Another trade!

There's been a little burst of trading around these parts over the last few days, some of which I've initiated and some that others have. Here's another small batch of cards that just arrived in the mail. Sent the other way were a 1989 Upper Deck John Smoltz rookie and a 1994 Score Gold Rush Cal Ripken Jr.

First up, a new addition to the Steve Yzerman collection from 1995-96 Donruss. Not the world's most exciting card by any stretch, but it's got a clean and simple look. Nice crowd shot, too, including a confused-looking kid who appears to be sitting in a seat made for a giant.

Two things I like about the back. First, it's got a second, large picture, which helps make up for the lack of any narrative or career stats. Second, this set came out after the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season. So Donruss included the players' stats for the season, which was just 48 games long, as well as pro-rated equivalents over a full season. So Yzerman's 11 goals and 38 points in 47 games that year translated into 21 goals and 67 points in 82 games. It wasn't his best offensive year, but this was right around the point he was beginning to develop a more defensive-oriented game.

The bulk of this trade package was from a 22-card insert set in 95-96 Donruss focusing on the 1995 Canadian World Junior hockey team, which won the country's third consecutive gold medal. I've got a bit of a soft spot for Canadian Junior team cards, mostly because they remind of being a kid watching the tournament every year after Christmas. Pictured here is Jamie Storr, who was Canada's starting goaltender in both the 1994 and 1995 tournaments. True story: Storr once flipped me and some friends the bird after one of us (not me!) threw a half-full cup of soda onto the ice and hit him in the back. Storr, who was playing for the Owen Sound Platers then, had just beaten the Guelph Storm in an OHL game.

Here's the rest of the Team Canada cards in the package. Ed Jovanovski and Bryan McCabe were two of several guys on the team who went on to have successful NHL careers, along with Wade Redden, Jason Allison and Ryan Smyth, among others. Shortly after this tournament, Dan Cloutier was traded by the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds to the Storm, who were hosting the Memorial Cup that year and were loading up for a long run. The Storm ended up losing in seven games in the OHL finals to the Peterborough Petes and then lost all three of their round-robin games in the Memorial Cup. Cloutier went on to spend a decade bouncing around the NHL.

Here's a look at the back of these cards, which are some of the loudest you'll see. Each card has three different pictures, though, including the two on the back.

And closing out this trade package are two second-year cards of my favorite baseball player as a kid. The Upper Deck card is typically high-quality but I still love the so-bad-it's-good '91 Classic design.

The last two trades have been small ones, but I just finalized a deal on a monster trade with another Zistle user that I'm super excited about. It's going to finalize one of my favorite team sets of all time, add to the Yzerman collection and give me a big boost towards two sets I'm hoping to eventually hand collate. Really looking forward to that package!