Who to Collect - Ryan O'Reilly

Teenagers! Normally people complain about teenagers. This NHL season, however, collectors are loving all of the teenagers who are lighting up the scoreboard and bringing the excitement back to the NHL. Ryan O'Reilly is part of this group. The Colorado Avalanche drafted O'Reilly 33rd overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and along with Matt Duchene and a stone wall in the net named Craig Anderson, the Avalanche have quickly jumped back to the NHL elite for the first quarter of the season.



Ryan O'Reilly was not expected to make the Avalanche team this season but a strong pre-season and 11 points in his first 13 NHL games made it an easy decision. Just what Tavares needed... another Calder challenger!

Ryan O'Reilly has appeared previously in ITG Heroes and Prospects but his first Upper Deck rookie card will be his UD Series One Young Gun (#213) and will be available this season at Canada Card World

Who to Collect (In Retrospect) - Craig Anderson

Every now and then a player floats around the NHL for an amount of time and gets lost in the shuffle. He plays for a few teams and people think he's a marginal NHL player. Now 28, Craig Anderson fits the bill... almost. Originally drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks, Anderson had the back-up role before being traded to Florida and almost wrestling the starting job away from Tomas Vokoun.



During the 2007–08 season, Craig Anderson set NHL records for most saves in a shutout (53) and most saves in back-to-back shutouts (93 in total). After the 2008–09 season, Anderson signed a two-year contract with the Colorado Avalanche and has found his stride after being a league-leader in save percentage. Now the starter in Colorado, Anderson began his new career by recording a shutout in his second game and was named the league's second star of the week twice in October. Anderson has turned a poor Colorado team into one of the bright spots of the new season... if he continues, his All-Star debut should follow soon.

Craig Anderson's rookie cards are available in 2002-03 products and can be purchased by contacting Canada Card World