OPINION - Trevor Linden Digital Cards (Part 4)

A few years ago, I was made aware of a new type of hockey card collecting - digital trading cards. At the time it didn't overly sway me one way or another. I just thought it was cool that there was another avenue available for collectors to enjoy the hobby.

Then, Linden got his first digital card...and so I jumped in the pool. And to be perfectly honest, it was fun. I kept a very firm mindset that I wouldn't spend any money on these digital pieces (I'm not the biggest fan of buying something you can't physically hold on to) and I actually ended up with some very cool designs and "rare" chases.

As each year passed, there would be a handful of Linden cards that would be released. I had a grin when I saw his first autograph card as well as his first relic piece. And while I snickered a bit, I will admit, I did enjoy the process of trading for all the different Linden cards I could.

At the end of the last hockey season, as Topps usually does, they go into a mini-hibernation before launching into the new season. But the delay kept going...week after week. I don't follow the app on social media and such, but I finally figured out why they weren't introducing a new season.

Kinda bummed to be honest. That's it, that's all. And once again a solid reminder that nothing is a sure thing to last forever. So my digital card collecting is over for now. That is until I see some new Linden's pop up in the oasis.

Thankfully, Topps did announce that they would be transferring all the Skate assets to their online archive so at least I can enjoy the cards that I did collect over the years.

So, I thought I'd share my entire Linden digital card collection...

The Uncommon cards were the lowest tier of card that Trev had. The easiest to pull from packs and a breeze to trade for, these two really did nothing but fill the spots on my master list.

Some of the designs...I don't know. Ha ha.

The Rare cards. Sounds challenging, but really weren't. Many of the earlier years were given the rare designation even though they were easy to find or trade for. I do remember when I got the dual auto with Bo Horvat. I think it was around that time when I really felt like these digital cards were a legit outlet and additions to my collection.

I love many of the Topps designs and often would say "If only they had a license to make physical hockey cards again." I don't know if that will ever be a possibility in my lifetime.

The Super Rare cards. That's bigger than rare....wow. You can see that Topps really embraced the parallel world. A lot of the same designs but with a color shift and a lesser card rare ratio.

You'll also see that we venture into the world of digital relic cards. That jersey card in the bottom middle was a pillar moment in my digital card collecting, but it was the Alumni patch that had me think anything could be possible.

The free packs would reward you if you kept at it. I got the traders I needed to land the Linden patch and was blown away.

We're not even in rare air anymore...it's the Iconic class of cards. Tougher than rare. 

If you'd have asked me when I first started collecting digital cards if getting any of these Lindens would be possible...I would have given you a hard "No!"

A lot of these cards are limited to 100 "copies" or less...the gold dual, just 25 were released.

Not a single one of these were "pack pulled" by me and I think that goes to show just how opening some of the trading was on the platform. If you comparable traders (in terms of the class of card and print run), you could find a suitor.

Again, that Alumni patch card was a pretty big moment for me when I traded for that one. I was sure I'd never land it...but I was fortunate to find the right trade partner.

Here we go. Some ghosted out cards (ones that never made it to my collection). No coincidence that they live in the toughest area of town...the Legendary cards.

These were the cream of the crop, the rarest of the bunch and pretty much impossible to pull or trade for. A couple of these are 1/1's...but I take enjoyment that I can just snap a photo and feel like they're my own. Ha ha.

For me, this section wraps it all up in a bow. I am more than happy to keep these digital cards listed on my master list, cross them off when I get one and enjoy the designs and variety of all of them (whether I have a copy or not) whenever I want. Nothing wrong there.

I hope that one day there will be a similar digital hockey card vehicle that can I explore and enjoy. It really was fun while it lasted.

Total Trevor Linden digital card stats...

# of unique cards = 27
# of cards I obtained = 22
rarest card I own = limited to 25 copies
most common card I own = 3281 copies

LINDEN CARD(s) OF THE WEEK - This Linden Discovery Has Me Completely Shook

My evening has been completely overtaken by an unlikely and shocking Linden discovery. It's something I literally tripped on while sorting cards and can't really believe I even found myself in a situation to notice it.

