2020-21 Allure Hockey Box Break

Not long before the 2021-22 season started, Upper Deck released 2020-21 Allure Hockey. All of Upper Deck’s hockey card releases have been pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so it is sometimes an odd feeling to open last year’s hockey cards during this season — especially when you pull a card of someone who has since changed teams.

Anyway, a hobby box of 2020-21 Allure Hockey contains eight packs. Each pack contains eight cards. A box is guaranteed to have one jersey card and one autographed card. Boxes of Allure debuted at around $160 per box but are now selling for around $140 from online retailers based in the U.S.

I’m a bit late to the party here, but I finally had a chance to open a box of 2020-21 Allure Hockey. Let’s see what I got.

Continue reading “2020-21 Allure Hockey Box Break”

The Ralph Macchio Hockey Rookie Card

Cobra Kai and Karate Kid Star Macchio Got His Own Hockey Trading Card in 1991-92

Last week, Cobra Kai Season 4 premiered on Netflix and quickly became the streaming service’s most-watched series. But did you know that Cobra Kai and Karate Kid star Ralph Macchio had his own hockey card 30 years ago? Here’s how –and why — it happened.

Continue reading “The Ralph Macchio Hockey Rookie Card”

The Puck Junk Bad Hockey Card Hall of Fame: Class of 2021

The year 2021 would not be complete until 10 more cards are inducted into the Puck Junk Bad Hockey Card Hall of Fame. Since 2017, this website has honored the most-horrendous hockey cards ever made. Some cards use bad photos, other cards have janky paint jobs…and some cards are just straight-up awful and should not have been made in the first place.

So, before we can ring in 2022, let’s take a look at some of the worst hockey cards ever made.

Continue reading “The Puck Junk Bad Hockey Card Hall of Fame: Class of 2021”

Rookie Cards of Every NHL Head Coach for the 2021-22 Season

Every NHL head coach was involved in hockey at a high level prior to coaching in the world’s best hockey league. Some were NHL players, while others played major junior, collegiate, or minor pro hockey before coaching. Thus, all 32 NHL head coaches have had at least one hockey card issued sometime during either their playing or coaching careers.

Here is a list of rookie cards for every head coach in the NHL. Some had mainstream “rookie cards” found in sets like Topps, O-Pee-Chee, Upper Deck, and Pro Set cards. Others did not play — or did not play long — in the NHL. In their cases, I tracked down the earliest trading card that coach had. I’ve indicated the value of each card and how difficult the card is to find today.

Continue reading “Rookie Cards of Every NHL Head Coach for the 2021-22 Season”

David Backes’ First Hockey Card

2001-02 Lincoln Stars #2: David Backes

Today, 15-year NHL veteran David Backes signed a one-day contract with the St. Louis Blues so that he could retire as a member of the team he spent most of his career with. The Blues picked Backes in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft in the second round, 62nd overall. Five years later, Backes made his NHL debut, played 10 seasons with the Blues, and then another five seasons split between the Boston Bruins and the Anaheim Ducks.

But 20 years ago, a fresh-faced, 18-year old Backes was playing Junior A hockey with the Lincoln Stars of the USHL and was included in the team’s 2001-02 trading card set. Of course, back then Backes was a little shorter and a lot lighter

Continue reading “David Backes’ First Hockey Card”

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”

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”

1988-89 Topps Hockey Cards Set Checklist, Details & Review

Neon and pushpins make this set stick around

The 1988-89 Topps Hockey Card set has a fun-looking design, some notable rookie cards, and a historically significant card, too. This was the third year in a row that Topps released a hockey set with 198 cards. In addition to the 198 cards, there are 33 insert stickers and 16 “box bottom” cards that were found in four-card panels on the bottom of display boxes.

This set features bright colors and a quirky design elements. Notable rookie cards include Brett Hull, Brendan Shanahan, Joe Nieuwendyk, and Bob Probert. The Wayne Gretzky card is significant because it is the first hockey card to use a press conference photo, as Gretzky was traded from the Oilers to the Kings that summer, and a photo of Gretzky suited up with the Kings was not yet available.

Continue reading “1988-89 Topps Hockey Cards Set Checklist, Details & Review”

2020-21 Upper Deck NHL Star Rookies Box Set Checklist & Review

While at my local Target store the other day, I decided to take a look at the trading card aisle, knowing full well that Target was currently not selling sports cards. But maybe I’d get lucky and find some top loaders or penny sleeves or — hey now, what’s this?

Yes! My local Target had a few of the 2020-21 Upper Deck NHL Star Rookies Box Sets in stock for $20 each. The set contains “one 25-card rookie set per box,” plus one in every 20 sets has an autographed card.

Autograph or not. I was pretty happy to find this because I haven’t seen any sports cards at Target since May, and $20 for 25 cards seems like a bargain nowadays. And I’ve always been a sucker for boxed sets that focus on a particular subject — in this case, hockey rookies — and that I could just buy and be done with.

So, let’s take a look and see what goodness $20 will bring me.

Continue reading “2020-21 Upper Deck NHL Star Rookies Box Set Checklist & Review”