Panini Peek Preview Gallery: 2011-12 Panini Contenders Hockey (11 Must-See Images)

Panini America Product Development Director Karvin Cheung just left the marketing office. But before he did, I asked him for a quick assessment of 2011-12 Panini Contenders Hockey, the collecting flagship that will return for its second NHL season on February 15.

Panini America Product Development Director Karvin Cheung just left the marketing office. But before he did, I asked him for a quick assessment of 2011-12 Panini Contenders Hockey, the collecting flagship that will return for its second NHL season on February 15.

Cheung’s first take, without missing a beat or a sip of his coffee: “It’s all about the content. This set has unique content that has never been seen before in a Contenders product, including booklet cards seeded one per case.” But as you’re about to find out, those booklet cards are just the tip of the ice rink.

Now as always, the Contenders brand remains entrenched in autographed roots, and 2011-12 Panini Contenders Hockey will deliver between three and four of them per box, including at least one hard-signed Calder Contenders Rookie Card. In fact, every autograph in 2011-12 Playoff Contenders will be hard-signed with the exception of the product’s unique booklet cards.

Many of those hard-signed autographs will come from the NHL Ink insert that includes single-, dual- and triple-signed on-card autographs honoring the game’s best rookies, current stars and legends.

Other can’t-miss new bells and whistles . . .

  • Three unique booklet inserts — Contenders Match-Ups, Original Six Combos and Starting Lineups — each featuring up to six autographs from the NHL’s most collectible stars
  • Calder Contenders Auto Patches featuring on-card signatures and oversized prime swatches from top rookies including such as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Gabriel Landeskog, Joe Colborne and many more
  • Two short-printed, serial-numbered subsets — Contenders Legacies and Cup Contenders — providing set-builders with an exciting chase element
  • A case-hit roster that includes two Calder Cup Contenders Gold Auto Patches, one Calder Contenders Auto Patch, two Calder Signature Patches, 20 Calder Contenders Signatures, one NHL Ink Duals and one booklet card featuring up to six superstar autographs

Enjoy the exclusive first look at 2011-12 Panini Contenders Hockey below and stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance for updated information on this exciting product.

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34 Replies to “Panini Peek Preview Gallery: 2011-12 Panini Contenders Hockey (11 Must-See Images)”

  1. I was pumped for contenders but personally I like the look of last years set better since it stuck with the contenders look we know, but these do look nice and I will once again try to do the rookie auto set. I would also like to own that Tim Thomas card, he is my favorite player, and you have him playing for the Penguins my favorite team lol, something to fix before they are released I guess, but instead of throwing it away send me one!!!…no really.

  2. Wow. I thought last year’s Contenders was a “nice” product. I was content to just buy some packs and singles off the secondary market. But from what I see here, this new Contenders is a product where I’ll want to break a box.

  3. Looks pretty cool. Contenders was one of my favorite sets last year with the distinct ticket design, accetate cards, and other cool inserts (great outdoors, award contenders, perennial contender, etc…). Hopefully more of the same in this go around.

    BTW, since a number of the hockey sets for this year have now been previewed are there any plans to inlcude HRX in any of the upcoming sets? I’d love to get my hands on some hockey highlight video cards. Are these still in the works?

  4. Contenders is my favorite Panini product, but this falls well short of the Contenders brand name. No ticket design, which is the unique drawing design that pulls me to Contenders. Overuse of the booklets doesn’t help either.

    1. Completely agree with Jon. This doesn’t bear much resemblance at all to the “Contenders” brand. Contenders has always been a “ticket” style product, and the “Rookie Tickets” have always been a big draw. Also, this has always been an autograph-centric product. There has never been a need before to add Event-Worn jerseys.
      This is simply a completely different product that has the “Contenders” label slapped on the front. I hope you didn’t mess the football version up like this. Also, the obvious question is what peercentage of these On-Card autos will be redemptions…

  5. Hi Tracy…Awesome stuff, i;ll be ordering a case or two…Great way to start off 2012 ! Please..if you have any input, Can you see what Panini’s plans are for New York Ranger super Rookie Carl Hagelin “the Prince” of NY…lol …He’s got STAR written all over him ! He was just recently called up to New York, Ive been following him for the last 3 years when he played at Michicgan…hopefully you can beat Upper Deck to being the first to get his Autos ! ! ! Are you also going to have “Golden Tickets” in this years Contenders ? Thanks for any info you can share, Joe R. (NYC)

  6. Two words: Louis Leblanc! Make it happen, guys!

    Product looks great again this year and I am very happy to see that the hard-signed auto content is getting pumped up something fierce!

  7. Tracy,
    Louis Leblanc is debuting for the Canadiens tomorrow night in Anaheim can you please make sure he ismin this set. This is a guy fans have waited for a while now. Please include him with no redemption, can you make it happen?
    You guys are great and this stuff looks awsome.
    Also, any Markstrom’s? What about a Vanbiesbrouck and Markstrom auto in Panini products, one Panthers goalie to another.
    T

  8. Ah dammit… looks like I have to give you MORE of my money! 😉 Great job guys – I can’t wait till they are released.

  9. Wow the Calder Contender signature and player picture POPS big time. Yet another great looking card from the design tea. Would love to see a design like that incorporated into an NBA product! Cheers for sharing!

  10. Louis Leblanc indeed ……I picked him up on my fantasy teams…..would love to see him included in this product…….very nice product with the changes!

  11. Looks like a page was taken from 06/07 Sp authentic….which is a good thing! Maybe with some serial numbering, Contenders will be worth opening.

    However, the fact that there are SPs (unnumbered ones) make it a very difficult set for collectors to put together and love. I love a complete set, but I’m not about to pay $100 for a Lance Bouma authograph.. Any chance this can be reconciled? Please don’t compare hockey collectors to football collectors.

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