2015-16 Upper Deck Series 2 Hockey Blaster

I've had my eye out recently for discounted blasters at my local target. It's hard for me to justify paying full price for a blaster unless it's a product I'm really interested in (2017 Archives baseball, for instance). Recently I had some luck with some discounted hockey blasters showing up. I snatched them up to make them my first hockey blasters. The first was Upper Deck Series 2 from 2015-16. I saw a few familiar names as I continue my journey into following the NHL.

First some names that a familiar to me. Jagr is trying to find a team for the upcoming season after playing the last three with the Florida Panthers. Tarasenko has put together three straight 70+ point seasons and is only 25 years old. Kopitar has played his whole career thus far with the Kings and I respect any player that plays for the same team as long as he has. He's a two-time Champion and a three-time All-Star.

I like the design for the base set but I prefer 2016-17 a bit more. 

These three I wanted to show because of the awesome photos. Johansson is pumped after scoring on the second-longest tenured goalie in the game today. The second shot shows the puck up against the glass- just a unique shot. And I am enjoying the angles in some of these cards that show the arena in the background. The Stralman even gets some of the banners hanging off in the distance.

Had to choose at least one goalie base card and Talbot is a strong player to include as he makes his entry onto the ice.

Here's the lone Young Guns card from the blaster. Forbort played in all 82 games for the Kings this past season and from what I read quickly he seemed to provide solid defensive play. 

One of my favorite photos from the blaster. Neil's just been hired as the CFO of the Senators after 15 years as a player. Staying with the same team for a long-time must be more common in the NHL than other sports, which I appreciate greatly.

Awesome shot from the goal looking out onto the rest of the ice and arena. Again, the angles on the photos in this set are great.

One more shot of the arena in the background.

While I didn't pull any Predators, I did pull recently signed Predator Nick Bonino. He's expected to be the second line center after Mike Fisher's recent retirement. Glad to take away from the Penguins while also helping the Preds.

Moving on to the inserts, I opened up one UD Canvas parallel. These would be awesome for in-person or through-the-mail autographs. Another Senator in this one.

Two O-Pee-Chee Update cards and a UD Portraits card wrap up the inserts. Not going to lie, I was hoping to pull a Connor McDavid card out of this blaster, but no such luck. I'm a big fan of the O-Pee-Chee brand, and in particular the Martin Jones has an awesome background. The odds seem to be much worse for pulling Veterans in the Update set, but I somehow managed to pull two of them. The Portraits insert set I could do without, honestly. The design doesn't do anything for me. 

I'd buy a discounted blaster of this product every time. Enjoyed breaking this many hockey packs at once. Hoping to find some hockey trade partners to add more Nashville cards to my hockey binder.