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Collector's World 0105

The Hockey News Collector's World 0105

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-011434/10199720-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011540/10199713-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="7822" height="4447"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-011552/10199706-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="7878" height="4482"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011528/10199699-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="7444" height="4356"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011553/10199692-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="7403" height="4314"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-011453/10199685-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="7264" height="4290"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-011408/10199678-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="7353" height="4201"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-011007/10199671-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="6879" height="3935"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01937/10199664-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="6120" height="3934"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01817/10199657-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="7350" height="4350"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01730/10199650-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="3639" height="4236"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

PRICE GUIDE

<div class="byline">BY BRIAN COSTELLO</div>Wayne Gretzky is picky when it comes to signing his name to things. He&rsquo;s not being a snob, he&rsquo;s just doing it for the good of collectors and collectibles.Gretzky and Brett Hull recently signed a contract with The Scoreboard Inc., of New Jersey to ensure the authenticity of memorabilia on an exclusive basis. So the next time you purchase a Gretzky or Hull-signed gift, if you can&rsquo;t trace it back to Scoreboard, it may not be legitimate.The purpose of such a deal is to shipwreck the increasing number of pirates, so to speak.&ldquo;There is more and more bogus Gretzky merchandise on the market,&rdquo; said Michael Barnett, Gretzky&rsquo;s agent. &ldquo;On any given day, we&rsquo;re investigating five to 10 projects using his name and image without approval.&rdquo;With the increasing demand of authentic memorabilia, it was not uncommon to come across individuals selling Gretzky-signed pucks or photos en masse to collectible stores.&ldquo;It became preposterous,&rdquo; Barnett I said. &ldquo;We would question these people where they got these items and they&rsquo;d say &lsquo;Oh, Gretzky signed them for me after the game the other day.&rsquo;&rdquo;Some fraudulent dealings are innocent, others are wilful. In the end, through Barnett&rsquo;s policing and the exclusive agreement with Scoreboard, most pirates expecting to make easy commission are eventually put out of commission.With the Scoreboard agreement in place, collectors are ensured of legitimate items, even if it&rsquo;s bought second-hand.&ldquo;Wayne said it was imperative there be an outlet for his products to be properly distributed,&rdquo; said Ken Gol-din, executive vice-president of Scoreboard. &ldquo;He wanted to ensure people who buy items with his name on it are getting the real thing. He wanted it to be first class.&rdquo;Now, every time Gretzky agrees to market a collectible item, the signatures are done in Barnett&rsquo;s office with a Scoreboard representative present. Any other time. Gretzky won&rsquo;t sign more than one or two items for each request. That&rsquo;s partly why you&rsquo;ll never see Gretzky at a collectible show.Barnett and Scoreboard are also concerned about not flooding the market with Gretzky merchandise. It has I to be a very special occasion. Limited edition lithographs and plaques are the latest items available through Scoreboard.The lithograph commemorates Gretzky&rsquo;s 2,000th point. It is autographed by Gretzky, signed and numbered by artist Joe Thiess and sells for $269 (U.S.) unframed. There are 1,500 woodgrain plaques depicting Gretzky as the Athlete of the 1980s. They sell for $99.Gretzky lithographs created by Leroy Nieman and Andy Warhol in the early&rsquo;80s now have market values of $7,500 apiece.&ldquo;We receive probably 12 tasteful I proposals a year to do something like this,&rdquo; Barnett said. &ldquo;But if too many are available and they&rsquo;re not sold out, the value doesn&rsquo;t appreciate.&rdquo;For what it&rsquo;s worth, Gretzky is paid I a flat rate and on a percentage for the memorabilia he endorses. A fair portion goes to charities, such as $100,000 for The Great One promotion he did with Gordie Howe through Nike.While limited edition memorabilia is clearly monitored, the distribution of non-appreciating Gretzky products such as clocks, wallpaper, bedsheets and such is rapidly waning.&ldquo;Wayne is purposely cutting down on the range of items that attract chilldren,&rdquo; Barnett said. &ldquo;He feels it&rsquo;s time for the younger stars of the NHL to take over in that field. He had his time with that. Now it&rsquo;s time for someone else.&rdquo; &#9632;

GRETZKY TAKES MEASURES TO SINK PIRATES

I must admit I was a little apprehensive when I asked Inside HOCKEY assistant editor Ken Campbell to do a story for this issue on the future of the hockey card hobby. Campbell, who is slowly coming around on the virtues of card collecting, was asked to find out if the boom in the hobby was a one-year wonder.I was concerned I'd find a somewhat negative story when Campbell, who is a Theoren Fleury type both in size and tenacity, finally got around to filing. As you will see on page 10, that&rsquo;s not what happened. While there are some growing pains the hobby must overcome, the future does indeed look bright.The question I get asked the most by collectors and non-collectors alike is whether or not the bottom will fall out of the market. I can't pretend to be able to predict the future, but after reading Campbell&rsquo;s story and hearing what dealers, the card companies and collectors have to say, I feel confident the hobby has a long, healthy future.The problem of counterfeit cards is the one thing which can singlehandedly destroy the hobby. Fortunately, the problem hasn't become widespread and it&rsquo;s imperative the card companies do everything they can to prevent the problem from spreading.But the greatest onus in preventing forged cards from taking hold of the hobby is on you, the collector. If you buy a card and suspect it&rsquo;s fake, have someone check out the card to verify its authenticity. If you buy a Brett Hull rookie card and discover it's fake, it&rsquo;s your responsibility to turn the card over to the police. In the long run, you&rsquo;ll be doing the hobby, and j yourself, a favor.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021963/10199806-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="527" height="765"><figcaption class="caption-body">RAND SIMON</figcaption></div>It&rsquo;s encouraging to see hockey fans collecting cards at a time when the economy leaves most of us with little extra spending money. Some say the hobby is recession proof because in bad economic times, people like to turn to things which remind them of happier times. However, most of what collectors are buying today aren't cards from the 1960s or &rsquo;70s, they&rsquo;re the cards from the &rsquo;90s. If collectors are spending their money now on what most would call a nonnecessity, it appears likely they will continue to stay interested in the hob by when the economy turns around.I always believe there is strength in numbers, and that&rsquo;s why the future for the hobby looks bright. With all the new sports card stores opening, and the increase in the number of collectible shows and auctions, it&rsquo;s good to see so many people getting involved in the hobby.My biggest concern is that some collectors are only getting into the hobby to make a quick buck. I have nothing against someone trying to make some money from collecting hockey cards, but don&rsquo;t expect to become a millionaire overnight (or ever, for that matter). With some wise investments, patience and luck, you can gain some financial success. But anyone who believes that can happen overnight should face reality.I believe the people who will leave the hobby first are those who are only in it for the money When they don&rsquo;t see their bank accounts growing right away, they&rsquo;ll turn to something else.One problem these collectors have is they believe each card can be turned into cash immediately. They open a pack of cards, see an Upper Deck Ed Belfour or an O-Pee-Chee Sergei Fedorov, and feel they&rsquo;ve just found a five dollar bill. Well, it doesn&rsquo;t quite I work that way. Both Belfour and Fedorov have cards that a store owner can sell for about $5&mdash;the price listed for their cards in this month&rsquo;s price guide. But don&rsquo;t forget, a store owner has to make a profit on what he or she sells or his or her store won&rsquo;t stay open very long.You can reasonably expect a dealer to pay you anywhere from 40 to 80 per cent of guide price for mint-condition cards. This shouldn&rsquo;t surprise you, after all, would you expect to take a car into a dealer and have him give you the same amount of money that he sells the car for? Of course, not.I hope most of you are collecting cards for fun first and potential financial gain second. Take a look at hockey cards for what they are, not what they may mean to your bank account. &#9632;

