Apparently 2010-11 Donruss Hockey FINALLY got released, so of course I had to pick up some packs at the ol’ card shop. I mean, there is a goon subset that features on-card autographs. I ended up buying nine packs at 3/$10. While there, another customer who I am friendly with decided to buy six packs. I won’t tell you what he pulled until the end but I will say that he gave me all the base cards.

So let’s talk about the product. A box is 24 packs, each with 10 cards. There are quite a few inserts and parallels and I think each box is guaranteed either two memorabilia or autograph cards. Let’s look at some base cards, shall we?

These are two of the best looking cards out of the lot; the low angle photography looks great here. The design is average, a bit reminiscent of old junk wax stuff, but it’s not terrible. Unfortunately, the  bulk of these cards lacked the great photography exhibited here. Almost every other shot seemed to be a generic skating shot but then I noticed something. What do all these cards have in common?

Give up? TONGUES! Every guy has his tongue out. I don’t know if this is something that happens a lot on hockey cards. If it is, I’ve just never noticed, but I can’t recall ever seeing SO MUCH TONGUE!

So, y’know, there’s that. I pulled one parallel which is a “PROOF”. It looks the same as the base, only in the top right front corner is the word PROOF in gold foil. The back looks like this…

The PROOF parallel is numbered to /100 but that is the only difference compared to the regular back. The design is decent and the colors used match the team colors. We only get one line of stats and a little bio. Backs are backs; if there isn’t a funny cartoon on the back, I don’t really care about them.

There are 50 Rated Rookies and I’m not sure if there are SP ones or not. I am going to assume that there are. Either way, I pulled two rookies out of my packs. One was of Dustin Tokarski, a goalie for Tampa Bay. The other was…

Out of all the Bruins rookies to pull (Caron, McQuaid, Hamill, Seguin) I pull this knucklehead? C’est la vie. The design is okay; I would have liked to see the old school Rated Rookie logo used, but whatever. You can sort of see on the scan a lightened box on the bottom; I believe this is where a sticker autograph would go.

There are a few different subsets in this product and I was lucky to pull a few. I say lucky because unlike most subsets, these don’t actually suck. I mean, a few do, but a couple don’t. First, the ones that I couldn’t care less about.

Ehhhh.

Who the heck is Jeremy Duchesne and why is he one of the “Boys of Winter”? I don’t get this subset. At all. Duchesne played ONE game for the Flyers last season and faced a whopping FOUR shots. Now, I am not going to hammer this subset too much because…

GOON MOJO!

This is a patch variation numbered to /100. I’d of rather pulled this than a Crosby one or some other star. Seriously, GOON PATCH CARD…

The last two subset cards I pulled I really like and will collect. First off is the Ice Kings set…

LOVE this card. The front has a matte textured finish which I like and the art/photo reminds me of Upper Deck Masterpieces. There are 15 cards and I want them all. Have some? Let’s talk. The other subset is something I read about beforehand and was the reason for buying the packs…

GOONS! What is not to love about this? There are ten cards in this subset  including two Bruins (Byers and Miller) and also featured on-card signatures of each player. I must have them all. Hit me up! Oh, and the opening line of the little blurb on the back of Hunter’s card reads, “Hunter’s penchant for pugilism peaked…” Nice alliteration, Donruss!

Okay, so my friend who bought six packs pulled a Carcillo jersey from the Boys of Winter set (not the patch version), a jersey card of rookie Magnus Paajarvi, and a Taylor Hall Rated Rookie that he could probably get $50-$60 for. I can’t be too bitter since he did give me the rest of the cards.

Overall, I love this product. Enough to build the set? No, because I don’t build sets, but if I did, I might go after this. The photography isn’t as great as Upper Deck’s, but I think the value per box is much better. I”ll be interested to see if the Rated Rookies will hold their value like the Young Guns do. I have a giant stack of base cards for anyone building the set.

Panini/Donruss, you done good here!