Pack Rip - 2010-11 Pinnacle Rack Pack

I've seen a couple of boxes/packs of Panini's new Pinnacle hockey product ripped on other blogs and have been intrigued enough by the cards that I picked up this rack pack while at Target the other day:

I think what sold me the most on this was the value per card. I hadn't seen these rack packs yet but they contain 40 cards and are priced at a mere $4.99! That's just over 12 cents per card, which is pretty unheard of nowadays when it comes to busting wax. As usual I'm late to the party, and many of these have already been shown elsewhere. So, I'll keep the commentary to a minimum. Let's see what my Abe Lincoln netted me...here are all 40 cards in order:

#177 - Ryan Miller

Pretty good first card out of the gate. I like that the design is pretty minimal on these, leaving lots of room for the photo. As others have already noted, there are some great unusual shots in this set, some of them very different than what you would encounter in a typical hockey set.

I really like the card stock that these are printed on as well, a little thicker and sturdier than many other products.

#200 - Bobby Ryan

There are definitely some negatives with this set though. In fact, here's my biggest gripe:


Panini seems to have trouble with card backs in my opinion. I thought the backs were the weakest part of the Score release earlier this season, and these are no different. In fact, without one in front of me, I seem to recall the Score backs looking awfully similar to these if memory serves. If you're not going to give us any stats at all, could you at least use a different photo than you did on the front?

My other major complaint is that the set is just too small. It consists of a mere 250 cards, a base set (cards 1-200) followed by 50 short-printed Ice Breaker rookie cards (cards 201-250). With just 200 cards for the game's current stars, there are a lot of holes in this checklist. If you're a player collector there's a chance your guy was left out (as is the case with me, no David Krejci base card). This might've been alright if the set were released in two series like Upper Deck. A second series with base cards numbered 251-450 and then another set of short prints numbered 451-500 (maybe retired legends or something). However, with just a single release this late in the season, I think a 300 card base set with 50 short printed rookies may have been better.

#158 - Duncan Keith

#116 - David Booth

Fantastic photo!

#173 - Tyler Myers

Another good shot, Myers fending off Sid the Kid.

#130 - Jimmy Howard

#187 - Tobias Enstrom

Will there be Thrashers cards next year, or Jets cards instead? Here's hoping for Jets cards!

#145 - Antoine Vermette

#103 - Andrew Brunette

#120 - Ryan Whitney

#45 - Jordan Staal

#3 - Michael Neuvirth

This was one I was hoping to pull, a unique shot of Neuvirth watching the Zamboni, presumably clearing the center of the ice for an upcoming shootout.

#61 - Sergei Gonchar

#19 - Kris Versteeg

#42 - Sidney Crosby

It's a shame that a concussion prevented us from seeing just what kind of season Crosby may have pieced together this year. Sidney's been in the league for 6 seasons now, and the only thing that's prevented him from registering 100 points in all 6 of those seasons is injury.

#99 - Mikko Koivu

#57 - Jeff Carter

Another cool photo with the smaller view of Jeff on the video camera. That chubby kid in the orange shirt in the hallway probably has no idea he's immortalized on cardboard.

#15 - Tyler Bozak

#72 - Marian Gaborik

#29 - Jaroslav Halak

What a helmet!

#232 - Cam Fowler - Ice Breakers

My one rookie in the pack. Could any less effort go into differentiating the rookie cards? Snooze...

I have another gripe as well. The back on my Fowler rookie is positioned exactly the OPPOSITE way that the backs of the base cards are. So, when you have them all facing the same way on the front, the backs of the rookie cards are flipped compared to the base set. Are all the rookies like this or just my Fowler? Anyone?

#86 - Pekka Rinne

#44 - Marc-Andre Fleury

Couple of pretty good goalies back to back!

#2 - Mike Green

#60 - Chris Pronger

#84 - Steve Sullivan

#41 - Zbynek Michalek

#98 - Niklas Backstrom

#56 - Mike Richards

#135 - Loui Eriksson

#159 - Corey Crawford

#117 - Bryan McCabe

I love the look on the face of the Thrashers player (who I believe is Chris Thorburn).

#174 - Tyler Ennis

#131 - Henrik Zetterberg

#188 - Ondrej Pavelec

#146 - T.J. Galiardi

#104 - Brent Burns

#162 - Jussi Jokinen

Maybe the best photo in the pack. Using the team colors in the shading for the player name, team name and Pinnacle logo is a subtle design element that really ties the cards together nicely.

#14 - Alexandre Burrows

Wish they would've gotten the green men in this Vancouver penalty box photo.

#71 - Martin Biron

We close it out with Marty Biron sweeping up after a hat trick.

Despite not being big on the backs, wishing the set was a little larger, and not pulling so much as a single Boston Bruin, I was very pleased with this value pack. I was surprised that I could get 39 base cards and a short print for just $5. The solid design, thick cardstock, great photography and low price point made this a fun pack to rip. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I went back today and picked up the last two remaining packs, which I haven't ripped yet.

Hobby boxes of Pinnacle are selling for north of $80, and they yield just over 175 base cards from what I've seen. So, if you're like me and don't care much for the inserts, parallels, game-used or auto cards and just want to build the base set these rack packs are an incredible deal!