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Index
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Drury
Wantlist
Williams
Wantlist
Stuart
Wantlist
Cheechoo
Wantlist
Briere
Wantlist
Lupul
Wantlist
Semin
Wantlist
Gonchar
Wantlist
Chipchura
Wantlist
Robidas
Wantlist

2005-06 Parkhurst


Breakdown

Packs per Box: 36
Cards per Pack: 6
Cards per Box: 216
Base Set Completion: 27.4% (192 of 700)
Notable RCs: Sidney Crosby
Duplicates: 0

First Pack

The exact contents of the pack scanned in and used to find insert odds:

Denis Grebeshkov #311
Mike Cammalleri #222
Geoff Sandersson #373
Scottie Upshall #279
Jan Bulis #255
Brian Leetch A Salute to Captains

First Pack Comments: Not only is it all base ... the best base card is probably Geoff Sanderson.
First Pack Rating: 1.0 / 10

Inserts

Total: 25
Parkhurst Rookies (1:6) -- 11: Braydon Coburn, Jim Slater, Brent Seabrook, Matt Greene, JF Jacques, Anthony Stewart, Andrei Kostitsyn, RJ Umberger, Ben Eager, Sidney Crosby, Colby Armstrong, Kevin Bieksa
A Salute to Captains (1:6) -- 5: Adam Foote, Keith Primeau, Brian Leetch, Jaromir Jagr, Wes Walz
Northern Stars (1:6) -- 4: Roberto Luongo, Adam Foote, Brad Richards, Joe Thornton
Team Logos (1:6) -- 6: Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Edmonton Oilers, Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks
2005-06 Season Highlights (1:6) -- 3: Joe Thornton, Luc Robitaille, Henrik Lundqvist
Team Checklists (1:6) -- 6: Patrice Bergeron, Eric Staal, Chris Pronger, Roberto Luongo, Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin

Subset cards combine to fall 1:1

Fascimile Signature Parallel (random) -- 1: Daniel Alfredsson A Salute to Captains (42/100)
Parkhurst Signatures (1:36) -- 0
Team Colors Octo-Jersey (1:432) -- 0




Box Rating: 2.5 / 10
Product Rating: 5.0 / 10

The big problem with Parkhurst is that it doesn't know what it wants to be. Based on the big base set, you'd think Parkhurst was geared towards set-builders and those new to the hobby. Alright, that'd be fine except there's nothing in a 36-pack box to keep the new hobbyist interested all the way through. Sure each pack has a subset card, but those get boring and stale after about 6 packs. When you compare Parkhurst's subset cards to the all-time best new hobbyist draw, 1998-2002 MVP's Silver Scripts, the Parkhurst subsets don't stand a chance. The only subset that doesn't get boring is the Parkhurst Rookies, for obvious reasons. However, with a massive rookie checklist those can quickly get frustrating if you don't nail a few key rookies along the way.

So if Parkhurst doesn't work well as a "gateway" product, it must have some kind of appeal to the seasoned collector right? There's absolutely no way the seasoned collector would want to wade through 36 packs though unless he is doing the set. Each box averages only a mere 2 inserts and 6 rookies. That's 8 hits in 36 packs. And while the seasoned hobbyist may be able to appreciate that Brendan Witt doesn't have any other cards, that doesn't make them any more exciting to pull.

In the end, there's no real reason to bust a box of Parkhurst unless you're a set builder. And even then you'll probably get the base set quickly and only be interested in those subset cards. When building any set, it usually comes down to trading more than busting and that's especially true in Parkhurst's case.

So if the new collector is dissuaded, the experienced collector turned off, and the set builder unlikely to purchase more than a couple of boxes, who exactly is Parkhurst made for anyway? If Upper Deck had followed in their own MVP's footsteps and made those facsimile parallels 1:2 instead of 1:36, they'd have a huge winner. But alas, they wanted to limit those and in doing so limited the interest most new collectors will have.

I'll part with just a few quick word on my box. Crosby saved it. No autograph is really stupid. It's not that hard to guarentee an auto per box, and autoless boxes are ANOTHER reason both new and old collectors will stay away. Pulling a facsimile autograph parallel that doesn't have a facsimile autograph is equally stupid. Wasn't that the whole freaking point of the parallel set?!

Hitting the Crosby and Ovcheckin Team Checklists is kinda nice, even if they aren't RCs, but I'm just left floored by the lousy RC hits and the lack of an auto ... real or fascimile.


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Index
------
Drury
Wantlist
Williams
Wantlist
Stuart
Wantlist
Cheechoo
Wantlist
Briere
Wantlist
Lupul
Wantlist
Semin
Wantlist
Gonchar
Wantlist
Chipchura
Wantlist
Robidas
Wantlist