NHL Draft - so top two picks are Leaf exclusive?

[jubei777]

I haven't been tacking hockey as much as I used to but looks like the top two picks are Leaf exclusives. How much will this be hurting Upper Deck for the upcoming season?

[ThoseBackPages]

i didnt even realize the draft was tonight lol

[preakness]

I thought leaf was done

Oh wait, that was a very lame attention seeking April 2nd failed joke

[Triple B]

Next year is going to be one giant suckfest for fans of licensed hockey cards. Unless Upper Deck pulls a rabbit out of their ass (or unless another pick turns out to be the gem of the entire draft), next year is going to be horrible. That being said, I expect a TON of incentive based sets (much like the Spectrum chase set) to be in all of UDs products next year. Exclusive autographs, jerseys, etc. to make up for the lack of Picks #1 and #2 that Leaf will pump out.

[hockeyguyrich]

I hate leaf but I blame upper deck not putting there money where there mouth is they should have known after the eichel bull crap to just push leaf out

[ewilkens]

exclusives are the worst thing to happen to the hobby...

luckily, aside from PC (which neither of these two players will be for me) I really only grab YGs, and those will still be available.

[RogerGodahell]

What they'll probably do is put some McDavid and Matthews in the new product and call them some type of rookie card.

[preakness]

Originally Posted by ewilkens

exclusives are the worst thing to happen to the hobby...

luckily, aside from PC (which neither of these two players will be for me) I really only grab YGs, and those will still be available.

Yet at the Industry Summit Leaf's BG stated he hates exclusives too...yet his company does them

[SethMurphy]

Originally Posted by preakness

Yet at the Industry Summit Leaf's BG stated he hates exclusives too...yet his company does them

His argument has always been that he hates exclusives, and puts the blame on UD (Hockey) & Panini (Basketball). His re-tread of a quote is always, "If the other companies agree to stop with exclusives, so will I." He has even claimed that he tried to negotiate with I think UD before the Eichel signing to a no-exclusives deal and they said no.


Take it all with a grain of salt.............

[TASS]

Originally Posted by hockeyguyrich

I hate leaf but I blame upper deck not putting there money where there mouth is they should have known after the eichel bull crap to just push leaf out

I agree with this if Upper Deck were ALL IN on their hockey programs, #@#@#@#@ like this would not be happening!

Take care of business and your customers UD

[Soxrule111]

Maybe they will do Redemption rookies for them? I mean they already do Artifacts Players TBD rookies.

Kind of like Andrew luck in 2012.

[FuriousD82]

Originally Posted by Soxrule111

Maybe they will do Redemption rookies for them? I mean they already do Artifacts Players TBD rookies.

Kind of like Andrew luck in 2012.

Its plain and simple: no autos until the exclusive wears out. WE all thought we'd get some Eichel auto content somehow by now from UD. Didn't happen.

[hairysasquatch]

Just stop buying wax. I used to live for hockey cards now I am down to breaking 4 baseball products per year.

[NickM]

They'll make more dinosaur cards.

[nera20]

Leaf is a joke anyways they make some of the ugliest cards around, at least for hockey collectors you still will get the main rookie of the guys in base upper deck young guns.

[JzWand]

Originally Posted by SethMurphy

His argument has always been that he hates exclusives, and puts the blame on UD (Hockey) & Panini (Basketball). His re-tread of a quote is always, "If the other companies agree to stop with exclusives, so will I." He has even claimed that he tried to negotiate with I think UD before the Eichel signing to a no-exclusives deal and they said no.


Take it all with a grain of salt.............

I don't like Leaf but I actually believe him when it comes to exclusives.

I mean UD has a history of doing this in other sports with Jordan, Lebron, and Ben Simmons.

That said I am very happy that leaf didnt get their hands on McDavid or Matthews.

[dcallow]

For Hischier and Patrick, it is going to make the following cards more valuable:

Young Guns, YG Canvas, PoE (for Patrick), and YG Acetate
Artifacts /999 and patches /199
Trilogy /999, /399, etc
Black Diamond /399
Ice /99

Hockey Card values have never been fully "led" by autographed cards, unlike Football (Chrome/Optic auto, NT RPA, etc), the hockey base rookies and patches above have always held value.

With SP Authentic and the Cup RPA and Premier RPA starting to come on really strong lately with the great designs though, I wonder how much values will start shifting away from base rookies resulting in only autographed cards holding value.

[Pill popper]

I sincerely hope Leaf keeps doing this. Until upper deck changes, it's garbage redemption process and adopt's Panini's even expired we will still honour. McDavid's year series one I pulled three damaged cards within the first month of release and UD said can't replace on all three and all I got was 3 MVP packs as a garbage token .

I want UD out once and for all.
Our money should count for some kind of quality control and UD will never honour that

[JzWand]

As someone who has gotten back into hockey after collecting baseball and UFC and dealing with strictly Topps on both accounts for the past 5 -7 years, I'll take UD over them for sure.

Cant comment on Panini other than to say some of their hockey cards like Silhouette patches and autos look nice.

[Rorschach]

I'm normally someone who spends 2 to 5 grand on Leaf product a year; I'm boycotting them now indefinitely. It's one thing for them to try to get their own exclusive for their own NHL product, it's another for them to deny the collectors altogether any NHL product for these two players. It's pretty much like a terrorist action where they try to make all collectors suffer because they don't have the market. UD's exclusive license is leverage they can't overcome. They can't overcome it because their cards suck so bad for their sports cards lines.

Good news is, of the 50,000 or so cards that will be bought and sold for each player, less than 10% will be affected. Like another poster said, cards from Young Guns to Ice Premiere /99 will be unaffected. Heck these two guys might not even make it to the NHL this year. And personally I'll be looking for Josh Ho-Sang. And by the time these two make it to the NHL, a player like Gabe Vilardi may overtake them already.

To me, this is less impactful than them signing Eichel. And he probably didn't even realize how much it's hurt his fanbase as the number of Eichel collectors is almost none.

[Rorschach]

Originally Posted by JzWand

As someone who has gotten back into hockey after collecting baseball and UFC and dealing with strictly Topps on both accounts for the past 5 -7 years, I'll take UD over them for sure.

Cant comment on Panini other than to say some of their hockey cards like Silhouette patches and autos look nice.

Yup. There are a few ignorant people hoping UD will fail but for the real collectors who indiscriminately compare and contrast UD with the other comparable companies, UD is by far the best one.