Topps has annouced that redemption #3 in their 2008 Topps Rookie Redemption is Cubs OF Kosuke Fukudome. This announcement comes on the heals of Topps earlier announcement that Fukudome would be Red Hot Rookie #4 in their Series 2 release.
For those keeping track:
It’s time for part five of our trip down memory lane, using the Upper Deck flagship release’s Young Guns cards as our bricks. Our format will be, as always, card #, player name, team he last played for in 07/08, and whether the player saw another flagship release.
It’s clear that no one can predict the future, but it’s also clear that Upper Deck doesn’t need to print 70 of these a year just to create artifical value for their sets.
The 2002/03 Upper Deck Series 1 set was particularly bad with the short prints. Cards numbered 196-225 were Young Guns seeded at the usual 1:4 rate, however many of these players had cards released in years prior, meaning the short print is not a rookie card at all.
If that weren’t bad enough, cards 226-246 were then seeded 1:24 (including the Memorable Seasons cards), and these featured the players who actually had the best shot to succeed, as you’ll see.
Info gathered from the Internet Hockey Database.
196 Mark Hartigan – Just won the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings. Not a rookie card, as Mark appeared on releases the previous year. He has not appeared on a Upper Deck card since.
197 Pasi Nurminen – Retired due to injury. Also not a rookie card. Pasi appeared in the 2003/04 release.
198 Henrik Tallinder – Scored 18 points in 71 games for the Buffalo Sabres. Another non rookie card. Tallinder since appeared in the 2006/07 release.
199 Micki DuPont – 2 games for the Blues, the rest for their AHL affiliate, where he put up 46 points in 76 games. He looks promising, but has yet to translate it to the NHL. No cards since.
200 Tyler Arnason – 31 points in 70 games for the Colorado Avalanche. Not a true RC. Appeared ever since.
201 Jordan Krestanovich – Scored 65 goals for the Victoria Salmon Kings of the ECHL. Another player with cards from the previous year, but no cards since.
202 Kelly Fairchild – Played last season for Vienna (Austria). Another non-rookie card with no releases since.
203 Andrej Nedorost – 38 games for Sloven (Czech). Again, not a RC. Appeared in no future releases.
204 Sean Avery – 33 points and 154 PIMs in 57 games for the New York Rangers. “Superpest” was voted the most hated player in the league by 66% of the 283 players polled. Avery’s true RC is the year prior. He started appearing in the set again in 06/07.
205 Stephen Weiss – Played for the Florida Panthers, recording 42 points in 74 games. Weiss was the 4th pick in the 2001 draft, and has appeared in a set ever since. This is not a rookie card, however.
206 Lukas Krajicek – 11 points in 39 games for the Florida Panters from the blueline. Lukas was the 24th pick in the 2001 draft. This is not his RC, and he reappeared in the UD set starting in 06/07.
207 Kyle Rossiter – Retired from hockey and now sells real estate in Edmonton. Appeared in 11 games over 3 different seasons, earning a point. Not his RC. Has not appeared since.
208 Eric Beaudoin – 52 games, 27 points, and 95 PIMS for Mora IK (Sweeden). Not a true RC. No other releases.
209 Sylvain Blouin – Played for Quebec RadioX (Canada). According to Wikipedia, Blouin “was a total fighter and couldn’t make NHL teams because he wasn’t a good enough skater.” Blouin’s career spanned 115 games in which he racked up 336 PIMs. This is his RC and his last appearance in the UD base set.
210 Marcel Hossa – Split the season with the New York Rangers and the Phoenix Coyotes. Marcel was the 16th pick in the 2000 draft but has not lived up to expectations. Not a RC. Appeared in 03/04-05/06 releases.
211 Adam Hall – Played for the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins. This is actually his RC, and he’s appeared in all releases except 04/05 and 07/08.
212 Greg Koehler – Out of hockey. Koehler appeared in 1 game for the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2000/01 season. This is a RC and a final card for Koehler.
213 Trent Hunter – 82 games, 41 points for the New York Islanders. Not his rookie card, Trent was skipped only in the 03/04 release.
214 Ray Schultz – Out of hockey. Ray played 45 games and earned 155 PIms for his trouble. This is his RC. No other releases.
215 Martin Prusek – Played for Vitkovice HC (Czech). Not a RC, no other releases.
216 Chris Bala – Played 4 games for the Redding Rainbows Royals of the ECHL. Not a RC, no other releases.
217 Josh Langfeld – Appeared in 2 games for the Predators. Has actually appeared in 143 games over the last 6 seasons for various teams, earning 32 points and 60 PIMs. This is not his RC. He has no further releases.
