News

A few quick thoughts on what’s going down in HAWKeyTown…

Stanley Cup visiting Elmwood Park – The Stanley Cup will be in the Chicago suburb of Elmwood Park on Wednesday, July 28.. However, the Cup will be at a private event, held at First Security Bank. The Wirtz family owns First Security Bank.

Who’s Signing Autographs? – As of Tuesday, the Chicago Blackhawks still haven’t told us who will be signing autographs at the Blackhawks Convention this upcoming weekend. Sure, some are a given (Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Bobby Hull, Tony Esposito), but who else? Maybe I’ll just bring one card of every Blackhawk ever, just to be safe. The team did announce a pretty explicit autograph policy, though.

Training Camp Fest – On September 18, the Blackhawks will hold a Training Camp Festival. Seriously. For $5, you can watch the team practice. There is also a charity run/walk/skate event, and a 3-on-3 street hockey tournament. Tickets can be bought here.

Easy Come, Easy Go– Last month, the Chicago Blackhawks traded away three good players and a prospect for Marty Reasoner and Jeremy Morin. Last week, the ‘Hawks traded Reasoner to the Florida Panthers for Jeff Taffe. Guess Reasoner’s $1 million annual salary was taking up too much cap space. Funny, though, because the ‘Hawks made a big deal about acquiring Reasoner, going so far as to “Photoshop” him into the Indian-head sweater (above). But Reasoner’s subsequent trade to the Panthers was nary a mention on the ‘Hawks home page.

JR in the HOF – Former Chicago Blackhawk Jeremy Roenick was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame last week. Roenick was a favorite player of mine, so I certainly hope that he will make it into the “real” Hall of Fame when he is eligible in 2012. For those who missed it, I posted a Career in Cards about Roneick earlier this month.

On Thursday, I received my passes to the third annual Chicago Blackhawks Convention–a full 8 days before the convention starts. Last year, I got the passes barely 2 days before the convention started. Of course, the team’s last-minute mailing practices last summer cost Dale Tallon his job.

Anyway, here is what the front of the pass looks like. As you can see, it has a large shiny object on it.

Yup, they put a HOLOGRAM sticker in the upper right corner. It really makes the pass feel both classy and official. Continue reading “2010 Blackhawks Convention – Passes”

I noticed an interesting trend at my local Target retail store–last year’s Upper Deck cards are back on the shelves at lower prices.

Here is a tin of 2008-09 Upper Deck Series 2 Hockey Cards–you know, the series that no one bought–for $12.99.

This perplexes the hell out of me. As my girlfriend can attest, I practically memorize the trading card aisle at my local Target store. Every time we go there–about once a week–I beeline for the cards, hoping to find something new and cool to purchase. I don’t recall 8-pack tins being sold at Target last year.

So, my theory is that Upper Deck had a bunch of unsold 24-pack boxes sent back to them, repacked the packs in tins and sent them back at a reduced price. Further supporting this idea is that these are 8-card packs, and not the standard 5-card packs usually found in tins and blasters.

That might also explain this blaster box of 2008-09 Upper Deck Ice.

I also don’t recall Ice being sold in blaster boxes during the 2008-09 season. Either Upper Deck had a ton of last year’s Ice sitting around their warehouse, or a retailer returned them en masse.

Upper Deck’s “Extreme Value” wasn’t just limited to hockey cards. Old football cards have also found their way to the shelves.

How about that? Nine packs of football cards for $6.99. But if this is 50% off, then the normal blaster price for football is $14, and not $20 like a hockey blaster. Man, even at full price you football collectors have it so good.

I also spotted this complete football factory set for $14.99. It even includes 2 jersey cards. Granted, it is from 2008–like the football blaster–but $15 for a complete set is more of a deal than $13 for 8 hockey packs.

Has anyone else spotted “old” cards from the past year or two making a comeback on the shelves of your local retail store? I guess selling off old cards at half-price is one way Upper Deck is raising the funds to pay off their lawsuits, eh?

An obvious byproduct of your favorite NHL team winning a championship is all of the “puck junk” that suddenly becomes available for sale. This is neither good nor bad to me. Most of this stuff I won’t buy, but it still makes me happy to see ‘Hawks-related merch in July. Continue reading “Hawks Junk…”

Tomorrow (Friday) is Bob Probert’s funeral.  Every fan I’ve spoken to–and every blog I’ve read–have all expressed their sadness at the untimely passing of the popular ex-NHL enforcer.

A short Bob Probert story I’d like to share happened in February of this year, when Mr. Probert called my cell phone. No, I am not claiming to have known the man–but it isn’t every day that a former NHL player calls up a run-of-the-mill hockey blogger such as myself. Continue reading “A Phone Call from Bob Probert”

Former NHL enforcer Bob Probert passed away this afternoon. He was 45 years old.

Probert played for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks.

More on this story can be found here.

It is always sad to see anyone die too soon.

On Saturday, I received this form letter from Beckett Publications, encouraging me to re-subscribe to Beckett Hockey Magazine.  This seems like a very strange thing for Beckett to do.

In summary, the letter states that I can receive 7 issues for $29.95–a savings of more than 50% off of the cover price.

It also outlines these key features:

• Unparalleled coverage and card valuations you can trust
• Tips on hockey card collecting with reliable price guides
• Card stock winners and losers from the 2010 Olympics
• Insightful articles and fantastic action on most celebrated stars on the ice
• Hockey show calendar

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the first two bullet points sound like the same thing–“valuations you can trust” and “reliable price guides”. The 2010 Olympics is old news by now. The show calendar is helpful, but what’s this about “insightful articles?”

