Series 2 Young Guns - not all rookies are created equal. Who should you be chasing?

As we head into the Olympic break and our favorite athletes head to Milan, Italy, to chase ice hockey gold, fans are gearing up for the next wave of Upper Deck Young Guns rookie cards to chase. While there hasn't been an official checklist released yet, there are speculative leaks that are typically pretty accurate about which rookies will be included in the new release. Below you'll find my recommendations for which rookies to look out for, along with a few players who I believe will be ripe for speculation.

Be advised you can expect to find a Young Guns rookie card is approximately 1:2 packs (50%) or 6 per box. These also come in Outburst treatments ranging from Silver (1:60), Red (numbered to 25) and Gold (1 of 1). Obviously any of these parallel inserts increases the value of the card exponentially depending on who the player featured is.

Now, on to the list...!

• 251 - Matthew Schaefer - New York Islanders - This will be the most chased card for the first few weeks. So far Schaefer has lived up to the hype putting up 39 points and a +9 +/- which for a young defenseman is pretty elite.

  • Recommendation - Sell. It can be extremely tempting to hold on to a hot new rookie card thinking they might be the next Gretzky or Ovechkin but it will take YEARS before they get there. The sophomore slump can be real and you can usually pick hot rookies up in their second and third year for a lower price if you're diligent. Remember we should always be shooting to fund our hobby with our hobby so this can help you get some investment back early.

    
    

• 453 - Ben Kindel - Pittsburgh Penguins - Kindel is one to watch. A rookie center with 27 points not named Bedard or Celebrini, especially on a Pittsburg team that is arguably overperforming these season is nothing to ignore.

  • Recommendation - Hold. I am not expecting Kindel's card to rise to a value right away which is a necessary sell unless you just want to move cards that have value out of the box. Obviously that can be important because nothing in collectibles is guaranteed to appreciate, especially where rookies are concerned.

    
    

• 461 - Alexander Nikishin - Carolina Hurricanes - As a die-hard 'Canes fan I will certainly be chasing this one, but you should be too! Similar to Schaefer, Nikishin has +9 +/- and an impressive 22 points, again pretty impressive for a young defenseman.

  • Recommendation - Hold. Unless something wild happens a lot of ice hockey fans outside of the Carolina market do not give their players a lot of flowers. Nikishin, however; did come out of Russia with a lot of buzz and avid collectors and fans will be looking to score the outburst parallels for a decent price. Keep a close eye on the market though because this card does have potential to pick up a little bit of steam like Jackson Blake's young guns did last series and might push this into a "sell".

Obviously these are the guys I feel came out of the draft with buzz and a lot of expectations and guys can sometimes struggle to get their footing, especially if they are on a subpar team. Here are a few honorable mentions that you'll want to keep an eye out for that aren't playing up to their potential... yet.

• 479 - Sam Dickinson - San Jose Sharks

• 487 - Michael Misa - San Jose Sharks

So that's it folks, Floop's take on the Upper Deck Series 2 rookie chase action. Do your homework, if you're going to spend 25.00 on a favorite rookie check the prices on the parallel treatments mentioned above. Outburst, Clear-Cut, Canvas. If you can find a /# (numbered version) for only a marginal increase in spending those cards are more likely to hold or increase in value.

Oh, and while I'm at it, don't fall for the trading card scam of picking up a numbered card just because its numbered. Each year features increasingly more numbered variants and in my opinion anything over /100 is bait. Don't waste too much time on /250 /500 or /1000.