2013-14 Select Box Break #1

Being one of the first products of the 2013-14 product year to feature both sides of the Dual Rookie Class, I had to get my hands on a couple boxes of 2013-14 Panini Select to try and hit it big with one of the many major names available.

The rookies include those from last year that we've already seen so far this year, like Nail Yakupov, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Brendan Gallagher, plus it includes the new rookies, like Nathan MacKinnon, Seth Jones, and Tomas Hertl. Each box is guaranteed to contain four autographs, and the majority of those are rookies and younger players that (most likely) Panini is hoping to get rid of some stickers for. In addition to that, there will also be six inserts and four Prizm Parallels.

Here's the video for box #1, with scans to follow:

Pittsburgh Penguins Base Cards: James Neal, Kris Letang

Rookies: Drew LeBlanc, Anders Lee, Cameron Schilling, Carter Bancks

Parallels: Gold: Erik Gudbranson 5/10, Prizm: Erik Gudbranson, Devan Dubnyk, Mike Cammalleri, Andrej Sustr. I seemed to pull Gudbranson all over the place during his 2011-12 rookie card year, and he seems to have followed me into 2013-14.

Inserts: Fire On Ice: Pekka Rinne, Claude Giroux, Alex Galchenyuk, Select Future: Jonathan Huberdeau, Cornerstone: Claude Giroux. Man, Panini really did a great job with all of these inserts, as each one is quite different, but fantastic-looking all the same. Although, I must say, the Select Future cards remind me an awful lot of Fleer Metal from the mid-'90s.

Autograph: Cameron Gaunce Select Signatures. This is what I'd call a sticker dump. Gaunce was in the 2011-12 rookie card class, and played for the Colorado Avalanche at the time. He was traded to the Dallas Stars earlier this year at the trade deadline, but is still pictured as a member of the Avalanche, as he has not played an NHL game with his new team.

Autograph: Andrew Shaw Youth Explosion Redemption. Here's an autograph of someone who at least has some more recent significance. Shaw is mostly known as the guy with the stitched-up face in the 2013 Stanley Cup finals. He was sliced open with an opponent's stick in the first period, and returned, with stitches, in the second. When he hoisted the Cup at the end of the game, his wound was still bleeding, and it was alter revealed that he played in the finals with a broken rib. During the off-season, he auctioned off those stitches, and raised $6,500, which was donated to the V Foundation for Cancer Research.

Autograph: Nick Bjugstad Rookie Prizm Auto 63/99
This is actually a parallel of Bjugstad's base rookie card, which is numbered to 399. Even the regular versions are autographed, but the refractor surface gives this one that extra bit of rarity. Bjugstad is a decent pull for me, as he is a Minnesota boy, attending Blaine HS in Blaine, MN, before attending college at the University of Minnesota. He was selected by the Florida Panthers in the first round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft (19th overall) and made his NHL debut during the 2012-13 season, scoring one goal in 11 games. So far this season, he has  greatly increased his productivity, picking up 2 goals and 7 assists in 18 games.

Autograph: Nick Bjugstad Jersey Auto 67/199. Each player has two versions of their rookie card: one with a jersey swatch and one without. For Bjugstad, I got both versions, which would otherwise be frustrating, if I wasn't hoping to pick up a couple autos of his this year anyway.

That's it for box #1. Considering the price for four autographs is just a slight amount higher than most product with one auto and two jersey cards, Select packs quite a bit of value. Of course, there's always a great amount of risk involved with any high-rookie-content product, but the potential out of Select is worth the gamble.

I'll be posting Box #2 tomorrow, so stay tuned...