I have spent easily the past 2 hours trying to figure out what is going on...and all I can about what I uncovered.

But, as with most things from me...let's start the story from the beginning.

A couple months ago, I was invited to be a guest on the Sports Card Live podcast. I was asked to share my hobby story and show off some of the items in my collection. So of course, I went to the boxes of Trevor Linden cards in my closet and pulled some of my faves.

It wasn't just the expensive cards (the "flex cards" as they say) that I wanted to feature. I found a few cards that I thought would really help tell the story of my Linden collecting passion. One of the cards came from a very cool subset inserted into a Leaf product in the mid-90's.

1997/98 Leaf Day In The Life #194

This lovely shot of Trev swinging the golf club is one card in the 10-card Day In The Life set that featured my guy, Trevor Linden. The photo selection on the cards show everything from home life to practice, extra-ciricular activities to gameday prep. I was on cloud nine when I learned of this subset. Ten whole cards from one product!

There really wasn't anything else out there at the time quite like this. I was quite surprised that Donruss (the company that produced Leaf cards back in the 90's) chose Linden to be the guy they featured. It was early on in my Linden collecting and I felt I'd hit the jackpot. It's still a favourite talking point of my Linden collection to this day.

In addition to the regular base card, Leaf also produced some parallels. This was the Fractal Matrix version and had a cool foil-type surface. Limited to just 1400 sets, this was a fun, but fairly easy chase - even for the mid-90's.

You can see they added the words "Fractal" and "Matrix" on the card and I know it's very faint, but you might be able to catch a glimpse of the border built into the background and going around the photo (you can notice it most up by the crown of his head).

You'll see it better once you check out the other cards.

This is the Fractal Matrix X-Axis Die-Cut parallel and (obviously) it's got a die-cut punch to the card. The top and bottom are clipped to follow the background border I mentioned in the photo before.

You can also notice the words "X-Axis Die-Cut" curved around the logo at the bottom. Another foil offering and limited to just 400 sets, this card was the "tougher" chase, but I was able to land the full set with little trouble.

This is where things started revealing themselves to me today.

I keep all of my Linden cards in toploaders or one touches and store them in the two-lane card boxes (what is it...1500-count or something?). I've got about 9 or 10 of them now. I was going through the cards from the 90's, enjoying the trip down memory lane, as I was returning the Lindens I had pulled for the podcast. 

I got to this subset and decided to take a closer look at the 10-card set and all the parallels. After a few minutes, I decided to put the cards back in the specific order I have listed on my master list. Makes sense...right?

Well, I found I was having issues figuring things out. I was getting confused by the Fractal Matrix and the X-Axis Die-Cut variations. It shouldn't be overly difficult. But this is when I discovered something that I have never noticed in the decades that I've owned these cards.

I immediately went online to get confirmation of what I was seeing.

I was shook. Dumbfounded by this alternate version of the X-Axis Die-Cut I discovered. As you can clearly see, the words "X-Axis Die-Cut" do not exist on this card, even though it clearly is the die-cut version.

Was it a one-off? Nope. I found this anomally throughout the 10-card set I owned. Half of them have the words....half don't - and I never, ever noticed. NOT ONCE. Until today.

Do all 10 cards have both die-cut versions? I still haven't been able to confirm that. But you can be sure I'm going to be eagle-eyed about it until I solve this mystery.

If it weren't for me pulling this one card out to share on the podcast, I likely would never have noticed this. Incredible.

But...there's more.

As I was doing my detective work online, searching for the variations, I found this...

What??!!! A fifth version of the card. You can clearly see that it is not a die-cut and yet, it has the "X-Axis Die-Cut" words plastered around the logo. This has completely exploded my brain. Are these printing mistakes? Did they pump these variations out for fun to see if people would notice? How many versions are actually out there?

I had to stop or I'm sure I'd be at it all night trying to figure things out.

So, I decided to blog about it. :)

The great thing about this is that I don't think anybody has a clue this exists...so the cards that are out there are cheap as cheap. I should be able to pick up a lot of the now missing gaps in my collection for only a few bucks (I like the sounds of that).

