The NHL Playoffs, the best in all of pro sports, begin in less than two hours with Ottawa playing at Montreal and the New York Islanders at Washington.
Monday the NHL released their “Three Stars of the Week” for the final week of the regular season. It should come as no surprise to anyone that the Dallas Stars’ Jamie Benn ended up with the number one star of the week. In his final game of the season, Benn had a hat trick and an assist to win the Art Ross Trophy (most points) by just one point. He scored an empty net goal from the opposite end of the ice, completing the hat trick, with just over two minutes on the game. He tallied a secondary assist on Cody Eakin’s goal with nine seconds remaining to win the coveted award. Without the assist, John Tavares would have won the award by having more goals. Kudos to Dallas coach Lindy Ruff. It sure seemed like he knew exactly what was going on with the Art Ross on the line and gave Benn incredible ice time trying to help his captain win the award.
Now, back to the trading card aspect. Book value on the NHL scoring champion’s Upper Deck Young Guns rookie card books at just $20. Last week, you could buy it on eBay for half of that. Now, the “buy it now” items are all at book value or higher.
Winnipeg goaltender Ondrej Pavelec was named the number two star of the week. Ottawa winger Mark Stone was named number three star of the week. The Calder Trophy Candidate is the second Senators rookie in two weeks to be named a top three star. Goaltender Andrew Hammond was awarded the number one star last week.
For a more in-depth look at the players and their cards, take a look at Beckett’s “NHL Hobby Stars of the Week” piece on Beckett.
Happy trading and enjoy the opening night of the playoffs. It’s the best time of the year, #BecauseItsTheCup!