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RANDOM THOUGHTS

<div class="byline">MIKE RICHTER</div>While Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; goal tender Ed Belfour gets all the attention from card collectors and Calder Trophy voters, another top rookie goal tender is quietly enjoying an outstanding season.Playing every other game for the Patrick Division-leading New York Rangers, Mike Richter led the NHL in save percentage (.911 as of March 6), while also ranking in the top 10 in goals-against average (2.95) and winning percentage (.636).Yet, even though he plays in the media capital of the world, Richter has yet to receive anywhere near the publicity Belfour has. The main reason is because while Belfour has played nearly every game, Richter alternates with veteran John Vanbiesbrouck.But that shouldn&rsquo;t deter collectors who can get Richter&rsquo;s rookie cards for a fraction of Belfour&rsquo;s. Even Richter&rsquo;s Upper Deck card sells for $l or less.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031539/10199837-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="529" height="736"></div>There are several other advantages to investing in the Ranger netminder over Belfour:&#9733; Richter, a second-round draft pick in 1985 from Wisconsin, is nearly 1 &frac12; years younger than Belfour.&#9733; Richter doesn&rsquo;t play for Mike j Keenan, the Blackhawks&rsquo; coach who changes goalies the way most people change socks.&#9733; The two best minor pro goaltenders, Dominik Hasek and Jimmy Waite, are both in Chicago&rsquo;s system with Indianapolis of the International League.Like Belfour. Richter had considerable NHL experience before his official rookie season. Richter played 23 games last season, plus six more in the playoffs, with the Rangers.What it all adds up to is Richter&rsquo;s future in New York is just as secure, if not more so, than Belfour&rsquo;s in Chicago. So, if you&rsquo;re paying up to $6 for Belfour&rsquo;s cards, it may not be a bad idea to buy Richter&rsquo;s for far less.The Richter Checklist: Bowman: No. 218; O-Pee-Chee: No. 330; Pro Set: No. 627; Score: No: 74; Topps: No-330; Upper Deck: No. 32. &#9632;

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TIP OF THE MONTH

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE HEPBURN</div>To the uninitiated, a reference to Beehives may conjure up images of the &rsquo;60s Motown girl groups or a row of hives in the pursuit of beekeeping. For a serious collector of hockey memorabilia, Beehives are the most significant of the photo issues and perhaps the most important record of hockey images available.Beehives are 41/2-by 63/4-inch photos framed on a 51/2-by 8-inch mat or placed on a woodgrain format. Most of these feature individual players, but some are photos of trophies or teams. The Beehive name comes from Beehive Com Syrup, which was the I main product of the St. Lawrence Starch Co., of Port Credit, Ont.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-012417/10199353-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="585" height="858"><figcaption class="caption-body">Legendary Jacques Plante is immortalized on a Beehive.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Like every kid across the country, 1 collected Beehives,&rdquo; said author Dick Beddoes, who is currently writing a book on Beehives. &ldquo;My mother and dad were poor people with no money at all. I went off to war and when I came back, there was a five-year supply of labels. My mother bought more damned syrup, to get the labels, than she could ever use.&rdquo;In 1932, the Toronto Maple Leafs I won the Stanley Cup for the first time and the image of Canada&rsquo;s heroic team was projected coast-to-coast by Foster Hewitt&rsquo;s radio broadcasts. The J Gray family, who still owns the St. I Lawrence Starch Co., were great hockey fans and saw the opportunity to identify their product with the popularity of the Maple Leafs. In 1934, Beehive Com Syrup sponsored Wes McKnight&rsquo;s sports views radio program. Photos of Maple Leaf players interviewed on the show were available to the public if they sent a label from one of their product's&mdash;Landy Starch, Durham Com Starch or Beehive Com Syrup&mdash;to the company. Since the Beehive Com Syrup was the most popular of the products, the Beehive name stuck.The promotion was so popular, the players from other NHL teams were I included as well. When a team came to Maple Leaf Gardens, a photographer would conduct a session in one of the dressing rooms or on the ice.The distribution of Beehive photos across Canada was uninterrupted from 1934 to 1967, except for a few years during World War II.The number of Beehives in a complete collection is uncertain for sever-, al reasons, but a survey of prominent collectors indicates the most comprehensive listing published in Hockey Collectors Forum in 1990 is about 25 short. That would make a complete collection approximately 1,150 items.Many of the photos listed are classified as unconfirmed. The St. Lawrence Starch Co., sent a list of the available photos with the premiums from which the fan could select future photos. This list was constructed with reference to team affiliation by the St. Lawrence people. As players changed teams, the lists changed as well.One would assume an examination of all the lists would give the total number of Beehives. Some of the photos listed for distribution never turn up. Do they exist or not? That&rsquo;s a good question.One theory says they don&rsquo;t exist. Since the company contracted to assign the photographers and print the photos didn&rsquo;t produce the list of Beehives available, it may be that some of the players listed were never photographed even though they were listed as available.The Beehive photos ended their 33-year run after the 1966-67 season when, reportedly, the NHL drastically increased the fee for the rights to reproduce the photos which made the cost of the promotion too high. &#9632;

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BEEHIVES MAKE A HONEY OF A COLLECTION

Much like his nickname, the Golden Brett&rsquo;s cards are just that&mdash;golden. Yes, Brett Hull tops our list (and many collectors&rsquo; want lists) once again. Piling up points on a contender can do that; as our other Power Play Cup contenders prove.Hull is joined by his linemate and power-play partner, Adam Oates, who makes his debut at No. 7. The St. Louis teammates have led the Blues to the best record in the NHL.Calder Trophy favorite Ed Belfour has moved up from 11th to the No. 2 spot and is joined by fellow Blackhawks Jeremy Roenick (No. 6) and Steve Larmer (No. 12).Spots three and four are both held by players on contenders, but for different cups. Oshawa General Eric Lindros is still competing for the Memorial Cup while Wayne Gretzky and his dark-clad darkhorse Kings seek the Stanley Cup.Possibly the surprise of the hockey card season is O-Pee-Chee Premier. Photos front and back, low production and solid player selection (even without Belfour and Ken Hodge Jr.) add up to a popular 132-card set. The surprise is that stodgy old O-Pee-Chee did it.Sergei Fedorov (No. 8) is probably the best second-line center since Gretzky and Mark Messier parted company, so his third consecutive appearance on the Power Play is no surprise. Neither is the presence of one of the newest Hartford Whalers, John Cullen (No. 9).Rounding out the list are perennial hockey card favorites Bobby Orr (No. 11) and Gordie Howe (No. 12).Although counterfeit cards don&rsquo;t head the Penalty Box list, they should. There is no greater threat to the hobby than bogus cards. Remember, O-Pee-Chee has never reprinted a card. If you see a Gretzky (or any other card) stamped &ldquo;reprint&rdquo;, it is a forgery. If you buy them, you are supporting forgeries.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-012007/10199384-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="549" height="768"><figcaption class="caption-body">Adam Oates makes his debut on the Collectors World power play.</figcaption></div>In spite of rumors he may one day return to the NHL, Jari Kurri remains in the No. 2 spot. Maybe next year. Jari. Following Kurri are two talented players who were expected to be traded at the trade deadline but didn&rsquo;t go anywhere. Jimmy Carson (No. 3) and Gary Leeman (No. 4) will need something other than a change of venue to get out of the Penalty Box.Number five, Denis Savard, is guilty of the unpardonable&mdash;he&rsquo;s not a 25-year-old Guy Lafleur and Montreal fans and card collectors can&rsquo;t forgive him for that. However, he has played much better lately so his time in the Penalty Box may come to an end shortly.Goal tenders Grant Fuhr of Edmonton (No. 6) and Ron Hextail of Philadelphia (No. 7) show how the mighty have fallen, but either could be out of the Box soon.To Los Angeles defenseman Larry Robinson (No. 8), collectors are saying it&rsquo;s time to hang up your skates.So, Dale Hawerchuk leaves the Box only to be replaced by teammate Pierre Turgeon (No. 9). What would the Sabres be capable of if they got hot at the same time? Perhaps they could even be the Stanley Cup contender many thought they would be at the beginning of the season. For now, they're nothing more than a third-place, .500 team.In happier times, Messier (No. 10) and Mario Lemieux (No. Il) would be near the top of the Power Play, not scraping the bottom of the Penalty Box. Lingering injuries and lingering doubts have affected these fine players&rsquo; cards much like their on-ice stats. Of course, both are very capable of regaining the respect of collectors, especially if either one of them were to enjoy a productive playoff to make up for disappointing regular seasons.Last, and indeed least, is the product everybody loves to dump on, 1989-90 O-Pee-Chee. If this product ever dries up, it will leave the Penalty Box in a hurry. There&rsquo;s a great selection of rookies (including Cullen and Joe Sakic), plus Hull&rsquo;s second-year card.<h2>POWER PLAY</h2>1. BRETT HULL (1)2. ED BELFOUR (8)3. ERIC UNDROS (2)4. WAYNE GRETZKY (3)5. O-PEE-CHEE PREMIER (7)6. JEREMY ROENICK (11)7. ADAM OATES (NR)8. SERGEI FEDOROV (4)9. JOHN CULLEN (5)10. BOBBY ORR (10)11. GORDIE HOWE (9)12. STEVE LARMER (NR)Number in parenthesis is last month&rsquo;s ranking.<h2>PENALTY BOX</h2>1. COUNTERFEIT CARDS (NR)2. JARI KURRI (2)3. JIMMY CARSON (3)4. GARY LEEMAN (9)5. DENIS SAVARD (5)6. GRANT FUHR (1)7. RON HEXTALL (4)8. LARRY ROBINSON (NR)9. PIERRE TURGEON (NR)10. MARK MESSIER (NR)11. MARIO LEMIEUX (10)12. &rsquo;89-90 O-PEE-CHEE (11)Number in parenthesis is last month&rsquo;s ranking. &#9632;

