Best of the Worst: 2014-15 Upper Deck Series 1 Hockey

2014-15 Upper Deck Series 1: Best of the WorstUpper Deck, unarguably, hands down, without a doubt, has the BEST picture for their Series 1 and 2 sets over any other card company. I always look forward to buying a hobby box or two when they come out just for the photograph and candid shots they somehow get. Seriously, I marvel at the angles and wonder how many pictures are shot and how many must end up on the cutting room floor/recycling bin of the computer.

So I was super excited to get my hands on this new box that came out! And while there were some great ones there….I noticed a lot of stinkers too! From the box I bought here’s my list of my Top Ten Best of the Worst:

10: Colton Scevior’s Snow Job! (#66)

2014-15 Upper Deck #66 - Colton SceviourColton here is pulling the classic douche move of snow blowing the Caps goalie. From an action standpoint, it’s pretty good, but you can’t see any features of the skater himself; certainly not his face. You can barely read his name on the back of his sweater! The dude did play 26 games for the Stars; is that be best shot you could get of him?

9, 8, 7: Jeff Petry (#77), Kevin Shattenkirk (#163), Niklas Kronwall (#67)
Durp faces all around!

2014-15 Upper Deck #77 - Jeff Petry2014-15 Upper Deck #163 - Kevin Shattenkirk2014-15 Upper Deck #67 - Niklas Kronwall

Secretly, I love these cards! Hockey players make some of the best faces in pro sports.

2014-15 Upper Deck #77 - Jeff PetryPetry looks unfazed while Jordan Nolan looks like he missed the hit and clanged himself into the boards; almost everyone in the crowd missed it, looking elsewhere.

2014-15 Upper Deck #163 - Kevin ShattenkirkMeanwhile, Shattenkirk (who already has a name reminiscent of a failed Star Trek convention held at an un-renovated Holiday Inn) is squeezing out poor Craig Smith who looks like he’s getting a prostate exam from Dr. Frosty “Big Knuckles” McGerk, M.D.!

2014-15 Upper Deck #67 - Niklas KronwallAnd Nicky Kronwall:

“I’m Kronwall the Skater Man
I hit player hards as I can
I back pedal to places, and make funny faces
I’m Kronwall the Skater Man!”
*Toot, toooot!*

Whadda Popeye face!

6: James Van Riemsdyk as Strech Armstrong! (#176)

2014-15 Upper Deck #176 - James Van RiemsdykLooks like this was taken from the goalie cam, and it’s likely been cleaned up in editing. But there’s this stretch that’s happening that just grabs my attention and won’t let go. That, or JVR has a face shaped like a kidney bean. Something else I’ve noticed: UD LOVES getting shots from the goalie cam at MSG. The ceiling does make for a cool background many times.

5: Did Alex Stalock play in the 1990’s or something? (#160)

2014-15 Upper Deck #160 - Alex StalockThis picture quality is so bad it looks like it was taken from an old cathode ray-tube television with the VCR on pause! Come on UD, you can do better than this. Was the Nikon broken, and you had to use a Polaroid as the back up?

4: Jeff Zatkoff has an acid flashback in three…two…onooooohh…. (#152)

2014-15 Upper Deck #152 - Jeff Zatkoff“Duuuuude….This is like….the greatest national anthem eeeeever…..Croz, are you feelin’ this right now?”

3: Jhonas Enroth and the Bandit (#25)

enrothStop it kid, you’re freaking me out.

banditSTOP IT!

2: Brendan Gallagher doing…what, exactly? (#104)

2014-15 Upper Deck #104 - Brendan GallagherNo uniform, no idea what stadium he’s at. Just a dude hanging out in his shorts and flops, hands in his pockets, and that’s the picture they got. Seriously? That’s the best they got? They could have had him in the exact same pose standing at a urinal at Tim Horton’s (and believe me, if I was any good at Photoshop, I would have made that happen!) and it would have been a better picture than this! Somebody got bored and went *click*.

AND MY NUMBER 1 MOST HATED CARD: Ryan Johansen’s understudy (#52)

2014-15 Upper Deck #52 - Ryan JohansenUD Photo Editor: “Oh crap, we’re almost ready to print but we don’t have a picture of Ryan Johansen!”

UD Lackey #6: “Oh no, boss; what do we do?”

UD Photo Editor: “Quick, UDL#6 — put on this jersey and helmet and stand in front of this fuzzy, ugly wallpaper! The kids will never know!”

You have no proof that this didn’t happen.

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS!

The most Nail Yakupov picture ever! (Canvas C34):

Nail_CanvasNail’s got a rep for just not caring enough when it comes to the game. And whaddaya know, he shows up in a hoodie, shorts, sneakers and a look of disinterest on his face. I like to think that the Best of the Best pictures are saved for the Canvas Series, but I think UD is playing favorites and Nail ain’t one of them.

Brad Marchand the DUCK! (#15):

2014-15 Upper Deck #15 - Brad MarchandI’ll admit, I’m not fan of this man, on or off the ice. But the duck face is just so perfect for him. You want to hate him, and he wants you to hate him, and the duck face just makes it even worse!

Here, let Dustin Byfuglien (C88) show how to do a good duck face for the ladies:

2014-15 Upper Deck Canvas #C88 - Dustin ByfuglienJim Howard is a Carolina Hurricanes fan and reformed baseball card collector who is trying to keep the hockey collection from becoming overwhelming. And while he wishes he could give Crosby the business with his mitt, he is in fact NOT the goalie for the Red Wings.

mm

Author: Jim Howard

Hockey enthusiast who pays the bills as a traveling geologist. More of a lover than a fighter, he's a fairly cheap date; just ask his wife. He'd prefer to be outside in the rain that stuck in the office on a beautiful day.

6 thoughts on “Best of the Worst: 2014-15 Upper Deck Series 1 Hockey”

  1. Awesome blog post! I like the photo’s from Upper Deck too but there are some funny ones that just don’t seem to fit.

    1. WOW, good catch! I must not have gotten that card when I bought the series 2!

      Ok, now we need to formally submit this to Upper Deck and tell them to step up their game.
      WE. ARE. WATCHING. >:(

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