General Forum

It's now an average of 20 games into the season and many weeks past the date when UD "flagship" series 1 hockey cards were supposed to be released which lately has coincided with the big show in TO.

You know something is up, and you know not as many people care as they used to.

Save for the poor guy who already made his deposit on or paid for 40 cases of Series 1 

Y well hockey is in a tough spot right now it has 1 mega superstar worth collecting and barely a few extra notables.

Rewind 20ish to 30 years and you had tons of star power, Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, Messier, Roy, Marty my Brodeur, Sakic, Selanne, Hull etc..  Bure, Lindros, Forsberg, Hasek

If you aren't picking up on Connor Mac then you can do the Veg kid some Sid maybe Auston and Nathan Mac if he stays healthy.

Not too long ago you had so many solid names all at once now there is no identity left, guys to follow, careers are too short etc.

Don't even go to the Suzuki , Cold coffeee or Alexis route these are busts to the tune of Yakupov ok maybe Suzuki won't . 

And DON"T give me this time business when you are good or great you are producing in the NHL from the GO.

Did Miro or Cale spend seasoning time in the minors?

They were Aces right from the start but defenseman don't get the attention forwards do undeservedly so but its' just the way.

Hockey was once pushing for #2 spot in the major four now with basketball righting their ship no thanks to Panini they are now a solid 4th and that's as much Upper Decks' fault as it is Hockeys'.

There isn't enough value coming out of their packs, their inserts aren't wow, actually they are stale, ud portraits, canvas, snooze press repeat, zero innovation, zero imagination and yet they likely sell too much year after year because the traditionalists that built the 1st one in 90-91 are still building them in 20-21.

And what happened to Hockey, was I the only 1 who thought when he saw Pavel in rollerblades that that would be a pre-cursor to some amazingly fast players in the future thanks to the ability to simili-skate year round?

Who's fast now? ok who else? 

Yes I'm biased, I just watched MacD get 4 could have been 5 points if not for Kailer Yamamotoring across the blue line. 

His passes were sublime, he just has it all and is so far above anyone else, i look to see if the Oilers are playing.

He seems to show up every night , Upper Deck series 1

NOWHERE IN SIGHT

Good night!

Upper Deck does indeed suck and is very complacent. Buying and ripping packs seems like a huge loss of money over the long run, but that's card collecting in general. Why I stick to vintage and purchasing singles

As for the sport, it's going to be difficult to ever match the hayday of the 80s/90s for legends in the sport but that's partially because there was more distance between the superstars and the commons of that era. Today there is more parity not just between teams but between players. Everybody has access to the same fancy coaching and hockey schools from virtually birth now. The on ice product is better now than ever in overall talent but it leads to less superstars that are head and shoulders above the rest. Still no lack of superstars exactly, probably at least 20.

And THAT as you stated is where it is nearly impossible to numerically calculate the amount of those "standout" guys from 1 generation to the next, parity says everyone seems to be going at the same speed and suddenly JT Miller looks like Bobby Orr albeit against the Senators(may there be too many teams now?)

Last case of Hockey we cracked was 2015-16 UD series 2(Portraits and Shining Stars oh my) , since then there hasn't been much worthwhile opening.

They pushed it back so they could use actual photos from this season supposedly. If that's true it's a noticable improvement.

I think Upper Deck is just fine.  And I agree with Billy if it is true that they pushed back release dates to use actual pics from the present season.  Plus you gotta remember Upper Deck probably makes a boat load with their epack format.  They just introduced SPGU Golf on their and it is VERY expensive and people are buying it.  Also all of their Marvel products sell very nicely on epack because alot of the buyers on there do not have access near them to any place that actually sells the physical product.

Not a collector of hockey, but I appreciated the initial post's wild-and-wooly freelance commentary on the state of hockey and its cards! It sounds like, whenever you do get those cases, the opening of the packs and seeing the players will be more of an enjoyment of the sport and less about the next great rookie and such. I feel like that is what new baseball cards are about, for sure.

What about Jordan Eberle ? Hockey is the only sport I can still watch and do watch. The other sports Hoops and NFL are just  time out after time out then instant replay after replay again . They review a play that its obvious by watching one time that is good or not 100 times.  Hockey has the game flow and is the best sport IMO by far. You have to watch the games to see they do have excellent players .More than just Mcdavid .Pietrangelo, Brayden Point, Brady Tkachuk, James AcAvoy, Martin Necas, Dylan Larkin and many many others. THey dont force the overrated draft picks down your face like the NFL and NBA. You know who they are.Upper Deck is just fine as they also have AEW wrestling coming out soon. 

Let's put it this way, when Gretzky was on the ice, you knew he was on the ice, at all times. When Lemieux was on the ice, you knew he was on the ice, at all times. When Orr was on the ice, you knew he was on the ice, at all times. But, when Ovechkin is on the ice, you don't even notice. I agree with this 100%. Nobody stands out. 

What card release *hasn't* been delayed recently? I'm sure Upper Deck is doing alright - didn't they recently extend their exclusive contract with the NHL?

I see Upper Deck dying is the fact they put out the only (lisenced) hockey cards around. Too many sets, too many price levels. Don't let the list fool you, there is no competition, Skybox / Parkhurst  / O-Pee-Chee / SP are all UD products. I'm actually considering ordering SeReal cards from the KHL for some variety.

And for superstars, you know who they are, because SportsCentre and the NHL promote them and no one else. McDavid skating through defenders solo and scoring, NO ONE ELSE CAN DO THAT !!!!!!!  *eye roll*  Puleeze, JT Miller did it last night for Vancouver, and it's been done week after week.