Al Muir

1997 Upper Deck All Star You Crash the Game Giveaway checklist, history, redemption details and why the hockey cards are so scarce today.

No one saw this coming. Chris Kreider had always been a solid top-six forward, putting up at least 20 goals in six of his past seven seasons with the New York Rangers. He brought a lot of value to the team with his speed and aggressive work around the crease (just ask Carey Price about his handiwork some time). Getty Images But the distance from solid contributor to 50-goal man is a Grand Canyon-like span and Kreider, who had never before scored as many as 30 in a season, seemed like an unlikely…

You might not know Dean Barnes, but you might have seen his collection. It recently traveled the country as part of the NHL’s Black Hockey History Tour. Meet Dean: “My name is Dean Barnes. My parents emigrated to Canada from Jamaica via England in the late 1960s, and I was born in Hamilton, Ontario. I’m passionate about education and learning, mental health and well-being, and sports. I was a multi-sport athlete, including hockey, when I was younger. The highest level I reached was playing for t…

Canada reclaimed Olympic gold in Beijing with a team many consider to be the fi nest women’s squad ever assembled. Thanks to Upper Deck you can add all of them to your collection, starting with these six key singles. 2018-19 Upper Deck Team Canada Juniors #79 Sarah Nurse The 27-year-old entered the tournament as Canada’s fourth-line center, but came home with the record for most points in a single Olympics. Nurse opened the scoring in the gold-medal game, then added an assist to pad her totals t…

Within days of the IIHF U18 Tournament ending in Texas, a slew of cards featuring Shane Wright, Connor Bedard, Matvei Michkov and other top stars from the event began appearing on eBay. The cards, emblazoned with logos of the event and sponsor Tissot, were offered out of Russia and featured members of the Canadian, Russian, Finnish, Swedish, and American teams. Asking prices for the singles started at $29.99 and went up as high as $99.99 for the big names. It appears several of them sold. Natura…

The first time Jamie Thomas saw artistic impressions of NHL stars inside an issue of Beckett Hockey, he knew exactly what he wanted to be. Now, more three decades later, the 41-year-old resident of Barrie, Ontario is living out his dream by having one of his pieces appear on the cover of the magazin…

Details on the first Connor Bedard hockey card, which is part of the 2020-21 Regina Pats team set. Includes print run info and more.

Meet Recchi: “Hi, I’m Recchi. I’m a 13-year-old student from Baie-Sainte-Anne, New Brunswick. And yes, I got my name from NHL Hall of Famer Mark Recchi. When my parents were dating, my dad was a big Recchi fan, so whenever my mom was studying and my dad was watching the Montreal Canadiens play, she would always hear the name Recchi. One day, she said to my dad, ‘You know what, if we ever get married and have kids, we’re naming one Recchi.’ And that’s where I got my name from. “Just a few months ago, I reached out to Mr. […]

Profile of Joe Coppeto and his collection of Mike Richter cards and memorabilia.

You’ll notice this is a different approach to the Super Collector column … because Ed McGrogan is a different kind of collector. Ed serves as the Senior Editorial Manager for Tennis Magazine and Tennis.com, so he knows how to tell a story. When he asked for free rein to discuss his jaw-dropping Brian Leetch collection, we were happy to oblige. For player collectors, it was the Roaring Nineties. The quantity of cards available to chase posed a challenge, unlike the 1980s, but the quality of cards…