Red Rockin': Telling It Laich It Is: Hockey

Part two of this three part blog will cover the results from a box of 2011-12 Panini Contenders Hockey that was sent to HobbyKings.com by Panini America for review. Year in and year out Contenders has been a well received brand that contains rookie on-card autos. Last year the product was good but the shiny foil on the cards made some autos difficult to see or they seemed to be able to rub off. This year Panini went with a more glossy finish on the cards and a clean design that earns it high praise in my book.

Available for $90-$100 per box, Contenders contains 18 packs with 5 cards per pack and 3 autographs per box on average. Going into the break I was aware of the NHL Ink autographs but little else. After this break I'm still in the same boat but the box yielded a very nice hit that would allow anyone looking for value to resell and at the least break even. For you anti-Panini/anti-sticker auto people, this product has a ton of on-card autos and great designs all around. Most if not all sticker autos in this set are in the booklet cards.

As was the case in the previous entry you can view the video of the break here and pics of the break and product are available following it.

Video break

What we pulled

Base design

Calder Contenders /999

Cup Contenders /999

The Getzlaf was cut short on the side so only top half of the number is showing...blech production error

RC Auto /800

NHL INK

Well there are the three autographs. That dual Hull is an amazingly great pull which will just about cover the price of a box. Clutterbuck is just an awesome name in and of itself so I'd have been happy to have pulled that even if I was busting for myself but wouldn't have been happy had the dual not been pulled. The Vitale is a Penguin so I automatically hate it. Overall this was a good break. Surprisingly there were no parallels pulled from the product. Golds base are /100 and numbered on the front which is a plus for those who don't like to scan both sides of the card or don't like to ask people for the numbering in case they're looking for a specific number (jsy #, first #, last #, etc).

As for what we didn't pull here is what else can be found in the product.

Gold Parallel (100) /100

Black Parallel (100) 1/1

Cup Contenders Auto Patch (50)

Contenders Legacies Auto Patch (10

Calder Contenders Silver (40)

Calder Contenders Signature Patch (60)

Cup Contenders Auto Patch Gold (50) /1

Legacies Auto Patch Gold (10) - No samples available

Calder Contenders Gold (40)

Calder Contenders Signature Patch Gold /1 (bottom left)

NHL Ink (70) and NHL Ink Duals (20) - See above

NHL Ink Trios (10) /25

NHL Ink Gold (70) /25

NHL Ink Duo Gold (20) /25

NHL Ink Trios Gold (10) /10

NHL Ink Black (70) /1

NHL Ink Duo Black (20) /1

NHL Ink Trios Black (10) /1 - No samples available

Contenders Match-Ups Booklets (24)

Original Six Combos Booklets (6) /25

Starting Line-Ups Booklets (6)

2011-12 Panini Titanium Hockey

Product Overview:

CASE BREAK (16-box master case)
- One Rookie Card numbered to the player's sweater number!
- One Home Sweaters autograph, featuring a pair of game-used swatches!
- Three Hat Tricks triple memorabilia cards!

My Experience

During the Stanley Cup Finals Panini America was giving away free boxes and cards to a select few followers they chose at random on Twitter. One of the prizes during Game 2, I believe, was a box of the brand-new 11-12 Titanium Hockey that 4 lucky Panini followers would end up getting to bust. The next morning I found out that I happened to be one of the four chosen during that night’s contest.

Earlier this week the box arrived and when I got home from work I sat down and eagerly tore through it. With only 5 packs per box and 4 cards per pack I knew it would only be mere moments before I was done opening the packs and needing to decide whether this product would be worth the $100 price tag that it retails for. In fairness you really can’t really deem a product good or bad over just one box.

Dubbed as a poor man’s “Upper Deck SP Game Used” you are guaranteed 5 autographs and/or memorabilia per box. My box consisted of 3 memorabilia, 2 autographs, and 1 numbered parallel out of the 20 cards. To me that was better than my last box of SPGU where I received a memorabilia in every pack and an autograph of JS Giguere for $150.

The first hit I pulled was a GU piece of JVR. Despite being a Flyer I do like the kid so that’s not too bad. What I didn’t realize in the pack was also a Spectrum Red of P.K. Subban. I guess going through the pack so fast I didn’t pay attention to the foil and never saw the numbering /99 so this was a nice added bonus as I went back through the packs but can’t help but feel that I’ve either become too used to Panini’s products that the shiny card just seemed like it was another base or if I just had a brain fart as I tried to get through the whole box to see what all was in there.

In the second pack I hit an autograph of Carey Price. I figured this was a card that probably sold in the $20-25 range which would be around the average cost per pack, so far the first one to appear on ebay sold for $22+ shipping. For the record I’m not that kind of breaker but I do like to keep tabs on value in case I do ever need to part ways with my pulls.

In the third pack I hit my second auto, this time a New Wave of Viktor Stalberg. I follow hockey pretty closely but don’t recognize the name. Chalk this up to your common base auto that you’d expect to receive in just about any product. Also the New Wave reminds me of some Topps autographs, maybe like Game Day from Topps Football.

Pack four yielded another memorabilia card, this one numbered to 199, Hat Tricks which consisted of three members of the Carolina Hurricanes (Zach Boychuk, Jamie McBain, and Justin Faulk). The card reminds me of a triple memorabilia from another product from another sport but I can’t put my finger on which one. Also these fall at 3 per case.

Pack five yielded the final game used card, this of Ryan O’Reilly.

My Thoughts

When I finished breaking it I did feel a bit disappointed, regardless of it being free or not. At first I didn’t feel like this was a product I’d want to pay $100 to bust and I’m hoping that by the time the National rolls around in Baltimore it will be closer to a $70-80 break. However after seeing some of the cards that others pulled I will say that this product has a lot of promise and there are a ton of inserts that obviously weren’t pulled by me. Also rookies are numbered to just their jersey number, and fall at ONE PER CASE, so completing a set of Titanium hockey will not come easy.

As a sports card collector I’m not a big fan of sticker autos but can accept them if done right and the player’s auto isn’t cut off. While the stickers don’t always look great the fact that the background where the stickers are placed is white does help ease the look. The Private Signings, which are a cross-brand autograph insert that has appeared in quite a few products,are really sharp looking and all on-card. This is much like the original Skybox Autographics but the design hasn’t changed, which I think is perfect. I also approve of them using prime and patch differently than I've seen in the past...the patches are amazing.

One draw back to me is that they didn't include a checklist in the box. I'd have loved to know what exactly was available without going to their site or ebay but as you'll see in the pics that follow there are some big names with some great looking cards.

Randomly Inserted into Packs

Spectrum Ruby/Gold (100 cards) - See Ruby above