Another small Zistle trade

Just wrapped up a trade with Zistle user Opierocks. I sent him 17 cards of current and former Ottawa Senators in exchange for seven cards.

This is part of a small subset in 1997-98 Score cross-promoting EA Sports' NHL '98 video game. I had no idea they existed until someone sent me an Eric Lindros from the set a month or two ago. It's a pretty fun concept for a subset, even if they are basically commercials on cardboard.  NHL '98 was one of the games I owned, so these have an extra dose of nostalgia for me.

The best part about these cards? The backs tell you what each player's "special move" is in the game and how to make them do it. In this case, Kariya will perform a wrap-around from behind the net. There are six "Signature Moves" cards in all. In addition to Kariya and Lindros, the subset includes Sergei Fedorov, Pavel Bure, Mike Modano -- and Steve Yzerman, which I'll have to track down.

Speaking of the Captain, the trade package included three more for that collection, including this fantastic shot of him leaving the ice from 2001-02 Upper Deck. It would instantly rank as one of my favorite Yzerman cards, except it's a checklist.

A nice Fleer Ultra insert from 2005-06, which would be Yzerman's final season.

Too bad the Fleer designers couldn't be bothered to dig up a different picture for the back.

Finally, a retro parallel from 2010-11. O-Pee-Chee does a different retro parallel design every year, but this is my favorite design they've reused in the last few years (except, of course, when they redid the 1979-80 style in 2008-09...but everybody loves those).

A random Canadian World Junior team card, from 1998-99 Collector's Choice. Jesse was a two-time member of Canada's national junior team, in 1997, when Canada won its fifth straight championship, and 1998, when it finished an embarrassing eighth. Picked in the first round by Detroit in 1996, he would play only 49 games in the NHL, all with the Red Wings.

Eric Lindros is one of a handful of players I casually collect, mostly because I chased so many of his cards as a kid. I still get a bit of jolt every time I find a Lindros in a dime box even though it's only worth...well...a dime. I have no idea what's behind this "Saturday Knights" concept, but I love Hockey Night in Canada and I'm a bit of a Game of Thrones geek. So this works.

This one's from 2000-01 Panini Titanium and it's on a thicker stock than any of the other cards. I'm guessing Titanium was a premium or semi-premium issue?

Lastly, one more gold parallel from 2013-14 Score to throw in the pile. I'm beginning to realize that the photo-doctoring that has so intrigued me in this set isn't all that unusual -- there seem to be a lot of other cards, particularly from Score and Topps, that have used the same effect. Still, it works better here with the gold parallels, at least in my opinion. This isn't the most exciting photo in the set by a long shot, but there's some nice symmetry with Jhonas' pads, blocker and trapper.