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HULL’S CARDS SIMPLY GOLDEN TO COLLECTORS

<div class="byline">BY JASON KAY</div>Exceptional is one of the many adjectives that players, reporters and fans have used to describe St. Louis Blues&rsquo; superstar Brett Hull. Exceptional shooter, exceptional scorer, exceptional talent and, in the world of card collecting, simply an exception.Drafted 117th overall by the Calgary Flames in 1984, Hull wasn&rsquo;t projected as a franchise player. He was labelled as lazy by more than one pro scout and did little to disprove that early in his career.He earned relatively little attention in his rookie season, during which he posted modest 26-24-50 scoring totals in 52 games, and finished fifth in the Calder Trophy voting behind Joe Nieuwendyk, Ray Sheppard, Darren Pang and Glen Wesley.Suffice it to say, he has proved to be a late bloomer. In just 1 &frac12; years, his O-Pee-Chee rookie card has skyrocketed from $5 to its present $38-value.And had hobbyists known what we all know today&hellip;Well, there are some things we do know, including the fact late bloomers such as Hull&mdash;players drafted in the middle-to-late rounds&mdash;are few and far between.That isn&rsquo;t to say, however, there aren&rsquo;t players who evolve into stars and star attractions following less than-inspiring rookie seasons.Combine the Calder Trophy votes of Al Maclnnis, Paul Coffey, Pat LaFontaine and Cam Neely and you wind up with one fewer than Buffalo&rsquo;s Dave Snuggerud received in last year&rsquo;s balloting. Snuggerud, for those who haven&rsquo;t guessed, earned a solitary third-place vote.But the path to stardom of Maclnnis, Coffey, LaFontaine and Neely wasn&rsquo;t unexpected. Each was a first-round draft choice, each had a track record and, yes, each had the build-up as part of their portfolio.That, scouts say, is the most reliable way to spot so-called late-bloomers at their budding stage.&ldquo;You have to look at hockey sense, at skill level,&rdquo; says Bill Barber, director of pro scouting for the Philadelphia Flyers. &ldquo;If you have it, you have it. If you don&rsquo;t, you don&rsquo;t.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-012356/10199429-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="576" height="770"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021849/10199422-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="575" height="783"><figcaption class="caption-body">At least Brett Hull finished fifth in the Calder voting. Paul Coffey was one of several stars not to receive a single vote.</figcaption></div>Barber says that&rsquo;s even more true for goal scorers, the glamor players who generally gravitate to the top of card collectors&rsquo; want lists.&ldquo;You may be able to teach a 20-goal scorer to be a 25-goal scorer, but he&rsquo;ll never become a 40-goal scorer,&rdquo; says Barber.&ldquo;History tells us how good players will be,&rdquo; says New York Rangers&rsquo; head scout Dave McNab. &ldquo;The guys who starred in pee wee, midget, junior and college are usually the ones to emerge as stars.&rdquo;Another variable in favor of highly-touted players is the hype factor. Close followers of the sport possess detailed knowledge of many of the high draft picks before they enter the league. The information has been ingrained in the fans&rsquo; minds, which inevitably leads to an unconscious bias.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like brainwashing,&rdquo; says David Conte, the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; assistant director of player personnel. &ldquo;The power of suggestion can be very strong.&rdquo;So, armed with this knowledge, how does a collector apply it to this year&rsquo;s rookie crop?There are no sure things, but here are a few suggestions:&#9733; Don't be discouraged by some of the high draft picks who have suffered through tough seasons. The most notable player in this category is Vancouver&rsquo;s Petr Nedved. He only played one season of major junior hockey and still has much to learn. But he has superstar potential written all over him.&#9733; Give consideration to players you&rsquo;d pay to see. Scan the list of the top 10 valued cards of active players, and you'll find not only great players, but also charismatic players.Hence, a player such as Buffalo&rsquo;s Alexander Mogilny, a dazzling player who has yet to post extraordinary offensive statistics, may still be a wise investment.&#9733; Some other rookies who likely won&rsquo;t finish in the top three in Calder balloting, but who could emerge as stars include: Hartford's Bobby Holik; Calgary&rsquo;s Robert Reichel; Minnesota's Mike Craig; New Jersey's Zdeno Ciger; Philadelphia's Mike Ricci; Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr; and Quebec&rsquo;s Mats Sundin and Kip Miller.By definition, the Calder Trophy is awarded to the player &ldquo;most proficient in his first year of competition.&rdquo; It isn&rsquo;t intended to forecast future stars.Still, the award has proven to be a remarkably accurate judge of talent. Scan the list of Calder winners since the 1967 expansion season, and you won&rsquo;t find any names that look sorely out of place.That said, there is a handful of players who received little or no Calder attention, matured later in their careers, and went on to become marquee players.A look at the top 10 most expensive rookie cards of active players (listed below with their card value and that of the Calder winner in parentheses) is particularly revealing. Just two&mdash;Mario Lemieux and Ray Bourque&mdash;won the Calder, while five others received no rookie-of-the-year votes.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-031200/10199415-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="1754" height="581"></div>*Because they had already played in the WHA, Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier were deemed ineligible for the Calder Trophy. &#9632;