In a 176-page magazine, such as the January 2010 issue here, 140 are dedicated to the price guide. Only 20 pages–less than 12 percent–are actual articles that you would read.

And as for the articles themselves, most are either capsules about forthcoming products, box breakdowns, or articles that outline a star player’s most valuable cards. Informative, but not very insightful.

Want information about upcoming hockey card releases? Just go to the websites of Upper Deck or In The Game, as Beckett just regurgitates their press releases, anyway.

Box breakdowns? You can find tons of those on blogs and on YouTube.

So, what’s my incentive to subscribe?

I suppose the price guide itself is a reason to subscribe. But other than adding prices for the new sets, and a few changes here and there, it is more or less the same information every issue.

What perplexes me about this special offer is that in the past few years Beckett has been really intent on selling access to their Online Price Guide (OPG). OPG access costs around $50 per year, requires no paper, no mailing and no need to write articles.

So, why the sudden push to sell magazines–at the low, low price of $4.28 per issue? The answer is obviously advertising dollars. The more subscriptions you sell, the easier it is to sell ad space…and the more you can charge per ad.

If Beckett wants to sell printed magazines, then lowering the subscription price is not the answer. Neither is publishing bullet-point lists of “what we got in a box of Champ’s” or “total value of every John Tavares card ever made” articles.

Instead, they should return their focus to printing quality, hobby-related articles that people would pay to read.

For the first time in their 55-year history, the Hockey Hall of Fame has inducted a woman–no, TWO women–into their clubhouse: Cammi Granato and Angela James.

Cammi Granato was the face of women’s hockey in the U.S. for over a decade. She was a part of the U.S. National Women’s Team from 1990 to 2006, and won numerous Gold and Silver medals at World Championships, Olympics and other international tournaments. (More about Cammi Granato)

Referred to as the “Wayne Gretzky of Women’s Hockey,” Angela James scored 34 points in 20 international contests, winning 7 gold medals in the process.

Both women have accomplished hockey careers. Granato is a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, and James a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. The pair are also in the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame. Induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame is a fitting, well-deserved honor.

A few guys were inducted too:

Dino Ciccarelli – Dino scored 1232 points during his 19-year NHL career. And why did it take 11 years for him to get in the Hall?

Jimmy Devallano (builder category) – Longtime NHL executive most famously known as the General Manager that built the powerhouse Detroit Red Wings team of the 1990s and 2000s.

Daryl “Doc” Seaman (builder category) – One of the owners of the Calgary Flames, He passed away in 2009.

The fact that two women were inducted into the HHOF shows how much women’s hockey has grown–especially since becoming a medal sport in the Winter Olympics in 1998.

And as a Chicago native, it is extra special for me to see Granato–who is from the suburbs of Chicago–make it into the Hall.

What is disappointing is that two builders were a part of the 2010 HHOF class. One builder and four players would have been more appropriate. Just look at what players were overlooked this year:

Adam Oates (6th year of eligibility)- Oates is the highest scorer to not be in the Hall of Fame (341 goals, 1079 assists, 1420 points–that’s over a point-per-game during his 19-year NHL career.

Doug Gilmour (7th year of eligibility)- Though Gilmour was lauded for his defensive play–he won the Selke Trophy in 1993–he scored 1414 points in 1474 games over 20 years.

Joe Nieuwendyk (1st year of eligibility) – 19 seasons in the NHL, and over 1100 points. Brian Costello at The Hockey News had me convinced that Nieuwendyk was a shoo-in for the Hall. Well, there’s always next year.

With all due respect to Devallano and Seaman, I think only one builder should be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame each year. Sure, builder’s “build” the sport in both apparent and intangible ways. But it is the players themselves who are the lifeblood of the sport.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

The best of times because my team is in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The worst of times because I am in Grad School Finals.

You would think that I would be blogging 24/7, considering how elated I am about the Blackhawks.

But “Stanley Cup Finals” is not a legitimate reason for getting an extension on my final projects (due Friday), regardless of the teams playing in them.

Since this may be the last game of the Finals, here are a few thoughts about the series:

Coach Joel Quenneville has been dubbed “Coach Q” or sometimes just “Q” by Chicago media and fans. I’m wondering if Philadelphia has a nickname for Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette? If not, may I suggest “P-Lav”?

Speaking of P-Lav, when asked which of his two goalies would start Game 6, Laviolette snapped back at reporters, asking them if they inquired about who Chicago was going to start in net. A tad defensive, no?

TSN Analyst Ray Ferraro thinks that the Blackhawks will win Game 6 tonight.

Ed Olczyk–who is a TV color commentator for the Blackhawks–has said all along that the series will go 7 games.

Perhaps the ‘Hawks should pretend that they are playing the San Jose Sharks. Then they’ll win for sure. Maybe someone could slip a little teal dye in the Flyers laundry…

Since Dave Bolland, Adam Burish and Nick Boynton each appeared in at least one game during the Finals, they are all eligible to get their names engraved on the Stanley Cup if the Blackhawks win. None of them appeared in 40 regular season games for the ‘Hawks, which is the other criteria for eligibility.

Bryan Bickell played 16 games with the Blackhawks during the regular season, and 4 in the playoffs. He has yet to see any time in the Finals, though. If Andrew Ladd sits out again due to injury (as was rumored today), then it would be great to see Bickell in the lineup so that he can get his name engraved on the Cup if the Hawks win tonight.

The Coach Q graffiti you see at the top of this article was swiped from a friend’s Facebook page. Not sure where she found it, but it’s pretty awesome.