2025 trade package #9: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

It's the final day of May and I'm ready to recap the other trade package I received in March. As it turned out, that was the second month in a row I received a crazy nice mailer from Doug across the border at Sports Cards From the Dollar Store. I know I say this a lot, especially when it comes to his mailings, but this one was a DOOZY!

Check out the goods:

Baseball scan one of two is highlighted by some needed '25 Topps Tigers--Hurter, Keith, and Malloy. Hurter's been part of a pleasant surprise of a bullpen that's powered some wins for the surging Tigers, Keith's bat has improved since a slow start, and Malloy's chipped in some ABs for a team missing a few OF in the IL. That oddball Ripken, an '84 Topps/Milton Bradley partnership, is especially cool too!

I don't need to tell anyone that Skubal's been on fire since last season, while young SS Trey Sweeney is a work-in-progress, albeit a promising one. Devon Travis is one of a number of talented IF the Tigers gave away in awful trades, though they're doing that much less these days (and that's a pretty cool Refractor to boot). And How cool is that Elite Extra auto of former Wolverine Jordan Nwogu? It's my second of the Cubs OF prospect, with the previous one joining my collection thanks to Doug as well, and now I have a new favorite thanks to the college uni shot. Nice!

The basketball portion was a bit smaller but a big boon to my collections. A Bowman's Best Howard insert throws it back to the more creative days of the hobby, and Poole and Robinson represent slightly more recent Michigan NBA alumni, with the latter getting an especially cool appearance.

Then we have three hits, which is where the real fun begins. That Leaf card is my first autograph of the young Bufkin, on a card with a design that honors the 1990 version of the Leaf brand that isn't sketchy in every single way (and a beautiful John Hancock). The well-traveled Burnett (Michigan/Bama/Texas Tech) makes his autograph overall PC debut thanks to Bowman University Chrome, which combines a great college shot and the player's excellent signature. And lastly, French Wolverine cager does the same with a Donruss Optic autograph that's a bit less legible, but at least the card looks great. I now have 39 different subjects in the basketball hits collection, and only three of them don't have an autograph to their name, largely thanks to the sender of this envelope.

Next, the football assortment was similar--just five cards, but some big adds to my collections. Sainristil, the WR-turned-DB who was a huge, huge part of the championship-winning team a couple years ago, gets his first card in my PC not produced by the school itself, in this case a Prestige RC. And then we have even more firsts thanks to a generous quartet of autographs. Each player you see here previously lacked a signature in my football hits collection, but that's no longer the case! Talented DB Dax Hill gets a Michigan uni card from Panini Legacy, LB Carlo Kemp (first overall card as well) arrives thanks to Leaf Draft, DB Josh Metellus (also a first card) stars on a college-themed Contenders Draft issue, and last up is autograph #1 of Dallas TE Luke Schoonmaker, a shiny numbered card found in Panini's Illusions. I now show 264 different subjects from the sport, so even more growth in addition to the basketball stuff above, which I really appreciate!

A couple (non-Michigan alum) Wings made the trip this time in the form of the late Shawn Burr (a Kitchener Ranger!) and Bob Rouse, who won a pair of Cups with Detroit late in his career.

Of course the real action on the ice here featured the ex-Michigan guys. Jason Bailey's yet another guy debuting tonight, and he's a rarity since the OHL card you see above is just one of eight he has catalogued on TCDb after a pair of seasons in Ann Arbor. Cammalleri is my top-rated hockey Mike in the collection with almost 100 cards, such as that Black Diamond you see in spot #2. Hyman is out for Edmonton's cup rematch vs. Florida but did a lot to help get his team there, and a UD Canvas card is a great reminder of the quality player he is. And the last of the non-hits is a sticker of a guy I always refer to as "Patch" given the way you say his name ("patch-or-EH-ty") but I guess "Pac Man" works as well.

And no, Doug's trademark generosity didn't end with the other three sports--he included his favorite as well. I like what Panini did with the design of Jack Johnson's Crown Royale jersey relic as it makes the swatch look huge. That's hit #15 for JMFJ. Wolverwing Dylan Larkin gets another quality relic added to his PC out of 2019-20 SPx, and the numbered jersey card is his 8th out of 11 total hits in a collection I'm proud to continue to grow. And last but most definitely not least, check out the newest 1/1 in my Michigan collection: a 2016-17 UD Compendium Black plate of Steve Kampfer! The four-year Wolverine D-man played sparingly in the NHL over parts of 11 seasons, but found himself in the Compendium Product after a career-high 47 games with the Panthers the previous year. What a great way to end this post!