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COLLECTOR ALERT! TAKE A LOOK BEYOND ROOKIE SEASON NUMBERS

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div>For as long as anyone can remember, collecting hockey cards has been a simplistic and uncomplicated endeavour. Ever since 1964, when the Parkhurst company dropped out of the hockey card market, Canadians collected O-Pee-Chee cards and Americans collected Topps. Nice and simple.Welcome to the &rsquo;90s. While much of the marketplace in North America experienced the doldrums of a recession, the hockey card industry witnessed a growth spurt that would make Uwe Krupp look like a pip-squeek. This season, the hobby went from two companies to five, with the addition of U.S.-based companies Score, Pro Set and Upper Deck. Topps also marketed one set under its Bowman subsidiary. If that wasn&rsquo;t enough, 7th Inning Sketch of Windsor, Ont., initiated sets of Canadian Heckey League cards for the first time, giving collectors a chance to add up-and-coming talent to their collections.Almost overnight, hockey jumped into the No. 2 spot in the card collecting pecking order. With eight companies producing cards, baseball leads the way but hockey ranks significantly ahead of basketball (four) and football (three).And don&rsquo;t expect the floodgates to close soon. With NHL expansion (to San Jose next season and Tampa Bay and Ottawa in 1991-92) and the Wayne Gretzky factor increasing the prominence of hockey in the United States, hockey fans are seen by many as an untapped market with unlimited potential. Fleer, a Philadelphia-based card company, was reported to have received a licence from the NHL to make hockey cards this season, but said it has no plans to enter the market next year.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-012103/10199467-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="564" height="796"><figcaption class="caption-body">The addition of companies such as Pro Set bodes well for the hobby.</figcaption></div>Going under the premise that healthy competition in the marketplace is best for the collector and dealer, the future of the hobby looks very good. But as the hobby has grown from a pastime to an industry, growing pains are inevitable. Inflated prices, too many &ldquo;make-a-quick-buck&rdquo; dealers and fraudulent and unlicenced pro ducts are just a few of the problem areas affecting the hobby. But if prevailing opinion is any indication, the hobby as a whole should manage to flourish and grow.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s much like the baseball card boom in the early 1980s when more companies came on to the scene,&rdquo; said O-Pee-Chee president Gary Koreen. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s still going strong and I think hockey will follow that way. I expect the trend of growth to continue.&rdquo;One of the companies that jumped into the foray this season was Upper Deck of Yorba Linda, Calif. The company became a front-runner in its first year by producing quality cards with the best action photographs on the front and back and few errors. Upper Deck boasts Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull, Steve Yzerman and Mark Messier as its major spokesmen (see a pattern forming here?) and established an aggressive marketing campaign which included board advertising in NHL arenas.Upper Deck president Don Bodow said the company wouldn&rsquo;t have undertaken such an effort if it didn&rsquo;t have confidence in the future of the hobby.&ldquo;From what we&rsquo;ve seen, the NHL fan is a natural hockey card collector but yet the majority of fans do not collect hockey cards,&rdquo; Bodow said. &ldquo;We see that as fantastic potential. All we have to do is get them turned on to collecting.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021598/10199460-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="554" height="772"><figcaption class="caption-body">Topps made Bowman cards to gain a greater share of the market.</figcaption></div>The card boom has been a contributing factor in the proliferation of dealerships, especially in Canada, to respond to the growing marketplace demands. Alan Hirsch, the owner of a dealership named On-Dex in New Jersey, attributes the boom to the unique personality of the hockey fan and the global appeal of the game.&ldquo;It has come to the point where people have become more interested in hockey cards than baseball cards,&rdquo; Hirsch said. &ldquo;I think that is because for most hockey fans, it's not just a sport, it&rsquo;s a religion. The hockey world has also become much smaller over the ears and it really is a multi-national sport. We&rsquo;ve had orders from Sweden and Germany and we're currently looking a publications to run advertisements in Europe.&rdquo;Andrew Pywowarczuk, owner of Cartophilium in Sherbrooke, Que., maintains the competition among manufacturers will put a higher premium on quality and availability. This year, Upper Deck set the trend and O-Pee-Chee responded with its Premier series, an attractive card set that has been a huge hit with collectors.&ldquo;Overall, it&rsquo;s good because it generates interest. But the trick is to sustain that interest,&rdquo; said Pywowarczuk. &ldquo;Upper Deck took some bold steps this year by getting Gretzky and using board advertising. What if they have to cut that back? Score got Eric Lindros. What if he isn&rsquo;t the superstar that everyone thinks he will be? These kinds of things may tum off collectors. There were a lot of errors in Pro Set this year. If those errors continue, that will tum off collectors.&rdquo;Another thing that turns off collectors like Angelo Savelli of Hamilton, Ont., is the preoccupation with making money, on the part of dealers and collectors alike. Savelli is acknowleged to have the largest hockey card collection in the world, but it&rsquo;s definitely not for sale.&ldquo;Every time somebody talks to me about my collection, they&rsquo;re always asking what the cards are worth,&rdquo; said Savelli. &ldquo;It bothers me that so many people are in it for the money, even little kids. They want to know what the value of a card is, not about what the player did. Some dealers might have a $10 card and they&rsquo;ll mark it up to $40 or $50 figuring they&rsquo;ll make a million dollars in a couple of years.&rdquo;Certainly, the hobby is not without its warts. When O-Pee-Chee came out with its Premier series, it set the suggested retail price at 50 cents. But most dealers are getting more than a dollar per package. Earlier this year, a counterfeit ring involving Brett Hull&rsquo;s rookie card was discovered and the sale of fraudulent and unlicensed products has also occured.All of those factors threaten the sports collectibles and hockey card hobbies. But last year a group of concerned dealers got together and formed the Sports Collectables Association International in an effort to bring honesty and integrity to the industry. The Miami-based group has 350 members in the United States and hopes to expand to Canada. Members of the organization must be full-time registered dealers and must conform to a code of ethics. They must also promise not to sell fraudulent or unlicensed products, and must treat customers with respect and integrity.&ldquo;We were sick and tired of hearing stories about little kids getting ripped off by sleazy dealers,&rdquo; said SC Al executive director Michael Keighley. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s too easy to get into this business and there is no self-policing at all.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0016-01

FUTURE OF HOBBY IS IN THE (HOCKEY) CARDS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011978/10199498-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0018-01

ORDER NOW THE PRICE IS RIGHT

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div>In this year&rsquo;s edition of The Sporting News Complete Hockey Book, Gilbert Dionne is mistakenly listed as a nephew of former NHL great Marcel Dionne. Gilbert is, in fact, Marcel&rsquo;s younger brother. But that indignity is nothing compared to what Gilbert went through as a teenager.At the age of 14, he was forced to leave home and pursue a hockey career. All because his last name was Dionne.&ldquo;1 had to move out of my hometown because people were bugging me about my last name.&rdquo; said Dionne, a rookie right winger with the American League&rsquo;s Fredericton Canadiens.Being the youngest brother of Marcel Dionne had its benefits. But when it came to growing up and playing hockey in Drummondville, Que., it was more of a hindrance for Gilbert Dionne. So, he moved to Quebec City for his last year of bantam hockey and a year later went to play Jr. B with the Niagara Falls Canucks where his identity remained guarded.There are 19 years difference between the two brothers. Marcel is the oldest of eight children, Gilbert the youngest.&ldquo;Our relationship was more like father and son than brothers,&rdquo; said Gilbert, drafted by Montreal in the fourth round last June from the Ontario League&rsquo;s Kitchener Rangers. &ldquo;He took care of me when I moved to Ontario and he was the one who helped me the most.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011720/10199536-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="558" height="771"></div>When Gilbert first arrived in Niagara Falls, many people noticed the last name. But because of the age difference, many assumed they were distant cousins, not brothers. Even now, there are some who don&rsquo;t know. &ldquo;Nobody knew who I was for two years,&rdquo; Gilbert said. &ldquo;That really helped me a lot.&rdquo;For a change, he could concentrate on playing hockey and not worry about other people&rsquo;s thoughts. That was never the case in Drummondville.&ldquo;I lost a lot of friends because of my name,&rdquo; Gilbert said. &ldquo;Every time I succeeded it was because of my name. That&rsquo;s what people said. They kept saying, &lsquo;He&rsquo;s the brother of&hellip;that&rsquo;s what has helped him out and everything.&rsquo; Sometimes 1 couldn&rsquo;t handle it when 1 was young, but now I can handle it and I can speak for myself.&rdquo;Marcel could not help Gilbert because at the time, he was playing in the NHL. Marcel finished his career with 1,771 points in 1,348 games and currently stands third on the all-time scoring list. He played with Detroit, Los Angeles and the Rangers.&ldquo;1 don&rsquo;t think the name hurts either,&rdquo; said Marcel, who runs a dry cleaning business in Mount Kisco, N.Y. &ldquo;He made the decision to pursue this career. That&rsquo;s his problem and he has to deal with it. He&rsquo;s a big boy.&rdquo;But, when he was a young boy it was tough.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t realize what was going on,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Mostly, it was the parents of the hockey players who complained. They were much more involved than the players themselves.&ldquo;When I went on the ice and put the goals in, I knew I scored the goals, not my brother. I was the one putting the puck in so 1 must be playing for a reason. But they&rsquo;d always bring up my brother, but now 1 can deal with it.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-021281/10199529-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="552" height="773"></div>Gilbert&rsquo;s life was different when he left Drummondville. In Niagara Falls, he learned to speak English and made the first steps in developing into a pro player.&ldquo;Before I left, I sat down with my parents along with Marcel,&rdquo; Gilbert said. &ldquo;My brother said that if he made it, I could probably, too. 1 wanted to follow in his footsteps and it&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;m proud of.&rdquo;Playing on Fredericton&rsquo;s Kid Line with Patrick Lebeau and Jesse Belanger, Dionne had 70 points (33 goals, 37 assists) in 68 games and was the league&rsquo;s fifth leading rookie scorer.And, now that Gilbert is becoming established in pro hockey, does he think comparisons to his brother will end?&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;ll always be there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Just look at Brett Hull. He&rsquo;s scoring all these goals and people compare him to his father (Bobby). So that&rsquo;s why 1 think it&rsquo;ll always be there, but it&rsquo;s a thing a hockey player has to deal with and I&rsquo;m proud to deal with it.&rdquo;The Marcel Dionne Checklist: O-Pee-Chee: 197L72(No. 133), 197273 (No. 8), 1973-74 (No. 17), 197475 (No. 72), 1975-76 (No. 140), 1976-77 (No. 91), 1977-78 (No. 240), 1978-79 (No. 120), 1979-80 (No. 160). 1980-81 (No. 20), 198182 (No. 141), 1982-83 (No. 152). 1983-84 (No. 152), 1984-85 (No. 82). 1985-86 (No. 90). 1986-87 (No. 30), 1987-88 (No. 129), 1988-89 (No. 13); Topps: 1972-73 (No. 18), 1973-74 (No. 17), 1974-75 (No. 72), 1975-76 (No. 140), 1976-77 (No. 91), 1977-78 (No. 240), 1978-79 (No. 120), 1979-80 (No. 160), 198081 (No. 20), 1981-82 (No. 9), 198485 (No. 64), 1985-86(No. 90), 198687 (No. 30). 1987-88 (No. 129). 1988-89 (No. 13).The Gilbert Dionne Checklist: Pro Cards: 1990-91 (No. 62). &#9632;

