A Pack of NNOs: 1991-92 Procards Flint Bulldogs

Procards made several minor league sets and team sets for hockey between 1988 and 1991. They featured teams from the AHL and IHL, and they were sold as team sets in the individual cities of the respective clubs, or you could order the master set from the company. 

Some of the more famous players to make their inaugural cardboard appearance via Procards include Ed Belfour, Mark Recchi, Mike Richter and Dominic Hasek. Of course there were far more minor league journeymen adorning these sets than future NHL stars.

The company's last issue from 1991-92 featured 620 cards from the AHL and IHL, but also included one team from the Colonial Hockey League (CoHL): the Flint Bulldogs.

  
The Bulldogs illustrate one of the neat/frustrating aspects of collecting these minor league sets. Oftentimes, there were variations in the cards depending on where you bought them. For example, the 23-card Flint team is numbered #429 through #451 in the standard 620-card set. But there are some "rink-only extras" to be hunted down.

Twelve unnumbered (NNO) cards--probably available in team sets only sold at the Bulldogs home rink--included 8 players, 3 staff members and the mascot:

• Steve McKinley
• Greg Simeone
• Ron High
• Jack Daly
• Glen Engevik
• Roger Beedon
• Quintin Brickley
• John Heasty
• Boris Bulldog (Mascot)
• Sylvie Neveu (Assistant GM)
• Matt Gallagher (Scouting)
• Bob Davies (Trainer)

So the complete set of Bulldogs totals out at a whopping 35 cards! There are several other little-known unnumbered cards in many of Procards' issues, but this is by far the largest cache of NNOs.

None of the eight additional players suited up for many games with the Bulldogs in the 1991-92 season. And John Heasty hadn't played for two years prior to joining Flint that year!

The Sneaky Errors in 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee

The 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee issue includes the rookie cards of Bill Barber, Billy Smith, Dave "The Hammer" Schultz, Bob Nystrom, Terry O'Reilly and Larry Robinson. But the set also comes with a few sneaky errors and variations.

Two cards are missing the black border around the team nicknames on the front. Here's card #43 Bryan Hextall of the Pittsburgh Penguins:

And suffering the same type of error is rookie card #44 for Chuck Lefley of the Montreal Canadiens:

 

The error on card #37 Ted McAneeley takes the mistake a step further by omitting both the border and the Golden Seals nickname:

Bryan Hextall's card #43 is involved in yet a third error where the bio on the back is that of his brother, Dennis. The wrong bio back card was issued first, then correct but with the missing border on the front, and then corrected a third and final time to include the correct bio and black border.

And of course Dennis Hextall's card #115 comes in both error (top) and corrected (bottom) versions.

Two Sets of Kellogg's NHL Hockey Discs:1984-85 & 1985-86

Overlooked by most every hockey card guide and checklist is the fact that there are two distinct sets of Kellogg's NHL Hockey Discs. The first set from 1984-85 includes 36 discs (unnumbered) as listed at the bottom of this post with 1983-84 date and stats on the back.

Updates & Four Substitutions in 1985-86
The next year, the set was updated with 1984-85 date and stats on the back, and the replacement of four players due to trades: Dan Daoust to replace John Anderson, Dennis Herron to replace Rick Kehoe, Bob Gainey to replace Guy Lafleur, and Dave Poulin to replace Darryl Sittler. The fronts of the other cards remained unchanged. The checklist for this second set is also listed at the bottom of this post.

Where most checklists miss the mark is they refer to the four replacement players as variations of cards in a single set. In fact, there are two distinct sets that can be recognized by the dates and corresponding stats on the back of each card.

Identical Stanley Cup Discs...
To add to the confusion, there is no discernible difference between the two Stanley Cup disc versions, and no date appears anywhere. The only ways to truly tell if you have a 1984-85 or 1985-86 version of the Cup disc would be to have it as part of an original attached panel of 6 cards, and looking for the date on the back of those adjoined cards.

...But Differences in Pucks?
In terms of distribution, a panel of 6 perforated discs were included inside a two-piece plastic puck in specially marked packages of Kellogg's Cereals in Canada. I believe that the pucks from each year were also slightly different. By finding instant prize messages inscribed on the inside of the pucks, one could win sports equipment, such as hockey jerseys, skates, sport bags or hockey sticks. "SORRY, PLEASE TRY AGAIN." was predictably the most common message received. But you'll also find pucks--I'd argue from the second year when there were no prizes offered--that do not have any messaging inside.

