Author: Sal Barry

Sal Barry is the editor and webmaster of Puck Junk. He is a freelance hockey writer, college professor and terrible hockey player. Follow him on Twitter @puckjunk

About the Cards: Episode 166

Yesterday, Sal Barry and Tim Parish were guests  on the “About the Cards” Podcast. They joined show hosts Ben and Stephan to talk about the new NHL Seattle Kraken expansion team, Fanatics buying up all the sport trading card licenses, how this could affect hockey cards and Upper Deck, and much more. The show is about 2 hours and 20 minutes, so give it a listen next time you need some good background banter. 

Follow Sal Barry on Twitter @PuckJunk.
Follow Tim Parish on Twitter @TheRealDFG. 
Find more episodes of About the Cards on their YouTube Channel.

2021-22Love hockey? Join the Puck Junk Facebook Group, subscribe to Puck Junk on YouTube, and support this site and buy a shirt from the Puck Junk Online Shop. ■

Puck Junk Podcast #99: Aug. 27, 2021

Advertising on NHL Jerseys
Plus: Fanatics Storms the Card Industry

Sal Barry and Tim Parish discuss the NHL’s decision to allow advertising patches on jerseys. Is this a great new way for the teams to make money, the beginning of the end, or both? Plus, they talk about how Fanatics acquisition of the Major League Baseball trading card license will affect the trading card industry — including hockey cards. Also: Henrik Lundqivst, the PWCC-eBay feud, and the time Wayne Gretzky hosted Saturday Night Live. It’s one hour and 38 minutes of hockey goodness! 

Show Notes, Links and Images: 
NHL team jersey fronts can have ads starting in 2022-23 season (ESPN)
Solitaire 2.0 cards (President’s Choice Trading Cards)
Video: Henrik Lundqivst blocks pies on The Tonight Show (YouTube)
Video: Henrik Lundqvist playing guitar on The Tonight Show (YouTube)
Video: Car commercial starring four Pittsburg Penguins (Puck Junk)
Video: Wayne Gretzky on Conan O’Brien (YouTube)
Fanatics Acquires Baseball Card Licenses  (Sports Collectors Daily)

Here’s that Red Wings card that has a piece of a manufactured “Buy War Bonds” patch…

This is the patch that was used on this card:

War Bonds Patch

Follow Sal Barry on Twitter @PuckJunk.
Follow Tim Parish on Twitter @TheRealDFG.
Podcast opening and closing music by Jim “Not the Goalie” Howard.

Subscribe to the Puck Junk Hockey Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podchaser, PocketCasts, Castbox , Castro,
Overcast, TuneIn and SoundCloud.

Love hockey? Join the Puck Junk Facebook Group and subscribe to Puck Junk on YouTube. 

Support this podcast and buy a shirt from the Puck Junk Online Shop. ■

How to Remove Tape from Trading Card Top Loaders

One of the biggest pet peeves in the trading card hobby is the so-called “tape loader” — a perfectly-good trading card top loader that has clear tape stuck to the top of it. This is done to keep a card from sliding out of the top loader when sent in the mail. While that seems courteous of the sender, the problem is that it pretty much ruins the top loader. Peel off the tape and it leaves behind a sticky residue that will transfer to other top loaders that it is stored with. Leave the tape on and it becomes a trading card supply that you don’t want to look at. Either way, it’s pretty much useless. Price tags adhered to top loaders also cause a similar conundrum. 

Many times, I’d just throw out a sullied top loader. That made sense when a 25-pack of top loaders cost $4 or $5. Who wants to spend time trying to salvage something that could be replaced so cheaply? 

But now, standard-sized top loaders cost upwards of $10 per pack — if you can find them.  Top loaders for jersey and game-used cards cost more. Top loaders are too expensive to throw out these days and are actually worth cleaning and re-using. 

Here is how you can get rid of tape and tape residue from top loaders and make them as good as new.