f0019-01

MARCEL’S YOUNGER BROTHER LIVING UP TO DIONNE NAME

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-011388/10199567-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg"></div>When the Detroit Red Wings were desperate for a center to help take some of the heat off Steve Yzerman, a 20-year-old rookie named Sergei Fedorov stepped forward.When they needed help at the point on the power play, Fedorov stepped back and helped the worst power play in the NHL click at a 34 per cent rate in his first seven games there.When they needed a right winger for Yzerman, Fedorov stepped over and played a big role in helping the league&rsquo;s worst road team to three straight third period comebacks that forged ties in three of the NHL&rsquo;s toughest buildings&mdash;Chicago Stadium, Calgary&rsquo;s Olympic Saddledome and Edmonton&rsquo;s Northlands Coliseum.&ldquo;He may be our best checker, too,&rdquo; says Wings&rsquo; coach/general manager Bryan Murray. Fedorov usually finds himself playing against the opposing teams&rsquo; top lines.Testimonials follow Fedorov, now 21, like kids seeking autographs on the hockey cards that bear his picture.&#9733; New York Islander coach Al Arbour, after Fedorov scored two goals and five points in an 8-4 win in early February: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be one of the great ones in this league, no doubt about it. He&rsquo;s a genuine, genuine player. We threw everything we could at him and we couldn&rsquo;t stop him.&rdquo;&#9733; Minnesota GM Bob Clarke, after the North Stars won 3-0 in Detroit a week later: &ldquo;If his name wasn&rsquo;t Fedorov, you wouldn&rsquo;t know he&rsquo;s Russian.&rdquo;&#9733; Montreal coach Pat Bums, after Fedorov scored two goals and one assist in the Wings&rsquo; 5-3 win Feb. 27: &ldquo;In my book, he&rsquo;s the best rookie in the league.&rdquo;&#9733; Chicago GM Mike Keenan, after his team lost 4-3 in a Dec. I game in which Fedorov failed to score a point: &ldquo;Fedorov is a hell of a hockey player. When he was on the ice, it was no contest. Nick Polano deserves a raise.&rdquo;Polano, the Wings&rsquo; assistant GM who helped orchestrate Fedorov&rsquo;s departure&mdash;not defection&mdash;from his Soviet teammates during the Goodwill Games in July, insists if Fedorov were available in the upcoming NHL entry draft, &ldquo;it would be a toss-up&rdquo; between him and Eric Lindros as to which player would be selected first overall. For the record, Fedorov went in the fourth round (74th overall) of the 1989 draft.So forgive the Wings&rsquo; heirarchy when it insists Fedorov is the only clear, convincing choice as the NHL&rsquo;s top rookie-of-the-year candidate this season.&ldquo;Sergei Fedorov, no question,&rdquo; says Murray, adding he&rsquo;s well aware of the season goaltender Ed Belfour is having in Chicago. While Belfour approached club records that Tony Esposito set in his first season with the Blackhawks, Fedorov was closing in on Detroit marks set by Yzerman in his first season with the Wings.Coincidentally, when Yzerman scored 39 goals and 87 points as a rookie, he finished second to a goalie&mdash;Buffalo&rsquo;s Tom Barrasso&mdash;in the Calder Trophy race. All this season, Fedorov has been the runaway I scoring leader among first-year players. Through 64 games, he had 30 goals and 73 points. He was on pace to score 36 goals and 88 points.Winning the Calder, as countryman Sergei Makarov did last season with Calgary, is something Fedorov only recently has begun to consider. But he doesn&rsquo;t dwell on it.&ldquo;It is very important to me,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But Belfour is having a good season in Chicago. To win, I must play very, very well the rest of the season. &rsquo; &rsquo; Writers who regularly cover NHL teams will vote on the award at the end of the regular season.To be sure, Fedorov will be given every opportunity to shine as the season winds down. Recently, his ice time has occasionally exceeded Yzer-man&rsquo;s. About halfway through the I season, Murray began limiting Yzer-man&rsquo;s penalty-killing duties, minutes that were assumed by Fedorov. The two also get the bulk of the powerplay time and work together late in the game when the Wings need a goal.&ldquo;Top players like that do an awful lot for a team,&rdquo; says Murray. &ldquo;They can keep you competitive most I nights. And Sergei&hellip; I watch him during practice. His instincts are so good. His stride, the way he skates, is so powerful.&rdquo;Off the ice, Fedorov is well-accepted by his teammates. He enjoys the same kinds of things most professional athletes do&mdash;a nice car (he drives a new Corvette), loud rock music and quiet times away from the rink. He closely guards his privacy; he considers granting interviews a necessary evil. And he doesn&rsquo;t care to talk about himself in either Russian or English, a language he has been slow to master because he is concentrating almost entirely on hockey.Such dedication has impressed teammates.&ldquo;He wants to win. He doesn&rsquo;t care about anything else,&rdquo; says left winger Shawn Burr, who serves as Fedorov&rsquo;s unofficial English tutor. &ldquo;If he scored two goals and we lose, he&rsquo;s not satisified. He hates to lose.&rdquo;Adds Murray: &ldquo;He seems like a terrific kid off the ice. When we were in Banff, Alta., the players relaxed and enjoyed themselves with a few beers. I ran into Sergei with Brad McCrimmon. Brad was having a beer. Sergei was having a soft drink. As a coach, you like to see that with younger players.&rdquo;In uniform, Fedorov is at his best, Murray says, in the game&rsquo;s most important moments.&ldquo;I think he tries to do more things individually in the third period of a close game,&rdquo; says Murray. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the people who can take charge of a hockey game.&rdquo;Which brings us to the obvious question: Whether Fedorov is the Calder Trophy winner or not this season, how good can he be?&ldquo;In terms of numbers, I&rsquo;m not sure,&rdquo; says Murray. &ldquo;How do you put a number on it? He sure gets excited when he scores. He loves to score goals. And 1 think his potential to score is unlimited.&rdquo;O-Pee-Chee lucked out. Pure and simple.When the London, Ont., card company decided to include 19 players from the Central Red Army team in its wax packs, it had no idea the most promising of those players would be in the NHL this season.But when Sergei Fedorov left his teammates at the Goodwill Games to join the Detroit Red Wings, it sparked quite an interest in the O-Pee-Chee cards.Fedorov, the leading rookie scorer from virtually Game No.&rsquo; I of the season, was only in the O-Pee-Chee series. It wasn&rsquo;t until Pro Set came out with its Series II cards last month that another company had a Fedorov card. By then, O-Pee-Chee made another Fedorov card for its Premier set. That was the first card to show him in his Red Wings&rsquo; uniform.His first O-Pee-Chee card lists at $5, by far the most valuable card in the entire set. The only other player from the Red Army set to appear so far in the NHL is Washington&rsquo;s Dimitri Khristich.The Fedorov Checklist: O-Pee-Chee: No. 19R; O-Pee-Chee Premier: No. 30; Pro Set: No. 604; Score: No. 20T; Upper Deck: No. 525. &#9632;