Doug, thanks so much as always for the time, effort, thought, and money you put into every envelope you send my way. I continue to be floored by your generosity and the quality of stuff you find for folks like me that are fortunate enough to be able to trade with you. I'm looking forward to your last post covering what I most recently sent you while I try to stock back up once again!

I'm thinking the next post should be my first foray into Facebook Marketplace purchases this year, and that should let me close out March.

2023 trade package #32: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

Hey, it's been a while, how about another trade recap?

Here's what a "Small Packet" envelope from Canada looks like:

Something this large and in charge and stuffed with goodness could only be from one person: Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store!

Here's a (very) brief overview of what he sent my way back in December:

Baseball was highlighted by numbered cards of Mr. Tiger and Barry Larkin. All hail Upper Deck! The other Tigers are great as well, including the Deckle Freehan, which isn't a dupe because this one has a blank back.

Basketball and football get short shrift this time in numbers but not quality. My first card of Mazi (rhymes with "Ozzie") is a Michigan uni RC out of Prestige. Sounds like the Cowboys enjoyed some of that quality Texas education when deciding to completely misuse him this year!

A pair of numbered UD Henne autos are among the highlights of the package, and I can never have too many of these! (But I'm not renaming the blog.)

The bulk as usual is hockey, starting with the much-improved Wings. I'm a big fan of the Lidstrom and Howard cards especially, with the former being a nice color match.

I don't know if these are from shows, repacks. elsewhere, or all of the above, but I was excited to have a bunch of ex-UM icers to flip through. This one already stars two hockey Mikes, not to mention a rare for me Beniers.

Hughes and Hyman have had nice years for their teams, and of course I love seeing Copp join the ranks of the WolverWings.

Another hockey Mike here, the John Madden I prefer, and I feel like I don't add Montoyas to my collection often enough. Plus there's WolverWing supreme Dylan Larkin, who's been fantastic this year for the home team.

I loved the plethora of Brendan Morrison cards and he remains one of my top hockey PCs, second only to a guy you'll see later in this post. Nystrom is a 2/14 baby meaning Doug and I both collect him.

MaxPatch is a Buckstorecards trade package stalwart, and Palushaj often comes along for the ride as well, but recent star Power is nice to see when it comes to some of the newer guys I haven't collected much of yet.

There's the #1 dude, goalie Marty Turco. He was featured on a lot of Pacific cards including an insert set of his own (card #3 above), not to mention the usual enjoyable stuff like the die-cut Crown Royale product. Goalies often simply get the best photos on cards, and Marty deserves it!

There were a few horizontal and odd-sized cards, covered here, plus a couple more hits. The two Topps minis of Madden have the same front image but different backs. Naturally Pacific brings the heat with more die-cut action including a numbered card (#d /290) of another hockey Mike: Comrie. A numbered swatch of Jack MF Johnson plus a Cup-shaped jersey of Blue Jacket Zach Werenski (wait, do I need a "hockey Zachs" tag too?) close out the cards portion.

But we're not done just yet because we go big AND go home with this signed 8x10 of four-year Wolverine and former Leaf/current Oiler winger Zach Hyman! (#HockeyZachs) This is a beautiful, high-quality photo signed with a very legible autograph plus Hyman's jersey number. He's been very effective for Edmonton since signing with them back in '21, establishing career highs in all three big offensive numbers. Based on those stats it's no surprise that he's pottted an absurd three hat tricks this season!

Thanks again to Doug for all of these goodies that arrived in plenty of time for Christmas. As always I appreciate the huge variety among sports, players, and designs, and of course the quality of the goods. I don't have a lot to send your way just yet but will be working on it as usual.

Next time, another trade recap!

2021 trade package #3: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

I'm back tonight with the last January trade package that I have in-hand (so far, at least!), another Canadian special from buddy of the blog Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store. For some reason he's generous enough to keep sending me packages even though I've owed him at least one for a while. Fortunately I just got one on its way to him, so things will start to even out a bit. I didn't hit him in time for Christmas (or anyone else, for that matter) but I think this one will get there before his birthday on 2/14 (send him some cards of guys born that day!).

