Hockey cards, collectibles and culture
Upper Deck’s policy on replacing damaged cards has changed. They will still replace damaged cards up to a year from the date of the card’s manufacture, but you can no longer just drop the cards in the mail; the process is a bit more involved.
I’ve documented my most-recent return of defective cards to Upper Deck, so you know what to do — and how long it will take – if you get damaged cards in your latest box break.
The tenth year of the NHL’s “Salary Cap Era” has wrapped up. To the surprise of perhaps no one, no team that had the highest-paid roster has won the Stanley Cup in the past decade. The Vancouver Cancucks — who were paid a league-high $70,975,000 in 2010-11 — almost did it when they came within one win of the Stanley Cup in 2011.
Above is an interactive chart that displays the highest-paid team and the Stanley Cup-wining team, plus the teams that scored the most goals, that allowed the fewest goals, and that had the best record during the regular season. The chart also notes where each team ranked overall in league payroll for that season.
To learn more, check out the interactive bar graph. ■
Salary data from USA Today (2005-06 to 2013-14) and and NHL Numbers (2014-15).
Special thanks to Hockey’s Cap.
The Chicago Blackhawks are a modern-era dynasty, winning the Stanley Cup three times in six years. The journey started way back in 2002, when the team selected defenseman — and future Conn Smythe Trophy winner — Duncan Keith in the NHL Entry Draft.
Solid drafting has been the key to Chicago’s success. Of the 25 players who suited up for the Blackhawks in the 2015 playoffs, 12 were drafted between 2002 and 2013, while seven were acquired in trades and six others were signed as free agents.
For more detail on how this dynasty was crafted, plus a recap of how every player contributed to the ‘Hawks latest championship, check out this interactive timeline. ■
The plan for this year’s Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup victory parade and subsequent rally was flawed from the get-go.
First, the parade is on a Thursday. A Thursday! Who wants to call in sick to work on Thursday, only to come back to work on Friday and pretend they’re still nursing a summer cold?
The other problem is that the rally afterward is a ticketed event at Soldier Field, home of the NFL’s Chicago Bears. The rally tickets were free through the Ticketmaster website at noon Wednesday. The 75,000 available tickets sold out in 20 minutes, and — to the disappointment of many Blackhawks fans — were being scalped on eBay moments later. Continue reading “Free Hawks rally tickets hawked on eBay”
Elmer Lach, a former Montreal Canadien and an honored member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, died on Saturday at the age of 97. He was the oldest living former member of the Les Habitants at the time of his passing. Lach played in the NHL from 1940 to 1954, and was the center of the “Punch Line” with Maurice Richard and Toe Blake on his wings. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966, and had his jersey number, 16, retired by the Habs in 2009. Despite all these accolades, Lach remained humble and fan-friendly, and always signed autographs for anyone who wrote to him. Continue reading “Thank You, Elmer Lach”
In case you missed it, I recently had an article published on The Hockey News website about a Canadian pop punk band named The Hextalls. They are releasing their newest album on February 14, and have been around since the late 1990s. If you like rock music, see my article at the THN website. Should you decide that you want to give these guys a listen, you can stream their last few albums over at Grooveshark. I recommend “Pacman,” “I Don’t Wanna be a New York Ranger,” and “I Bred this Beard for Slaughter” to get a good idea of what their music is like. ■
If you live in the U.S., chances are you’ve seen the above commercial for the upcoming NHL All-Star Game — probably ten times an hour when watching your favorite team on TV. Visually, it’s a pretty cool commercial, with elite NHL players as celestial bodies in the sky, playing hockey among the stars. But if that tune playing in the ad has started to grow on you after hearing it for the 40th time, you’re probably asking, hey, what’s that generic-sounding alt-rock noise in the background?
Well, I’m glad you asked. Continue reading “What’s That Song in the 2015 NHL All-Star Game Commercial?”
First off, I would like to thank everyone who visits this blog, reads my stuff, trades cards with me, and generally enjoys talking hockey. 2014 was a good year for Puck Junk, with many new readers visiting and commenting on this site. So, I’ve taken a look to determine what were Puck Junk’s top five articles in 2014. There’s proof in numbers, so if you missed one of these the first time around, give it a read; you’ll probably like it. Continue reading “Puck Junk’s Top 5 Articles of 2014”
2014 was an eventful year for the hockey card industry. So much went down in our humble little hobby, which is always overshadowed by baseball card collecting, that it felt like the 1990s again. There were exclusive deals, company mergers, rookies galore and even a book about hockey cards. Here is a rundown of the ten biggest hockey card news stories for the year. Continue reading “Top 10 Hockey Card News Stories of 2014”
All times are Eastern Standard Time (EST).
Games televised in Canada on TSN.
Games televised in the U.S. on the NHL Network. Continue reading “2015 IIHF World Junior Championship Schedule and Results”