f0021-01

SERGEI FEDOROV

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011612/10199619-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="725" height="1802"></div><h2>WORST CARD</h2>Picking the worst card of the year is not an easy task. With all the errors made by the companies this season, narrowing the field to five is not easy.But these are the five we believe stand out for being particularly poor cards. Each is a bad card in its own way.The cards we&rsquo;ve selected in the category of &ldquo;Worst Card&rdquo; are, left to right: Adam Oates, Bowman (a horribly blurry photo of a star player); Kelly Kisio, Score (it&rsquo;s a nice picture of his stick); Dave Manson, Pro Set (a poor photo of Steve Konroyd); Vancouver Team Card, Upper Deck (a bad drawing of Petri Skriko in an old uniform); Doug Brown, Pro Set (they barely got him in the photo).Please mark your choice for worst card of '90-91 in the space above.<h2>WHAT DO YOU THINK?</h2>In addition to telling us your choices for best card, best set, worst card and best card investment, we&rsquo;d like you to tell the hockey card companies what you&rsquo;d like to see next year.We&rsquo;ll print some of the most interesting suggestions in a future issue of THN Collectors World. Just write down your thoughts on a separate piece of paper and send it in along with your survey responses.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-021173/10199612-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="1756" height="582"></div><h2>BEST SET</h2>Four new sets made their debut in &rsquo;90-91, with Bowman, Pro Set, Score and Upper Deck joining Topps and O-Pee-Chee.Each set offered something different for collectors who eagerly bought all six sets. For the purposes of our reader poll, we&rsquo;ve combined the Topps and O-Pee-Chee set into one vote.We&rsquo;d like you to tell us which set you think is the best from this season&rsquo;s regularly-issued sets. We&rsquo;re not including any of the update and traded sets in this reader poll. Pictured above is card No. 1 from each set.The cards which appear from left to right are: Bowman&mdash;Jeremy Roenick; O-Pee-Chee/Topps&mdash;Wayne Gretzky; Pro Set&mdash;Raymond Bourque; Score&mdash;Gretzky; Upper Deck&mdash;David Volek.Please mark your choice for best set of &rsquo;90-91 in the space above.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03856/10199605-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="1750" height="585"></div><h2>BEST INVESTMENT</h2>There&rsquo;s no doubt hockey cards have become a great investment. But in any one year, certain cards stand out as being the ones with the greatest investment potential.We&rsquo;ve selected five cards which should all rise in value over the years. Which one do you think is the best investment at this time?Keep in mind what the card is currently selling for and what you believe it will be worth in the future. All five cards appear in the complete 40-year price guide which begins on page 24.Pictured above from left to right are the following cards: Eric Lindros (Score), Petr Nedved (Pro Set), Sergei Fedorov (O-Pee-Chee), Ed Belfour (Upper Deck) and Mats Sundin (Score).Please mark your choice for best card investment of &rsquo;90-91 in the space above.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04630/10199598-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="731" height="1817"></div><h2>BEST CARD</h2>In this, the year of the great hockey card explosion, there were some great hockey cards. Thanks to Pro Set, Score and Upper Deck, hockey card collectors got full-color photographs on both the front and back of their cards. Each company made its share of memorable cards.But we&rsquo;ve come up with five which we believe are exceptionally good. The main criteria was the photography, but in order to be eligible for this category, the card must be error-free.The cards we&rsquo;ve selected in the category of &ldquo;Best Card&rdquo; are, left to right: Sylvain Turgeon. Pro Set (the clearest photo from this season&rsquo;s cards); Mario Gosselin, Upper Deck (an exceptional overhead action shot both front and back); Brett Hull, Score (captures the Golden Brett doing what he does best); Mario Lemieux, Upper Deck (two very clever photos from unusual angles); Dave Gagner, Score (great facial expression from a player who is a photo editor&rsquo;s dream).Please mark your choice for best card of &rsquo;90-91 in the space above.<h2>SEND TO&hellip;</h2>Collectors WorldAttention: Rand Simon85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100Don Mills, Ont. M3B 2R2 &#9632;

f0022-01

WHAT’S IN YOUR CARDS?

I am very much in the dark when it comes to determining a player&rsquo;s rookie card. For instance, 1990-91 Upper Deck has a card of Quebec&rsquo;s Mats Sundin. Will a company that did not include Sundin in this year&rsquo;s set issue a rookie card for him in next year&rsquo;s sets or in an update set later this year?Mike MaherSevern, Md.Score and Upper Deck made Sundin cards in this year&rsquo;s regular sets. Both O-Pee-Chee and Pro Set included him in update sets. Neither Topps nor Bowman made a Sundin card this season. Therefore, only the Score and Upper Deck cards will be considered rookie cards. Any card that comes from an update set&mdash;such as Sundin s O-Pee-Chee Premier or Pro Set Series II card&mdash;is considered an &ldquo;extra rookie card&rdquo; and doesn&rsquo;t usually have as high a value as the rookie card. When Topps and Bowman make a card of Sundin next season, it will be his first card appearance with those sets, but it won&rsquo;t be considered a rookie card or an extra rookie card.I noticed in my Pro Set hockey cards that three Pittsburgh Penguins players&mdash;Rob Brown, Kevin Stevens and Zarley Zalapski&mdash;have the photos and the stats on the back upside down. Is this common?Mike MontgomeryCamlachie, Ont.Due to a printing error, several Pittsburgh Penguin and NHL All-Star cards from Pro Set have upside down backs. There are several cards with this printing error, so there is no premium for them.I would like to start storing my sets in nine-pocket sheets. I under-stand some sheets contain harmful acids and oils which may rub off on the cards. To avoid any damage to my cards, what sheets should I use?Troy DereskiLondon, Ont.There is a lot of conflicting in-formation regarding the damage sheets can cause to cards. But for all p the rumors, we know of cards which have been kept in sheets more than 15 years with no damage to them. It appears any sheet is fine for several years. If you start to notice any damage after several years, change the sheets.What is a &ldquo;wax box&rdquo; and why b would anyone buy one instead of a factory or hand-collated set since you&rsquo;re guaranteed to get every card in a complete set?Brian KozakEdmonton, Alta.A wax or foil box is simply a box of packages of cards. All the companies w make their wax or foil boxes with 36 packages. Some people buy them in-stead of complete sets because of the fun of opening up the cards and the possibility of getting two or more of certain valuable cards. If you have someone to trade extra cards with, it can also be cheaper to buy wax or foil in boxes instead of the complete set.In your article on Upper Deck hockey cards in Vol. 1, No. 4 of THN Collectors World, you state there are no wrong player photos in the set. And yet, I have several Craig Fisher Star Rookie cards (No. 155) that feature a photo of Jay Wells. What&rsquo;s the deal?Frances A. BuffingtonHarrisburg, Penn.Right you are. Upper Deck did goof and put Wells on Fisher&rsquo;s card. Wells wore No. 7 in Philadelphia last season before his trade to Buffalo. Fisher wore No. 7 when he played two games with the Flyers near the end of last season. As we say in the magazine business, good catch.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-012319/10199775-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="538" height="749"><figcaption class="caption-body">Yes, that is Jay Wells on Craig Fisher&rsquo;s Upper Deck card.</figcaption></div>Is it worthwhile to start collecting cards from a local comer store?Dean A. ChernoffCastlegar, B.C.Buying a few packs from a corner store isn&rsquo;t a bad idea but if you want to build your collection, you should go to a card store if there&rsquo;s one in your area. A dealer who specializes in cards can generally give you better service, selection and price.Which card will be considered the Sergei Fedorov rookie card&mdash;the one in the wax packs with Central Red Army or the O-Pee-Chee Premier card that shows him in the Detroit uniform?Allan WhitmarshWallaceburg, Ont.While the Central Red Army card is the rookie card, the Premier card may actually one day be more valuable. Because it is the first card to show him in a Red Wing&rsquo;s uniform and because the Premier cards were more expensive than the original O-Pee-Chee cards, it may pass the rookie card in value.In each issue of Collectors World. we&rsquo;ll answer your questions about hockey cards and memorabilia. We&rsquo;ll only be able to print responses for questions which appear in the magazine. Send all inquiries to:Collectors WorldAttention: Rand Simon85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100Don Mills, Ont. M3B 2R2 &#9632;