Continue reading “How to Remove Tape from Trading Card Top Loaders”

Puck Junk Podcast #98: Aug. 20, 2021

2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series
Plus: Remembering Tony Esposito

Sal Barry and Tim Parish talk all about the 2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series Hockey card set; what’s great about it, and what missed the mark? They also pay tribute to Blackhawks goaltending legend Tony Esposito, who passed away last week. Plus, Penguins broadcaster Mike Lange’s retirement, the Dave Parker “hockey” baseball card, upcoming releases, and more. It’s an hour forty-five  of hockey goodness! 

Show Notes, Links and Images: 
Goodbye and Thank You, Tony Esposito (Puck Junk)
My Quest to Own a Tony-O Rookie Card (Puck Junk)
Ted Lindsay: Remembering a Legend (Puck Junk)
Why Dave Parker wore a goalie mask (Puck Junk)
Sal’s 3 Box Breaks of 2020-21 Upper Deck Extended (first, second, third)

The Topps Project70 Dave Parker card with him wearing a goalie mask: 

Some images from 2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series Hockey: 

Zdeno Chara (base card)

Braden Holtby (base card)

Connor McDavid – All-Star Game (base card)

Alex Pietrangelo (“Plain Clothes” photo variant)

Bobby Ryan (French parallel variant)

Arthur Kaliyev (Young Guns rookie card)

Mika Zibanejad (2005-06 Tribute insert)

Auston Matthews (Ovation insert)

Mathew Barzal (SPX Finite insert – Spectrum parallel)

Bowen Byram (Rookie Class SE insert)

Ryan O’Reilly (UD3 insert)

Follow Sal Barry on Twitter @PuckJunk.
Follow Tim Parish on Twitter @TheRealDFG.
Podcast opening and closing music by Jim “Not the Goalie” Howard.

Subscribe to the Puck Junk Hockey Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podchaser, PocketCasts, Castbox , Castro,
Overcast, TuneIn and SoundCloud.

Love hockey? Join the Puck Junk Facebook Group and subscribe to Puck Junk on YouTube. 

Support this podcast and buy a shirt from the Puck Junk Online Shop. ■

2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series Hobby Box Break #3

Can you have too much of a good thing? Maybe so. My third and final box — for now, anyway — of 2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series gave me some new surprise insets, as well as inserts that I’ve already grown a bit tired of.

As much as I love the retro-esque inserts in Extended Series, I seem to get the same types over and over, while there are other types of inserts that I have yet to see. And I don’t mean that I’m getting doubles of any insert cards. Collation for Extended Series has been great overall, and I did get a few types of insert cards that I didn’t get from my previous two boxes. 

So, let’s take a look and see what surprises were inside my third box of Extended Series.

Continue reading “2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series Hobby Box Break #3”

2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series Hobby Box Break #2

Since I am “all in” on building a set of 2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series, I know that I will need at least two boxes to build the 200-card base set. Extended Series also has a plethora of insert sets designed to look like popular late 1990s Upper Deck releases such as HoloGr-FX, Ovation and Ultimate Victory, among others. (Click here for my first box break of 2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series and for more general information about this set.) 

Since the inserts you get in 2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series can vary from box to box, I’ve decided to post another box break so you can see some of the inserts that I didn’t get in my first box. 

Continue reading “2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series Hobby Box Break #2”

Goodbye and Thank You, Tony Esposito

Chicago Blackhawks legend Tony Esposito passed away on Tuesday at the age of 78. Like practically every other hockey fan, I had no idea that he was ill. And like the rest of the hockey world, I was shocked, surprised, and saddened by the loss of the man known as Tony-O.

Continue reading “Goodbye and Thank You, Tony Esposito”

2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series Hobby Box Break

I was excited when I learned that 2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series — a.k.a. “Series 3” — was coming out this summer. The Upper Deck flagship set has been my favorite hockey card set to collect over the past 30 years, and I think that expanding the set from its usual 500 cards to 730 cards makes a great thing even better. 

Upper Deck Extended Series consists of 200 base cards and 30 Young Guns rookie cards — instead of the usual 50 Young Guns per series like there are in Series One and Series Two. A lot of the cards in the 200-card base set picture players from the 2020 NHL All-Star Game, which took place about six weeks before the league shut down in March 2020 due to COVID-19. Like Series One and Series Two, there are eight cards in a foil pack and 24 packs in a box.

