Monday, March 16, 2009

Review: Collector's Choice

If you're looking for a low-end product that works well for hounding, it's worth your time and money to pick up a couple boxes of Upper Deck's 2008-09 Collector's Choice Hockey.

With a 200-card base set, a 50-card Choice Rookies subset and kid-friendly Stick-Ums, there's little else to be found in every box -- no premium memorabilia, autograph or numbered short prints. That's why each box, containing 36 six-card packs, costs around $30.

Sure. you'll get a bunch of stars' cards, but you'll also find cards for a couple second- and third-liners as well as another round of summer free-agent signings with their new teams. Sorry, but there are no cards of players moved before or at the NHL trade deadline.

Bottom line, this is a great product for younger collectors or for those looking to extend their hockey hounding dollars.

Rookies

Though I didn't get a rookie card for Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos, I did score these familiar names:

From left: Atlanta's Zach Bogosian, Los Angeles' Drew Doughty and Phoenix's Kyle Turris.

Inserts

Though these are hardly worth writing home about, they still make for good autograph stock.

From left: Montreal's Carey Price on a CupQuest card, a trio of Buffalo Sabres highlighted on a 3 Star Selections card and Philadelphia's Daniel Carcillo, shown in his Phoenix days, on a Chippy's Choice.

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