Itg Ultimate 9 Checklist?

[roy.the.greatest]

I used to have a thing against ITG for the lack of a license, but I have a new philosophy now. I am a fan of the sport in general, the NHL is more like a product within that sport. If UD makes NHL shield cards (which I do love), then maybe they can make the ultimate NHL product, but it's not necessarily the ultimate hockey product ;)

I want to expand on that, but I think I'll save it for a new article ;)

I think ITG is not obligate to stick to the NHL Shields pattern to compete UD, but why not creating Stanley Cup Logos Auto 1/1 cards (and HARD SIGNED)? Or Junior/Senior Auto Logos 1/1 cards (CHL Shield Auto on front, NHL Shield Auto on back)? They have tons of possibilities with CHL, AHL and NHL inserted in their products, but they stick to the lower level of cards. Doesn't seem difficult to me to create something to compete UD on the finest stuff. Anyway

[Inferno]

I think ITG is not obligate to stick to the NHL Shields pattern to compete UD, but why not creating Stanley Cup Logos Auto 1/1 cards (and HARD SIGNED)? Or Junior/Senior Auto Logos 1/1 cards (CHL Shield Auto on front, NHL Shield Auto on back)? They have tons of possibilities with CHL, AHL and NHL inserted in their products, but they stick to the lower level of cards. Doesn't seem difficult to me to create something to compete UD on the finest stuff. Anyway

This is the problem though, I don't think they're allowed to use the full NHL shield on their cards if the NHL doesn't license the product. ITG made shield cards for 2004/05 Ultimate Memorabilia, their last year with the license, and none since. I don't think they would have just dropped a successful concept out of the blue without being influenced by the license conditions. That would rule out the CHL/AHL-NHL combination cards you mentioned. They could use partial pieces I suppose, like they do with Made to Order cards that have NHL shield pieces in them, but you don't get the same effect. I'm not even sure if they can use the full Stanley Cup image either for the same reason.

Autographed CHL or AHL logos would seem like the answer given what they have to work with, but I think there are some issues that makes that difficult.

When it comes to anything hard-signed, Dr. Price himself told me (while we were discussing autographs for 2009/10 Between The Pipes) that the junior leagues no longer allow card companies to send cards to players to be signed, only sheets of stickers. That probably creates a logistical nightmare that is easily countered by giving in to sticker sheets instead.

Also, hard-signed or not there isn't much room for anything on the CHL/AHL complete logo cards being as the patches are so big. You could put the autograph on the back, would seem kind of weird but I guess it would get the job done. I'm also surprised they haven't found some way to incorporate autographs on the Complete Logo cards and try to compete more with UD's NHL shield autographs. I think the best option for a CHL/AHL logo is a fold-out type of card, with the logo on one side and an autograph/full body photo on the other side.

These would have been good questions for the "Ask ITG" thread we had posted :)