The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Flawless baseball, Flawless soccer, The National, one kid's strong first wax box, Nolan Patrick exclusivity & 10 packs, 10 Joe Namath autos.

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Nolan Patrick is the front-runner to be the top overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft and the only place you'll find his autographs between now and then -- and then after that -- will be with Leaf Trading Cards.

"Leaf could not be more pleased to work closely with Nolan Patrick going forward. Nolan is an exceptional talent and is likely to be one of the NHL's brightest stars for years to come," said Leaf CEO Brian Gray. "I saw this as a can't-miss opportunity for our brands. I couldn't be more excited about working with Nolan and the team from Titan Sports Management on this long-term relationship."

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Leaf Trading Cards will be among the card companies in attendance at this year's National Sports Collectors Convention set for Aug. 3-7 in Atlantic City, N.J., and it revealed its plans for the show on Wednesday.

It will be a four-pronged effort that includes a case-break redemption program, a box-break redemption program, promo cards and an aggressive buying of cards for future buyback products.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Nothing but breaks ... and The National.

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The hockey season may be over, but the big hits will still be coming thanks to the latest NHL release from Upper Deck. 

It's 2015-16 SP Authentic and it's set to arrive on June 29.

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The auction for Jim Craig's memorabilia from the epic 1980 "Miracle on Ice" game is winding down, but the prices are definitely on the rise before the sale closes on Friday evening.

How hot? Three items from the Lelands.com sale have topped the $190,000 mark so far with his Olympic gold medal leading the way at $259,374.25 after 11 bids.

It's also quite possible that other items from the 17-piece collection could reach into six-figures.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins are the Stanley Cup champs and Upper Deck will make the cardboard to prove it.

Just 5,000 copies of the 2016 Upper Deck Stanley Cup Champions set will be made and they will each include just 18 cards.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Gordie Howe, Tier One pulls, BenchWarmer's Dream Girls & more.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Big pulls from the sports and non-sports worlds are the showcase today.

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Before "The Great One," there was "Mr. Hockey."

Gordie Howe, who led the Detroit Red Wings to four Stanley Cups and won six MVP awards before retiring as the NHL's most-prolific scorer, died on Friday. He was 88.

"A lot of times when you meet your idols and people you respect and look up to, sometimes it's not as great as you had anticipated or you built it up too much," Wayne Gretzky told ESPN. "I was so lucky when I met Gordie. I was 10. It was so much nicer and bigger and better than I had ever imagined it. To this day when people come up to me that talk about having done a book report or speech about me, I always talk about the time that my fondest memory in public school was writing a book report on Gordie Howe."

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This year's NHL Draft is set to start on June 24 and Upper Deck will be ready for the event with a set of trading cards available to collectors.

Cards of past draft picks since, you know, those strict rules about Rookie Cards are still in play.

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This year's National Sports Collectors Convention is a couple of months away and thanks to its non-traditional location -- Atlantic City, N.J. -- there are perhaps a few more guests on tap that we've not expected to see at the annual show.

It's been a long time since the show was last in New Jersey -- it's largely been located in the Midwest for most of the last decade -- so regional autograph guests such as Hideki Matsui and countless others who wore pinstripes and starred for other teams in that area make sense. They'll also help draw in locals who might not normally hit the show ... just to get that ink.

Autograph ticket pricing for the show will come soon, but Buzz has picked seven top names that may not break the bank -- one per sport -- at the show.

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Update: The card sold for $465,000.

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The greatest copy of The Great One's greatest card will be sold later this summer.

It's the only PSA 10 copy of Wayne Gretzky's 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Rookie Card, and it will be on the block for the first time in five years as part of the Goldin Auctions sale during the National Sports Collectors Convention in Atlantic City, N.J., on Aug. 4.

"The fact that just one card has achieved this perfect grading is remarkable," said Ken Goldin, the founder of the auction house. "With the recent surge in interest among serious collectors for high-grade examples of Rookie Cards, we expect this Gretzky card to establish a new benchmark. The average sales for a PSA 9 Gretzky's has increased 600 percent in the past five years. If this card were to see a similar increase, it might become hockey's first $500,000 trading card."

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Big baseball breaks, estate planning and Upper Deck Ice.

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What: 2015-16 Metal Hockey Pre-Production cards
Arrives: May
Box basics: Three 1/1 encapsulated cards per box (20 boxes per case)

What's buzz-worthy: Leaf releases its proof cards from a popular brand in a traditional way with each card found in a BGS slab as part of a very limited-production release.

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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If you're a long-time reader of The Buzz, then you already know what makes Nikita Kucherov a bit of a hobby anomaly these days, but now that his Tampa Bay Lightning are a win away from a Stanley Cup Final appearance his trivia is even more important.

He's one of those players who didn't have a signed Rookie Card -- or at least something -- signed and available shortly after he hit the ice. Collectors had to wait for packs of 2015-16 Upper Deck Buybacks to find his rookie ink, though he's appeared in a handful of releases since that one. In all, he appears on just 16 different autographed cards right now.

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This year's National Sports Collectors Convention is set for Aug. 3-7 in Atlantic City, N.J., but that hasn't stopped Upper Deck from revealing the first promotional cards that will only initially be found at the event.

The company will produce a five-card VIP set along with a wrapper redemption program.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Big blasters, big pulls & big names on this Sunday afternoon.

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Upper Deck's next NHL brand, 2015-16 Upper Deck Ice, is slated for release just 13 days from now and the company has teased a selection of card images for one young Chicago Blackhawk in advance of its release.

His name? Artemi Panarin.

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The impressive stash of 1992 Olympic Dream Team memorabilia will probably get the post-sale attention, but there are a few other big-ticket items presently the auction block and ending in the next few days via Heritage Auctions.

The weirdest? Al Capone's fingerprints.

In 1929, Capone provided these prints after he was sent to the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. It's an 8-inch square document that's also signed by Capone -- and it's presently sitting at $44,000 ($52,580 with a buyer's premium) with two days remaining in the sale.

Sure, it's not a sports item -- but there are some big pieces in that world that more than a few collectors would want to get their hands on in this auction. Keep reading for more.

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What: 2016-17 Upper Deck Artifacts hockey cards
Arrives: Sept. 28
Box basics: Three autograph, memorabilia or Aurum cards per eight-pack box (20 boxes per case via two inners)

What's buzz-worthy: Artifacts returns for another season with new Aurum gold cards alongside the memorabilia cards and other inclusions collectors have come to expect. Also in the mix? Lord Stanley’s Legacy Relic and autographs of players who have reached the pinnacle of the game.

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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What: 2016 Super Break Frozen Heirlooms Hockey
Arrives: June 22
Box basics: Three autographed buybacks per box (25 boxes per case)

What's buzz-worthy: Super Break takes to the ice with a product that includes all teams and a healthy mix of unique items and key cardboard spanning 80 years of hockey history worked into the mix, too.

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It's retro, but it's not -- and it's arriving in hobby shops tomorrow.

It's 2015-16 O-Pee-Chee Platinum and the hockey cards will have several colors and textures in a rainbow of autographs found one per hobby as well as a checklist that includes some of the biggest names in the game today.

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What: 2016-17 O-Pee-Chee hockey cards
Arrives: Sept. 7
Box basics: No guaranteed hits per 32-pack box (12 boxes per case)

What's buzz-worthy: A meaty base set with retro style enhanced with plenty of modern-day features and collectable options continuing what we've seen in recent years from Upper Deck will help fuel the interest here without an overabundance of "hits" in a case.

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Decision 2016 case break, Fistographs, a big Omar Vizquel card, Upper Deck Contours & more.

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