Anyway, this was another multi-sport bonanza with a few things I knew would be included but mostly some outstanding surprises:

Let's begin with the Wings stuff, a nice red and white quartet. I'm glad the Applicator, a former Spartan, is no longer in Hockeytown, but his base card along with Nielsen's from 2020-21 Upper Deck looks fantastic. I'm glad UD is still around in some capacity because their designs are top notch! Turgeon's still a work in progress but his Upper Deck Ice RC, #d /999, fits in with the comments I just made about the brand's design chops, with Ice being a particularly cool motif. And then there's The Captain, a.k.a. The GM. The star of a Team Canada Juniors card made by--who else?--Upper Deck has his work cut out for him in terms of a rebuild, but what a great moment it would be to see the guy who captained the Wings to their first title after a long drought do the same from the front office!

Switching over to Michigan Basketball stuff, I enjoyed checking out this bevy of recent guys. NCAA tourney legend Jordan Poole leads the way with six cards, finally getting his collection to double digits, and that's thanks to a cool quartet of rookie-year issues, some of which are Panini Chronicles-related, and a nice Contenders college action card. A Nik "Sauce Castillo" Stauskas RC with a bit of a hardwood feel is another cool highlight. 

Then we get to a trio of cool hits. Poole features on a die-cut relic from a Crowne Royale set, a product known for that design feature. The Hoops sweater card where Jordan co-stars with Iggy Brazdeikis had me laughing and was perfect for ugly sweater season. And then there's one more Michigan uni card to enjoy: a Contenders auto (my first card of any kind, in fact) of Kentucky transfer Charles Matthews, who headed north to Ann Arbor for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons. Those were coach John Beilein's last two years coaching Michigan and included reaching the title game in '18, losing to Villanova. I'm not the biggest basketball fan but this is a really nice bunch!

The football side of things was less voluminous but no less effective. On the left is LB and #60 overall selection by the Pats last year, Josh Uche. Doug's responsible for sending me my first card of the four-year Wolverine who put up 14.5 sacks his last couple years in Ann Arbor. That would be his RC from last year's Rookies & Stars product. I've never been a fan of that product's design but will definitely overlook its faults since it used a college photo!

The other is my 12th relic (and 35th hit overall) of former UM WR Amara Darboh, and it also hails from Panini's R&S. While he didn't turn into much in the NFL he was lots of fun to watch in college and I continue to enjoy collecting him. Darboh's no longer with Seattle, the team that drafted him, but since pretty much all of his cards were made during his rookie year of 2017, that's who he's pictured with here, and it comes with a nice Seahawks blue swatch.

And now we get to the usual main event: Michigan Hockey. Compher, Hughes, Hyman, and Trouba are all from the previously mentioned '20-'21 Upper Deck product that I'm already in love with, though Trouba's card features one of the funniest miscuts I've ever seen! I only have three cards of former RW David Oliver, but then he doesn't have many to chase, so this 1995-96 O-Pee-Chee card is great. And Patch makes yet another SCFtDS trade appearance out of '19-'20 UD Overtime, with the Vegas winger responsible for three goals in just six games this season.

Hockey hits? Hockey hits! The Ebbett (auto #6, hit #8 overall) is an ITG stickergraph, but the designers did a nice job of hiding that fact by placing it on an image of a rink. Andrew has an outstanding signature and even includes his jersey number, which is always cool. He played four full years in Ann Arbor starting my sophomore year so I believe I got to see every one of his home games and I'm glad to collect cool stuff of his like this auto.

Werenski's a much more recent guy, and the young d-man is fun to watch even if he plays for Columbus. He hit the 20-goal mark last year in his fourth season, and that was in fewer games than the others! This UD Game Jersey includes a very nice royal blue swatch from a Blue Jackets sweater, and I can't think of a better color for the former Wolverine's first hit in my hockey collection!

Last up here is a card Doug teased me with, and for once the scan may actually do it justice. Found in an Upper Deck product called Chronology, it's a gorgeous Jacob Trouba patch auto done up in the style of UD's Masterpieces, with a beautiful red border tying it all together. That goes especially well with his patriotic jersey colors now that he's with the Rangers. Oh, and the gold pen auto isn't bad either. I've got some nice cards of the young star defensemen in my collection, but nothing approaches the sheer brilliance of this one, probably my favorite card in the whole package!

But we're not quite done. He had to send these latest traders in a larger than usual envelope to accommodate one more item he teased, plus another that I believe was a surprise:

Upper Deck's Be a Player product offered a set called Portraits in 2006-07, and the titular items could be found signed by one to four players. One of my favorite PC guys, Brendan Morrison, made the cut for the checklist, and the result is this beautiful 8x10 that features a nice action photo and a dedicated space for a nice, large signature. What a cool item, one that's begging to be put up on the wall in a place of prominence in my card room. Fellow favorite dude Marty Turco can also be found here so his has gone on my wantlist, and I was disappointed to discover that the Frozen Four-winning pair didn't get a dual card to themselves. Anyway, very cool of Doug to both acquire this for me and deal with the logistics of shipping it.