Making Extended Series really appealing to myself and other old school hockey collectors is the inclusion of numerous insert sets based on popular sets from the late 1990s and early 2000s, such as HoloGr-FX and Ultimate Victory. 

I recently purchased a hobby box of 2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series. Here is what I got. 

Continue reading “2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series Hobby Box Break”

Puck Junk Podcast #97: August 4, 2021

2021 National Sports Collectors Convention Recap

Puck Junk Podcast hosts Sal Barry and Tim Parish are joined by Tim’s wife Jessica. The three of them share their perspectives on the 2021 National Sports Collectors Convention. Sal talks about being a dealer at the world’s biggest card show, while Tim and Jessica recap their experience trying to find hockey cards. The episode is one hour and thirty-five minutes, so get comfy before pushing that play button.

Show Notes, Links and Images: 
Dictionary.com entry for ubiquitous
Info about the Chicago Sports Spectacular in September (show website)
A few pictures of the Puck Junk booth at the 2021 National:

Sal at the Puck Junk booth on Day 1 of the 2021 NSCC.
Some of the shirts that were for sale at the show.
Sal was giving away these masks with the Puck Junk logo on them.
Some stuff that was for sale, including a Chicago Bulls ticket order form from 1986 picturing Michael Jordan.
Greg McLaughlin (left) from the Rebel Base Card Podcast visited Sal at the Puck Junk booth on Friday. 
Sal gave out hundreds of his new “business trading card” at the National over the past weekend.

Shout Outs to…
Justin Zang of Zang A Pang Cards on Instagram 
Arthur a.k.a. “Polish Warrior 79” on Twitter
Zackary Soof of Zack’s Hockey Box on YouTube
Mark Petree of Tree’s Collectibles
Greg McLaughlin from the Rebel Base Card Podcast
Jeff Baker from the TTMCast podcast

Follow Sal Barry on Twitter @PuckJunk.
Follow Tim Parish on Twitter @TheRealDFG.
Follow Jessica on Twitter @WifeOfDFG.
Podcast opening and closing music by Jim “Not the Goalie” Howard.

Subscribe to the Puck Junk Hockey Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podchaser, PocketCasts, Castbox , Castro,
Overcast, TuneIn and SoundCloud.

Love hockey? Join the Puck Junk Facebook Group and subscribe to Puck Junk on YouTube. 

Support this podcast and buy a shirt from the Puck Junk Online Shop. ■

Puck Junk Will Be at the 2021 Natoinal

Puck Junk will have a presence at the 2021 National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago this weekend, July 28 to August 1. I’ll be splitting space with AU Sports at booth number 1011, right next to Memory Lane, and very close to the Main Entrance and the VIP Entrance. 

I will be selling hockey t-shirts at 20% off the regular price. 

And I’ll also be selling some complete hockey sets — from the late 1960s all the way to the modern era, as well as a bunch of single hockey cards from all years. 

Drop by Booth 1011, say hi, talk hockey with me, and grab one of my new “business trading cards,” which would look great in a nine-pocket page or top loader. (Speaking of which, I’ll have packs of top loaders for sale at the show, too.) 

I will also be giving away a limited number of these sweet-looking face masks with the Puck Junk logo printed on them.

These machine-washable masks are two-layered, have adjustable ear loops and an adjustable nose piece, which is essential for guys like me who wear glasses.

If you can’t remember my booth number, just keep an eye out for my banner. 

The National Sports Collectors Convention starts Wednesday, July 28 and runs until Sunday, August 1. Click here for more information about the NSCC and to buy tickets.

And if you do make it to the National, be sure to drop by Booth 1011, check out what I’ve got for sale, and talk some hockey! 

Love hockey? Join the Puck Junk Facebook Group, subscribe to Puck Junk on Apple Podcasts and  YouTube, and support this site at the Puck Junk Online Shop. 

Follow Sal Barry on Twitter @PuckJunk. ■