing the skating drills. Other than the two goaltenders (Cam Ward and Brian Boucher) the other players in attendance were all relatively young: Allen, Jamie McBain, Justin Faulk, Patrick Dwyer, Drayson Bowman, Jerome Samson, Jiri Tlusty, Anthony Stewart, Zac Dalpe, and Jon Matsumoto. Former Hurricane Bates Battaglia also was participating. Out of the group, Dalpe was definitely the most impressive. As I mentioned earlier, I think he'll have a breakout season and be the Hurricanes top rookie. As a result, I'm been paying a lot of attention to his cards on eBay. I recently picked up his UD Young Guns rookie card since this was one of the more popular Jeff Skinner rookie cards (In general, I think the UD Young Guns rookie cards are considered to be the best non-jersey, non-autographed, rookie cards each year.

I also recently won a great auction on eBay for a lot of 50 recent Hurricanes cards. My primary purpose for bidding was because a lot of Hurricanes pre-season events are coming up and I needed some cards to get autographed. Included among the cards were: Eric Staal, Tuomo Ruutu, Chad LaRose, Jussi Jokinen, Joni Pitkanen, Cam Ward, Brandon Sutter, Tim Gleason, Zach Boychuk, Drayson Bowman, Patrick Dwyer. Also included were former Hurricanes: Joe Corvo, Rod Brind'Amour, Matt Cullen, Ray Whitney, Manny Legace, Erik Cole, Ian White. My favorite among the lot is this UD Retro Cam Ward - not only are these retro cards cool, but they are also great for autographs since they don't have a glossy surface.

Cam Ward - The Mask

I picked up this very cool Cam Ward card a couple of weeks ago (the same week I picked up the Staal/Ward Future Teammates card). I really liked the card because it featured only Ward's mask - cards from other years in this series featured basically a head shot of the goaltender (not nearly as cool). By featuring only the mask, the details really stand out. I especially like mask cards because some classmates and I used to design our own masks back in 4th grade when NHL '95 on Sega Genesis was popular. Even though there was no franchise mode, we would act as though there was one and keep track of statistics, standings, etc from season to season in notebooks. Since we would inevitably trade for new goaltenders, we liked to design what their masks would look like if they played for a new team - imagine Patrick Roy on the Flyers, Ed Belfour on the Rangers, etc.

Chicago Visit Review

As promised, here is my review of the Chicago Blackhawks official store as well as a review of their official restaurant. Overall, I was very disappointed with the store. I was expecting something much bigger with lots more exclusive offerings. What I found was a rather small store with primarily over priced jerseys ($330) and t-shirts. Other than that, there was a small wall with some bobbleheads, decals, and key chains. The store was much smaller than either of The Eye locations and offered far less variety in merchandise. I'd really like for these official stores to carry more exclusive merchandise and some autographed and game used items. I actually found a much better selection of small Blackhawks items at a local Best Buy - all of which were on sale at 80% off the original price. I picked up a koozie for $1.60, a keychain for $2.00, and the 2010-11 Score team set for $2.00. The set includes: Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Dave Bolland, Troy Brouwer, Viktor Stalberg, Jack Skille, Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Jordan Hendry, Brian Campbell, Tomas Kopecky, and Marty Turco.

I also stopped by the Blackhawks restaurant at O'Hare, but didn't eat - I heard the food was terrible. The primary attraction at the restaurant is a wall featuring several autographed jerseys. Besides that, there are a few photos around the place, but nothing especially unique - probably not worth a visit unless you are flying out of Terminal 2, Gate E3 where the restaurant is located. As promised, I will resume posting Hurricanes cards tomorrow and maybe some autographs on Friday as I plan to attend the Hurricanes conditioning camp in the morning.

Flag Patch Cards - Patrick Kane

I realize that Patrick Kane doesn't play for the Hurricanes, but he's my favorite NHL player on another team, mainly because he's arguably the best American born player in the NHL at the moment. If you remember, I mentioned a few posts back how much I like cards of players in their international uniforms. Almost as cool are these cards that I've been seeing on eBay recently featuring a player with his country's flag patch. This particular card features Kane with the United States flag. I decided to post it in light of an upcoming trip to Chicago that I'm making. I'm planning to visit the Blackhawks official store and will post a review as well as a comparison to The Eye (The Hurricanes official store).

Future Teammates

About a month ago, I had a really good week on eBay and picked up three very unique cards. Among these cards was an ITG Future Teammates jersey card featuring Cam Ward and Eric Staal with the Lowell Lock Monsters. I really liked this card because it correctly predicted that Ward and Staal would be future teammates (both with the Hurricanes and at the 2011 NHL All-Star Game) and both won the Stanley Cup together the following season. I haven't seen any similar cards recently, but an equally cool card is the ITG Deep in the Crease card released last year that featured Ward, Justin Peters, Mike Murphy, and Justin Pogge (now with Phoenix). I'd like to see something along these lines done in 2011-12, perhaps featuring an NHL and AHL player at various positions (Staal - Dalpe, Gleason - Faulk, Ward - Peters, etc).