And if he was already doing that, well, in for a penny, in for a pound, right? I was totally surprised to see this awesome signed 8x10 of another guy who starred at Yost Ice Arena for a couple years I had tickets, 2005-06 and '06-'07: Jack Johnson. Jack was a blast to watch during his college days, a major force on the ice, even if he sometimes took stupid penalties. It was no surprise when the #3 overall pick from the '05 draft went pro after a pair of seasons, and he's enjoyed some ups and downs over a long NHL career.

This photo is signed in blue (naturally!) sharpie and is from game action against the Lake Superior State Lakers of the former CCHA, Michigan's longtime pre-Big Ten league.

This information from the back wasn't as helpful as I'd hoped so I'm not sure if it came from one of two '06-'-07 games (2/16/07 @ LSSU, 2/18/07 in Detroit) or a pair of away games in Sault Ste. Marie in November of 2007 the following season. Either way, it's a very cool piece and a nice addition to my collection of Michigan autographed memorabilia!

Doug, thanks again for an extremely cool package of stuff--you always manage to surprise me with some amazing cards, and sometimes other items too! I hope the envelope I just sent you gets there safely and quickly and that you're just as geeked about your latest haul from our ongoing deals!

With all my incoming trades covered for now I think next time you'll be seeing my first eBay pickup of 2021 before I get back to the rest of my 2020 COMC haul.

2019 trade package #30: Card Boarded

Once again I'm celebrating a Michigan Football win on a lovely (if chilly) Saturday, even if the team didn't play as well as expected.  And I'm doing so with another package from Paul who lives in Sterling Heights, Michigan.  

But wait!  It's not buddy of the blog Paul who runs Scribbled Ink, but instead Paul who runs Card Boarded!  This Paul contacted me letting me know he had some Michigan Hockey dupes to send my way, and I said sign me right up, because I love trading with new folks, especially fellow Michiganders, and especially especially anyone that has Michigan stuff I can use.

So on a day dominated by football but also marked by Michigan's second contest of the season on the ice, here's a look at all the great hockey stuff Paul sent my way:

It was a very Hockey Mikes kind of package, and I would have used that tag if it would have fit, but Paul sent me a nice variety of players so there wasn't room.  Cammalleri (1 new card, 71 total) and Comrie (14, 41) are two such players, and the latter definitely got a nice boost.  You'll see more of him in a minute, but this first bunch of five gives you a good idea of the range of years and sets spread throughout the mailer, especially Pacific and Upper Deck MVP.  Cogliano isn't a "Mike" but did get three new additions to his collection (46).

I mentioned Paul added 14 cards to my Comrie collection, and here's most of the rest.  Pacific makes a couple more quality appearances with designs I like--no surprise at this point in its run.  This scan includes the first of a number of Victory cameos you'll see in the next few, plus a shiny (a.k.a. difficult to scan but good looking) Parkhurst.  Jack Johnson (52) gets a newbie from UD, a brand also included in Comrie's count.

Here's our other Hockey Mike:  former Wolverwing Knuble (2, 24), pictured with his fourth (and sixth) team, the Flyers.  As you can see, 2007-08 MVP's base cards came with the silver signatures instead of making them an insert, which seemed pretty cool to me.  Then we get into another nice run for a single player:  John Madden (10, 29).  The three-time Cup winner (two with the pictured Devils, once with the Hawks) got a nice boost with this selection, including more Pacific goodness, Victory and MVP, and one of a couple appearances of a very cool UD Victory design, right down the middle.

After a couple more Maddens, from previously seen Victory and Ultra sets, we move on to a singular Al Montoya (17), the goalie for the first team I watched with student season tickets.  Then we go to one of my biggest hockey PCs in Brendan Morrison (11, 94), big enough that he has his own Google album in my collection.  Ranked #2 after a guy you'll see in a couple scans, he was also the beneficiary of many of the same sets we've seen already, which is a great thing since I like how they look.  2001-02 Topps makes its third and final appearance, plus there's the beautiful 2000-01 UD Vintage, once again, to its left.

