Upper Deck Series Two Case Break

I took part in, like the title says, an Upper Deck Series Two case break last Friday. Normally I shy away from these things, but I hadn't started to collect the set yet, so I figured why not?

200 card set, plus 50 short print Young Gun rookies.
The team that I was assigned?
Columbus Blue Jackets. Now you know why I shy away from these things.

 I actually did okay though. So no complaints. The Jackets have a young team, with rookie Ryan Johansen leading the way. Unfortunately, UD featured star Rick Nash in Series One, and Jeff Carter in Series Two. Jeff Carter is now in L.A. Too bad for me.
No autos for me, but as you can see, two relic cards. The wrong rookie one though.

 A few canvas inserts, like Jeff Carter ...

 and Antoine Vermette. Love that shot.

 A couple of MVP inserts. I love this set. I have no idea why. I'll miss it next year.
Jeff Carter and...

 a Ryan Johansen black MVP rookie.

 I got something like four of these Jeff Carter Victory cards...

 and another four of the Ryan Johansen Victory rookies.

I traded one to the dude next to me for one of his Gabriel Landeskog Victory rookies.

 Another three Jeff Carter OPC update cards...

 and of course his OPC Update Retro card. UD used the same picture for this one. BOO! Bad Upper Deck.

 I got three of Ryan Johansen's OPC Update short print rookies... traded one for....

this beautiful Louis Leblanc OPC Update rookie.

 Like Carter, I also got the retro short print parallel of Ryan Johansen's rookie. Different picture. Better.

 I only got one Ryan Johansen Young Gun, and I traded it for Louie Leblanc's Young Gun.

 I also got the Young Gun's short print checklist. I traded it for half a dozen cards including a Brian Gionta canvas card...

 A rogie Vachon Heroes card

 a Jean Beliveau heroes card....

and three cards I already put into binders and didn't scan. Oops.

Plus, I got a complete base set of cards #251-450. Which was the main reason for doing this. More fun than buying the set for $15 at the show next week.

All in all it was a fun break, although it was weird to be in a case break where no one wanted to trade teams before hand. There was only one trade. Odd.

Oh, and the dude who had the Washington Capitals? Yeah... an Alexander Ovechkin Rookie buyback autograph. A nice little $700 card right there. Thanks for coming out.

A What the Hell Newsflash.....

This just in...... the Blue Jackets are desperate, and the Flyers and Kings have both lost their minds.....

In three seperate deals today, the Philadelphia Flyers have completely changed the look and feel of their team, and confused the hell out of their fans.

First, they traded star center Jeff Carter to the Columbus Blue Jackets for winger Jakub Voracek, a 1st round pick this year (8th overall) and a third round pick.

Then, they traded their Captain, center Mike Richards, for winger Wayne Simmonds , minor leaguer Brayden Schenn, and a 2nd round pick.

Thirdly, they used the now available cap space to sign 31 year old goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to a nine year, 51 million dollar contract.

Here's my take.... Columbus is desperate to sell tickets, needed to make a splash and get a big name in the building, AND add a star center to compliment their superstar winger Rick Nash.
So they overpaid for Carter.  Okay... I get it. I hope it works out for them... if not, Quebec will like having them in two years.

LA has lost their minds trading Schenn and Simmonds for an undersized Richards who has NINE years and 52 million left on his contract.

And Philly, so close to winning it all went after their chosen goalie of the present, 31 year old Bryzgalov, but to get him had to trade away their present goal scorers for future youngin's.
They now don't have the punch up the middle or the goal scoring to compete now, but by the time the youngin's are ready, Bryzgalov will be too old and replaced by Bobrovsky. So what did they gain?

I like all the acquisitions... but I thought they wanted to win now?

What do you think? Sound off below.....