DEL Playercards Inside Edition Box 2013/14 Deutsche Eishockey Liga

A factory-sealed box of DEL Playercards Inside Edition 2013/14 — 14 packs of 7 cards, 98 cards in total. Produced by City-Press GmbH of Berlin, the Deutsche Eishockey Liga's long-standing photographic partner. German league product, not sold in North America.

One subset exists only because of a labour dispute in another country

Lockout Memories runs to 33 cards, and it documents a winter that will not happen again.

From September 2012 to January 2013 the National Hockey League locked out its players over a collective bargaining agreement. Half a season disappeared. Several hundred professionals under contract in North America suddenly had no games to play and no wages coming in — and they went looking for ice.

Many went to Europe. German internationals came home: Christian Ehrhoff to Krefeld, Dennis Seidenberg to Mannheim, Thomas Greiss to Cologne. For four months, a league that normally operates several tiers below the NHL had NHL regulars on its rosters and in its arenas.

It ended abruptly in January, when the dispute settled and everyone flew back. The DEL went on as before.

A card set that records it is a strange and rather good idea: not a season's roster, but a documentary of an accident.

The twentieth season

2013/14 was the DEL's 20th season, and City-Press built this release around the anniversary rather than around the current squads. That is what makes it an Inside Edition rather than a regular annual set.

The Alumni Game subset — 43 cards, the largest in the box — comes from the first DEL Winter Game, played outdoors in Nuremberg on 5 January 2013, where former players took the ice again before the main fixture.

Retired Jerseys, 23 cards, covers the numbers German clubs have taken out of circulation. 20th Anniversary Player and 20th Anniversary Goalies add 30 cards each.

Set composition

Alumni Game: 43 cards · Lockout Memories: 33 · 20th Anniversary Player: 30 · 20th Anniversary Goalies: 30 · Retired Jerseys: 23.

Photography throughout is from the City-Press picture agency archive.

Specifications

14 packs per box · 7 cards per pack · 98 cards · Factory sealed · Publisher: City-Press GmbH, Berlin · Season: 2013/14 · League: Deutsche Eishockey Liga

This product was distributed in Germany and carries no UPC or EAN barcode.