To Grade Or Not To Grade?

I am not big on having modern day cards graded, I just don’t think it is logical unless the card is very limited and it is a top tier player. I am just surprised at some of the cards people get graded. When you consider the cost to have a card graded it just boggles the mind. Beckett runs $11 per card with a 45-day turn around if you get 1-12 cards graded. Even if you were to have 100 or more cards graded you are still paying $8 per card with a 45-day turn around. PSA is $17 per card with a 10-day turnaround if you get 1-9 cards graded. If you go with their bulk service, 100 cards (or more) still run $7 per card with a 45-day turn around.

 

Last October I bought a graded BGS 8 2013 Leaf Rookie Retro Yasiel Puig for $6.64. If the seller was the one who had the card graded he lost money on the sale. It is situations like this where I am just awestruck at what people have graded. Now I am guessing that whoever had the card graded was hoping to make money on Puig’s quick fame but still, this is the reason I won’t consider grading a modern card without a damn good reason.

 

Now I am in the position where I am wondering if I should get a modern day card graded. Last year I pulled a 2010-11 Upper Deck Tyler Seguin Young Guns out of a discounted blaster. I know he has a solid future ahead of him but I put it in to a binder and paid no attention to it until I was adding my hockey cards to my Zistle account. At 22-years old he has been in the league for four season, he is currently with the Dallas Stars. This past season he ranked #5 in the league in goals and #4 in the league in total points.

 

Graded versions of his Young Guns can run $90 or more depending on the grade. Would it be logical to get his card graded if I planned to sell it?

A New Look For Hockey Heroes

Hockey Heroes has become an automatic expectation with Upper Deck’s NHL release each year, the problem is that besides a few minor cosmetic alterations you cannot differentiate the insert set from year to year. Upper Deck designers have decided to put an end to this copy and paste process and redesign the set entirely.

For reference, here are cards from the 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 Hockey Heroes sets.

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

We are now going to see a set that will focus on players from the past, an homage to “the old-school”. In the 2011-12 Series One release we will see a 12-player checklist from the  1950s, 2011-12 Series Two will include 12 players from the 1960s, 2012-13 Series One will bring us 12 players from the 1970s and 2012-13 Series Two will bring us 12 players from the 1980s. 

 Additionally, with the 2011-12 Series One in Hockey Heroes insert 10 of the 12 cards on the checklist will include an on-card autographed parallel of the base insert card #/15. Does a hockey collector need more? A 13^th card has been added to the checklist, a painted art card (not sure if this is really painted or printed) of Howe, Bathgate and Hull has been included in to packs and will also include an on-card triple autograph parallel version #/10.

The cards will also be numbered sequentially from set to set to allow collectors to build a complete set. The 1950s set will be numbered HH1-HH12, the 1960s set from Series Two will be numbered HH13-HH25 and so on for the 1970s and 1980s sets. Apparently the painted card is not considered part of the base insert set.

2010-11 Upper Deck Hockey Series 2 Hands-on

I picked up a couple of packs of Upper Deck Hockey Series 2 the other day. The series has picked up where Series 1 left off with the same full-bleed design, Young Guns and the 20th Anniversary parallels. I am still just getting back in to hockey card collecting but being a life-long fan of the Islanders has made it easy to just catch up with the team.

It was nice to see that these packs were full of Islanders including one of my favorite DiPietro. On top of that I pulled a Travis Hamonic Young Gun, kind of interesting that a Defenseman would make it in to an insert titled “Young Guns”. I also pulled a couple of Victory rookie cards, a Jordan Eberle and a Nino Niederreiter. Eberle is having an awesome rookie year in Edmonton and Niederreiter started out the season in New York after being drafted with the #5 pick overall in 2010. He only played 9 games before being sent back down to the WHL but I am pretty sure we will see him back in the NHL next season.

I also pulled a Nikolai Khabibulin card. I find this card interesting even though it is just his back. The Oilers jerseys have some interesting colors that catch the eyes and the mask adds to the overall appeal. Khabib is an old-school goalie playing in his 14th season this year. He actually played for the Jets/Coyotes so he is a player I like having come through the desert.

2010-11 Upper Deck Hockey

With the NBA and NFL lockouts looming (NFL agreement ends 3/4/11 and the NBA agreement ends 6/30/11) we may be down to MLB and NHL for our sporting needs so I decided to take the plunge back in to NHL to see what I have been missing since I stopped collecting NHL cards about 8 years ago.

The base card design is something we have seen time and time again from Upper Deck, a full-bleed image with the name, team name and a small face shot of the player. Pretty similar to the baseball designs over the past 10 years, which is disappointing considering that UD has to survive on NHL and NCAA so you think they would keep product designs fresh to keep the collectors wanting.

I got a couple of young players, Jordan Staal and Sidney Crosby along with local player Scottie Upshall, not that I am really a Coyotes fan; I grew up an Islanders fan. I did end up pulling a couple of Islanders, D Mark Streit and G Dwayne Roloson, a player on the IR and has not even played a game this season (Streit) and a player who was actually traded a couple of weeks ago to the Tampa Bay Lighting (Roloson) color me impressed... said sarcastically.

I pulled a couple of Young Gun rookie cards, Eric Tangradi and Tommy Wingels, not really a couple of young guns setting the ice ablaze and both are currently in the minors but they do seem to have an upside and could be back in the NHL before long. I do like the design on the Young Gun cards; they stand out from the other base cards.

The EA Superstar cards are quite cool, this is the type of insert that makes UD stand apart from the lackluster we see with some of the other card companies. When you have one in your hand you immediately think “This is a hockey card worth pulling”. I pulled a Tavares and Daniel Sedin Superstar card.

Upper Deck included a number of 20th Anniversary variations and retros with the inserts, the Hockey Heroes is an instant classic taking you back to the 1990-91 set and pulling a Yzerman was a nice grab.

The best cards overall though are the 20th Anniversary base card variations. These cards are straight from a 20 year old pack. Upper Deck used the 90-91 design on the front and back and even used a similar thin card stock. At 1:9 pack odds you are bound to pull a couple even from single packs or blasters and they are very cool.