f0004-01

SHEDDING SOME LIGHT ON ROOKIE CARDS

<div class="byline">BY CHRIS STEVENSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01656/10199875-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg"></div>Scoring goals was never a problem for Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; center Stepban Lebeau. Not until two years ago.Before he arrived in the NHL, Lebeau scored goals the way Greg Norman racks up birdies.The way Ivan Lendl buries fore-hands.The way Norm Peterson downs beers.Effortlessly. Naturally. A natural scorer in every sense of the word.He scored a goal in his first game as a four-year-old with the St-Jerome Bibittes. There was a 143-goal season in Atom AA. Oh yeah, the season was 28 games. One hundred and three goals as a Peewee. Seasons of 41,69, 77 and 94 goals in four seasons of junior with Shawinigan of the Quebec League. A record 70-goal, 134-point season (as well as rookie-of-the-year and MVP honors) with the Sherbrooke Canadiens of the American League.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always scored a lot,&rdquo; says Lebeau, who turned 23 Feb. 28. &ldquo;When I arrived in front of a goaltender, 1 always had the confidence I could put the puck in the net.&ldquo;All my life&hellip; in the street, playing road hockey, on the outdoor rinks, the game for me was always to put the puck in the net.&rdquo;Yes, a natural goal scorer. The only problem was the package that natural ability came in. Lebeau is listed as 5-foot-10 and 172 pounds. That&rsquo;s generous.It&rsquo;s because of his size he wasn&rsquo;t drafted despite scoring those 281 goals in 270 regular-season junior games (and 580 points). Not being drafted still rankles him. He thinks those numbers should have earned him a shot. He had to settle for signing as a free agent with the Habs on Sept. 27, 1986.&ldquo;A guy like that, even if he&rsquo;d have been 5-foot-11, he&rsquo;d have gone in the first round,&rdquo; Canadiens&rsquo; assistant managing director Jacques Lemaire told the Montreal Gazette. &ldquo;But at his size, not many make it. For his size, he's one of the top players in the league.&rdquo;He started as a rookie last season between a rock and a hard shot, playing between Shayne Corson and Stephane Richer. In 57 games he managed a respectable 15 goals, but a disturbing trend began to show itself.The prolific scoring touch waned; the goals became harder to come by. in one stretch, he went 16 games without a goal.He wound up being passed over by Montreal coach Pat Bums for all but the last two of the Habs 11 playoff games&mdash;and scored three goals.He has already passed his rookie output this season, but has still come under fire for his sometimes long stretches of unproductivity. He has gone as long as six games without a goal.His skating, usually the forte of the smaller-than-average player, is only ordinary. He doesn&rsquo;t scoot, so he often can&rsquo;t avoid the heavy traffic, especially down low in the offensive zone and especially on the road in the league&rsquo;s smaller rinks.&ldquo;In small rinks, like Boston or Chicago (or Buffalo), if they&rsquo;re checking, he has problems skating,&rdquo; Bums told the Gazette. &ldquo;When the game is wide I open, he&rsquo;s my best out there.&rdquo;He has been sat down three times this season by Burns. It might have been more had the Habs not suffered so many injuries.Lebeau started the season well with 22 points in 25 games. For a while, he was leading the team in scoring and showing signs of becoming the next great offensive player on the Habs. He had 22 goals and 47 points in 60 games, a pace for 27 goals and 57 points. That&rsquo;s not bad, but his scoring has come in spurts. With three three-point games and two four-point outings, 36 per cent of Lebeau&rsquo;s points have come in five games.But, no matter how many goals he scores this season, the 1990-91 campaign will remain memorable for Lebeau and his family.On Feb. 20. Stephan&rsquo;s younger brother Patrick, a former linemate in Shawinigan, was called up from Montreal&rsquo;s American League farm team in I Fredericton. The Lebeau brothers I were reunited for a 5-3 loss against the Hartford Whalers that night and Patrick earned his first NHL point, drawing an assist on a goal by Stephan.Two nights later against Toronto at the Forum, Patrick scored his first NHL goal with Stephan drawing an assist.The Lebeaus have also combined to I become accomplished stickhandlers off the ice as well. Stephan is partners in various real estate deals with, among others, Patrick, his dad and teammate Sylvain Lefebvre. Most of the holdings are apartment buildings in Sherbrooke where Lebeau grew up after moving from St-Jerome.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to put money in a good plan so it works for me,&rdquo; says Lebeau, who makes $175,000 per season according to figures released by the NHL Players&rsquo; Association.While Lebeau hasn&rsquo;t matched his previous goal-scoring production, he says it&rsquo;s not a concern. &ldquo;You have to understand the situation is different in the NHL and with the Montreal Canadiens it&rsquo;s different,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Maybe I don't take as many chances as I did in junior and in the AHL. It&rsquo;s a different type of hockey and I have to play that style.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m comfortable with the system. I&rsquo;m scoring less goals, but the team is winning and that&rsquo;s what counts.&rdquo;Some would call trading away a Montreal Canadiens' jersey sacrilegious.Habs&rsquo; center Stephan Lebeau calls it a good investment, especially since he traded it for a Wayne Gretzky rookie card.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;s a bad trade,&rdquo; he says. With the card being worth $500, he&rsquo;s probably right.Lebeau collected cards as a kid and wound up throwing them away as he grew older. About three years ago, he started collecting cards again. Now, he&rsquo;s trying to assemble a collection with as many Gretzky cards as he can. (To further show his respect for Gretzky, Lebeau named his cats Wayne and Janet.)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02428/10199868-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg" title="f0047-02" width="517" height="698"></div>Maybe someday collectors will be seeking out Lebeau cards. For now, his rookie cards are rather inexpensive for a 23-year-old player with so much offensive potential. His rookie cards appeared in all six sets and currently list for between 25 and 50 cents.The Lebeau Checklist: Bowman: No. 53; O-Pee-Chee: No. 388; Pro Set: No. 152; Score: No. 262; Topps: No. 388; Upper Deck: No. 51. &#9632;

