2023 Year-in-Review: Top 23

hckycdn93

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Hello,

First and foremost I wish everyone a happy holidays with friends and family as we say good bye to 2023 and set our sights on 2024. This past year was full of new opportunities and experiences personally. I also had a pretty successful year hobby-wise as well, so without further adieu, here are my top 23 cards of 2023!

As I've done in years past, let's start off with a few honorable mentions:






2005-06 ITG Ultimate Memorabilia 6th Edition Broadway Blueshirts Ott Heller Cut Autograph (1/1)

Starting off the honorable mentions, we have Ott Heller cut autograph. A career "Blueshirts" from 1931-1946, he won two cups in '33 and '40, and captained the team from '42-'46. He passed shortly after to his 70th birthday in 1980. Really glad to add it to my cut auto collection.

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2005-06 Fleer Hot Prospects Materials Sidney Crosby HM-SC BGS 9.5 (2-color)

Next we have a 2-colour Crosby rookie jersey card. Anyone who is familiar with my collection, knows I actively seek multicolored swatches and patches for my 05-06 hockey collection. While the BGS 9.5 Gem-mint grade is awesome, its the swatch that really made my pursuit of this card intense, as its the only copy I have encountered thus far that has more than one color.

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2005-06 The Cup Rookies /199

I added six new 05-06 The Cup RPAs in 2023, a set I am quite picky about adding new cards. For me it is all about the patch, grade is secondary for me, though 5 of the 6 have decent grades for this product. My favourite of the bunch is the Daniel Paille 4-colour patch, featuring the buffalo head in the patch window.

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2005-06 Be A Player Dual Signatures Howe-Thornton D-HT

This dual auto gets an honorable mention, as it would be a shame to leave a crisp Howe autograph off the countdown. I'm confident Joe will accompany Gordie in the HHOF soon, making this a future dual HOF autographed card.

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2005-06 UD SP Game Used Patches /75

I managed to pick up 10 new additions this year, none of which was more special than the 3-color Gretzky. However, there were some pretty colorful additions in the bunch, including two logo patches from the Red Wings in Cujo and Draper, a tough 4-color patches with Morrison and Aebischer.

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1957-58 Topps

The last group on the list of honorable mentions are my 1957 topps hockey additions. I strive to obtain minimum PSA/SGC 8 grades where possible, though I don't shy away from raw cards if in excellent condition. A few tough cards to find in high grade in this lot are Doug Mohns, Al Arbour and Andy Bathgate.

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With that said, onto the top 23!














#23. 2005-06 UD Artifacts Redemption Rookies and Updates /750

I had a great opportunity to pick up a full Artifacts rookie set this past year, not only including the redemptions set from the Artifacts product (#201-242), but also the update set inserted into the Rookie Update product (#243-342). The Redemption set includes all the big names, Ovechkin, Crosby, Lundqvist, Perry, Getzlaf etc. The Update set includes superstars Pekka Rinne, Corey Crawford, Mike Green and Mikko Koivu.

The full set can be observed in the album here

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#22. 2005-06 UD SP Rookie Authentics Alexander Ovechkin (117/250)

Next we have a hard signed, Alexander Ovechkin rookie year card numbered to 250 from the SP Authentic product. Compared to what other hard-signed autos go from from SP Authentic, this card is quite undervalued in the Ovie market in my opinion. Only 66 more to go to pass Wayne on the all-time list.

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#21. 2004-05 Extreme Top Prospects Set /400

A pretty unique find for me, a complete set of 2004-05 Autographed set /400, including numerous pre-NHL autographs of CHL players such as Crosby, Perry, Krejci, Marc Staal, Radulov and Mike Richards. What makes this purchase more unique, is the fact that the set came with the original binder and packaging in which the cards and binder were once enclosed.

The full set can be viewed here.

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#20. 2005-06 ITG Ultimate Memorabilia 6th Edition Blades of Steel

These next two cards are special as their memorabilia is quite rare, both make their first appearances in my collection. The first is Bill Barilko, a Leafs' legend who passed away in a tragic plane accident, shortly after scoring the OT Stanley Cup winning goal in 1951. The second is a pioneer of the goaltending position in George Vezina. To my knowledge, there is no confirmed intact Vezina memorabilia outside of the hall of fame, so obtaining a small piece of his game used skate is definitely special.

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#19. 2005-06 UD Ultimate Rookies Shield and Autograph #93 Brule (1/1)


While Brule is a relatively forgotten once-promising prospect, finding any rookie shield from 2005-06 is a notable treasure. This is no exception, with a vibrant autograph and nicely center navy shield.

