A little bit of pack ripping to start the long weekend

I hadn't busted open a pack of cards in a few weeks (at least), and yesterday I got the itch to hit Target and buy something to open.  It was just a matter of what I wanted when I got there.

Since I really had no desire to collect anything else that was baseball related from 2016 (A&G may come later, we'll see), I wanted to grab some hockey cards to rip open.

2016-17 MVP started calling my name when I saw it on the shelf.  I bought myself the only blaster that was there, along with one fat pack to get me going.

The design hasn't changed much over the past few years, I don't mind however because MVP has always been one of my favorite brands.

I always enjoy sets that mix in some of the legends in with today's players.  I enjoy it even more when companies add great players that don't get a lot of publicity.  Yes, there will always be Gretzky, Lemieux, Sakic, and a lot of the other greats, but there are a lot of solid players that have been somewhat forgotten.  Borje Salming, in my opinion, is one.  I was very excited to see this card come out of one of the packs that I busted, because Borje will always be one of my favorite Leafs players.  He persevered in an era where fighting was king, and the Leafs did nothing but tear the team apart and send it into mediocrity for the better part of the 80's.  Thank you Upper Deck for adding Borje to this set!

The silver signature parallels have always been a weakness of mine (I have a complete set from the 90's to prove it), and this year is no different.  I do have one complaint about this year's version, in that they signature is very "weak" and hard to see.

Pulling the Connor McDavid #300 silver sig checklist card was a great hit for me, and was one of the highlights of the blaster.

They are very difficult to see because of the scan, but these are the NHL territory inserts.   I pulled 2 as you can see, including another McDavid card.  I'm not an Oilers fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm looking forward to seeing what Connor can do this year with a full season under his belt.

Again, the foil is difficult to see, but this is a Dylan Larkin leading lights insert.  For those of you unaware, Larkin was elected to last years All Star game as a rookie, and is one of the fastest skaters in the league right now.  45 points and a +11 as a rookie earned him 5th place in the voting for the Calder Trophy, and the Red Wings have high hopes for this speedster.

Speaking of high hopes, the Leafs are hoping that William Nylander can blossom into a 30 goal score from the wing over the next few seasons.  It was fun watching William and the other young players play on the big club over the last 6 weeks of the season, and it will be interesting to see who makes the team this year out of training camp.  I was elated to pull this card out of the blaster, and will be hunting for one more to add to my Leafs collection. 

Finally, my good luck with MVP and serial #'d gold signature cards continues.   I pulled this Joe Pavelski, #70/165 out of the blaster.  This will be added to the serial numbered insanity set and is the first San Jose numbered card that I own. 

I think that this will be the year that I start getting back into collecting hockey sets again, since there is nothing appealing right now from the modern baseball sets for me.  I'll be adding some hockey want lists to this blog over the next few weeks, including the '16-'17 MVP set, which I hope to complete in short order.

Thanks for reading, Robert