The challenge will be trying to find definitive confirmation (and physical copies) of all the Lindens I'm missing. Not going to lie...it's a fun problem to have. I look forward to it.

This summer has been just so unexpected with all of these cards from the 90's revealing themselves to me. I've never experienced anything like it. A good reminder to always be paying attention and to take the time to enjoy the cards you have.

Thirty years of Linden collecting...still learning.

MY COLLECTION - Meeker And Some Tenders

Sharing a couple more items I picked up in a trade at last weekend's card show. Both of these cards caught my eye immediately...even if I have to shoehorn them into a specific PC project.

What is it that appeals to me when I see a card? Years ago, I would say things like card design, quality of the signature (from an aesthetic view...not necessarily from a superstar standpoint), and honestly... is it something that is on one of my wantlists (the majority of stuff I chase lives on a wantlist).

But these days, a card can certainly click when it harkens back to a memory of my childhood or early days of watching hockey on TV.

This card did exactly that...

2015/16 In The Game Final Vault

04/05 ITG Franchises Canadian Edition Autograph

#A-HM Howie Meeker  (vault stamped)

When I saw this card, it brought a huge grin to my face. For some reason, Howie Meeker is a guy that I'm just drawn to when I see stuff of his - be it cards, books, photos, you name it. Definitely a childhood memory thing for me.

I discovered hockey in the early 80's, card collecting, watching games in my room on my small, black & white TV (I was so pumped when I bought that television...saved up for quite a while to get it). All of 3 or 4 channels, but it got CBC. And on Saturday nights...that meant Hockey Night In Canada.

By the 80's, Meeker was out of the game as a player and did some youth coaching and such before really finding his calling as a color commentator for HNIC. He introduced us hockey fans to the telestrator which allowed Meeker to "draw" on the screen to emphasize his points and better share his hockey knowledge.

His calling card lines of "Stop it right there" and "Back it up, back it up" harken directly to those color commentating days where he would literally be barking live on air to the team in the control room to shuttle the videotape as he needed. As a kid, I thought it was the coolest thing.

I loved his book and was thrilled to find a copy of his rookie card at a show in Edmonton a few years back. He's a guy that just fills the room with positivity. This autographed card is one I couldn't pass up. 

I love how he tried his best not to encroach on the Maple Leafs logo...that's old school - and equally awesome. It's one of just a handful of hard signed signatures you'll find of the man. I'm going to add him to my Voices Of The Game project (I'm actually making an exception with this card as all the others come from insert sets called...Voices Of The Game). He belongs there, no question.

One other card to share today from that same trade...equally as smile-inducing...

2017/18 In The Game Used

Vintage Memorabilia

#VM3-08 Sawchuk/Plante/Hall  /6

Nothing makes me stop in my tracks more than seeng a picture of Jacques Plante wearing his fibreglass mask - nothing. It was such a pivotal moment in the game of hockey when he donned his crude, handmade mask in a game for the first time and revolutionized the sport. He's on my Mount Rushmore of goalies without question.

Seeing this card with a beautiful piece of Plante's game-used Montreal Canadiens memorabilia...and then to be pocketed alongside the likes of Sawchuk and Hall - both legends themselves - incredible.

All three of these players have super-interesting stories and back in the day, were without question the top tier best of the best.

Plante, like Meeker, has a special spot in my hockey world. Back in the mid-90's, I was obsessed with the subject of goalie masks. I would spend hours saving articles and photos that I found online pertaining to mask history. I had dreams of a beefy goalie mask documentary that would share the dozens and dozens of awesome mask stories from all of these special, unique goalies. I still think about that.

This card doesn't really fit in with any specific collecting project I'm currently working on, but I could easily justify starting a small Jacques Plante PC. I've picked up a number of Plante/mask items through the years, so this triple-mem piece isn't too far out of place.

I've got one last card from my 4-for-1 trade and it could just be my favourite of all of them. I'll share that one in a few days.

Do you have any cards in your collection that really hit you with some core childhood memories of the game? Are there any cards you'd like to add because of that nostalgia?

