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2007-08 Chicago Blackhawks
Featuring the first NHL cards of Kane and Toews

By Sal J. Barry
Published October 22, 2009

Ten bucks usually does not go far in hockey card collecting these days, but in 2007-08 it could get you a complete team-issued set of Chicago Blackhawks trading cards. These were the first cards to show Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews in 'Hawks sweaters. Sold in the lobby at Blackhawks home games during the 2007-08 campaign, a $10 charitable donation would net you this set of oversized trading cards.

Player selection
Team-issued sets rarely disappoint when it comes to comprehensiveness, and this is no exception. This release does a great job of including just about everyone to regularly don a Blackhawks jersey during the 2007-08 season. You get the scorers like Patrick Sharp and Martin Havlat, as well as the muckers like Adam Burish and Martin Lapointe. Stalwarts like Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are there too, as are the bit players like David Koci.

Rookies Kane and Toews would not appear on Upper Deck trading cards until later that season, making this their first hockey card appearances as Blackhawks players.

The set goes so far to even include a card of head coach Denis Savard, as well as cards of the assistant coaches (Mark Hardy, John Torchetti), the video coach (Ryan Stewart) and the goalie coach (Stephen Waite).

In all, 28 cards comprise this set. However, some sets have a card of Jim Vandermeer, while sets sold later on in the season instead have a card of Danny Richmond. Sets sold towards the end of the regular season only have 26 cards. See Variations below for a detailed explanation.

Card design
The cards are 3.75" wide by 6" tall and printed on thin stock. A full-body action photo is framed by a simple white border, making the card resemble a Polaroid photograph. Similar to team-issued sets from two decades ago, the design here is no-frills - but that is a relief. It is really about the photos - not extraneous design elements - and the game action shots are crisp and clear.

At the bottom is the player's name, flanked by the Blackhawks logo and a Coca-Cola logo. Coke was that year's sponsor, while the prior year's set was sponsored by Pepsi.

Back design / stats & info
The back of each card is blank, so there are no statistics.

Variations
Depending on when the set was purchased, it had either 28 or 26 cards. Additionally, one card was swapped for another and four photographs were changed.

• Sets sold up until December 20, 2007 contained 28 cards, including a card of Jim Vandermeer.
  
  
• All sets sold after December 20, 2007 substituted a card of Danny Richmond in place of Vandermeer, who was traded on December 18, 2007. At this point, the cards of Kane, Toews, Tuomo Ruutu and Patrick Sharp were updated with new photographs.
  
  
• Towards the end of the season, cards of Sergei Samsonov and Magnus Johansson were pulled, thus resulting in the set having only 26 cards.
  
  

In short, if the set you purchase has a Vandermeer card, then it won't have a Richmond card and vice verse. If the set that you purchase does have a Richmond card, it will have the four photo variants but might t not have cards of Samsonov and Johansson. So if buying this set, be sure to verify how many cards it has and who is included. The only way to acquire all 29 different cards - plus the four photo variants - is to purchase a set that was sold early in the year and another set that was sold later that season.

Tommy Hawk card
During the 2007-08 season, a card of the Blackhawks team mascot - a giant black hawk (natch!) named Tommy Hawk - was also produced. This card was not a part of the set, though it is the same size and design. As far as I know, it was only given to children during player signing events. For the record, I asked Tommy Hawk for one at a signing in December 2007, but he gestured that they were only for "short people." The Tommy Hawk card uses a chest-up photo of the mascot in a white Blackhawks jersey. Most likely, the card will have the mascot's autograph on it, as I do not believe it was distributed any other way.

If anyone who has this card for sale or trade - or can send a scan of the card - please contact me.


Final rating:

Considering that this set had the first cards of Kane and Toews in 'Hawks uniforms makes it a worthwhile pick-up. But in order to acquire every card - Vandermeer, Richmond and the photo variants - you will have to purchase two different sets.

BONUS
For a team-issued set, there were a lot of mid-season changes, which is unusual. Here's a quick guide of the variations, plus some cards of interest.

Cards of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews,Tuomo Ruutu and Patrick Sharp changed photos later in the season.


Click images to see both versions of each card

Halfway through the season, Jim Vandermeer was pulled and replaced by Danny Richmond


Click images to enlarge

Cards of Magnus Johansson and Sergei Samsonov were omitted from the set towards the end of the season.


Click images to enlarge

Finally, this set had the last-ever card of nine-year NHL veteran Kevyn Adams.


Click to enlarge