10 Random Thoughts

**30ranfordfan** · 09-29-2023, 10:29 AM

1) Do you think Kane and Toews would ever go back to Chicago now that Bedard is there?

Never say never, but I doubt it. They've got a couple of years left - and Chicago isn't going to contend. If Kane had NEVER left, I could see him sticking around - but now that he's played elsewhere, it's done.

The way they announced Towes was done in Chicago last year makes me believe management wants to roll over with a new core, and be done with the old one. Towes isn't going to get a ton of money on the open market (if he does play again) nor is he going to get term. If he's happy to play for $2.5m (an example) and take a one year deal - why wouldn't Chicago be interested in doing that? Their announcement last year, that he was done as a Blackhawk, makes me believe that they're not interested at all.

2) Why are some upper deck series 2 base cards out of order? Example

275 Rasmus Dahlin - Buffalo Sabres
276 Trevor Lewis - Calgary Flames
277 Craig Anderson - Buffalo Sabres

305 Vladislav Gavrikov - Columbus Blue Jackets
306 Tyler Seguin - Dallas Stars
307 Eric Robinson - Columbus Blue Jackets

Lack of a attention to detail.

3) The Price of hobby boxes are increasing again. My LCS has hobby Pre-orders of Series 1 for $150 and series 2 for $175. Who the hell is going to buy series 2 for $175? 6 Months after release date, how much do you think that Bedard YG is going to go for on Ebay? $220 is my guess. If that’s the case what’s the point of spending $175 for the box? Just spend some extra money and buy the card.

Bedard is going to sell for a lot more than $220, I think. $300 out the gate is likely, and if he's having a strong season - $500 will be easy for him to hit. You might see it go higher (though I don't think $1k). $175 Series 2 boxes are going to look like a bargain within a few weeks of release.

4) What’s up with Mathis’s Pic? Some creepy community theatre going on there.

Not sure what the pic is, lol

5) O-Pee-Chee Hobby is probably the best bang for your buck product out there right now. How long until they change the format and jack up the price and eventually ruin this product.. Platinum was a great product for many years then they changed the product so that there’s more base cards more mostly worthless rainbow rookies and on top of all that almost doubled the price of a hobby box. Is regular OPC next?

Within the next year or two, probably.

6) Back to hobby boxes. Hobby Boxes cost $40 more than a retail box. What do you get for that extra $40? The chances of pulling a hobby exclusive low numbered card is slim and when you do is mostly likely base, and goes for like $5 on Ebay? Is that worth the extra $40? High gloss? Forget it, Young Gun Parallel? Difficult, but even if you do it’s mostly likely a no name player and it ain’t worth more than the $40 extra you spent on it.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Walmart (in Canada, at least) used to run sales on blasters right after they released (November / December... I think). I remember when McDavid came out, I walked in and bought 20 of them (they were on for $15 each, and you got 2 YGs per). So I got 40 YGs for $300. Hobby boxes (6 per) were around $90 at the time. Three boxes would have cost me $270 - and I'd get 18 YGs. If you're not concerned about the bigger hits, retail is a much better way to go.

The gap isn't what it used to be, and I don't think they run those sales anymore (though I have noticed in the last couple of weeks Walmart has had discount tins from 2021 and 2022. $30 each, 3 YGs per)

7) How does someone who lives in Kentucky run the hockey boards around here? Shouldn’t he be interested in college basketball and fried chicken? (Doniceage)

You'd have to ask @doniceage how someone from Kentucky got into hockey - but I assure you that being in the south doesn't take away from his knowledge about the sport, or the hobby. He's been doing this a LONG time.

8) Does a Young gun lose value if the player on the card is no longer with the team he played for when the Young gun photo was taken? For example when Bo Horvat wat playing for the Canucks his YG was worth $100. Now that’s he’s in New York the value of the card has been cut in half. Still a good player though. If Matthews bolted for another team, would that YG go down in value?

It depends. Taylor Hall YGs (or rookie cards in general) would have cost you twice as much during his 2nd year in the league, as they would have when he was raising the Hart trophy. Michael Bunting YGs ballooned from being a 50 cent card to a $30 card, when he got a new team and started scoring goals for them (think they can be had for about $2 now though).