1984-85 Kellogg's NHL Discs (has 1983-84 stats on back)
John Anderson

Mike Bossy

Barry Beck

Dave Babych

Richard Brodeur

Dino Ciccarelli

Paul Coffey

Marcel Dionne

Bernie Federko

Ron Francis

Mike Garnter

Michel Goulet

Thomas Gradin

Dale Hawerchuk

Dale Hunter

Rick Kehoe

Jari Kurri

Guy Lafleur

Reed Larson

Kevin Lowe

Paul MacLean

Lanny McDonald

Rick Middleton

Gilbert Perrault

Paul Reinhart

Glenn Resch

Doug Risebrough

Larry Robinson

Borje Salming

Darryl Sittler

Stan Smyl

Peter Stastny

Mario Tremblay

Rick Vaive

Doug Wilson

Stanley Cup

1985-86 Kellogg's NHL Discs (has 1984-85 stats on back)

Mike Bossy

Barry Beck

Dave Babych

Richard Brodeur

Dino Ciccarelli

Paul Coffey

Dan Daoust

Marcel Dionne

Bernie Federko

Ron Francis

Bob Gainey

Mike Garnter

Michel Goulet

Thomas Gradin

Dale Hawerchuk

Dennis Herron

Dale Hunter

Jari Kurri

Reed Larson

Kevin Lowe

Paul MacLean

Lanny McDonald

Rick Middleton

Gilbert Perrault

Dave Poulin

Paul Reinhart

Glenn Resch

Doug Risebrough

Larry Robinson

Borje Salming

Stan Smyl

Peter Stastny

Mario Tremblay

Rick Vaive

Doug Wilson

Stanley Cup

Konstantinov & Lidstrom 1991-92 OPC Premier Error Card

I recently picked up one of the rarest corrected error cards from hockey’s junk wax era: 1991-92 OPC Premier #118a Vladimir Konstantinov rookie card. The back incorrectly pictures fellow rookie Nicklas Lidstrom, a mistake that was corrected fairly quickly.

 

 

My copy is graded 9.5 gem mint by Beckett, with sub-grades of 9 for surface, 9.5 for centering, and 10s for edges and corners. A nice card for sure.

 

 

Konstantinov was a tough-hitting Russian defenseman drafted late in the 1989 draft by the Detroit Red Wings. He was part of “The Russian Five” which included Viacheslav Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Sergei Fedorov and Vyacheslav Kozlov. They helped the Red Wings capture the Stanley Cup in 1997.

 

Following a golf outing as part of celebrating the Cup win, Konstantinov was involved in a tragic limousine accident that cut short his career. He spent several weeks in a coma, and suffered from serious head injuries and paralysis.

 

The Red Wings won The Cup again in 1998, but Konstantinov was confined to a wheelchair and unable to ever play again. The team successfully requested to have his name engraved on the trophy, making Konstantinov a two-time Stanley Cup champion.

O-Pee-Chee Box Toppers

Who knew that the packaging from hockey cards we used to throw away as kids would become collectable? Some collectors fancy unopened waxpacks, boxes and cases. The wrappers of OPC packs from the 1970s, 80s and 90s come in different versions. And the wax boxes started featuring actual “box bottom” cards in 1985-86 that were meant to be collected.

But do you remember Pat Lafontaine of the Islanders on the box top?

The very first box topper was Clark Gillies in 1984-85:

Patrick Roy from 1986-87:

Michel Goulet from 1987-88:

Mario Lemieux from 1988-89:

Al MacInnis from 1989-90:

Carefully cut from the box, these blank-back cards can be inserted into sleeves and stored like regular cards. But the next two years featured images of cards more as part of the box’s design.

Here's the combo of Bill Ranford and Cam Neely from 1990-91:

Next up was Ed Belfour and Mario Lemieux in 1991-92:

And just in case you might be running out of stuff to collect, how about those mini-cards that sometimes adorned the side of the OPC wax boxes or box sets? I guess you have to draw the line somewhere, don't you?

1976-77 O-Pee-Chee Goalie Errors

Standard checklists will tell you the 1976-77 O-Pee-Chee hockey set numbers 396 cards. But if you're a completist, that number bumps up to 399 with the addition of a few goalie errors.

Gary Simmons is card #176, and there are three different version of his OPC card. All three varieties picture Simmons in his California Seals jersey. The team would transfer to Cleveland and be known as the Barons to start the 1976-77 season. OPC tried to keep up with the change by using the Barons monicker across the top of the card and printing "Team transferred to Cleveland" on most of the new Barons cards. Just not for Simmons.

Around the same time, the Kansas City Scouts were moving to Colorado to become the Rockies. OPC noted those cards by printing "Team transferred to Colorado." Simmons got mixed up in all franchise changes taking place.

The card on the left is the most common corrected version with the transfer phrase removed. The card on the right is the earliest error version incorrectly denoting "Team Transferred to Colorado" on the front. The card in the middle is an even rarer version featuring a very poor attempt by OPC to airbrush (or smear) the error away.

A second error that needed to be corrected in the 1976-77 OPC issue "dots" card #331 of Gary Inness. The mistake is so small it is almost imperceptible.

Give up? The Flyers logo atop the card on the left has a yellow dot in the center. It has been altered to Philly orange in the more common corrected card on the right.