[azicet]

Personally, I like the designs of elite. I think that the problem is THE COLLECTORS. Everyone is so hung up on needing fantastic patches and autographs that they've gotten away from what my opinion is the most important part of the Hobby... collecting cards that LOOK great.

In my humble opinion, I love that Panini have put alot of thought and effort into their GORGEOUS insert sets. I really miss collecting beautiful insert cards that won't cost me an arm and a leg.

Elite is an awesome product, because not only do they deliver some hits, but just about EVERY pack has a nice looking insert or parallel.

Alot better than opening packs of Black Diamond, SPA or Series 1, Half of the packs have nothing but base. Even when they have inserts, they are plain and ugly (Hockey Heroes, All World team, essentials, etc....)

The problem is that COLLECTORS drive the value of these inserts down, because without an Auto or Patch, no one is willing to pay anything more than $0.99 on ebay for them.

It sickens me that the hobby has gotten to this point, aesthetic appeal counts for ZERO anymore. All that counts are Autos and Patches.

For shame...

I wouldn't blame the collectors. They demanded something better than what was currently being made, which I don't have a problem with. If we didn't, companies would probably still be making 100,000's of cards & hiding production runs as if they were the combinations to the safes in Fort Knox.

The cards today look nicer & have more value to them based on the autographs, jerseys & serial numbering.

If ANYONE is to blame, it's the card companies themselves for 2 main reasons.

1. There's really no need to still have as many products as they do. At this point, there's no difference between an "Artifacts" serially numbered rookie vs. a "Trilogy" serially numbered rookie, or a "Certified" rookie vs. a "Limited" one. The brands are too similar which still gives us a glut of products that have diluted pricing.

2. The player selection is AWFUL. Each year there are only 10 rookies or less who make an impact & have cards with value. The other 200 or so throughout the season via callups, injury replacements, waiver wire pickups, etc., do not. If you want to include every rookie in a set, fine. Do it for OPC, Score, Victory or any of the lower end sets. Do NOT do it for a higher end product. There's no reason a player who played 1 game at the end of the season should have a serially numbered rookie card in a product like SP Game Used, (looking at YOU Shane Sims of the NY Islanders)..

The same goes for teams. Sorry Minnesota Wild fans, but your rookies are like poison. Card companies should know pulling autographed rookies of players like Matt Foy or Justin Falk are only going to please die-hard Minnesota Wild fans. The other 99.999999999% of hockey card collectors are going to be upset. Maybe it's me but I think adding an extra 500 autographed cards of Tavares or Hall & subtracting the Foy and Falk cards will not hurt the values. If anything, it'll enhance the values of the cards in general by not having "bad" rookies in them. Yes, if the Wild ever has a top 5 pick that makes the team, of course add him to the set. But for the most part, "middling" rookies, even mid-to-late 1st rounders, should not have super-high-end cards made.