Misc. Observations: Having not been too impressed with the Upper Deck MVP cards recently, I've decided to hold off on purchasing any boxes until the 2011-12 Upper Deck Series 1 comes out. I did grab a box of 2010-11 Upper Deck Series 2 this week for a steal, but other than that I plan to wait. I should mention though that I opened a blaster box of Series 2 before I went on vacation and will post the results when I return.

Zac Dalpe

As I mentioned before, I think Zac Dalpe will end up being the Hurricanes top rookie next season. Since Dalpe started off the season with the Hurricanes this year, his rookie cards can be found in 2010-11 packs. However, since he spent the majority of the season under the radar in the American Hockey League and is a relative unknown outside the Hurricanes fan base, Dalpe's 2010-11 rookie cards are available at an affordable price. Therefore, I decided to track a number of these cards on eBay with the intention of buying them cheap. In addition to the Playoff Contenders card that I already discussed, I also bought Dalpe's Score Rookies and Traded autographed rookie card. I've got my eyes on a few other Dalpe cards, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

On a related note, the highest priced Dalpe card that I have seen yet is currently selling on eBay for $303 dollars. This autographed Ultimate Shield card is very cool and features the NHL crest from Dalpe's jersey. Numbered 1/1, at $303, you could be the only person in the world to own this card.

Clearly Canadian (# /100)

I've always loved cards of players in their national team jerseys. Back in the mid-90's Upper Deck routinely released cards of players in their World Juniors' jerseys. One year in particular, I decided to try to get as many of these as possible autographed and succeeded in getting about 10 (I'll add some pictures later). However, it's been nearly impossible to find cards of current NHL players in their national team jerseys (probably because of Olympic rights, etc). So, I was presently surprised to find this Eric Staal Clearly Canadian (# /100) card a few weeks ago. I was able to get it for a very good price. It features Staal in presumably a uniform from the World Championships. This was the first time that I had ever seen this card, so it was a must have for my collection.

NHL Store - New York City

I just got back from New York City, which is why I haven't posted in the last two days. Instead of posting a new card, I thought I'd provide my observations of the NHL Store. My experience at the NHL Store was very disappointing. Since this is the NHL's flagship store, I expected it to have pretty much everything you could ever want - or at least everything that's available on the NHL.com online store. However, instead, I found a few racks of random jerseys and a few tables of t-shirts. Essentially, the store was a glorified Footlocker with only Reebok shoes and NHL apparel. What's more, I didn't see a single Hurricanes item in the entire store, even though they had several Hartford Whalers hats, t-shirts, and jackets. You'd think that they'd at least sell Jeff Skinner's jersey and t-shirt since he was the Calder Trophy winner. Overall, I would not recommend wasting your time visiting this store. On a positive note, I made it on TV twice during the Yankees - Angels game - both times when home runs were hit into my section - video here.

Misc. Observations: I tried to find some hockey cards while I was in New York, but was unsuccessful. Every store that I went into only carried baseball cards. So, I'll stick with eBay for now.

ITG Cards

For as long as I can remember, at least one company regularly produced cards of players in their junior uniforms. When I was younger, Classic was the company that produced all of these cards. Recently, In the Game has taken over. Although these cards are technically the first cards produced of these players, they are not generally accepted as rookie cards and therefore are typically not very valuable. However, it's cool to look back 10+ years down the road and see a current star before his NHL days. I opted to purchase a couple of these cards this summer. The first was a Ryan Murphy card that I bought on draft night, just minutes after he was selected. I figured it would be a cool card to show people this summer, before Murphy's true rookie card is released. A few days later, I also decided to buy Jeff Skinner's ITG card, in part because both Skinner and Murphy played for the Kitchner Rangers and I thought the two cards went well together.

Misc. Observations: I like how many of the CHL teams wear a dark colored helmet with their white jerseys. I think this is a nice touch and makes the uniforms stand out more. The Washington Capitals similarly wore red helmets with their white jerseys against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Winter Classic. For the reverse effect, take a look at the United States' Olympic Team, which wore white helmets throughout the tournament, even with their dark blue jerseys.

Rod the Bod

Yesterday, I came across this card on eBay, which epitomizes Rod Brind'Amour. Unfortunately, the card's owner lives in the United Kingdom, so the extra cost of shipping didn't make a purchase worthwhile. Nevertheless, I thought everyone would be interested in checking out the card. That being said, I am in the market to purchase a unique Brind'Amour card at the right price, so I will continue to look on eBay.

Update: I decided to buy the card after all. The major motivating factor was that I haven't seen this card for over 10 years and didn't want to lose out on potentially my only opportunity to get it.

Skinner Fever!

