Best Nine-Pocket Page from a Completed Set

Back in October, the Five-Tool Collector posted some attractive cards from his 1957 Topps baseball set build. He mentioned how the smaller size of the set lent itself to high quantities of star power on each binder page, and wrapped up a particular paragraph by saying, "For me there is nothing like flipping through a set and just seeing stars on top of stars."

I fully agree.

Interestingly, around that same time I was putting together a set of 1984-85 Topps hockey cards, and I too had one of those star-studded experiences. It happened as I turned to the sixth page, card numbers 46–54. Here they are: 

I think this might be the best nine-pocket page from any set in my collection. (Aside from the obvious pages that contain a bunch of all-star subset cards.) Here's why.

First, the players:

#46 John Ogrodnick – 928 NHL games played; 827 points; All-Star game; scored 100 points in a season; led the 1984-85 Detroit Red Wings in scoring (105 points) and the 1989-90 New York Rangers in scoring (74 points).

#47 Brad Park – Hall of Fame (1988); 1,113 NHL games played; 896 points; 9 All-Star games; member of Team Canada during the 1972 Summit Series.

#48 Greg Stefan – Nine-year NHL career; won 20 games in a season three times.

#49 Steve Yzerman – Hall of Fame (2008); three-time Stanley Cup winner; 1,514 NHL games played; 1,755 points; 9 All-Star games; Olympic Gold Medal (Canada 2002); Conn Smythe, Selke, Masterton, and Pearson trophy winner.

#50 Paul Coffey – Hall of Fame (2004); four-time Stanley Cup winner; 1,409 NHL games played; 1,531 points; 14 All-Star games; three-time Norris trophy winner.

#51 Wayne Gretzky – WAYNE GRETZKY.

#52 Jari Kurri – Hall of Fame (2001); five-time Stanley Cup winner; 1,251 NHL games played; 1,398 points; 9 All-Star games; Olympic Bronze Medal (Finland 1998); Lady Byng trophy winner.

#53 Bob Crawford – Seven-year NHL career; scored a career-best 36 goals in 1983-84.

#54 Ron Francis – Hall of Fame (2007); two-time Stanley Cup winner; 1,731 NHL games played; 1,798 points; 4 All-Star games; Lady Byng, Selke, and Clancy trophy winner; more career assists than any NHL player not named Wayne Gretzky.

To summarize, that's 6 out of 9 players in the Hall of Fame, 18 Stanley Cups, a few team captains, 7 out of 9 all-stars, and too many points, records, and awards to count.

Above all that, these nine players shake out well when it comes to icing a team by position:

Centers (3) – Gretzky, Yzerman, Francis (how's that for your top three centers??)

Left Wings (1) – Ogrodnick

Right Wings (2) – Kurri, Crawford

Defensemen (2) – Coffey, Park

Goalies (1) – Stefan

Yes. I do believe you could build a team around those nine players.

I also thought this would be a fun opportunity for all of you bloggers and collectors to flip through some binders you haven't flipped through in a long time and find some star-studded pages of your own.

So, what's the best nine-pocket page from a set in your collection? It can be any sport.

I hope you'll give it a try, and even share your findings!