HHOF AUTOS - Sundin Upgrade

Wow! Five full years since I've made an update to my hard-signed Hall Of Fame autograph project. Out of all my side projects, this one has fallen furthest from the wayside. 

And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. :)

In all honesty, the situation hasn't popped up where I've seen new autos to trade for (one of the rules of this project). No trading...no new cards.

However, that changed this past weekend.

I've always enjoyed this Mats Sundin signature card that sits in my HOF auto collection. I don't think he has a ton of signed cards (in comparison to other stars of his stature) and I do like seeing him as captain of the Leafs...it's how most will remember him.

When I went to the local monthly show on Sunday, I happened to chat it up with a longtme hobby friend (and host of a certain Sports Cards Live podcast) and the conversation hit upon many topics. I had brought a few card to send off for consignment and he noticed one that he said he'd like to trade for.

Trade? I like to trade.

I quickly found a few cards that caught my eye and we worked out a fantastic deal. I'm so super pumped with the new additions.

First one I'll share is the new upgrade for my Mats Sundin auto...

Mats Sundin

(inducted in 2012)

I said most will remember Mats as a Leaf...I remember him very well when he came into the league with the Nordiques.

I love everything about this card. Great horizontal layout, simple design, wonderful photograph from the time period, the Nordiques vibrant uniform, how about that helmet, and of course, the hard signed autograph (in gold pen).

I knew the moment I saw it that it would fit very nicely into the collection.

And now, I have a new Sundin auto for the trade box. That's cool too.

I'll share some of my other pickups from the trade in the coming posts. Needless to say, it's got my hockey (and hobby) motor running as we head into a new season.

Thanks very much Jeremy for the trade and for your words, approach and attitude towards this great hobby. I'm very grateful.

Current Collection - 82 HOF Autos

OPINION - Yeah...I'd Do It

A couple days ago, I caught a story on Instagram that made me stop and think...for more than just a few moments. I actually stopped scrolling - ha!

It got me pondering just how far I'd go to justify adding an item to my player collection. 

The item I saw was super unique to consider adding - and a very fun conversation starter.

Seems harmless enough. It's just a Marc Andre Fleury figurine depicting a pretty massive diving save.

To an MAF collector, I'd think this would be a no-brainer to add to the wantlist. It would be a very cool display item or (like me) keep it in the box in pristine conditon...and then find another to crack out of the case later on. :)

And if you want to see the actual save...check it out...

Tremendous! Definite save of the year candidate. Fleury just is cementing himself as one of the all-time great goalies. It's hard to deny that. He's a lock to be a Hall of Famer.

Now, take a closer look at the original IG post. It's not a Marc Andre Fleury collector who posted it.

Watch the highlight again. See where I'm going with this?

Would you, as a Nic Petan collector want to add this MAF piece to your collection? It's obvious that Petan is inextricably linked to this save. How many times do we see an unworldly dive at the last moment and immediately think of the sniper who got robbed? Players screaming to the rafters and rolling their eyes in disbelief. 

I bet Petan was doing his fair share of it on that night.

So the question remains...would you want that reminder in your collection?

Initially, I think it would bring some snickers...a humourous thought for sure. But there's some definite validity and a strong argument for as well.

I think it's a pretty darn cool item - definitely unique. I feel like I'd add it in an unofficial capacity. Chase it, but only if the price is right. And I don't think it'd get a mention on my master checklist...but it would likely be front of mind when I'd go to shows or card shops. I'd be looking for it.

I saw this as I was doing my search for the figurine. Official signed photos...I'm sure there are posters and all that too. Maybe not everything needs to be on the radar. :)

There are limits, no question. I can say pretty confidently that if it was a certain New York Ranger goalie making that save in game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup series, I'd likely pass on his bobblehead. And let's not dare mention the other Ranger (that we will never talk about).

A cool figurine for sure and a fantastic debate on how much we as collectors will morph our boundaraies to justify and add an item.

What's the biggest stretch you've put on convincing yourself to add an item to your collection? Do you still think it belongs? Any regrets?