Undoubtedly, the hottest rookie cards in 2010-11 belonged to Jeff Skinner. Even back in January, before All-Star weekend, Skinner's rookie cards were selling in the $100 range (See: January 25 CardBoardConnection Article). The two most popular Skinner rookie cards are his Upper Deck Young Guns card and his Upper Deck Retro Young Guns card. The retro card reached its peak around the time Skinner won the Calder Trophy, with eBay auctions going as high as $250. I was lucky enough to snag one of these cards last week for only $30 - a steal. This card is especially cool because it features a retro design that was used in the early 1990's when I first began collecting cards (See: Lindros card in Introduction below). I also picked up Skinner's Young Guns rookie card earlier in the month for $20 - a card that had been selling for as high as $60 weeks earlier. Only time will tell as to whether these cards will retain their price point or will eventually plummet like the rookie cards of many future stars of earlier years. One promising comparison is that former Calder Trophy winner Patrick Kane's rookie cards have still maintained their price after 3 years. Currently, Skinner's SP Authentic Future Watch autographed rookie card appears to be his most popular on eBay, selling for around $50. However, there are a number of rare numbered Skinner cards available for prices ranging as high as $1,000.

Misc. Observations: Looking ahead to 2011-12 packs, I think that Justin Faulk's card will be the most popular Hurricanes card. Look for Faulk's first card to potentially be included in Upper Deck Series 2, which will be released sometime in the spring. Another possibility is Riley Nash who did not have a card printed in 2010-11. Ryan Murphy is a third possibility, although it is unlikely that he will make the team this season. However, there is still a chance that Upper Deck will release a non-action rookie card for Murphy.

Rookie Cards

Every year it seems like card companies jump the gun to produce rookie cards, relying on awkward studio photographs instead of live action shots. Upper Deck's Young Guns cards found in Series 2 packs seem to be the recent noticeable exception - a major benefit for collectors of Jeff Skinner's rookie cards. While searching eBay for cards of recent Hurricanes signee Anthony Stewart (@Astew22), I came across this "gem." Although most non-action rookie cards are seemingly shot in a studio, this particular card looks like it was shot in the hallway by an Upper Deck intern using his camera phone - maybe Stewart himself can shed some light on the photo's origin?

Considering the poor quality of these photos, I decided to hold off and wait to grab one of the first Stewart cards in a Hurricanes jersey, which will inevitably be available in 2011-12 packs. However, I did pickup this Zach Boychuk autographed rookie card (# /999). Although it's a non-action shot, SP went "the extra mile" to give Boychuk a Hurricanes hat for the shoot - a nice touch, although I would have preferred for SP to have waited and used an action shot instead.

Below, I've posted a few more Hurricanes rookie cards, which showcase some exceptionally bad haircuts (Staal and Cole) and another look for Stewart (think high school yearbook).

  

All-Star Fan Fair Observations

I know this is several months late, but I hadn't created this blog yet so I've decided to post my All-Star Fan Fair observations now. My primary objective in attending the Fan Fair was to get Jeff Skinner's autograph at the Upper Deck booth. Not knowing what to expect in terms of fan turnout, I arrived at the Convention Center 30 minutes early and was shocked to find several thousand people already in line. By the time I got inside, there were over a thousand people already in line for Skinner's autograph. I nervously waited in line for over 2 hours and finally got Skinner's autograph on the complimentary oversized Upper Deck card minutes before Skinner stopped signing.

Afterwards, I decided to walk around and check out the other booths. The majority of the booths were geared towards young children - games and such. There also was an area setup with card vendors, much like what you would find at a card show, except for the grossly overpriced Hurricanes cards. After Skinner left and the Upper Deck area cleared, I returned to take advantage of the Upper Deck promotion. Basically, if you opened a certain number of packs, you would get your choice of 3 special 3 card sets, or if you opened an entire box, you would get all 3 sets and a bonus card featuring Cam Ward, Eric Staal, and Ron Francis. I chose to go for one of the sets and picked the one with Jeff Skinner, Sidney Crosby, and Gordie Howe, primarily because I didn't have a Skinner card at the time.

At the Upper Deck booth, I also pulled my first jersey card from a pack - Matt Carle of Philadelphia. Unfortunately, it appears that this card isn't very popular as there are several on eBay at 99 cents, with no bids. I wrapped up the day by waiting in line for another 2 hours to have my picture taken with the Stanley Cup for the third time. I decided not to stick around for the fantasy draft since I was starving and there were several hundred people in the food line. Overall, I think the event was worthwhile just for the opportunity to get Skinner's autograph - although I don't know if I would have found it as beneficial had I not gotten that opportunity.

Misc. Observations: This year, Pinnacle did a series of cards called "City Lights," which basically featured a player with the backdrop of his city's skyline. Pinnacle chose Jeff Skinner as the Hurricanes representative. However, if you look closely at the card, you will notice that the backdrop is not Raleigh's skyline, but instead Charlotte's skyline. This fact alone makes this a very unique card to own and one that I hope I can add to my collection sometime soon.