05-06 UD Rookie Update box

So, back in 2005-06 I opened some Upper Deck Rookie Update hobby packs and was quite impressed. Well now that boxes have come down in price - thanks to everyone who only wants the newest stuff - I decided today to buy a box. Basically, this set contains a stack of rookies that are updates from Upper Deck's high end sets, like Artifacts, Trilogy, SPx, SP Game-Used, and Black Diamond. I believe most of the packs will have a rookie. There's memorabilia, autographs, and the like, but as per normal for UD in 05-06, no odds on the box. But it's pretty stacked.

The big hits, as always for Rookie Update, are the dual autograph cards with one rookie and one established superstar. Seems to me they were one per box, I guess we'll find out. The only exception on this is Sidney Crosby, who only signed by himself with the other window saying "2005 draft pick" or something. UD wanted Gretzky to sign with him, but word is that Crosby refused. Ovechkin is also in the subset, signing with Ilya Kovalchuk.

Well, here we go.
Pack 1 - Hemsky, Turco, Fedorov, Heatley, Steve Bernier Black Diamond RC
Dallas Star in the first pack, and a now-Canuck rookie. Good start.

Pack 2 - Olli Jokinen, Gagne, Marleau, Brad Richardson SPx Auto Jersey RC 1845/1999
Divealanche rookie, but I loooooove the SPx rookie set from this year.

Pack 3 - Tkachuk, Gionta, Hasek, Frolov, Lindros
Yes, commons. But with a small set, at least players most hockey fans have heard of.

Pack 4 - Lecavalier, Dustin Penner SP Game Used RC 389/999, Svatos, Gagne, Morrison, UD "discount" card on overpriced merchandise
So my rookies are from the Avs, Oilers, and Canucks. Ha. Ha.

Pack 5 - Pronger, Fleury, Saku Koivu, Langkow, Satan
The last card.... well, tells the story of this pack. Hopefully this is the stinker of the box.

Pack 6 - Raycroft, Pitkanen, Tanguay, Straka, Robitaille
....... already eclipsed pack 5 in "commonness". Nice.

Pack 7 - Redden, Jagr, Blake, Bertuzzi, Theodore
Looks like I'm set up for a nice few packs. Can I hope now that these are done?

Pack 8 - Brodeur, Lidstrom, Nagy, Nash, Ryan Ready Rookie Update RC 0423/1999
I'm Ready for a good pack.

Pack 9 - Khabibulin, Sakic, Giguere, Tuomo Ruutu, Greg Zanon Rookie Update RC 0821/1999
Not all rookies are created equally.

Pack 10 - Joseph, Gaborik, Lemieux, Cole, Brad Richards
Second Dallas Star of the box.

Pack 11 - Alfredsson, Keith Primeau, Gomez, Olli Jokinen, Ryan Miller
I have now got two doubles in this box. That's just wrong.

Pack 12 - Yzerman, Nabokov, Drury, Roenick, Ole-Kristian Tollefsen Black Diamond RC
I am Ole, he is Sven. This is the halfway point of the box. I will assume the right side will be better........ I hope.

Pack 13 - Lupul, SHAAAAAAAAAANE DOOOOOOOOAN!!!, Shanahan, Naslund, Mike Green SPX RC 595/999
Much better. Green is a good one to pull, big upside. Led NHL defensemen in goals last year.

Pack 14 - Marleau, McCabe, Spezza, Colby Armstrong Black Diamond RC, Michael Wall Artifacts RC 005/750
My third double, but two rookies in a pack is fine with me.

Pack 15 - Doan, Shanahan, Peca/Eaves Rookie Inspirations Dual Jersey 608/999
Yet another Oiler jersey, with a Sens jersey, both white. Yes, it's a jersey, but the worst one to pull. And two more doubles.

Pack 16 - Kovalchuk, Iginla, Khabibulin, St. Louis, Sundin
More doubles.

Pack 17 - Weight, Belfour, Lehtonen, Morrow, Hejduk
Morrow is cool.

Pack 18 - Murray, Maxim Lapierre Artifacts RC 511/750, Jackman, Selanne, Luongo
Not the worst rookie to pull.

Pack 19 - Auld, Vokoun, Horton, Prospal, Kariya, UD "discount" card on overpriced merchandise
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.

Pack 20 - Thornton, Tomas Fleischmann Trilogy RC 495/999, Marian Hossa, Gerber, Niittymaki
Not the Capitals rookie I really wanted, but.....

Pack 21 - Smyth, Allison, Bergeron, Zetterberg, Forsberg
They could have easily put numbered parallels of the base cards in these packs. I suppose that costs money, and we're all at the trough anyway, so UD probably didn't care THAT much.

Pack 22 - Aebischer, Leetch, Elias, Kiprusoff, DiPietro
Let's just move on.

Pack 23 - Yashin, Datsyuk, Kolzig, Ribiero, Vitaly Kolesnik Black Diamond RC
I hear Kolesnik might be a good one. But again, a Divealanche rookie.

Pack 24 - Cheechoo, Fernandez, Eric Staal, Demitra, Brett Lebda Rookie Update RC 0790/1999
A Red Wing rookie that's playing with them. I suppose that's a good thing.

Well.......first off, 5 doubles and I'm missing 3 for the base set. No, not horrible, but would it have been that tough to collate a full set in here? 14 rookies, with two jerseys included in that. Did I do well? Not really. It was a fun break for the most part, but really, the value isn't there. Go figure, an Upper Deck product with limited value. The Green is a decent one, the Oiler/Sens one is a dud, and while the SPx rookie auto jersey is a nice card, it's not exactly going to pay my mortgage.... in fact, buying a Coke might require extra change.

Nonetheless, I still enjoy this product. As I said, some parallels might have at least spiced it up, but the rookies partially make up for it. I could buy another box, but I doubt I will. Yes, the Crosby tops $3000, but.......