My Favorite Fedorov

I'm still in shock over how the Super Bowl ended last night.  I'm finding it difficult to think/post about much else quite frankly, but since I'm not a football card collector I'm gonna give it a shot here...

Late last year I picked up a significant new Sergei Fedorov card via eBay.  May not seem like much to some, but I love it.  In fact, I would have to say it's now my favorite Sergei Fedorov card in my collection.  Check it out:

This buyback is from the 2014-15 Upper Deck release, and pays homage to the 25th Anniversary of their inaugural '90-91 set.  I had just begun collecting hockey cards in the winter of 1989, and was playing ice hockey in a league with my two brothers at the time as well.  So, when the hockey card landscape exploded in 1990 with the introduction of brands like Upper Deck, Score and Pro Set I was in my childhood collecting glory.

Among the thousands of cards that came into our household that year, Sergei Fedorov's Young Guns Upper Deck rookie was always one of my absolute favorites.  I'm not even sure why to be totally honest, he had only just begun his NHL career and living in New England it's not like I had access to Detroit Red Wings game footage and highlights back then like we do now in the internet age.  I think it was a combination of the times, with the influx of Russian stars joining the league, and my impressionable age and new-found fandom.

Either way, the result was that I spent many an afternoon with my street hockey stick and net pretending that I was Sergei Fedorov.  I prized his Upper Deck rookie, and the copy I pulled from a pack sat in a top loader in my shoebox among my other most prized pieces of cardboard.  I know it might be kind of gimmicky to say the least, but I'm ecstatic to be one of the 25 individuals to own a copy of the buyback version of this one.

This card also pairs quite nicely with the Wayne Gretzky All-Star that I snagged from this same buyback set a while back.  I actually paid slightly more for the Fedorov than I did for the Gretzky if you can believe that, but that's because the Gretzky was a real steal.

I didn't mind shelling out a few bucks more for this card either, given that it was one of the more significant hockey cards of my collecting youth, and thus comes bundled with a whole heap of nostalgia for me.  Even if I were to sell off the bulk of my collection for some reason, this is probably one I'd hang onto.  At around the price of a blaster it's easily one of my favorite hobby pick-ups from 2016.

For the other hockey card collectors out there, have any of you picked up any of these Upper Deck buybacks at all?  What do you think, unique collectibles or a cheesy gimmick?  I say the former, though I know some will say the latter...