FOUR NEW ENTRANTS TO HOCKEY CARD MARKET

Here’s a look at the four nonlicensed companies offering draft pick hockey sets this fall. For each of them it is their first year of producing hockey cards. Since the companies aren’t licensed, NHL team logos and nicknames can’t appear on the cards. ARENA HOLOGRAMS Company resume: Family business out of Orange County, Calif., run by Bill Watson, 23. Main course: Thirty-three card set, including first and second-round players, with one player (Yanic Perreault) from the third round. Arena is printing 198,000 sets in its American version and 99,000 French sets. (These sets are not bilingual, they are French only.) Garnish: Ail players are dressed in tuxedos. “Our idea is that collectors should be able to recognize the player off the ice,’’ Watson said. Extras: One card featuring Pat Falloon and Scott Lachance together. Dessert: One…

LICENSED COMPANIES LOSE OUT ON DRAFT PICKS

Major card companies entered a high-stakes competition to sign draft choices only to discover that agent Don Meehan held all the cards. The Toronto-based Meehan and his partner, Patrick Morris, brokered one of the more innovative deals in collecting history when he brought together most top draft picks—with Eric Lindros as the most important exception—and sold them as one package to card companies. The deal had mixed consequences for card collectors who concentrate on rookies. * The good news is four nonlicensed companies—Smokey’s of Las Vegas, Arena Holograms from Orange, Calif., Michigan-based Star Pics and Classic Cards of Cherry Hill, N.J.—will print what is expected to be high-quality rookie sets. * The bad news is collectors can expect few rookies in the their wax (and poly and foil) packs from licensed companies—Bowman, O-Pee-Chee, Pro…

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NICE SET, BUT WHERE ARE THE ROOKIES?

Long-term interest in any hockey card set is usually determined by the success of the rookies within the set. Furthermore, sets are often referred to by the key rookie in the set. For example, there’s the “Wayne Gretzky” set of 1979-80 and the “Brett Hull” set of 1988-89. Which brings us to 1991-92 Pro Set, the first of this season’s cards to hit the hobby. And what will collectors be calling this set in the future? Probably not much since the only three rookie cards in the entire 345-card issue are of Bill Berg. Alexei Gusarov and Jeff Lazaro. It’s the fewest number of rookies in any NHL set since the 1961-62 Parkhurst issue which had two, including Dave Keon. Part of the problem is that all companies are issuing second…