While I might not be chasing as many Linden cards as I once did, I still find myself popping into the nearby local card store to see how things are, talk a little shop and hope that maybe someone has tracked something down for me.
Today, I was fortunate to have a couple cards waiting when I arrived. It's one of the many things I love about being a longtime Trevor Linden collector - people know...and keep an eye out.
This time, it was the shop owner who had a couple of new cards for me. He had opened some of the recently released Upper Deck Synergy - a product that has a couple of new Lindens to add (plus their "all too common these days" parallels). It's a modest 6 cards added to the list as a result of this release and only one low-numbered chase (numbered to just 25 copies). This is the kind of layout that is exactly what I enjoy. A bit of a chase without breaking the bank.
I'll admit, this was a weird looking card when I first laid my eyes on it. Not because of the design (which I quite like) and not because it's shiny (I'm really taken by the foil effect this card has...looks great in person). No, what threw me was the pairing of Linden and current Canucks star Elias Pettersson. Makes me feel old. Ha ha.
I didn't feel this way with Naslund, the Sedins or even Horvat, but pairing him up with Pettersson just makes me think about how long it's really been since Trev's last game (over 16 years now). It feels like just a few seasons ago. Time flies.
As mentioned, I really like the looks of this particular card. The green parallel color definitely adds some punch. I don't know if I'll say the same about the base, gold or red copies. And with it numbered out of 399, it's the second rarest of the lot (only the gold /149 is the tougher chase). Very nice.
Love adding this one to the master collection. This next card...not my fave.
I like the idea of this card, I don't mind the layout...but I hate the font choice and the quote. It just doesn't grab me the way the other card does. It feels a little dated in the look and the words just don't really inspire (sounds generic). I think that's where I'm have a tough time. The layout, modern look of the image, logos and player name all work. It's just those hokey letters used for the insert set name and quote...I can't get past it.
Oh well...I'm not going to complain too much. After all, these cards were gifted to me and I'm very grateful to add them. It'll be fun to look back at these years down the road. Maybe I won't feel quite the same as I do now.
Something else that I took note of as I was crossing these off my master list. We are near the end of the 2023/24 season for product releases (Upper Deck is still a little behind) and Trev only has 20 cards in total to chase (and 6 of them are digital cards from Topps Skate!). That's down from 29 the year before.
Well less than 50 unique Trevor Linden cards over the past two years have been pushed out into the hobby. That's not a lot. It takes me back to the 2009/10 season when he had just a single card (a sticker actually, from Panini, before they dove into the deep end of hockey card production and provided a rebirth of sorts to my Linden pc).
I wonder if a time will come where Trev is completely ignored in products. I have to think so. He was never a superstar...more of an all-timer for the team. Is that enough to have him show up in products? How many? How often? Something I thought of today...something I haven't thought of for a very long time.
As a player collector, it is one of the only times where I am at the mercy of the hobby...it will dictate what happens. I have no control over it.
Any player collectors out there that have seen a sharp decline (or complete removal) of their player from current product releases? Was it sudden?...or eventual? Have you come to grips with it?
Although I have several player collections... none of them are guys I absolutely have to have every single card of. So I haven't really noticed a sharp decline outside some of the retired guys who aren't either in or headed to the hall of fame (like Kurt Suzuki).
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