Four more Morrisons lead to a singular cameo for Max Pacioretty (51) on a 2013-14 Score Gold parallel I'm surprised I didn't have (though I do have the base version).  It reminds me of the look Topps used to use on its own Gold inserts until recently.  Then it's back to the crease for yet another big player run:  Steve Shields (14, 31).  These were a huge boon to one of my smaller collections that I'm happy to be growing, and, as is often the case with goalies, there's some terrific shots.

Nothing against the rest of the cards you're seeing today, but this scan and the next are my two favorites, and I think you'll see why as you look them over.  The 2000-01 Pacific base that ends the last scan includes an outstanding photo, but that same year's Stadium Club design, leading off this one, can't be beat.  Then we're back for the Vintage design I keep mooning over, and the shiny Parkhurst look from 2003-04.

We'll get back to Shields in a minute, but first we have a couple other players to cover here.  The first is top PC guy Marty Turco (7, 126), who also gets some good crease shots.  He stars on one of the coolest cards in the whole envelope, a solid (acetate?) base card from a 2005-06 Upper Deck Trilogy subset numbered 092/599.  I don't think I'd see these before, but the Frozen in Time cards are quite thick, and the see-through aspect is always a plus.

Zach Werenski (9) then pops up on the newest card in his small collection.  We'll see if the Columbus D can score 11+ goals for the fourth straight season.

This penultimate scan is my other favorite because it includes some excellent looking stuff, plus everything's horizontal.  Comrie, Madden, and Morrison all return for their final appearances before we come to the conclusion of the Steve Shields show.  And what a show it is with some cool designs, including a sweet 2001-02 Atomic Premiere Date parallel of the already die-cut base set (#03/90) and my first Shields relic in nine hits:  a 2000-01 Black Diamond Game Gear goalie pad.  That's much cooler than the traditional jersey swatch and I think it's awesome.

Last up today is the remainder of the Turcos, and why shouldn't the #1 PC guy get to send us home?  His three horizontals are from 2002-03 MVP, 2003-04 Pacific's In the Crease, and the same year's SPx.  The Pacific insert somewhat reminds me of other inserts the brand did on the baseball end while the SPx design brings to memory the product's earlier emphasis on holograms.  Those are joined by a mini from 2001-02 Private Stock's PS-2002 insert.

Paul, thanks for reaching out and sending me some great looking, useful stuff for a bunch of my hockey collections!  I'll try to start piling up more Wings/Preds/goalies/etc. so we can do this again soon.

2019 trade package #16: Cardboard Collections

Braves/Panthers/Hornets fan Colbey of Cardboard Collections was nice enough to hit my mailbox with a little envelope earlier this month, a surprise that mailing that happened before the package I sent his way more recently.  He's always been an easy guy to trade with and I never have problems finding stuff for a team collector like him.

I'm excited to emphasize the "little" aspect of the envelope not as a slight toward Colbey--the quality was excellent--but because I love it when traders cause me a small amount of work, like what you see here:

The marquee piece this time is a Verlander 2019 Donruss jersey relic done up to look like the 1985 design.  I'm getting nostalgic in my old age so I often like these throwbacks to 80s sets, some of which came out before or not long after I was born.  And I also trend toward liking relic cards where the swatch area is simply added to a base design, though I know that's not for everyone.  Anyway, all that's to say that I'm a fan of this fun design even before taking into account that it's a new JV for my collection, not to mention a relic--#15 out of 25 hits now!--and Colbey did a great job of finding something I'd enjoy that's also 100% on-brand.

And to keep things balanced he even sent me this Wolverines hockey pair for my Michigan collections.  D-men Jack Johnson and Zach Werenski can be seen here on their base cards from 2018-19 UD, and one other thing they have in common is opposing fans in the shot behind them--Canadiens against Johnson's Pens, and Blackhawks as opponents for Werenski's Blue Jackets.  The design is a typically strong Upper Deck offering and I'm glad they're at least still around to produce great looking hockey cards, if not the baseball and football stuff I enjoyed for so long.

Thanks again for the surprise envelope, Colbey!  I hope you liked the stuff I sent your way and I'll work on filling out another package for you before you know it.

2019 trade package #13: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

If you don't follow me on Twitter, you might not be aware that I sent out a round of nine trade packages this morning.  Sometimes I just prefer shipping them out to writing up posts for the ones that have made it to me.  But I do love getting stuff entered into my collection and put away, so there's a bit of motivation for this evening's post.

