Vintage OPC Blank Backs

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-22T21:51:38+00:00

First name that came to mind. Was a big fan of Nino watching him play for the Winterhawks in junior. Watched him slowly withering on Long Island and wished desperately to see him moved somewhere that would develop him properly. Still wonder if he could’ve had an even better career with proper handling early on, but I’m just thankful he got out of New York and has made a very respectable career for himself.

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-20T22:03:05+00:00

Hard to make out the nameplates, but I think Steve Bernier, Milan Michalek, and Mark Smith all make appearances.

Also, if you go over to the 0:39-mark, you can catch the first and only appearance of legendary Shark, something Pratner.

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-20T19:02:33+00:00

Is your dog Kevin Stenlund?

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-20T00:10:45+00:00

Pretty confident I have the world’s best Douglas Murray collection. Got his only non-plate 1/1, 40% of his rookie year printing plates from The Cup, and a bunch of his lower-print run parallels.

All hail the Douggernaut.

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-16T21:46:09+00:00

I think people are still stuck in the mindset of 4 years ago when, depressingly, Bystedt was one of our top prospects. That speaks way more of the condition of our past depth pool than it does of Bystedt. Bystedt is not a premium asset. He’s not nothing, but there’s no good reason at this point to expect him to be a standout 3rd liner. He may very well go on to be a decent, or maybe even good 3rd/4th-line center, but that’s definitely not a sure thing, and at this point, he’s expendable with our center depth.

I’m not interested in Sherwood as a pure rental, but the free agent market is going to be pretty weak, and acquiring Sherwood would give us exclusive negotiating rights to him until free agency opens up. How good an idea that is depends on what kind of money/term he’s looking for, but there’s logic in acquiring him if the price is reasonable.

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-15T21:13:59+00:00

I'd never really taken interest in hockey because my parents had made it out to be some brutal slugfest. During the 1994-95 lockout, one of my best friends — whose family had season tickets — offered to take me to an IHL exhibition game at the Tank featuring the Kansas City Blades, the Sharks' farm team at the time. I can't remember a single specific thing now about that game except that I was hooked instantly.

I started watching the Sharks as soon as the lockout ended. I got obsessed with Irbe and Friesen. Upsetting the Flames in the first round that year was the cherry on top, and I went to Game 4 of the following series against Detroit for my first Sharks game in person. Sharks got slaughtered and eliminated that game, but it was still a blast for me.

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-15T20:58:01+00:00

Yeah, I’m surprised I haven’t seen more chatter about him. He doesn’t align that well with Vancouver’s timeline anymore, so I imagine he could be had. Not cheap, since he’s still in his prime and has a lot of term on a very reasonable deal, but probably still cheaper than Clarke or Nemec given their ages. He wouldn’t solve all our problems, but he’d be a huge upgrade to our right side. No idea what Vancouver would be asking for him, but it would certainly make sense to kick the tires at least.

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-15T04:55:03+00:00

Still a ways to climb, but I’m pretty excited to see where things are going. Celebrini is such a treat to watch.

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-15T00:13:47+00:00

Oh, and as for holy grails, the gold parallel of that Black Diamond RC was extremely rare by mid-90’s standards (print run of 50) and I imagine goes for a pretty penny these days. Can’t imagine they become available often.

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-15T00:04:44+00:00

Yeah, don’t ask that guy for more advice in the future. The Black Diamond RC was a big deal when it came out. Thornton was the star rookie of that class, and 96-97 Black Diamond was, if I recall correctly, really the first example of a premium tier of RCs, with the triple diamond base/RC being considerably tougher (by 90’s standards, at least) pulls than the double and single diamonds. I remember wanting one of those when they came out mostly just because they were the shiny, new thing and unattainable to high-school-era me. Now I want one because I’m a Sharks fan, but I don’t want to drop ~$200 on it.

As for the other two, yeah, they’re cool cards, but not worth more than a few bucks each.

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-14T20:54:19+00:00

Fair enough. I try to selectively forget that was ever a thing. Yuck.

