By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Hockey Editor

Have you ever wanted a Bobby Orr autograph, but couldn’t afford to get one of the best hockey players of all time?

It seems as though 2011-12 Ultimate Collection is making it a little easier for collectors to get their hands on one. Collectors opening the Upper Deck product have noticed Orr autographs falling at a pretty decent rate, which is usually unheard for a player of Orr’s caliber.

However, Orr is classified in Group D of that product for Ultimate Signatures, which means players such as Orr, Evgeni Malkin, Tyler Seguin and P.K. Subban are falling at a rate of one in every nine packs.

That’s four big names in the hobby world that are falling at a good rate.

In 2011-12 Ultimate, there is an autograph in every pack – and just one pack in every box.

If you don’t want to take your chances on opening a box, recent completed listings show Orr signature has become affordable. Ultimate Signatures of Orr have sold for between $50 to $75 with some jumping up to around $100.

Orr does have a good number of autographs on the market. Of his 1,152 total cards listed in Beckett, 354 are autographs. That’s about 30 percent of his cards of all his cards (Need an Orr OPG or checklist? Click here).

That’s because the majority of his cards came after Orr retired in 1979 – and was practically carried in the Hockey Hall of Fame when he did – when the autograph and memorabilia craze started to hit.

Orr is arguably the best defenseman to play in the NHL making these cards a cool collectors item to grab.

Susan Lulgjuraj is the editor of Beckett Hockey magazine. You can email Susan here with ideas, comments and questions. Follow her on Twitter here.

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Hockey Editor

Over the last several years, Upper Deck’s Ultimate Collection has been inserted with the 1997 Legends autograph subset. The checklist is filled with some of the great players in the respective sports.

Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson in basketball. Brett Favre and Dan Marino in football – just to name a few.

This year’s Ultimate Collection kicks off a three-year cycle with hockey of the 1997 Legends autographs with 30 players in each release. The product comes out next week.

The checklist includes some of the best hockey players to take the ice. Wayne Gretzky, Patrick Roy, Bobby Hull and Mark Messier are included on the list.

In addition, there are several fan favorites.

Fans of the Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers are going to appreciate the checklist with eight players for each team represented. Gretzky and Messier will appear with Edmonton on the cards, honoring the early parts of their career. Also joining the checklist for Edmonton are Grant Fuhr, Marty McSorley, Paul Coffey and others.

The Flyers will be represented by Bobby Clarke, Dave Schultz, Ron Hextall, Bill Barber, Eric Lindros, Reggie Leach, Rick MacLeash and Tim Kerr.

Thirty new cards will be in 2012-13 and 2013-14 Ultimate Collection, and superstars and legends could appear more than once in the set with different teams.

Check out the full checklist below:

AL-1 Bobby Hull Chicago
AL-2 Stan Mikita Chicago
AL-3 Tony Esposito Chicago
AL-4 Alex Delvecchio Detroit
AL-5 Red Kelly Detroit
AL-6 Ted Lindsay Detroit
AL-7 Bill Ranford Edmonton
AL-8 Glenn Anderson Edmonton
AL-9 Grant Fuhr Edmonton
AL-10 Jari Kurri Edmonton
AL-11 Marty McSorley Edmonton
AL-12 Mark Messier Edmonton
AL-13 Paul Coffey Edmonton
AL-14 Wayne Gretzky Edmonton
AL-15 Guy Lafleur Montreal
AL-16 Jean Beliveau Montreal
AL-17 Larry Robinson Montreal
AL-18 Patrick Roy Montreal
AL-19 Bill Barber Philadelphia
AL-20 Bobby Clarke Philadelphia
AL-21 Dave Schultz Philadelphia
AL-22 Eric Lindros Philadelphia
AL-23 Ron Hextall Philadelphia
AL-24 Reggie Leach Philadelphia
AL-25 Rick MacLeish Philadelphia
AL-26 Tim Kerr Philadelphia
AL-27 Adam Oates St. Louis
AL-28 Brett Hull St. Louis
AL-29 Doug Gilmour Toronto
AL-30 Wendel Clark Toronto

Susan Lulgjuraj is the editor of Beckett Hockey magazine. You can email Susan here with ideas, comments and questions. Follow her on Twitter here.

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Hockey Editor

Even during the dead heat of this summer, there are many collectors looking forward to the days when the air cools and ice arenas become a popular hang out.

Upper Deck is getting hockey fans in the mood when its latest release comes out next week – 2011-12 Ultimate Collection.

While on the high-end scale, Ultimate is a favorite among collectors with high-caliber autographs and sharp designs. Ultimate is scheduled to arrive on Aug. 7 with pre-orders around $100 a box.

Collectors will get one pack per box with four cards including an autograph, a Rookie Card, a base card and a memorabilia card, on average.

If collectors are looking to break a case, look for four or more patch cards, up to two 1997 Legends Autographs, one Ultimate Auto Rookie SP (numbered to 99) and one autographed memorabilia card.

By the preview images, there are a number of big names in the set – but, of course, low-numbered. Wayne Gretzky has a couple of autographs in Ultimate, including one where he’s paired with Mario Lemieux.

Ultimate combines many veterans and retired players with rookies. But some of the rookies will be tough to predict this year before the NHL season gets underway (that’s mid-October for those looking at their calendar).

Susan Lulgjuraj is the editor of Beckett Hockey magazine. You can email Susan here with ideas, comments and questions. Follow her on Twitter here.