Simon Després Autograph Card

Last week, I participated in my first two Ebay group box break... and won in both. The first one netted me this card, from Panini's 2011-12 Contenders (card #221, the Calder Contenders sub-set, numbered ##469/800):

The sub-set 'Calder' implies this also serves as Simon Després's rookie card. In Juniors, as a defenseman, he had a better than 0.5 point-per-game ratio, and won silver at the 2011 World Juniors and the Memorial Cup. He is considered the heir to Kristopher Letang for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who picked him 30th overall at the 2009 draft.

The way these breaks go is the seller usually puts for sale lots of all 30 NHL teams, and winning bidders receive the cards from the break that matches the team they picked. For this box break, I decided to not take any chances and went for my favourite team - the Montréal Canadiens, for $2.25 - as well as the other team geographically near mine filled with young talent - the Ottawa Senators, for $1.99 - and the Pens, for $3.55. Obviously, I chose Pittsburgh for the chance at a Letang, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal or another big name, but am still very happy with this home-grown talent.