Choosing a Player collection?

[Cerialthriller]

I’m looking to get back into collecting, I haven’t collected in probably 10 years. Mostly I just got discouraged because I’m a rangers fan and mostly wanted to collect Messier and Lundqvist. Being as I’m not rich, that was rather difficult.

So I was curious about how you guys chose your PC players. I’ve got a few guys in mind, but am trying to choose someone who hasn’t been in the league too long so there’s not a huge backlog to try to catch up on, but also someone who’s hopefully going to be with the Rangers for a long time.

Like Zuccarello would probably be my first pick followed by Kreider but not sure if they’re staying much longer. Brady Skjei seems like a solid choice and Filip Chytil looks to possibly be the future of the franchise.

Would love some opinions and insight from guys who have been doing this for a while especially on a budget. Thanks for reading


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[RGM81]

Pick a guy you like to watch, one that you know you’ll be happy when you open up the packet and see it’s that card. Whether it’s a dude that you watched in junior and is now on your favourite NHL team (this happened for me for years with Josh Gorges and now again with Shea Weber) or someone that is the team star, make it meaningful to you and don’t do it just because it’s the popular guy at the moment.

Bear in mind that in today’s NHL very few guys spend their whole career with one team. Be prepared to face a reality that at some point your guy could leave, either via trade or free agency.

Lastly, always keep in mind that no matter who you collect, a superstar or a grinder, you will never be able to chase down everything. Everybody has a limit, everybody has a budget, so be selective. The proverbial “what catches my eye” is the best way to go. My main man is Carey Price, the best goalie in the world. Obviously impossible to get everything due to volume and $$$ so I rule out certain things. I don’t collect sticker autos of him. I am pretty choosy with memorabilia cards and usually pick 1-2 parallel chase sets each season. That way I’m not just expending resources on everything that pops up, and I can focus on great additions that will make the mailday light up.


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[Maggot]

Why not pick them all? Since you're on a budget, focus on their base/insert/parallel cards and just be opportunistic on GU/AU when they're a good deal.
If you pick just one player, you're going to end up chasing and then overpaying on cards.

Just my opinion.

[Cerialthriller]

Pick a guy you like to watch, one that you know you’ll be happy when you open up the packet and see it’s that card. Whether it’s a dude that you watched in junior and is now on your favourite NHL team (this happened for me for years with Josh Gorges and now again with Shea Weber) or someone that is the team star, make it meaningful to you and don’t do it just because it’s the popular guy at the moment.

Bear in mind that in today’s NHL very few guys spend their whole career with one team. Be prepared to face a reality that at some point your guy could leave, either via trade or free agency.

Lastly, always keep in mind that no matter who you collect, a superstar or a grinder, you will never be able to chase down everything. Everybody has a limit, everybody has a budget, so be selective. The proverbial “what catches my eye” is the best way to go. My main man is Carey Price, the best goalie in the world. Obviously impossible to get everything due to volume and $$$ so I rule out certain things. I don’t collect sticker autos of him. I am pretty choosy with memorabilia cards and usually pick 1-2 parallel chase sets each season. That way I’m not just expending resources on everything that pops up, and I can focus on great additions that will make the mailday light up.


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Thanks for the input. I feel the same way about picking someone that I really like compared to guys that are just popular that’s why I’m kinda torn especially in a rebuild. I’ve been kinda considering team sets too possibly as being more attainable like all the Rangers young guns or future watch or something.


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[mingus_md]

Firstly, as an aside, I am a big Rangers collector as well, and am looking to downsize my collection, so once you decide on what you want to collect, send me a private message and I likely have some cards I could trade you.

Second, I struggled with trying to pick a player to PC for a while and one thing that bothered me was when they got traded to another team. Ultimately, I decided to collect Rangers cards so once someone gets traded, I just stop collecting that player. However, if you do go the team route, you should select a couple of sets to collect, because it is impossible now to collect everything.

Third, the other consideration for collecting a player is the number of sets they appear in every year. For example, if you decide to collect Skjei, there might only be a few cards (O-pee-chee, upper deck, mvp) of his to collect every year, compared to say Lundqvist, who generally appears in everything.

[sparty07]

My personal focus is on players I have some sort of connection to. My main 2 PC players are MSU grads. I was a senior at MSU when Abdelkader scored the game winning national championship goal. I also will pick up the odd Keith, Krug, etc. card of other MSU players but that is more opportunistic. My tertiary focus is Debrincat who just clicks with me for some reason. When he finally makes the team, I am planning on collecting Cody Glass as I was at the draft when he was picked by Vegas and won a signed mini helmet from UD.

[30ranfordfan]

I would pick a player you're a die hars fan of. Better to get a nice card of Messier than 8 of Zuccarello..... if you'll want to dump the Zuccarello stuff if he's no longer a ranger.

Think of Oilers fans, and all the Hall collections. Some kept them going, others sold them off for pennies on the dollar.

No right way to pick a favorite player... but I'd rather a few of my favorite, than a bunch of a guy because he's young, and might turn into a star obe day.

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[creasecollector]

I would pick a player you personally enjoy watching. That way, if they get traded, you still have that motivation to collect said player because they can still be your favourite player no matter what jersey they are wearing.

Sit down, relax, and watch hockey. Focus on it. If a player sticky out in your mind for a long while, maybe that's your guy?

Maybe pick a guy who is currently a rookie, or maybe has had their rookie cards released in the last year or so. You can collect what they have available right now (which could be a fair bit, and will keep you busy for quite awhile) and it will also be nice to see newer stuff of your PC player coming out this season and beyond.

Also, what kind of player collector are you looking to become? A "completionist" who tries to collect anything and everything if they can (within reason, obviously), or a collector who collects a few select pieces here and there. I think this question will go a long way in deciding which player you end up focusing on.

While I'd love to collect everything Brodeur (I think he's the best goaltender of all time), that would be impossible, so I have some select pieces that I am lucky enough to have.

On the other hand, my "main" PC is of Jhonas Enroth. I like how he plays the game from a technical perspective (I'm a goalie as well), so I always liked watching him on TV when I could. So I started picking up his cards. He also has way less cards than Brodeur, and his stuff can be had for a lot cheaper.

Seeing as I picked my main PC player as someone I enjoy watching, the switch of teams never bothered me and I have found it very enjoyable picking up his cards throughout the years (300+ Enroth cards - and counting).

[odjickfan]

I started my M-A Pouliot collection when he was a linemate of Sidney Crosby on the local junior team and got drafted by the Oilers.

For Odjick, I loved how he was on and off the ice when he joined my Habs.

[Cerialthriller]

Yeah I wish I had some kind of like connection to players, but we don’t have any junior or minors teams near me. Anthony DeAngelo is from very close to where I grew up buuut uh he’s not the kind of person I’d like to collect.

Thinking of maybe making a nice little collection each year of like a nice auto of the captain and the alternates and then maybe just any rangers cards I see that i really like. I don’t know.


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