If the player is on a heavily collected team, their cards almost always lose value when traded. Even if they go to a new club that has a strong fan base, a lot of collectors don't chase their old cards. I don't think Duncan Keith's cards got much of a bump when he was dealt to Edmotnon (though I grabbed a couple right away). Zach Hyman RCs don't sell for as much as they did when he was in Toronto (at least not the last time I checked). I think for the truly elite players it's less of a concern - but there really aren't many of those. If Matthews were to leave Toronto (for example) in favour of a team without a strong collecting base (let's say Florida) I'd expect a drop in prices immediately, as Leaf fans sell off cards - and there not being enough Florida fans push demand. If he continued to be a top tier player (which he probably would) I can also see his prices (in that hypothetical situation) bouncing back.

Bo Horvat could have a 110 point season in New York this year, and 99.9% of collectors won't care.

9) Back to my hobby box rant. Do you think hobby would be more worth it they labeled the words ‘hobby’ or ‘retail’ on the front of the young guns card?

They wouldn't even have to do that. They tried it once (only some of the YGs) with photo variations between hobby and retail. Honestly, for that brand - I don't think it matters. People are paying $1200 for a McDavid YG, even though there's 10s of thousands of them on the market. *IF* you made the YG different between the two boxes, the rarer one should get a premium - but you also run the risk of tanking the retail product.

10) Where happened to the every day starting goalie in the NHL? These days it seems like either teams a throwing away their goalies after 2 seasons, or they are splitting duty with the backup. Gone are the days of the every day starting goalie who year after year would play at least 50 games per season. In my research I only found 6 teams that has the same starting goalie who has played the majority of their games year after in the past 3 seasons. (didn’t take retirement or injuries into account)

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Analytics. Teams have figured out that their goalies perform best when given more regular rest. 45-50 games for your #1, along with a good backup, is a better way to manage their health - and make sure they'll be ready come playoffs. The fact that these guys are mostly huge now, and where massive equipment, and they're all coached very well - it's also made the drop off between the starter & backup MUCH less than it once was. There are maybe a handful of elite goalies in the NHL. After that? I don't think it matters nearly as much as it once did. The difference between Ilya Samsonov, Ville Husso, Darcy Kuemper, Jack Campbell, Jake Allen, and Adin Hill is what the team is doing in front of them, and what's going on between their ears. None of those guys are significantly better or worse than the other...... I think once you get past the best 5 (or so) in the league, the 6th best and 26th best goalie are marginally different, and the 46th best goalie isn't far behind.

If I were running a team, I'd much rather have a $4m starter, with a $3m backup - doing a 45 / 37 split - than a bonafide starter & 15 games per year backup.... and I wouldn't want anything to do with an $8 million (or more) goalie.

**doniceage** · 09-29-2023, 05:29 PM

Steve,
Just happened to catch the thread as I look over all the threads titles that are posted on the boards. As Richard said I am just the site admin. I did run the hockey team probably 10 years or so ago. A little about me I collected cards since 74 mostly baseball as I lived in Michigan. I collected cards ever since but truly got bitten with hockey cards in KY when the Kentucky Thoroughblades came to Lexington back in the late 90's. Used to travel everywhere to watch them play as they had a awesome team with some awesome players during their short existence. These guys came out of the system for Sharks thru KY during 3 or 4 years.

Miikka Kiprusoff
Johan Hedberg
Evgeni Nabokov
Vesa Toskala
Jonathan Cheechoo
Dan Boyle
Zdeno Chara

As for how I got to this position it is mainly luck as I just ran into a guy named Crit Van Tuyl on a message board (think the spelling is right). I ran the hockey section for him on a site called SportCardSheriff. He then partnered with a guy name Mike Silvia and I ran another hockey board for him which the name escapes me as It was a long time ago. Mike eventually bought this site and brought me aboard and asked me to run the hockey forum. Back in the heyday this site was gangbuster with people easily doing 100 trades a month. The site and others are either a shell of their former selves or entered the realm of digital dust as many sites could not pay their bills. Social media and all the options make trading a great will west which is great but then again it had it downside as well. Scott bought the site and I still was on the team but just as a moderator and then the site was sold agin to Brian (shaggy) who now owns the site. So, I just help him keep the site running as the admin while other folks cover the sports like Richard and Dan as manager and other staffers. It hard to find good moderators who want to donate their time. I am sure you seen me asking members if anyone wants to help moderate the boards.

I just wish I did not have a job that I worked 7 days a week so I could sort thru all the cards I have. As it definitely takes some serious time to get organized in my opinion. Well have fun have to get ready for a card show in KY and will be the guy who has mostly hockey in his display case LOL.

If you have any specific questions feel free to ask @cjb

Sean @30ranfordfan

Thanks for the tag.

DON