I don't want to use the word shoddy because I really do like this set, but it definitely is one of the more. . . minimal sets I've seen. The Red Ace company made sure not to waste any effort while throwing these cards together. Once they had pictures of their 17 Russians stars, all they needed to do was type the player's name somewhere on the front, cram a big pile of hard to understand stats on the back, and boom-- it's a set. What about numbering the cards, you ask? Unnecessary. What about making sure all the cards are cut to the same width, you wonder? What's a half inch difference between cards of friends?
Other questions you may want to ask about Red Ace's Russian Stars in NHL:
- Why are the cards so thin and flimsy? To save paper.
- Who is Ravil Khaidarov, and why is he the only player who didn't play in the NHL? I don't know how he was the only player in the set that didn't make the NHL, but apparently he was actually a Russian star. He was featured in sets by Upper Deck and O-Pee-Chee in the early-90's. He was one of only four players in the set who wasn't either already an NHL'er or drafted by an NHL team when this set was released. The other players, Sergei Nemchinov, Igor Kravchuk and Vladimir Konstantinov all did pretty well for themselves in the NHL. According to hockeydb.com, he stopped playing for a few years after the 91-92 season. So maybe he was injured and had to retire. He returned in 95-96 and has been playing mostly in German leagues ever since.
I don't usually do this, but for your hockey card viewing pleasure, here are all 17 Russian Stars in the NHL:
Pavel Bure
Evengy Davydov
Sergei Fedorov
Viacheslav Fetisov
Alexei Gusarov
Valeri Kamensky
Alexei Kasatonov
Ravil Khaidarov
Vladimir Konstantinov
Igor Kravchuk
Igor Larionov
Andrei Lomakin
Sergei Makarov
Alexander Mogilny
Sergei Nemchinov
Anatoli Semenov
Mikhail Tatarinov
2 comments:
I bought me one of these on eBay becouse of this blogpost. Nice, cool and aforemost all, cheap set.
Call me a communist, but i'm not gonna collect on the manufacturers conditions.
bruce, this is my favourite post so far! that set is amazing. i particularly like the red ace logo and font. also, the fact that the players' names appear on the cards last name first. you don't even need the cards to be numbered. you can just alphabetize them!
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