f0047-01

STEPHAN LEBEAU

I have never witnessed such a pathetic attempt at making hockey cards as O-Pee-Chee and their Premier series.I have always been a fan of O-Pee-Chee hockey cards for their extensive statistics on each player, fair-quality pictures and general reliability. Understandably, I was looking forward to their Premier cards.After buying a box and opening 10 packs (70 cards), I already had nine doubles and five triples. I opened two packs consecutively that were identic-al. I have seen pretty shabby collation, but this was the last straw.I feel O-Pee-Chee was too busy wiping sweat from its brows trying to make cards comparable to Upper Deck and Score and consequently produced the kind of card one would expect to find in a cereal box.O-Pee-Chee should leave the high-quality pictures to Upper Deck, the write-ups to Score and regain its supremacy as the statistics card before somebody else does.Jon WiggensNanaimo. B.C.<h2>OFF WING</h2>I would like to start by saying I really enjoy the information and articles in Collectors World.However, in your review of Upper Deck cards (Vol. 1, No. 4), you mention there were no wrong player photos. I don&rsquo;t think this is correct.I believe the back of Detroit Red Wing Steve Chiasson&rsquo;s card (No. 96) is a photo of Wings&rsquo; defenseman Yves Racine. Both players are shown using the same stick, their numbers are similar (Chiasson wears No. 3, Racine No. 33), but they are wearing different types of pants. Is this in fact Racine?R. MattiesWestland, Mich.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-012169/10199906-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="536" height="760"><figcaption class="caption-body">The front is Steve Chiasson. The back? Teammate Yves Racine.</figcaption></div>(Ed. note&mdash;You are correct about the Chiasson card. Thanks also to Jeff Hawkins of Mt. Clemens. Mich., for pointing out the mistake.)<h2>IGOR ADAMS?</h2>I noticed in your last issue of Collectors World (Vol. 1, No. 4), that you were saying Upper Deck was error-free.Well, almost. I found a very interesting shot of Igor Larionov on the front of Greg Adams&rsquo; card (No. 342).David JacksonCoquitlam. B.C.(Ed. note&mdash;Yes, the Adams card does have a picture of Larionov. Thanks also to Daniel Dugas of Coquitlam. B.C. for pointing out the mistake.)<h2>MISSING YEARS</h2>I am very impressed with THN for throwing its hat into the collectibles field with Collectors World. We've needed a good Canadian publication to cover the hockey card hobby.I&rsquo;m well aware Topps did not produce cards from 1982-83 and &rsquo;83-84, but I&rsquo;m sure they came out with cards from &rsquo;84-85 to &rsquo;87-88. Why were these missing from your last price guide? I hope they&rsquo;ll be in your next price guide.Wayne AmiraultActon. Ont.(Ed. note&mdash;Those listings were missing due to lack of space. They have been included in this month&rsquo;s price guide.)<h2>STOP THE PRESSES</h2>I think it&rsquo;s time to stop the production of hockey card update sets. The card companies find it easy to produce sets that are sometimes very costly to collect&mdash;especially when first series cards are mixed with second series.We should force companies to do what O-Pee-Chee did and that is give us the Extended set at one time. If card companies missed a hot rookie, that&rsquo;s their fault.Peter T. KourtisToronto. Ont. &#9632;

f0005-01

NOT EVERYONE IS HAPPY WITH O-PEE-CHEE PREMIER

<div class="byline">BY RAND SIMON</div>For better or for worse O-Pee-Chee entered the modem era of hockey cards with its 1990-91 Premier series.Gone are the year-by-year statistics and warmup photos we&rsquo;ve come to expect from O-Pee-Chee. In its place are better action photos and color backs with a head-and-shoulders photo.The 132-card set features the top players on each team, rookies and players traded since the 1990-91 O-Pee-Chee regular set came out. There&rsquo;s one checklist and no special cards, except for a banner on Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s card (No. 38) announcing his 2,000th point.Generally the rookie selection was good except for two glaring oversights&mdash;Chicago&rsquo;s Ed Belfour and Boston&rsquo;s Ken Hodge Jr. With Belfour almost certain to win the Calder Trophy and Hodge likely to finish third in the rookie scoring race, those are unforgiveable omissions. Certainly there was room for Belfour and Hodge. Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Jamie Leach (No. 60) and Minnesota&rsquo;s Link Gaetz (No. 33) are in the set even though they haven&rsquo;t played in the NHL this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012555/10199937-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="595" height="767"><figcaption class="caption-body">This card looks familiar if you saw the first Collectors World.</figcaption></div>O-Pee-Chee didn&rsquo;t include any of the 1990 draft picks in its first set so Premier includes the first O-Pee-Chee cards of Quebec&rsquo;s Owen Nolan (No. 86), Vancouver&rsquo;s Petr Nedved (No. 81), Detroit&rsquo;s Keith Primeau (No. 91), Philadelphia&rsquo;s Mike Ricci (No. 96) and Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Jaromir Jagr (No. 50).Because Premier hit the stores before any other update or traded set, collectors also got their first look at Vancouver&rsquo;s Troy Gamble (No. 7), Washington&rsquo;s Peter Bondra (No. 34) and Detroit&rsquo;s Johan Garpenlov (No. 35) on a hockey card.The cards come in seven-card packs and were shipped by O-Pee-Chee with a suggested retail price of 50 cents. But dealers are having little trouble selling the cards at $1 a package because of their popularity. Collectors like the look of the Premier cards and the fact there was a much smaller print run compared to the first O-Pee-Chee series.There are few major mistakes in the set, which considering the large number of rookie cards is quite surprising. The biggest mistake was on New York Islander Greg Parks&rsquo; card (No. 89) which had a photo of Winnipeg&rsquo;s Scott Arniel on the back. (For more on the Parks/Amiel mixup, see Vol. I, No. 4 of THN Collectors World.)One thing O-Pee-Chee doesn&rsquo;t know is the difference between junior and minor pro hockey. The Ontario, Quebec and Western Leagues make up junior hockey while the American and International League are the main components of the minors. For example, the back of New York Ranger Steven Rice&rsquo;s card says, &ldquo;played in minors at Kitchener (OHL).&rsquo;&rsquo; A bigger fault is that O-Pee-Chee didn&rsquo;t put the Kitchener stats on the back. They aren&rsquo;t hard to find and would&rsquo;ve been much better than having no statistics.That said, the set is attractive and has been well-received by collectors. And, besides, how can we not like a set of cards that includes a card with the first cover of THN Collectors World"! Card No. 47, Brett Hull, shows the same photo we used on our or first cover. &#9632;

f0006-01

O-PEE-CHEE AND MODERN ERA COME FACE-TO-FACE

<div class="byline">BY RAND SIMON</div>You&rsquo;ve heard all about the great hockey card explosion that took place this season. But just how big was the boom?Well, consider this: You would&rsquo;ve had to have bought six sets from both last season&rsquo;s O-Pee-Chee and Topps sets to get the same number of cards available this season. Between O-Pee-Chee (330) and Topps (198),' there were 528 cards last season. Between O-Pee-Chee (682), Topps (417), Bowman (286), Pro Set (705), Score (555) and Upper Deck (550) there are 3,195 cards this season.That overwhelming figure includes insert sets from Bowman, O-Pee-Chee and Topps as well as the second sets issued by O-Pee-Chee, Pro Set, Score and Upper Deck. In fact, if you collected every O-Pee-Chee and Topps set from 1982-83 to 1989-90, you would have fewer cards than someone who bought all of the 199091 cards.While we&rsquo;re counting, 681 players appear on those cards. That includes nearly two dozen players who have never played professional hockey. Most of those players appear either in the first series from Score or the Hagh Numbers from Upper Deck. But the 681 figure doesn&rsquo;t include the Hall-of-Famers, career point leaders or heroes of hockey in the Pro Set and Upper Deck cards.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-012237/10199975-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="598" height="766"><figcaption class="caption-body">There are 33 cards of The Great One in 1990-91.</figcaption></div>The individual card leader is Los Angeles&rsquo; Wayne Gretzky with 33, making him an easy winner over St. Louis&rsquo; Brett Hull who has 25. Gretzky has nine Score cards, seven O-Pee-Chee, seven Topps, five Pro Set, four Upper Deck and one Bowman.Looking ahead to next season&rsquo;s cards, the leader is likely to be Chicago&rsquo;s Ed Belfour. If each of the companies makes the same number of cards, the Hawks&rsquo; goaltender could have as many as 27 cards. That&rsquo;s assuming he makes either the first or second all-star team and wins three awards&mdash;the Calder, Jennings and Vezina. If he wins the Hart or Conn Smythe Trophies, he may surpass Gretzky&rsquo;s total from this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021529/10199968-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="597" height="759"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Belfour had four cards this season. He may reach 30 in &rsquo;91-92.</figcaption></div><h2>THE TOP 10</h2>1. WAYNE GRETZKY (33)2. BRETT HULL (25)3. PATRICK ROY (20)4. MARK MESSIER (18)5. RAY BOURQUE (17)6. CAM NEELY (14)6T. AL MacINNIS (14)8T. PAUL COFFEY (13)8T. SERGEI MAKAROV (13)8T. STEVE YZERMAN (13) &#9632;

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