​Will this year be the year of the BuyBack? Apparently so. Let's dive a little deeper into this, shall we?

Have you picked up this month's Novemeber Issue of Beckett Hockey? If not, I suggest you do... because I am the featured Super Collector in this issue! Take a look at my featured article when you have the chance!

 So I stumbled upon this tweet from Panini America's Twitter Page earlier today and I don't know what to think of it.

​I thought Panini was done with hockey? Well, apparently not.

When the news hit that Panini had managed to sign Kaapo Kakko to an trading card autograph exclusive, I knew that Panini would be showcasing his cards this upcoming season, but I (and many others) assumed his autographed cards would be spread out in a multi-sport release of somesort, since Panini hasn't has a full-fledged hockey release since the unlicensed sticker/memorabilia dump that was 2015-16 Panini Anthology. 

I haven't seen any images of the product yet, so I can't comment on how this product will look, but no doubt they'll be some rookie-year Kakko autographs thrown into the mix, as it will be the main driving force of this Score Hockey product. But what else is there? Does Panini still have a decent inventory of hockey autographs to pull from? Only time will tell. 

Definitely going to be an interesting product to follow for sure. 

As most of you have heard already, Upper Deck has once again partnered with Tim Hortons to offer hockey cards at all Canadian locations. This promotion started today (September 23rd) and will be avialible while supplies last at your local Tim Hortons locations. 

You can view the full 2019-20 Upper Deck Tim Hortons Hockey Cards checklist here. 

I really love these over the counter offerings and I feel like releases like these do a lot in order to bring in the younger generation into this great hobby of ours. It's cheap, fun and affordable. What's not to like about that? I remember the UD McDonalds hockey cards when I was a kid and I still own them all today. It was very fun to rip open those packs and some of those hobby memories will stay with me forever.

This Tim Hortons release features a lot of high-profile players that will no doubt have a lot of youngers kids (and adults, lets face it) trading cards over coffee to complete their sets. 

​Enjoy ripping open those packs, everyone. I know I sure will! 

P.S. And for those wondering, here's what my two packs this morning yielded me:

I just recently heard the news that after Panini's licence with the NHL expired this summer, Topps was recently granted the licence to product the NHL Sticker Collection for the next 5 years. 

Now, some of you may be thinking: I thought Upper Deck has an exclusive deal with the NHL?

Yes, and while that is very true, the key to these licences is in the details. Upper Deck holds the exclusive rights to produce NHL licensed Trading Cards, while Stickers fall into a different collectible category, so another agreement must be made with the NHL in order to product NHL licenced stickers, too. 

​Panini has held the sticker licence for a long time now, as they are the king when it comes to collectible stickers, so I was glad to see them still continue to produce something NHL-related after their trading card licence with the NHL expired after the 2013-14 season. 

However, with that being said, I have taken a liking to what Topps has done with their Topps NHL Skate Digital App, and although they haven't held a NHL trading card licence since the early 2000's, I am hopeful that this is a trail period for Topps and the NHL to see how they can influence and sell actual physical products (instead of just the digital offerings) within the hockey collectible market. If Topps does well here, would they be considered when the next NHL trading card licence is up for grabs in a few years? Who knows, but I'm playing the optimistic card on this one (pun totally intended). 

If these new stickers are anything like their digital offerings we've seen from Topps Skate, then I think the designs will be fresh and it will be very popular amongst collectors across the globe.

The release date for the 2019-20 NHL Sticker Collection is set for November 15th, 2019.

Welcome back to the NHL, Topps. We've missed you. 

I missed the boat on last year's Spectrum FX Gold cards, so this year I decided to snag one for my Marc-Andre Fleury collection. These Spectrum FX Gold UD Bounty rewards cards are stunning to look at, and UD did another great job on this bounty set. 

For those who aren't aware, these Gold Spectrum FX cards were earned if you collected & submitted all the scratch-off codes that were on the back of these Spectrum FX cards. If you were one of the first 50 collectors to submit the complete set of codes in time, you received a complete set of Gold Spectrum FX cards numbered to 50 (Along with a Silver & Gold Petterson). The serial number on your card is given by which set you redeemed. For example, if you were the very 1st collector to redeem your Spectrum FX set, all of your shiny new Gold Spectrum FX cards in this reward set would all be numbered #1/50.  

Who knows how many of these cards will be availible, as I've heard a few of the people who will be receiving their rewards set will be keeping them for their collections instead of splitting the complete set up. I'm just glad I was able to add this one to my collection this week.

And yes, for those readers wondering, other than the Jhonas Enroth collection, I do PC a few other goalies I've always liked to watch. To view some of the highlights of my Fleury collection, you can click Here to view my Flickr album. There will be a time (hopefully sooner rather than later) where I aim for this website to become a hub for viewing my entire card collection. The main purpose of this site was to showcase my Jhonas Enroth collection, and it will not deviate from that, but it would be nice for incoming collectors to have a chance to view my entire collection in one place, ideally. As an added bonus, uploading card scans on here instead of Flickr will allow this site to become my very own image hosting site, instead of using other avenues to organize my card scans and post photos to hobby forums, etc. 

Have a great rest of the week, everyone! Happy Collecting!

Thanks to Upper Deck's 2019-20 instalment of MVP Hockey, I was able to add this sweet Silver Script Stanley Cup Edition card to my Marc-Andre Fleury collection today. 

It's not a huge card by any means (I was thinking about going for the Super Script parallel #/25 as well), but it will definitely nice to fill a fun, nostalgic hole in my collection for sure. 

The 2019-20 Stanley Cup Edition set pays a nice homage to the 20-year-old original Stanley Cup Edition cards from 1999-2000 Upper Deck MVP. When I found out UD was going to release a tribute set, I just knew I had to track down one for the Fleury collection, serial numbered or not. Sometimes, the small PC additions mean just as much as the big ones.

I've never been a fan of the inflated prices or "eBay 1 of 1" stance that many sellers take when it comes to a players' jersey numbered card, but when the price is right and you're on the lookout for another cool addition to the PC - you pull the trigger. 

The card you see above is currently incoming... because I just purchased it minutes ago. (This card was received and added to the collection on August 27th, 2019).

​Why purchase a card I already own? More on that below. 

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to escape from prison? I sure haven't, but some of my hockey cards have. 

Luckily for those cards of yours, I get to help them out today with an easy step-by-step blog post on how to crack your cards out of these hard plastic cases. I've used this method on multiple types of card casings, so wether it's a BGS / PSA grading slab, or an In The Game (ITG) slab that was used in the making of this post, you'll be able to free your cards in no time at all. 

​So lets dive in and get started!