ITG heroes and prospects

[jakesportlover]

Hey ya'll. Looking for some help! I'm thinking about buying some of this stuff because the price seems good. However, I'm wondering if people like these cards and are happy to trade for them? I know in football, there are a couple companies collectors avoid and i'm wondering if ITG is the same in hockey? Also, what year is the best for this product?
all help apreciated!! Thanks for the read!

[RGM81]

ITG has a very dedicated following. There are some people who don't care for the designs or the lack of a licence, but for every one you find that isn't interested you'll find 4-6 potential trading partners. Heroes and Prospects is ITG's staple set because it is the one product for which they are fully licensed to use full-body images of the junior stars, and it is their significant leg up on Upper Deck. While UD can't make a card of a player until he's played an official NHL game, ITG can go crazy with some of the superstars of tomorrow and they get some really great items. Check out a Carey Price auto from 05-06 H&P, it's light-years better than what you see today.
I don't know how much you intend to break, but if you've got some patience, wait a couple of months until the 09-10 release comes out. There's going to be a big emphasis on Taylor Hall, the projected #1 in next year's draft, as well as the ever-popular He Shoots He Scores redemption program. This year's program expires on Wednesday, so all those points will be useless after that time.
I really like the 04-05 set - it's the pinnacle of Kelowna Rockets stuff thanks to their Memorial Cup win, but more importantly it's got a lot of top-shelf autos and a lot of cards featuring Sidney Crosby.

[30ranfordfan]

It depends.

ITG does not have an NHL or NHLPA license. There are no NHL logos on any of the cards. They need to come to individual agreements with the players they put into their sets.

The H&P product also features lots of Junior and Minor-Pro prospects.

If you want to see a break, we did a group break of a case of 06-07 H&P. This might give you a good idea of what to expect?
https://www.sportscardforum.com/showthread.php?t=869771

As for what year(s) are the best.... Crosby is all over the 05-06 and 06-07 years. Most the autos you're going to get are going to be lesser names.... they're prospects who never actually made it :)

There's a lot of nice looking GU cards though, and you do get a good number of autos. The prices are pretty good now.... so you do get decent value for your money, IMO.

Hope that helps.

[jakesportlover]

alright cool, thanks so much ya'll! do you know what kinda price 09-10 is gonna have? Depending on price, i'm only looking to bust 1-2 boxes. Im probably going to go with 08-09 because there seems to be demand for several of those players or someing in the 04-06 range hoping to get a crosby. Thats the current thought but willing to change my mind.

[Inferno]

2008/09 Heroes & Prospects is a pretty good product for the price, and the autograph set is popular with set collectors. You will only see sticker autographs on most of the cards though, according to Dr. Price the CHL and AHL teams don't allow ITG to mail cards to the players, only sticker sheets. If you don't mind the sticker autos it's a great set to chase with some big name SPs.

Another thing I will mention about ITG products is the quality of the memorabilia pieces. ITG doesn't believe in using photo shoot or "event-used" jerseys in their cards, they will not only use all game-used pieces but they also make great use of premium parts of the jersey like seams and color breaks. Cards with limited print runs get the nicest swatches, making them quite collectible. I am a bigger fan of Between The Pipes myself, but I would like to break some more H&P sometime soon.

[jakesportlover]

alright thanks for the help! what makes BTP a possibly better product?

[Inferno]

alright thanks for the help! what makes BTP a possibly better product?

* Takes a deep breath *

1) Memorabilia cards like this:




2) The chance to pull "Made to Order" cards, that can turn into something like this:




3) Limited production this year meant for more hits per box, usually two autographs and two memorabilia cards per box with the odd box containing more.

4) The "He Shoots He Saves" redemption program, same idea as the H&P version except with goalies as the focus and, in my opinion anyway, a better design. An example from the ITG website:




5) Other memorabilia cards like Super Gloves (jumbo glove cards), Roots (vintage goalie memorabilia), Complete Jersey, Complete CHL/AHL logos, dual and triple memorabilia cards, Autothreads cards with hard-signed autographs on game-used jersey pieces, autographed jersey/number/emblem cards, etc etc.


It is my favorite hockey product to date and I've busted a ton of it (a case, three loose boxes, and another on the way) and I can't get enough.

It is more expensive than H&P though, at close to $100 a box or more, but the value per box is higher being as they lowered the production while keeping the same amount of hits.

[jakesportlover]

alright sweet, thanks for that! they actually have btp at the LCS so i'll have to check it out. Do those redemption things expire soon? do you know when 09-10 comes out?

[Inferno]

alright sweet, thanks for that! they actually have btp at the LCS so i'll have to check it out. Do those redemption things expire soon? do you know when 09-10 comes out?

The redemption points are good for a while yet, as BTP comes out in the spring a while after H&P is released. The actual expiration date is December 31st. Based on the cards that have been sent to collectors already they are almost half-way through the production run (cards numbered 9/20 have surfaced, and they are given in sequential order) so there are plenty left to be claimed.

As for 2009/10, they are still in the brainstorming phase so there isn't anything concrete in place yet. It usually comes out in the spring, around April or May I believe. I've actually been in contact with Dr. Price about potential ideas for 2009/10, hopefully one of them can make it in

[jakesportlover]

o, alright, thats awesome. I'll consider that, might be a little outa my current range, but i'll def check it out!