A Historic Edition of Panini Unwrapped: 2010-11 Playoff Contenders Hockey

Join Tracy Hackler and Scott Prusha as they bust the first box of the celebrated 2010-11 Playoff Contenders Hockey, the landmark first hockey installment of the venerable trading card franchise.

Join Tracy Hackler and Scott Prusha as they bust the first box of the celebrated 2010-11 Playoff Contenders Hockey, the landmark first hockey installment of the venerable trading card franchise.

After you’ve watched the video (shot by the shaky hands of first-time videographer Chris Reed, Panini America’s obviously nervous new marketing acquisition), please share your candid comments on the product for a chance to win some of the better hits from our box.

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45 Replies to “A Historic Edition of Panini Unwrapped: 2010-11 Playoff Contenders Hockey”

  1. By far the Mike Richards was the best hit in the whole box. Feel free to ship that one my way 🙂

  2. Seems insert-heavy, with Against the Glass and Leather Larceny looking to be the best of them. On-card autos are solid. A nice number of them in the box, too. I’m not too familiar with other versions of Contenders, so it’ll take some getting used to the base card design, but I agree that the photos are strong.

  3. Been waiting months for this set. Love the look of the cards, especially the Against The Glass and Winter Classic inserts. Can’t wait to get my hands on a box soon.

  4. Those cards look awesome love any brand Panini makes.(Dirk Nowitzki aint Playin,that man want’s his Ring)!

  5. Those are some nice looking cards. I do not collect sports cards these days as much as non-sports, but these make me want to pick up some hockey cards. The on-card autographs are great and I really like the design of the base cards.

    Great job Panini and good to see you again Scott! 🙂

  6. I love the on card autographs, no stickers there is right! The classic Contenders look with the tickets looks good. But there will be more candid comments on my blog when the box I bought from BO comes in. Need to have it in hand to give an accurate comment.

    By the way, I love those Panini shirts. If I had one, I would totally wear it while breaking Panini products on camera. 😉

  7. Wow! I love this product. Loved it in football and now hockey!! Base cards look great and who doesnt love getting a box with great looking autos! great job Panini!!

  8. I only collect Basketball and Football (awesome job Panini in these two sports this year!). I haven’t bought Hockey in about 15 years, but have been wanting to jump into the sport again this year because of you guys. Once I heard that Contenders was coming, I knew that this is the way I would be getting back into Hockey. Nothing beats the On Card Autos as well as the simply, yet awesome ticket design. Great job on the insert card sets as well…..Against the Glass – WOW!!!!!!! I cannot wait to get my hands on this stuff to start my Hockey collection. Also, can’t wait for Dominion!!! – Panini is gonna make me go broke!

  9. What can you say about the 2010-11 Playoff Contenders Hockey, other than AMAZING!! The AGAINST THE GLASS acetates look HOT! The LEATHER LARCENY inserts are a great new twist…..and what more can you say about HARD SIGNED,ON CARD AUTOS? Totally love the season ticket design for the base set…all in all looks to be YET another GREAT release from you guys at PANINI!! Would love that DEREK STEPAN pulled from the box break……I agree…….STEPAN is a STUD!!

  10. Hi Tracy! Morning to you again! lol Just Tweeted you! LoL 🙂 I collect ALL of the Contenders! I have this years Football Contenders AND The Basketball Contenders Patches! Would love to add something from Contenders Hockey to my collection! I did get an Andy Rautins ON CARD Rookie Ticket Autograph Patch card with the New York Knicks SP Patch! SWEET! I wouldn’t mind adding that Zac Rookie Ticket Autograph to the collection! I’ll be sure to stop by my Local Card shop and see if I can get a box! Still out of work from that back surgery though 🙁 So it may be tough to get some but I’ll try! WTG GUYS! Thanks Panini!

  11. This set looks great… I say looks because I couldn’t get any sound on the video (even maxed out I only heard a low wisper). But I digress… the cards look great and have a lot of variety with the inserts. Can’t wait to get a hold of some of the Against the Glass cards. Also can’t wait to get my hands on a checklist (wink wink… hopefully Panini will post it on their site shortly).

  12. I really like the Winter Classic inserts, as it’s nice to see some great photos from my favorite non-playoff game of each year. On-card autographs are always a good thing and it’s nice to see that they are slowly working their way back into more and more Panini products. Great job, introducing the Contenders brand to Hockey collectors, I think it’s a great addition.

  13. I am coming back to collecting after a hiatus…and I pleasantly surprised to see this new product from Panini. Can’t wait to get my hands on it 🙂

  14. I love the fact there isn’t any GU cards in this set. GU’s are being over used as it is.

    Nicely done!

  15. ok first the PHOTOS are awesome! who ever picked the photos give them a raise! the DRAFT cards are flippin sweet!!!!!!! the one thing i love is that the cards focus on the players. the background is gone and its all about the players! love the FOIL foil is always great. reminds me of back in the days!

    ALSO SEND ME ONE OF THOSE PANINI T-SHIRTS!!!

  16. Great looking set! Love the on card autos and Against The Glass. I’m not completely sold on the Leather Larceny set, but it looks good and the concept is cool. If this was another company, the redemption would scare me a little. But personally, I’ve never had a problem with one from Panini. Awesome job guys!

  17. Good inserts, good on-card rookie autos, what more could a person ask for? I’ve always liked the look of this product but wanted there to be a Hockey version of it and whaddaya know? Looks great and I can’t wait to pick up a box.

