Two bubble mailers were sitting in the mailbox today, and that can only be a sign of good things. Let's unpack what was in my mailbox today:

The first card was another Team Sweden card for my Enroth PC. It is from the 2018-19 BY Cards 2019 IIHF World Championships set, which actually pictures Enroth from 2018 at the Olympic Games funny enough. Photo mishaps aside, these cards from BY Cards (which originate in Russia) are always quality cards that I really do enjoy adding to my collection. 

The next card that was waiting for me today was the 18-19 Upper Deck Series 2 300 Win Club Jersey card (white coloured swatch) of Cam Ward, which fills a much-needed hole in this ongoing set collection. I meant to pickup this card once it was released, but the prices were waaaaaaaay too high. I know there are a ton of set collectors going after the 300 Win Club set, but I wasn't going to pay the $100-$150+ price tag that some of these cards were selling for (crazy, right?). I was patient with this one and found one on sale. Thank you, COMC! 

Card prices aside, adding the Cam Ward card to my collection today was very cool. I've always liked watching him play in the league and he always seemed like a pretty down to earth kind of dude, plus his masks were always top notch. Fun fact about 'Wardo' and I is that we both share the same goalie mask painter - Steve Nash from EyeCandyAir! Steve once told me that Ward was always thinking about new ideas for his masks, even while out on the road, which even included using a napkin to draw out an idea he had for some mask art on one of his Hurricanes' masks. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me. 

It's never a bad time to add a 1/1 card to the collection.

​Today I finally reached the 50th 1/1 milestone in my collection with this beautiful SPGU Gold Spectrum 1/1. I'll let the card do most of the talking on this blog post today as I'm running a bit of a cold.

I received this card from yet another flawless deal with Craig, who I've known across many hobby forums for years now. He used to collect Enroth's cards years ago and recently came across this 1/1 from his old collection and was kind enough to offer it to me. So thanks a million, Craig! 

Craig also included these three other cards free of charge: Two SPGU Authentic Rookies /699 and one more SPx Rookie Autographed Jersey (white swatch) /799. Although these cards are duplicates for me, I will gladly add them to my collection. With these four cards, the Enroth collection now stands at 484 cards in total; Only 16 cards away from the 500 milestone!

First off, yes, I know I'm super late with this 2020 resolutions blog post. But, in fairness, I was able to post threads on this topic on both Hobby Insider & SportsCardForum on time this year. So that's gotta count for something, right?

Anyways, I wanted to post my own hobby goals/resolutions on my blog here so I can (hopefully) keep coming back to it periodically throughout the year in order to help remind myself of these goals and stay on track or to monitor my progress. 

So without further ado, here are my 3 Hobby Goals/Resolutions for 2020: 

*Originally posted on the Hobby Insider forums*

​1) Surpass 500 total cards for my Jhonas Enroth collection. I'm currently sitting at 477 cards in total (with duplicates included) and I hope to reach this milestone as soon as I can. The only rule I'd like to implement is that I'd like to try and reach this milestone without having to add too many of the same duplicate cards if I can help it down the stretch, as I don't like to add exact duplicates unless they are unique in some way (graded, signed, jersey numbered, etc). So we'll see how many new cards I'm able to add this year.

2) Get up to 20 cards for my Upper Deck 300 Win Club set. I have 16 right now, but I feel this one may be a little tough at the prices I'm looking for.

3) Have fun. It sounds cliche, but a hobby isn't a hobby unless there is some fun involved.

Do you have any hobby-related goals/resolutions for 2020? If so, please post them in the comment section below! :)

Happy Collecting,

-Crease

In typical Gary Bettman style, I have a trade to announce. 

Earlier this week I completed a small trade with a fellow Hobby Insider member. I sent some Zach Hyman Young Guns he needed for his collection and he sent some stuff in return. 

In return for a few Young Guns, I received these sweets cards for my goalie collection. The Carey Price Gold Etchings card is nice and I've always wanted to hit one of those from a UD Tim Hortons release but have yet to do that, so receiving one in a trade was nice. I also received a base of Henrik Lundqvist from UD Synergy. After getting a similar Synergy base parallel for my Marc-Andre Fleury PC not that long ago, these Synergy base cards have been growing on me, so why not pickup a card of one of the best Swedish goaltenders of all-time? As an bonus, this generous member also threw in that older 1988-89 Esso NHL All-Star Collection sticker of Tony Esposito for free . It's a cool oddball item for sure and I'm a sucker for mini cards/stickers for whatever reason.  

Admittedly, I am not the biggest trader in the game. If you've followed me on multiple hobby forums over the years, you know that I won't be breaking the record for trades completed in a month anytime soon haha, as I simply don't trade very often and my feedback (while 100% positive) is usually a lower number than most. I think it's due to the fact that my wants are fairly set in stone right now, I don't open much product, and my Traders page is not filled to the brim with anything super high-end. It is what it is, but I'm okay with that. 

However, I have made it a goal for 2020 to actually make an effort to get some more trades done. So far I have been succesful doing just that. I check out the forums' trading section more often just trying to find something anyone needs in order to make a deal. I don't care about "winning" the trade, as long as the person on the other end of the trade is happy, then I'm happy. 

Until next time everyone, happy trading. 

​Aaron

It's never a bad day when you can knock off two more additions to your collection on a Friday. 

I decided it was time to pull the trigger on my 5th graded card in my collection; A 2009-10 SP Authentic Future Watch Autograph #44/999 of Jhonas Enroth, graded PSA 10 Gem Mint. This graded SPA autograph is a POP 10 according to the PSA Population Reports. 

I also added the first 2019-20 season piece to my collection today with the 19-20 Panini KHL 12th Season Collection #140 card/sticker of Enroth as well. These mini additions are always fun to add! 

Well, I am certainly starting of 2020 in style. 

After receiving my first mail day of 2020 yesterday, today I received my first card for my Enroth PC in 2020 and boy is it ever a big one. 

After hearing about President's Choice Trading Cards sale going on before the new year, I decided it was time to bring this one home into my collection after seeing it sit on their site for a long time now. The One Of A Kind set name was brought over from Brian Price's days with In The Game (ITG), so there is some history here with this President's Choice 1/1 set.

My newest 1/1 features a huge swatch from a CCM Premier glove Enroth used with the LA Kings during the 2015-16 season. In the picture below you can see the backhand of the glove from where this swatch was taken from the purple CCM logo. 

I'm not sure what the rest of 2020 will hold for my Enroth collection, but this card will be TOUGH to beat in my opinion. 

Did you receive any new cards to start 2020? Leave a comment below.

Until next time, 

​- Crease

Not a bad way to start 2020 with not one, but TWO new additions for my Upper Deck 300 Win Club set. 

A received both of these in a deal from a member on Hobby Insider and the timing couldn't have been better. My goal for the new year was to reach 20 cards for my Win Club set and these two additions put me at lucky number 18 right now. I'm hoping I can knock off the Cam Ward sometime soon, as that is currently the most recent card to join the ongoing set, but I haven't been able to snag one... yet.

​I've seen a few Esposito's floating around, but the Osgood is the one I was really after since that doesn't pop up too often. Either way, I'm just happy to add these two to the collection. They have found a good home here. 

Until next time, 

- Crease