Best hockey sets

[PaulAustin]

So what is the usual "must buy" set from year to year?

[RGM81]

Well it depends on your price and what you're looking for in a hockey card set.

The staples from Upper Deck are:
OPC - set builders, lower end collectors
UD 1/2 - YG's, the franchise set
SP Authentic - Future Watch autos, hard signed content galore
The Cup - still the king of high-end sets

The staples from Panini are:
Certified - in the two years that Panini has been doing hockey cards, this has been my favourite set. Autographed RC's early in the season, and some great designs and value-added parallels
Crown Royale - the Rookie Silhouettes are simply divine
Playoff Contenders - the first year's offering was really nice and they're stepping it up this year.
Dominion - their challenge to The Cup's throne

The staples from ITG are:
Heroes and Prospects - exactly as it sounds - the best mix of stars from today, tomorrow, and yesterday
Between The Pipes - like goalies? This is the set for you!
Ultimate Memorabilia - some of the most amazing memorabilia cards you will ever see.

There's parts of other products from all three companies that are very nice as well, but if you have a focused collection and don't want to get bogged down with the filler products, these are the main ones I would recommend.

[30ranfordfan]

'Must have' is a hard one to say...... becuase depeding on what you like, and what your price point is.... so much variety.

RGM did a good job pointing out the top brands from all three companies though. Gread place to start.

[PaulAustin]

I basically meant if I was going to buy boxes of one set of card, which would I pick. Im not really concerned if its a hundred dollar or two hundred dollar box (that just would mean, I would buy fewer) I mainly have bought baseball cards, and think I would like to dabble in the other major sports.

[reoddai]

If you want a 11-12 Product that you can buy right away, everyone seems to have loved 11-12 Parkhurst so far.

If you're willing to wait (or are okay with going back a year), try Cup or Dominion.

The marketplace is in flux right now. If your only criteria is "must buy" then go with the above suggestions. If you have any qualities (price point, specific players, vintage memorabilia, player categories, specialty sets, teams, trade value, resell value, etc. etc.), then that changes.

Cheers,
reoddai