[Muir2]

By Erin Bolen


There’s an interesting dichotomy in the world of player collectors.


On one hand, if there aren’t a lot of cards out there for a particular player, some of the fun of collecting is lost. Everyone needs that challenge to keep things fresh. But at the same time, when you get see a preliminary checklist that features your player 27 times, your stomach just drops.

We’ve reached the point of the hobby year where preliminary checklists for many of midseason products have started to trickle out to the internet. These checklists, while not finalized, give player collectors an early opportunity to see exactly which products will eat most of their time, energy and finances over the coming months.

Frankly, I’m conflicted on this. One the one hand, I love seeing new cards of Brenden Morrow make it onto the checklist, especially when it’s a fresh, new concept, like last year’s SP Game Used Letter Marks.


I enjoy the chase, reading the new backs and seeing what picture the card company decided to use.


Still, when I see – as on the recently revealed 2007-08 UD Ice checklist – that he’s part of a super limited, multi-player card, my heart sinks. As much as I enjoy finding cards that may not pop up on a regular basis, the thought of fighting off the Mike Modano, Marty Turco and associated goalie collectors makes my wallet feel empty months before the product comes to fruition.

All collectors have, somewhere deep in their souls, a desire for completion. If not, they wouldn’t have lasted long in a hobby where the main reward is moving a step closer to some goal.


But when there are very limited cards, especially those of the multi-player variety, that dream of completion takes a big hit.


So far, I’ve been lucky when it comes to Morrow. His rookie year was in that wonderful slot between the complete irrelevance of the early 1990s rookies and the high-end craze of this decade. He’s the team captain in Dallas, but not its more recognizable face or marketable player.

Still, there are some cards I know I will never own, cards that are so limited they are long squirreled away in personal collections or still sealed in foil on some shelf at a warehouse.

And that’s what I have to deal with while collecting a player of semi-star status and relatively low hobby value.

For those that collect such a player, people who fell in love with Joe Sakic or Henrik Lundqvist for example, I can understand the frustration of these new checklists.

One on hand, these are some of the most collected players in the hobby, and because of that, they are the ones that carry the most value. To create more value, the card companies then limit those pieces even more, creating the perfect storm of a hockey card.

But on the other, those collectors get to chase some of the most appealing cards on the marketplace, a designation that, while hard on the wallet during the process, pays an immense satisfaction when all is said and done.


Either way – whether your disappointed in the lack of your player on a checklist or disappointed because he’s there too much – there’s really no way to win. I guess it's the ability to deal with this is what keeps us going.