Collect NHL Stars in AHL Uniforms

By Darryl Dionne  Published on: Monday April 12, 2010

Exclusively through the PHPA’s Online Shopzone, fans have the unique opportunity to collect AHL, ECHL, CHL, even old IHL team trading card sets, capturing future NHL stars donning their development league uniform. The fact that 85% of current NHL players spent time in the AHL allows fans to collect rare and often hard-to-find pieces of hockey history.

Each season, through player likeness provisions negotiated within each League’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, the PHPA receives a limited quantity of team trading card sets of each Member team that produces a set. These sets are then made available to collectors through the PHPA’s online store. All proceeds from the card sales go directly to the PHPA’s operating budget which allows the Association to provide services to PHPA Members such as the Career Enhancement Program, the Membership Assistance Program, and various other programs for PHPA Members.

Throughout the 2009-10 season, the PHPA has received team sets from the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, Rockford IceHogs, Hamilton Bulldogs, Providence Bruins, Peoria Rivermen, Rio Grand Valley Killer Bees, Manitoba Moose, Chicago Wolves, Texas Stars, and Syracuse Crunch which feature notable names such as: Lars Eller, Ben Bishop, Luca Caputi, Brad Marchand, PK Subban, Sergei Kostitsyn, and Jack Skille, just to name a few. More team sets are expected to arrive later this Spring.

At certain points throughout the season, the PHPA even sells the hard–to-find sets that many teams such as the Hershey Bears, Toronto Marlies, and Reading Royals only issue as giveaway items to fans who attend select home games. These sets are typically not available through the PHPA’s Shopzone for long as fans tend to scoop these rare sets rather quickly. Anyone who purchases at least one team set throughout the year is added to the PHPA’s email list who will be notified when these sets become available for sale.

The PHPA currently houses an inventory of past team sets available for sale.

2007-08 team sets include the Albany River Rats (featuring: Keith Aucoin), Binghamton Senators (featuring: Nick Foligno, Ray Emery), Manchester Monarchs (featuring: Dan Cloutier, Erik Ersberg), Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins (featuring: Ty Conklin, Alex Goligoski, Kris Letang), and Syracuse Crunch (featuring: Gilbert Brule, Derick Brassard) which are available for purchase while supplies last.

A limited quantity of other minor league team sets are available for sale including:

2006-07

Binghamton Senators 5th Anniversary set (Featuring: Jason Spezza, Ray Emery, Chris Kelly, Brian McGratton, Antoine Vermette, Anton Volchenkov)

2005-06

Hamilton Bulldogs (Featuring: Andrei Kostitsyn, Danny Syvret), Peoria Rivermen (Featuring: Curtis Sanford, Patrick Lalime, Aaron MacKenzie), Manchester Monarchs Series II (Featuring: Mike Cammalleri, Mathieu Garon, Tom Kostopoulos)

2004-05

Hartford Wolfpack (Featuring: Steve Valiquette, Jamie Lundmark, Dominic Moore, Ryan Hollweg), Worcester Ice Cats (Featuring: Curtis Sanford, Aaron MacKenzie), Rochester Americans (Featuring: Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy, Ryan Miller, Jason Pominville, Daniel Paille, Jason Botterill), Lowell Lock Monsters (Featuring: Mike Commodore, Eric Staal, Cam Ward, Mike Zigomanis), Albany River Rats (Featuring: Scott Clemmensen, Dean McAmmond, Zach Parise), Providence Bruins (Featuring: Patrice Bergeron, Brad Boyes, Colton Orr, Hannu Toivonen)

2002-03

Syracuse Crunch (Featuring: Pascal LeClaire, Mike Pandolfo)

If you are interested in purchasing team card sets, please visit the PHPA Shopzone.