Hockey at the National

[mrb842]

I went last year. Very disappointing. It's hard to find stuff but that was before Bedard's young guns game out. TV Ratings were up this year so hopefully those of you going will have more success. Upper Deck probably wishes the Nationals were in Chicago this year. Would've been a great spot to really showcase some of the future of their products.

[jmarascojr]

Bedard had already been drafted by Chicago last year by the time The National rolled around.

Upper Deck could've ran with that and didn't, they definitely dropped the ball.
I can't even recall if Bedard was included in any sort of giveaways or "National Only" card sets.

I feel like you're gonna see A LOT of Bedard this year, A LOT of McDavid and A LOT of Ovechkin YGs. And the usual Gretzky RCs sprinkled in here and there...

[CalderCityCards]

Originally Posted by jmarascojr

Bedard had already been drafted by Chicago last year by the time The National rolled around.

Upper Deck could've ran with that and didn't, they definitely dropped the ball.
I can't even recall if Bedard was included in any sort of giveaways or "National Only" card sets.

I feel like you're gonna see A LOT of Bedard this year, A LOT of McDavid and A LOT of Ovechkin YGs. And the usual Gretzky RCs sprinkled in here and there...

He was included in one of Upper Deck's e-pack related promo's, where you had to buy a few things to redeem for a Team Canada retro card.....that took Upper Deck about four months to ship and goes for about $20 now......

Problem with last year was, yes he had already been drafted, but since he hadn't yet played a game for Chicago they could not do anything that would feature him in a Blackhawks jersey.

But yes, there was VERY little hockey at the show. I'm not sure how much better it will be this year beyond Bedard stuff, as I don't suspect that crowd of dealers has been breaking hockey or buying much outside of CB, but I'm also hoping some.....

[mrb842]

Originally Posted by CalderCityCards

He was included in one of Upper Deck's e-pack related promo's, where you had to buy a few things to redeem for a Team Canada retro card.....that took Upper Deck about four months to ship and goes for about $20 now......

Problem with last year was, yes he had already been drafted, but since he hadn't yet played a game for Chicago they could not do anything that would feature him in a Blackhawks jersey.

But yes, there was VERY little hockey at the show. I'm not sure how much better it will be this year beyond Bedard stuff, as I don't suspect that crowd of dealers has been breaking hockey or buying much outside of CB, but I'm also hoping some.....

The hockey at shows I was at in the spring was people who had gone bedard hunting trying to get rid of the leftovers. If you're a fan of the other guys in the series 2 or the other products he was in I'd expect to see a lot of that.

[ThoseBackPages]

yea, there was not much at the show last year which was a bummer because there was a nice uptick in NHL dealers at the 2022 show. There was one dealer in 2022 that was ONLY modern hockey and had pretty much every YG ever released available for sale. Sadly i did not see them at the 2023 show

[Seahawks fan]

Originally Posted by mrb842

I went last year. Very disappointing. It's hard to find stuff but that was before Bedard's young guns game out. TV Ratings were up this year so hopefully those of you going will have more success. Upper Deck probably wishes the Nationals were in Chicago this year. Would've been a great spot to really showcase some of the future of their products.

Great thread. I've always wondered this too. The card shows here in the mid west are usually 100 tables and 3 will have Hockey. It's brutal but I figured the National would be different.

[penguinsChief]

I have almost always had success in finding hockey at the National, but you have to work for it. It is not like the Toronto show where it is everywhere. I go to every dealer and ask and see what they have, I dig through many boxes and I am willing to buy stuff just to re-sell for the right price. If I get a Lemieux I need that is a bonus, I plan on being there for 3 days so I am hoping to be busy that whole time. Good luck on the hunt!

[ThatGuyPal]

There are always outliers especially if people see they can fill a void but most hockey is at the big Canadian shows with the added bonus being a lot of the guys are already Canadian so don't have to leave the country. Same way it's harder to find baseball/basketball up there for reverse reasons. I don't think it will be much better this year personally, beyond the group subbers that need to move Bedard, Mcdavid lost the Cup, no one cares about Florida hobby wise, the arguable breakout star of the playoffs Wyatt Johnston still goes for pretty cheap YG and those boxes are still pretty dirt cheap. Even the hockey forum has grinded to a halt lol UD one step forward two steps behind were smart adding numbered YG's etc but not having them in retail compared to chances at numbered Wemby's etc means there's less hype/interest as people rip but you don't get the same fervor. If it was the month S2 released hockey would probably be all the rage

[JuniorDandy]

Originally Posted by ThoseBackPages

yea, there was not much at the show last year which was a bummer because there was a nice uptick in NHL dealers at the 2022 show. There was one dealer in 2022 that was ONLY modern hockey and had pretty much every YG ever released available for sale. Sadly i did not see them at the 2023 show

I'm almost positive I know who you are talking about, he was there last year and as of about a month ago told me he was planning on setting up in Cleveland.

Overall my expectations for the show are a little lower than usual but that is mostly because Upper Deck is still so far behind getting product out.

[ThoseBackPages]

Originally Posted by JuniorDandy

I'm almost positive I know who you are talking about, he was there last year and as of about a month ago told me he was planning on setting up in Cleveland.

Overall my expectations for the show are a little lower than usual but that is mostly because Upper Deck is still so far behind getting product out.

WOOT WOOT!!

i hope so!

[jmarascojr]

There's one booth that is there every year, pretty sure he's from Canada, mainly vintage Hockey (80s and prior)...

[avalanchefan21]

Im from Cleveland or else I wouldn't be going

(only do hockey/soccer)

I havent bought a ticket yet... going wednesday gonna see what its like and go back thursday if needed XD

[avalanchefan21]

HOCKEY TRADE night

Yay!!!!!!