218 Bruno St. Jacques – Played 48 games for the Portland Pirates (arrgh!). Not his RC, no other releases.
219 Branko Radivojevic – Branko played 78 games for the Minnesota Wild, scoring 17 points. He appeared in the 03/04 release on the heels of a 27 point season for Phoenix the year prior. This is not his RC.
220 Martin Cibak – Put up 62 PIMs for Sodertalje SK (Slovak). Cibak put in almost 3 season in the NHL without another card. Not his RC, either.
221 Evgeny Konstantinov – Appears to be out of hockey. His NHL goaltending career lasted 20 minutes. Not his RC, no other releases.
222 Karel Pilar – 26 points in 45 games from the blueline for the Chicago Wolves (AHL). Pilar was forecd out of hockey when a viral infection attacked his heart, but has since returned. So far no other cards, and this isn’t his RC, either.
223 Sebastien Centomo – Played for the Mississippi River Kings (CHL). Centomo is a one gamer in the NHL, playing 40 as a goalie, allowing 3 goals on 15 shots. Not his rookie card, but it is his last card for Upper Deck.
224 Sebastien Charpentier – Played for both St. Hyacinthe Top Design (Canada) and Vienna (Austria). Not his RC. He did appear in the 2003/04 Upper Deck release.
225 J.F. Fortin – Played for Wolfsburg Grizzly Adams (German) scoring 26 pints in 44 games. J.F. played 71 games for the Capitals in his NHL career, scoring 5 points. His rookie cars is actually in the 1996/97 Upper Deck release.
226 Stanislav Chistov – Out of hockey for now. Chistov was the #5 pick in the 2001 draft, and managed 30 points in his rookie campaign. This is his RC, and he appeared again in the 03/04 set.
227 Alexei Smirnov – Out of hockey. He was the #12 pick in the 2000 draft. Smirnov put up 6 points in 52 games over 2 seasons for the Ducks. It’s his RC, but he never showed up again.
228 Chuck Kobasew – 73 games for the Bruins, scoring 39 points. Chuck was the #14 pick in 2001, but didn’t really break out until last year. This is his RC, and he has appeared in the base set ever since.
232 Rick Nash – The #1 pick in 2002, Nash scored 38 goals and 69 points last year for the Blue Jackets. Rick would be better known if he played in a big market, but is a legitimate star and has appeared in Upper Deck releases since. This is his RC.
234 Henrik Zetterberg – Conn Smythe trophy winner for the Detroit Red Wings this season. Zetterberg was a beast both in the regular season and the playoffs. He’s been in every set since, and this is his RC.
235 Ales Hemsky – 71 points, 74 games for the Edmonton Oilers, who made him the 13th pick in the 2001 draft. Hemsky is another solid young player who has made it in every set since. This is his RC.
236 Jay Bouwmeester – 37 points, 72 PIMs from the blueline for the Florida Panthers. Jay was the #3 pick in the 2002 draft and has performed well every season. This is his RC, and he has been in the set every year.
238 Alexander Frolov – Frolov scored 67 points last year for the L.A. Kings. Drafted #20 in the 2000 draft, this is his RC and he was left out only of the 2004/05 release.
239 Pierre-Marc Bouchard – 63 points in 81 games for the Minnesota Wild. So far, a solid career for the #8 draft pick in the 2002 draft. This is his RC, and he’s been in every release since.
240 Ron Hainsey – Played a solid defense for the Blue Jackets, scoring 32 points in 78 games. Originally drafted #13 in 2000 by the Canadians, they put him on waivers before he started to develop. So far Hainsey’s appeared in the 2003/04 set only. This is his RC.
245 Alexandr Svitov – 140 PIMs in 54 games for Omsk Avangard (Russia). He was the #3 pick overall in the 2001 draft. He was in the 03/04 release as well. This is his RC.
246 Steve Eminger – Has failed to live up to his #12 pick potential from 2002. Put up 2 points last year for the Capitals on defense. 03/04 and 05/06 cards were also issued. This is his RC.
So here’s the totals so far, with 42 new Young Gun cards for a total of 186:
A decent showing from this crop. It’s clear, however, that Upper Deck knows something about prospects, or they would not have saved the best for the super short prints.
Part six is coming soon.
Hand Collated 