Friend/buddy/pal/guy of the blog Doug (Sports Cards From the Dollar Store, as if you didn't know since I've put up more than 80 trade posts from him between my two blogs) hit me with excellent envelopes this month and last, so it's about damn time I catch up with his Canadian kindness.  May's mailer included the following:

The stuff I would have featured just on TMV before I decided to halt TMM (e.g. Detroit teams and baseball PCs) has a decidedly Michigan spin to it today.  Former Wolverine Rich Hill--whose college team is headed to Omaha for the first time since '84!--leads off with the only baseball content on the day.  His 2019 Heritage base knocks a need off my list and is the first of this year's cards to join that PC.

Everything else is Red Wings, which is fun since I recently read the somewhat poorly-written but informative and entertaining book about the Russian Five.  None of them are seen here, but Hull and McCarty both won Cups in Detroit:  Hull got his second title in 2001-02, his first in a three-year stint in Hockeytown, and McCarty enjoyed all four of the Wings' recent runs.

Next, Dylan Larkin is a great representative of the new and improved Too Many Verlanders as the Wolverwing fits both the Detroit and Michigan sides of my collection.  I could have included him with his former teammates below but thought he looked good with the rest of the Wings up here.  The pair of 2018-19 UD cards (flagship and Trilogy) bump his total up to 22.  More, please!

Basketball was much more prevalent this time than usual, and that proved to be timely when my alma mater hired Juwan Howard, star of five cards in this scan, as their next basketball coach.  There's lots of excitement around here thanks to the program's resurgence and recent success, and I'm looking forward to what he brings to the program.  My favorites sent by Doug are the two SPx cards, numbered to 10,000 and 3,390.

More basketball.  Rice and Vaught are fun additions here as they were both '89 national champs, and Rose and Webber were Fab Five teammates with Howard, who seems determined to heal the wounds of the 90s scandal and bring everyone back together, which would be amazing for everyone involved.

The basketball section concludes with this awesome trio of hits.  Burke's Court Kings jersey may be my first exposure to the basketball version of Diamond Kings, and it's certainly a positive one as hit #3 of the college star.  Sauce Castillo looks terrific in a Blue parallel of a Fabric of the Game jersey card (hit #7), a name that has a great history in memorabilia cards.  And the showstopper is a stunning 2014-15 Panini Gala Cinematic Signatures auto that pairs THJ's signature with a slide-like inset piece.  This is my first autograph of his and what a card to lead with!  It's rare for me to declare a basketball card the best in the package, but there's no beating this one.  Wow!

The football portion was only slightly larger than the baseball selection today, pairing a couple 90s Pro Set base cards of another current coach, Jim Harbaugh, and five-time Pro Bowl OT Mike Kenn, with my second card of recent Michigan DB Channing Stribling out of Topps' product covering the doomed AAF.  I hope he finds another opportunity after making an impact for the Wolverines.

And now we get to the traditionally copious amount of hockey stuff, most of which was new to me, though I don't recall how much because I entered these on TCDB a while ago.  Cammalleri is somehow the only Hockey Mike in the group but that leaves plenty of variety to enjoy, such as more recent players like Compher and Copp.  Cogliano and Johnson are well-known faces when it comes to Doug's envelopes to me.

A few older guys in Jones, Madden, Norton, and Ortmeyer (the last of whom I got to watch while I was in college) give way to the start of a nice Max Pacioretty run.  The two shiny cards that end this scan, one of which is a Rainbow insert, give way to...

...yet another flashy OPC issue, plus a second showing him with his current club in Las Vegas.  Trouba and Werenski are two more guys I consider "recent" and both of them also appear fairly often when Doug sends me stuff, especially the former.  And I'm always excited to land a new card for my hockey PC-leading collection, Marty Turco, such as this OPC Retro insert from about a decade(!) ago.

The icers also got in on the hit parade with this trio of signatures.  I never miss an opportunity to celebrate the pride of Flower Mound, Texas, Chris Brown.  Doug's gifted me a number of his hits (I currently have 10) and even more of well-traveled D-man Jack Johnson (14), owner of a fantastic signature.  Last up is an older player who doesn't get much love in terms of hits as they weren't a thing for most of his career:  David Roberts.  The back of what became autograph #2 of the winger, a Be a Player card from '96-'97, notes that he graduated from Michigan with a degree in English, so he's obviously got very good judgment.

That's it this time, and what a lot of "it" it was!  Thanks again, Doug, and I look forward to hitting you back fairly soon with a small package with some nice surprises in it--maybe even before I get around to posting the envelope you sent to me this month.