Contemplating collecting a player, have some questions

[Wolvesjr34]

Hi Guys

I am pretty much an NBA collector (Anthony Morrow mainly, and the competition for his cards is one other person... about how i like it lol).... but considering branching out to an NHL player.

I guess I wanna get an understanding of how hockey is collected, in the NBA its mostly player collectors and a few team collectors so to speak, making it easy to collect a low end player and get all of his good cards.

Is that possible in Hockey? I guess also, is it possible to find a Vancouver Canucks player where there won't be much competition? I collect cards cause I like cards, so I don't need to be collecting expensive guys. I just want a guy from a team I like that's affordable without much competition... is it possible?

[TheIronHorse4]

Hey,
its definitely doable, especially if you pick a lower tier guy. For example, I can't imagine Ben Hutton has a ton of collectors out there, but he probably has some nice cards. A step up from him would be Jarred McCann. Probably more popular, but more options there. As long as you don't go for virtanen, the sedins, Trevor linden, pavel bure, ect.. You should find some good options. Welcome to hockey collecting. Happy hunting!

[scottkoz20]

FYI - McCann is now a Panther

However, it is completely doable

[Wolvesjr34]

Hey thanks for the feedback guys, I might scout Hutton and see what's out there... I can always pick up the odd nice card of other guys I like such as Horvat down the track if Hutton lacks all the pretty cards, so to speak.

[canucksfan007]

Being right in the middle of the Vancouver market, I can tell you Canucks mainly sell for very little. As mentioned above, the Sedins, Linden and Bure are basically taken. You wont catch up, so if that's your goal its not doable.

For the young guys ( Virtanen / Horvat / Hutton ) they all have decent followings in Vancouver. Ive set up at the monthly shows now for a few years and there is always someone asking about them. Good news is, 99% of the other collectors outside Vancouver arnt.

It really depends on what your goal is. Are you one of those 100% need everything ... 1/1s, 1/5s, nicest patches .... etc etc. If you are, its already too late for Hutton / Virtanen / Horvat. If you want to just collect more casually and not care if some of the low numbered / super high end stuff slip through your fingers, all players are doable.

For the Canucks / former Canucks, I collect Roberto Luongo, have since the trade that brought him here. I am mainly a high end collector, and to think of all the high end stuff ive missed, not to mention all the low / mid end I decided to stay away from ..... then add in the total ive spent in the last 8ish years on Luo to only be where I am ..... I think a 100% player collector would go mad.

In all honesty a 100% player collection is impossible, even if you had an infinite disposable income, unless they are the low end of the low end players. If a guy gets any following at all and he starts to appear in non rookie year releases other than OPC and UD S1 and S2, youre going to be in trouble.

If you decide to start collecting a player, it needs to be when the season starts .... because if youre behind 1 or 2 sets, let alone a few years, you will never catch up.

If you like the Canucks, you can quite easily make a very nice PC of the team or specific player.

Lets not forget how quickly young talent seems to be going out the door in Vancouver ... without much chance to prove themselves =S

[Wolvesjr34]

You bring up a good point, I started late on Morrow in my NBA collection, and there are a couple of missing 1/1s out there and printing plates, but I also have a huge amount of the good 1/1s he has and plates, because in the nba lots of stuff gets relisted if people don't collect them and people move stuff on once there are sure one way or another of a rookie being good or a bust. Plus, despite panini releasing amountain of stuff, role players don't get lots of cards.

I can see that Hockey has quite a range of cards for any semi decent player... so my goal of trying to collect as much as possible of a player might no be doable. I might just have to switch to team collecting of Canucks, but I used to team collect Minnesota in the NBA and had a huge PC with some damn decent cards, until I ran in to financial trouble... it kinda killed me emotionally when it came to team collecting again after having to part with it. Found it easier to collect a player and be satisfied.

I could always go back and pick up what Canuck Matt Cooke cards I can find, since I used to like him.

It's a tough one, and I blame NHL Hut game mode for bringing this on, it's got me all into Hockey again lol

[LecavalierFan]

It's definitely doable. However, if you want to keep up with a guy, your best bet may be to choose a rookie. As others have mentioned, after a guy has been around for even just a year or two, it may be extremely difficult to catch up. Of course, the other side of this is that sales of rookie cards are almost always inflated to some point during the actual rookie season.

[OscarsCards]

Welcome to hockey card collecting Wolvesjr34.
From Canucks I'm collecting Ronalds Kenins cards, if you see Young Guns printing plates let me know.
From NBA cards I'd love to get some , Andris Biedrins and Kristaps Porzingis cards, maybe you have some?

Cheers and good luck in hockey card trading.

[Wookster]

The canucks will likely be picking a pretty decent player in a few hours today at the draft as they're picking 5th overall...Might be an idea to wait and see who their next top prospect is and start there as you won't be behind with his cards. Just an idea for thought, there will likely be a lot of competition for his cards though when their produced.

[creasecollector]

Welcome to hockey card collecting, we're happy to have you.

As others have already mentioned, it's doable, but it depends on the player you are looking to collect and to what capacity.

For example, Jhonas Enroth is my main PC player. I also collect Brodeur, Belfour, Price & M-A Fleury + random goalie pickups. Out of all those PC's, Jhonas Enroth is the one I try to add as much cards as I can. He fly's under the radar of most people, and from a collection standpoint, I like that a lot. It allows me to pickup his cards with a fair enough ease, usually. Although, there have been a few big collectors of his, so there are some pieces i'll never be able to acquire, sadly, and there are huge bidding wars for some of his stuff sometimes (I don't know why, but there is). So it's workable under my tight budget.

First, before picking a player, decide what capacity you want to collect. This way, among your favourites, it will give you a better gage of who to focus on. And starting in their rookie year is always a smart idea if you want to aim for 100% of their cards. Some cards with be available a premium price, due to the rookie factor, but you should be able to find someone relatively cheap if you choose to do so.

Hope any of this helps at all, best of luck with whatever you decide to do ! Happy collecting