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#18. 2005-06 ITG Ultimate Memorabilia 6th Edition Complete Jersey Terry Sawchuk (8/10)

Up next is a beautiful complete jersey card of Terry Sawchuk from his days with the inaugural LA Kings, in which he only played 36 games. While the jersey and number pieces are solid purple and gold colors, its the emblem which really catches your eye, displaying 4 colors (purple, gold, cream and white).

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#17. 2005-06 UD SP Game Used Awesome Authentics /100

This next lot is from a new set I decided to pursue this year. The large swatches really make the cards "pop", and with such a large area, it gives the opportunity to find many dual, triple and even quadruple colored jerseys. Some of my favorites include the Lemieux, Sakic, Naslund, Gagne and Conklin. The Lemieux and Naslund are pretty self-explanitory, amazing three and four colored swatches from two first ballot Hall-of-Famers. The Naslund swatch is from the old-school "skate" era jersey, which was used to produce numerous jersy and patch cards in 05-06. The Gagne is likley an error piece, as it appears to be taken from a Bruins jersey, but three color nonetheless. And finally we have the Conklin, a crazy 4-color piece from the navy era oilers jersey.

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#16. 2005-06 UD Beehive Photographs Partial Set

I had a great opportunity to purchase a near complete set of 2005-06 Beehive Photographs, including the three stars in Gretzky, Ovechkin and Crosby. The set is comprised of large oversized, hard sign autographs of current stars and former hall of famers. At present, I have 20 of the 25 in the set so if anyone has the Bobby Hull, Spezza, Phil Esposito, Lafleur or Howe, please let me know!

The partial set can be viewed here.

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#15. 2005-06 SP Authentic Future Watch Patch Autographs /100

Last year, I was able to purchase a near complete 2005-06 SP limited set /100, including base, most of the patches and the majority of the non auto patch rookies /100. Unfortunately no Crosby, Ovie or Lundqvist, but a great lot nonetheless. This year I was able to upgrade quite a few of the 1 and 2 color patches. Some of my favorites can be viewed below:

- Perry 4-color
- Patzold 4-color
- Steen 2-color
- Seabrook 3-color
- Parros 4-color
- Clowe 4-color
- Gorges 4-color
- Suter 6-color!
- Stewart 4-color
- Bourque 4-color
- Wolski 4-color
- Olesz 4-color
- Lebda 2-color (Winged Wheel)

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#14. 2005-06 ITG Ultimate 6th Edition Bleu, Blanc et Rouge Cut Autograph Maurice Richard 1/1

Up next we have a cut autograph of Montreal Canadien's legend Maurice Richard. The signature on the card appears to be signed on a newspaper, if anyone can match the image to the full photograph, please let me know!

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#13. 2005-06 UD Victory Black /5

Over the last year, I managed to add five new additions to my set, including one highly ranked prospect in Jeff Carter, and one Hall-of-Famer in Nicklas Lidstrom! I now have 78/300 from the set!

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#12. 2005-06 Hot Prospects and SPx ERROR auto of Sidney Crosby/Ryan Whitney

At number twelve we have a bit of an odd-ball error card. Both the Hot Prospects release and the SPx product both used sticker autos, producing a well known error where some Ryan Whitney rookies were distributed featuring the wrong auto, of fellow teammate Sidney Crosby. The most common occurrence of this error can be found in the SPx update release, found in rookie update product. I was able to pick up a great 2-color version of this error in SGC 8. The second pick up is much more scarce. Not only is it a Hot Prospects patch error, but it is featured on the red parallel /50. I have only seen two to date, also featuring a nice 3-color patch. If any one has the Hot Prospects error version /349, please let me know!

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#11. 2005-06 Heroes & Prospects Ovechkin

About mid-year, I picked up a few nice memorabilia cards from the H&P series of Alexander Ovechkin. Three featured game used Russian Memorabilia from an Dynamo jersey, which the others were NHL rookie-jersey memorabilia. My favorite by far is the gold emblem, which has a 4-color patch from the top of the capital building. To finish off the silver and gold sets, if anyone has the gold number, emblem or number cards please let me know!

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#10. 2005-06 The Cup Limited Logos

I added four new Limited Logo cards to the collection, including my first short-print card in Bobby Hull (3-color patch), and one of the most stunning patches in my collection, a 4-color Oilers patch of Ty Conklin!

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#9. 2005-06 The Cup Gold Parallels

The 05-06 Cup gold parallels are among my favorite of all time, particularly the rookies. However, I'll pick up any base gold /25 if the opportunity is presented. My two base adds for this year were Zetterberg and Lemieux. Of the rookies, my newest additions were Montoya /29 (3-color), Ladd /16 (4-color), Perry /61 (4-color) and Gorges /6 (2-color).