Screenshot_20240708_164213_Chrome by avs 2621, on Flickr

[stoopid]

The National would be about the only show in the USA that would have enough hockey there to tempt me. I'm nowhere near Cleveland, but if it's anywhere out West in the coming years I'll probably go for a day.

The Burbank show, from what's been reported, has some hockey but isn't enough to warrant the 4 hour drive.

[mrb842]

Originally Posted by stoopid

The National would be about the only show in the USA that would have enough hockey there to tempt me. I'm nowhere near Cleveland, but if it's anywhere out West in the coming years I'll probably go for a day.

The Burbank show, from what's been reported, has some hockey but isn't enough to warrant the 4 hour drive.

The last national I went to had hockey only booths from connecticut, rhode island, maine, philly and one other guy.

That was maybe 4-5 out of several hundred.

The every modern young guns guy is a real person. He's an extremely organized and impressive dealer. I don't know the name, but the prices are to the cent what the highest sales on ebay are.

[ejs23]

Originally Posted by avalanchefan21

HOCKEY TRADE night

Yay!!!!!!

Thanks for posting this. Might be something worth checking out for me. I had planned to leave hockey cards at home but may have to bring some along now.

[mrb842]

https://www.instagram.com/jlee_sportscardslive/?hl=en

I couldn't find his booth last year but I love his stuff.

[TigerCardsOnly]

I will have some hockey there but no booth. Just walking around enjoying the show.

I have:

Bedard Ygs 1x psa 10 1x psa 9
2x Beddard Silver Holo YG PSA 9 1 X Raw
2X Bedard Rainbow Speckled Foil Ygs BGS 9
2X Bedard Silver Outbursts Raw
1X Bedard Carlsson Rainbow Foil Checklist Raw
1 X Bedard Silver Portrait PSA 9 #P60 /99 Bgs 9

[avalanchefan21]

Originally Posted by mrb842

https://www.instagram.com/jlee_sportscardslive/?hl=en

I couldn't find his booth last year but I love his stuff.

he will be there!

I dont think he has a booth but he's a stud in person to meet. If you send him a DM on ig he'll respond and be happy to meet ya!

[stoopid]

Originally Posted by mrb842

https://www.instagram.com/jlee_sportscardslive/?hl=en

I couldn't find his booth last year but I love his stuff.

This was an interesting way of finding out he blocked me on IG. He's a tool/gatekeeper anyway, so not surprised something I posted irked him. It should have. And blocking people is consistent with gatekeeping (now he can continue to post/say what he wants with one less person to call him on it).

[mrb842]

For those of you that went-how was it?

[JuniorDandy]

Originally Posted by mrb842

For those of you that went-how was it?

Overall more than I expected especially compared to the last Cleveland show but I only picked up a few things. Most mid-range stuff (literally $25-250) was totally picked over and gone by Thursday afternoon which seems to happen every year, I don't know why the people that do try with hockey don't bring more mid-range stuff because it always moves. You could probably find almost every Young Gun in existence and most dealers that were making at least a small attempt on hockey seemed to have a Bedard.

Upper Deck seemed to instantly sell out of the daily case breakers but that didn't appear to translate into more hockey on the floor. I heard that was because they were limiting people to 5 or 6 per day but I couldn't confirm that because they were always sold out by the time I got there. Overall the hockey box prices for the stuff not in the wrapper redemption was back to pre-pandemic pricing, guessing thats because they want to move that before more Bedard products come out.

I was a little surprised by the quality of stuff that dealers were turning away, my best pickup was found because I happened to be at a hockey booth and saw a dealer turn it down which made me want to try to go to both the secondary show and trade night to see what else might turn up. The main trade night had signage for everything except hockey (if there was a hockey section in the room, I missed it)

Unfortunately the secondary show was canceled when I got to the aviator Thursday and I didn't have enough time to go to the trade night Friday after eating dinner but saw at least 1 monster that surfaced there.

To summarize, I would say significantly more than some of the pre-McDavid Cleveland/Baltimore shows had and going in the right direction but still not quite where I would like it to be. Although it doesn't help that UD is struggling to release products currently. Heard an interesting idea floated to the promoters that the priority system should be tweaked to at least include a certain number of dealers that specialize in the smaller genres like Hockey/F1/Soccer/Wrestling but if I have learned anything with these, its that something like that won't happen.

[jmarascojr]

^^^^ I would agree with JuniorDandy's write up, definitely more hockey than in years past.

I didn't see as much Bedard as I was expecting, his YG's in a PSA 10 could be had for $800... Kinda kick myself for not picking one up...

There was one dealer, pretty sure he was from Canada, I think his stickers were still in Canadian prices cause he was 2-3x eBay on A LOT of stuff....

[ejs23]

Would be nice if they could get more than 1 NHL’er to sign.

[penguinsChief]

In comparison to other Cleveland National's I think the amount of hockey was about the same. I think there were two or three dealers that were pretty much exclusively hockey and most of the box vendors had at least a couple of boxes each. I spent a lot of time digging through boxes and doing bulk deals. I did not find much in the way of Lemieux mid-tier stuff that I needed, but that was not surprising.

Biggest disappointment was Dave & Adams and Steel City (and other sealed vendors). They had VERY little hockey to choose from. D&A had 22-23 MVP Hobby for $25 a box which was a steal, and 21-22 ICE for $65. They had some 23-24 S2 and Extended but that was about it. I was hoping to grab a bunch of boxes to rip every day and ended up with just a couple.

Overall, hockey was there, you just really had to look and ask. Most dealers said people were asking for it, and they should have brought more. Dang right you should have!