  18. this is a awsome product! first give the person who picked out the photos a PAY RAISE! sweet photos! 2nd love how the cards focus on the players not the background! 3rd love foil reminds me of the 90s. 4th cant wait to see some Glass cards!! 5th a redemption???? come on you pushed this product back enough that there should of been NO redemps! 6th SEND ME ONE OF THOSE SWEET PANINI T-SHIRTS!!! and a box to bust!!!
    smoochie woochies from Long Beach Cali!! GO DUCKS!!!

  19. Nice break guys and video as always..The best Contenders set from you guys so far..luv it! Something for every collector to chase..acetate inserts, rc ticket auto’s are very nice!
    Thanks for the preview!

  20. I like the set, especially the on-card autos. Some of the inserts look really nice. Although it is not something that really gets put into the Contenders series, I’m a little disappointed to not see any fabric cards in it. At the price point, put head to head against other Panini products like Crown Royale and Certified it doesn’t seem to pass the value test as much. CR and Certified have the same number of hits for 2/3 the cost. While it is a plus that all the hits are autos, you lose the allure of hitting that amazing patch auto variant or high dollar jumbo (such as rookie silhouette). Golden tickets provide that amazing chase of course, but the odds are so long. It is tough to draw a direct competition parallel but I think the closest would be SP Authentic considering it is mainly bought for on-card rookie autos. While they are lacking in the variety of inserts, they do offer patch variants that are highly sought after and reasonably obtainable at a lower price point.

    Don’t get me wrong, I still plan on buying contenders, it is a well designed set that has some interesting inserts. It just doesn’t seem to stand out enough compared to its peers both inside and outside the company.

  21. Contenders Hockey looks like another great set from Panini. I think if I had to be critical…the ONLY thing I would say is that the base card designs are just a little overwhelming…it looks like you guys have gone to great lengths to get amazing photos…and as someone who appreciates them I would like to see less “clutter” and more focus on those…but overall I think the insert sets all look fantastic and are abundant which is critical if you are buying packs and miss the auto. Are there auto versions of the draft tandems? Are any of the inserts numbered? The on-card autos are key and the space designed for them is FANTASTIC! I loved the inclusion of guys like NINO NIEDERREITER!! I am fortunate to get to watch him play here in Portland and he’s a super kid who will have a great career I think! I considered selling one of my children for boxes of Contenders basketball last year…I may have to think that option over again for boxes of this product this year! Great job guys!

  22. Cards from the break look great. Looking forward to picking up a few boxes of this product. LCS just called today saying it was in, so my dad said will probably head into town tommorow after school and pick up a box or two..Maybe with alittle luck i’ll pull something nice….

  23. Great to see the Niederreiter on-card auto. I was disappointed when he got sent back to Juniors this season but he is still only 19 and he’s going to be a stud on that Isles team that now looks loaded with young talent.

  24. Loved the break guys, the acetate and leather larceny cards will be sure fire hits, and on card autos are always a win! Looks like another fantastic hockey product!

  25. I love the names “Leather Larceny” and “Against the Glass” , both are really cool set names. I also like that both sets offer something different with the clear acetate and the faux-leather card stock. Stuff like that keeps inserts fun.

    I really like the base design, having the photo background on the card gives the hockey set something to separate it from it’s football brother.

  26. G’day guys.
    Can’t wait to bust a box of this stuff. Just a pity it takes so long to ship to Australia.
    Super excited about the Leather Larceny! Thanks for the sneak peek.

  27. Is Jacob Markstrom in this set. I thought Tracy has said he would be however i have not seen any yet. Please let me know.

  28. Nice break guys, we are doing an entire case break of this as a group break this weekend between five guys. Looking foward to trying our luck at pulling a golden ticket!!! We’d love to have an extra Nino thrown into the mix we get from our case!

  29. The biggest takeaway from this product, as was the case with “Contenders” products for Football and Basketball comes down to two words – “ON CARD”. The fact that so many of the autos are on-card in Contenders, as seen in all four of the hits in this box, makes me more interested in this product than other Hockey products. Hope I can get my hands on a Hit from this box, and as always, thanks for yet another contest Panini!

  30. Very impressed with the product overall. I saw some broken yesterday and I think the potential for a big hit is pretty high. In three boxes there was a Sid auto redemption, a skinner green ROY contenders /50 and a quad thrashers auto /5. You guys are really taken quality to a whole new level with hockey products. This product is insert heavy but hockey is different from other sports in that the inserts are highly collectible. The autographs are clean and it’s not overwhelmingly hard to pull a top rookie auto either. Great job Panini, very impressed!!

  31. Wow these look fantastic! My kids are going to be bugging me everyday for these cards. Great job Panani….

  32. The only thing better than an acetate Dustin Byfuglien card is an acetate Dustin Byfuglien wearing a Winnipeg Jets jersey card!

    Also, those shirts are comically awesome. Will Panini be stepping up and filling the sponsorship void left when the online casinos were busted?

  33. This set looks great! I love acetate cards especially in Hockey products. They seem to be a natural fit. I’ve always loved the contenders card style since they were first introduced. I’ll definitely be trying to get my hands on some of these. In the meantime, as a Hurricanes fan I’d love that Dalpe card!

  34. Those Leather Larceny cards are fantastic love the look and the feel job well done also a chance to get them autoed superb………

  35. like these cards, how theres so many hits. the best hit in this box break i think was the stepan rookie ticket auto. the few packs i have bought were decent. being a bruins fan it was nice that i pulled a Caron rc auto, and also got a sidney crosby draft day lottery insert. i will buy a few more packs here and there throughout the season, nice product overall. keep it up panini.

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