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#8. 2005-06 The Cup Legendary Cuts Bryan Hextall (1/1)

At number 8 we have a new addition from one of my favorite inaugural Cup sets in the Legendary Cuts. All cards in the set included cut signatures from some high profile players, including Plante, King Clancy, Harvey and Toe Blake. The Hextall is my first 1/1, won at PWCC this past month. If there are any out there and you are looking to sell, please let me know!

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#7. 2005-06 The Cup Black Parallel (1/1)

I was fortunate to add not one, but two black parallel rookies from the first The Cup release. Tomas Fleischmann and George Parros. While not the Capital rookie everyone was chasing, Fleischmann went on to have a decent NHL career, and Parros went on to head the NHL department of safety. I'm very happy to have added these two in 2023.

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#6. 2005-06 Upper Deck Hg Glossy /10

2023 was a HUGE year for my 2005-06 High Gloss set, with 22 new additions spread throughout the calendar year. An astounding 5 new Young Guns, and a few star/HOF players as well. Rookies include Rene Bourque, Jordan Sigalet, Valeri Filppula, Gerald Coleman and Kevin Bieksa. Stars and HOF players include Nagy, Peca, Bergeron, Luongo, Marian Hossa, Naslund, Horcoff, O'Neill, Staal, and Bouwmeester. The 22 new additions gives me 284/487, or 58% of the entire 487 card set.

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Onto the top 5...










#5. 2005-06 Fleer Hot Prospects En Fuego (1/1)

Starting off the top 5, we have six new additions from the 2005-06 En Fuego 1/1 set, including 5 rookie shields. The lone base 1/1 is a Horcoff, while the rookies include Mcclement, Brule, Fleishmann, Artyukhin and Zach Parise. To this day, I have yet to see the rookie shields of the big rookies (Crosby, Ovechkin, Lundqvist etc). If anyone one has info on these cards please let me know!

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#4. 2005-06 UD Ultimate Dual Patches Howe-Yzerman (12/25)

At number four we have a long time dream card of mine, featuring patches of both Howe and Yzerman. The Ultimate product ranks second only to the Cup release as my favorites ever produced. I felt quite fortunate to acquire this card given how many big Howe collectors are out there.

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#3. 2005-06 Fleer Ultra Difference Makers Patch Alexander Ovechkin (5/5)

This next card is truly a bucket list item for me given its collectability and rarity. When I first began following hockey in 2005, Ovie quickly became my favorite player and I've been collecting his card ever since. The Difference Makers patch cards are each limited to 5 copies, with this particular copy displaying a strong 4-color patch in a relatively small patch window. I have only seen one other copy which was one solid color. This copy was brought to auction and I narrowly won it, it is in my opinion, a purchase of a lifetime.

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#2. 2005-06 Ultimate Premium Patches /35 and Swatches /75 Alexander Ovechkin

At number 2 we have a pair of four color patch and swatch from Alexander Ovechkin. I picked them up from separate sellers, though within a 2-month span. The Ultimate series as mentioned before, is only behind the Cup in terms of quality of cards produced, this is no exception. The Premium Patch card is one of only 3 4-color pieces I have seen, while the swatch is one of only 2 4-color features I have seen to date. Both have incredible eye appeal and strong candidates for future grading.

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And #1..















#1. 2005-06 SP Authentic Rarefied Rookies Henrik Lundqvist (1/1)

The number 1 card of 2023 is a Rarefied Rookies of newly inducted Hall-of-famer Henrik Lundqvist. Any card from this set is a "white whale" for any player collector, which is why I feel incredibly fortunate to have obtained it this past year. It is an incredible card to have at the very top of the best in 2023.

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Well if you have made it this far, thank you for the time and please do not hesitate to contact me with information on cards I need or those you are looking to sell. Looking forward to what 2024 will bring, comments/feedback are welcome. Have a great weekend and a happy New Year everyone!
 
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:hockey:

What a show and I'm really liking all of the Ovechkin items, especially the 2005-06 Fleer Ultra Difference Makers Patch Alexander Ovechkin (5/5) :banana:

Thanks a lot for the show.
 
Great stuff all around! Thanks for sharing and happy new year!
 
Always love seeing your 2005-06 additions, so this was another amazing show. So many really great cards here, and that Lundqvist is something else. Surprised it was uncovered after all these years and was made available.
 
Just an amazing group of cards,so many awesome patches. My favorites however would have to be those sweet 57-58 Topps beauties.
Thanks a million for sharing all the pics.
Cheers
Dan
 
Wow that is a crazy amount of pickups in just one year. Enough for most collections. Love the patches on the Future Watch cards. I've never seen on of the Rarified Rookie cards and it looks great. Hope you have a successful 2024 as well and thanks for sharing.
 
That is just an outstanding show. Holy smokes. Just hit after hit after hit. Congratulations on a fantastic collecting year. I need a drink!
 

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