Hockey Grab Bag!

The 2014-15 NHL season is just around the corner, and I can't wait.  It's been primarily baseball on the blog for the past few months, but expect an increase in hockey content as the winter approaches.  For today, I've got one of these great $1 grab bags that they sell at a hobby shop near me:

They come packaged in a brown lunch bag and typically contain between 65 and 80 cards.  I've opened a couple before, and found them pretty enjoyable.  At just over a penny per card you really can't go wrong.

In this particular bag there were 10-15 cards that I already had, including a couple of Whalers.  Those got sent off to the trade box.  For your viewing pleasure (or pain), I've scanned in every one of the remaining cards that I didn't have.  Let's get started...

I'm not going to provide commentary for every one of these due to the sheer number of cards, but to start right off with a new Sergei Fedorov card made this a win already.

Here's the one dupe I will show.  Once in a while you'll be lucky enough to get a really beat up vintage card from one of these.  This time it was in the form of a very well loved '79-80 Topps Harold Snepsts.  I've already completed this set in much better condition than this one, so I'll end up mailing this out to someone at some point...

I feel like I must have just about every junk wax Lindros card at this point, but every time I think that I find another one.  This is the Canadian bilingual back version.

Lots of nice goalie masks in this particular bag.  Douglas, if you want any for your mask binder just leave a comment or drop me an email.

Mr. Hockey's son, former Whaler, and Hall-of-Famer Mark Howe.

I definitely don't need any more 1990-91 Score cards, but I have very few from the rookie/traded set, so this one was a win.

The shop owners usually do pretty well with including at least a few big stars in every bag.  I was happy to see this 2002-03 Upper Deck Sakic in my stack, my very first card from this set.

Between these grab bags and a discount $6 blaster I picked up, I'm getting close enough to a complete 2012-13 Upper Deck hockey set that I might actually considering putting up a want list and finishing it off.

Of course there are going to be a few junk wax cards, but at least this one's full of obnoxious colors and a great North Stars sweater.

I would imagine this would be the highlight of the pack for some.

I'm not big on Artifacts, didn't even have one from this set in my collection before opening this grab bag.

Pro Set French!  And another great mask to boot.

Love this one.  Probably had 5 copies of it as a kid but didn't have one any longer until now.  I would definitely consider buying a box of this stuff on the cheap just for the nostalgia value.

Google translate tells me "jouez la bonne carte" means "play the right card", however from the English version of this card I know it means "play smart".

Shiniest card in the package, though it didn't come across that way in the scan.

Runner up.  I like this one better though.  My first Prizm card, and boy are these nice in person (and so much better than their baseball counterparts since they can show logos and use team names).

Brayden was taken by the Lightning in the 3rd round of last year's draft.

More Pro Set French.

I really like this one.  From a time with the Ducks were still (unbelievably) called the Mighty Ducks.  The gloss of the ice and the puck on edge really make the photo for me.  One of those "worthless" commons that I can still really appreciate.

Never had any cards from this set before either.  They don't look half bad.

Adrien looks like he was playing in the street with his friends and was just told by his mother that it's time to come in for dinner.

Boy is this non-licensed atrocity a low-production effort.  A kindergarten student could design a better hockey card than this.

Probably the most colorful card in the package overall.  Even though this would normally be way too busy for my taste, I kind of like it for some reason.

The Senators, Mighty Ducks and Sharks.  Covering all the early '90s expansion teams with this one.

I know Victory is a cheap set but Claude Giroux is one of my favorite current players to watch, so I was happy to land this one.

Niedermayer hot pack.

Rick Nash hot pack.

Closing things out with a very shiny Vinny LeCavalier from 2005-06 SPx.

52 new cards for my collection plus some trade bait for roughly what you'd pay for a candy bar nowadays.  Can't beat that!  I actually have a few more of these to rip through, I will post another couple as the season nears if there's any interest.