2013-14 Panini Select Box Break #3 (Feat. a BIG Toews hit!)

Earlier this week, I stopped by my local card shop, looking not only to pick up some supplies, but a box or two as well. I wasn't sure of what to lay my cash down for, and while a box of 2013-14 ITG Heroes and Prospects was tempting, once my LCS owner informed me about the $20 price drop on 2013-14 Panini Select, I was as good as sold. I still have plenty of cards left for my set, and with four autographs guaranteed, I figured it was a good investment.

As it turns out, I managed to not add 21 cards to my set, which is getting closer to completion by the day, but I managed to pull what has so far been my best pack pull of the early 2014 calendar year.

Anyway, apart from the base cards, here are the inserts, parallels, and hits that I pulled from my box.

Prizm Parallel: Antti Niemi, Ryan Kesler, Claude Giroux, Marian Gaborik
With a 200-card checklist featuring both great and not-so-great players, I did pretty well with my four Prizm parallels.

Inserts: Ryan Getzlaf Cornerston, Marcel Dionne Honored Selections, Alex Chiasson Select Future, Vladimir Terasenko Fire On Ice, Patrick Kane Fire On Ice
Scans really don't do these cards justice. Every one of the Select inserts, especially Cornerstone and Honored Selections look absolutely phenomenal in person. 

Lane MacDermid Select Signatures Prizm Parallel /25
Select Signatures is what I refer to as the sticker dump of this set. I say that because, when looking at the checklist, it is filled mostly of players who were rookies in the last few years who still have yet to pan out. Still, the fact that I have a redemption from that set means that maybe that's an unfair assumption. Either way, this Lane MacDermid card comes from the Prizm parallels, and if nothing else, maybe the low serial-numbering can work to my benefit when I inevitably request a replacement four months down the line.

Jarred Tinordi Rookie Autograph Prizm 81/99
Not bad. I'll take a serial-numbered parallel, especially one from a member of the Montreal Canadiens, not because I am interested in that team, but because it tends to add a little bit to Ebay sales. Still, even if I decide to hold on to it, I'll have an autographed rookie card of one of Montreal's brightest young prospects.

Jamie Tardif Rookie Autograph
Select, being an early -season release, was forced to put pictures of players in their former uniforms, designating the transaction on the right side of the card. While being pictured as a member of the Boston Bruins, Tardif went over to Buffalo as a free agent. I'm not sure if it would have mattered, though, as Tardif has not yet made his regular-season debut with Buffalo, spending the 2013-14 season with the AHL's Rochester Americans.

Jonathan Toews Select Stars 18/25
Easily the best hit out of the three boxes of select that I have opened up so far, Select Stars is one of the few auto sets to feature some of the game's best players. With Select being one of the earliest products to feature bot sides of the double rookie class, the product mostly focuses on those rookies. These are quite a rarity, too. There are 44 cards in the Select Stars set, with the base level being numbered to just 25 copies. Not only did I pull a card that's pretty rare to begin with, but I managed to get one of one of the very best players in the game. By the age of 25, Toews has won an Olympic Gold Medal, a Frank J. Selke Trophy (best defensive forward), a Conn Smythe Trophy (Playoff MVP), and has captained his team to two Stanley Cups (2010, 2013).

Well, this was certainly a very successful box break for me, and I'm sure there will be one or two more on the horizon. I still have plenty of base cards left to go, and I think the inserts and hits on this one have made it worth another shot. Even without the big hit, Select still has some of the best looking cards of the 2013-14 hockey card season thus far.