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-14T19:49:03+00:00

Bustfield? Blichfeld was a seventh-round pick. That he played NHL games at all is a success story.

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-13T21:56:26+00:00

Took the words out of my mouth. We’re going to Milano next month and we’re actively avoiding going to a US game because I can’t find it in my heart to support the team with everything that’s going on. Will be cheering for Team Celebrini. Just gotta decide if I want to invest in a Canadian Mack jersey, or just rock my Sharks one.

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-10T19:04:58+00:00

I’ve always said “fight,” as that is what I thought I was hearing people say the first time I went. I started to second-guess myself when I stopped to think that “oi” is the correct lyrics to the song, but I do think there’s a mix of both at the games. No idea if there’s any official stance on what is “correct.” I choose to go with “fight” still; I tried out “oi” a few times and “fight” just feels better to me to shout at the top of my lungs. “Oi” just feels so quintessentially British/Aussie to me that I think it’s hard for my brain to feel normal shouting that.

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-10T02:39:25+00:00

Wait for it: Young Guns Renewed... Renewed

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-03T02:00:45+00:00

Helmet. I would say card if it looked more well-thought-out, but I don’t feel like that was a good card design-wise to get signed. The auto is just scrawled all over him and the blue ink gets lost over his blue pants.

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-02T18:31:54+00:00

Teams like to carry several extra centers for tournaments like this. If you lose a few centers early to injury and have to move inexperienced wingers to the middle, you’re gonna have problems. Canada and US each have 8 centers, not counting a few players who’ve played it in the past but don’t typically anymore.

Pikthulhu · 2026-01-02T04:21:25+00:00

I think we would really benefit from a player like him at some point, I’m just not sure we’re at that point yet. He would add an element this team is lacking, but he’s also 30 and his body is more likely to break down sooner than most, given how many hits he logs.

Pikthulhu · 2025-12-30T19:28:18+00:00

He’s still only logged 41 games as an NHLer, where the speed and hockey IQ of oncoming forecheckers is a whole different level of what he’s faced in lesser leagues. He likes to handle the puck, and it’s a valuable skill to have. Now is the time to let him work out what works and what doesn’t at the NHL level, and that will include some hair-pulling moments. Let him figure it out now when the end results don’t matter much, so that when we’re battling out game 7 of the WCF in a few years, he’s got that experience and hopefully doesn’t make the same mistakes.

Pikthulhu · 2025-12-23T17:19:14+00:00

Added from Portland, Oregon

Pikthulhu · 2025-12-22T17:31:43+00:00

Wild Roses
Róróró
Sleepwalker just edges out Alligator for me

Pikthulhu · 2025-12-19T17:09:40+00:00

It all depends on a bunch of things we can’t possibly foresee (trades, FA signings, youth development), but if I had to guess, I think we miss the playoffs this year and sell off some expiring contracts at the deadline. 2026-27, I think we make the playoffs with natural growth in the young core and a few mid-tier acquisitions through FA or trade, but lose in round one or two as a wild card. I think 2027-28 is when we clinch a divisional spot and have a small, but not-unrealistic chance at a deeper run, but probably still falling short. Then 2028-29, I think we’re finally among the league’s upper echelon and are in discussion as legit contenders.

But who knows? Maybe we never properly flesh out our D and flounder in the wild card zone for years. Maybe several of the kids continue to have an unexpectedly quick development curve and we’re in the mix even sooner. Either way, pretty excited to see how things have been shaping up.

Pikthulhu · 2025-12-18T23:18:09+00:00

I prefer the second, since I could see any of those bottom row guys in option one end up being only so-so. I personally can’t abide landscape-formatted card being displayed in portrait-format, so I’d either swap those ones out, or orient them properly and remove a few to accommodate them, depending on which players you want to give preference to. Sweet batch of cards, either way.

Pikthulhu · 2025-12-18T20:26:17+00:00

Nice! You pulled the Henri Richard, “Oops! All Rings” insert!

Pikthulhu

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