Thursday, November 17, 2011

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.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

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

Monday, November 7, 2011

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

Sunday, November 6, 2011

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

Thursday, November 3, 2011

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

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

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