Evgeni Malkin Jersey Card

The next time we'll see live hockey being played is pretty much up in the air at the moment, with all Europeans leagues now shut down, the Juniors leagues on hiatus and the AHL and NHL still tentative about their own returns to play and whether they'll play full or shortened seasons.

I thought this was as good a time as any to open up about my own collecting life in the meantime.

A few months ago, I watched my internet buddy Sal Barry break open a couple of boxes of Upper Deck's 2019-20 Ice cards with Puck Junk mate Tim Parish where Tim pulled a Nick Suzuki card, saying it was chipped and offering it up for trade.

I mistakenly thought it was a jersey card, so I offered a ten-year-old Evgeni Malkin Panini jersey card for it, which was accepted. A week and ahalf later, the Suzuki card was on my desk, looking great despite not being a swatch card at all; I plan on getting it signed by the man himself eventually, though.

The only problem is, the Malkin (and additional autographed Eric Tangradi cards I had added as a bonus for the Pittsburgh Penguins fan I was trading with) never got to their destination.

It doesn't happen often, but it does sometimes.

I worked out a deal that I'd get him a new Malkin to repalce it, so I found a similar one, with a gold swatch instead of a blue one, which I bought on Ebay. Except... it never got to me, which meant I could never send it to Tim. It took nearly a month for the seller to pay me back.

So I bought him another - more expensive - one to replace that one, which replaced another one. Who knew that, technically, Nick Suzuki would be worth three Evgeni Malkins?

And so I present you with Malkin #3, card #24 from Upper Deck's 2018-19 Premier collection and Jersey sub-set:

It shows #71 wearing the Pens' current home (and classic) black jersey from my youth, with a yellow swatch that could be from either the home or away uniforms.

It will be making its way to Mr. Parish's home tomorrow morning. I didn't have it long enough for it to become "my precious", but "Geno" is in fact one of only two Penguins I actively follow and really admire, with Kris Letang. I'm gld I got to hold it in my hands once.