Habs Fan 2011 Holiday Gift Guide

Looking for that perfect Montreal Canadiens collectible for the Hab fan on your holiday shopping list? Well, fortunately, I also manage a Habs Figurines and Collectibles site, and as such am here to help! Here are 10 top gift ideas for the 2011 holiday season.

Disclaimer: Please note that I am in no way affiliated with any of these items, their manufacturers, or their retailers. This list is just intended to inspire Habs fans during the giving season. I do not have these available for sale, so do not contact me for that purpose.

10) Tomas Kaberle Collectibles

Does the Habs fan you have in mind already have everything? Well if he/she is as much of a completionist as I am, then he/she will definitely want some items related to the newest member of the team, regardless of what they thought of the deal that brought Kaberle to town.

Beyond the obvious jerseys, pucks, and hockey cards, there are a couple of more niche items, such as the McFarlane exclusive figure pictured at left, and a bobblehead issued as a Toronto Marlies stadium giveaway during the 2008-09 season. With two years left on his deal and a significant amount of money still owed to him, Kaberle is likely here to stay for now, so these gift ideas should remain relevant for a while!

9) Pour Toujours Les Canadiens on DVD

If your intended recipient is a sap for cheesy sports movies, and/or if he/she misses the days of Saku Koivu captaining the Canadiens, then this movie is a great stocking stuffer and a good, light holiday watch. Now about two years old, it has recently been spotted in discount bins at Wal-Mart and other retailers, so pick it up to spend some time with the family in front of the television. The movie is in French only, but English subtitles are available.

The acting is nothing special and the plotline is hole-riddled at best, but it is based around a heartwarming story with lessons learned along the way, and comes so very close to giving Habs fans a fairytale ending they never got to see in real life.

8) Montreal Canadiens Edition Board Games

If watching movies as a family isn't your style, perhaps you'd rather spend your holidy get-togethers playing games. Well fear not, because even here, the Habs have you covered! Pick your flavour: there's Canadiens Yahtzee, Centennial Edition Monopoly, Montreal Canadiens playing cards, Canadiens' rubik's cubes, and more! Available at the Bell Centre boutique, and many toy and game shops around the city, as well through most online retailers.

7) Plan a Trip to the Steeltown Showdown

Is there a Habs fan in your life that you want to do something extra special for this Christmas? Then why not do something different and plan a weekend getaway to the city of Hamilton, Ontario for the weekend of January 20th-22nd. The Hamilton Bulldogs, AHL affiliate of your Montreal Canadiens, will host their arch rival Toronto Marlies (AHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs) in an outdoor game at Ivor Wynne Stadium. Plenty of tickets remain available via Ticketmaster (http://www.ticketmaster.ca/event/1000473EB8117DF7?artistid=806495&majorcatid=10004&minorcatid=9), and details can be found on the event's website here: http://outdoorclassic.ca/. Though the Bulldogs don't have anywhere near a "stacked" roster this season and boast few legitimate top Hab prospects, it should be a fun weekend of festivities, which include an AHL alumni game.

6) La Capsule Sportive Country Player T-Shirts

Player "jersey-style" t-shirts are popular items with Habs fans, and retailer La Capsule Sportive (http://www.lacapsulesportive.com/) has their latest incarnation, which also include number colouring and a flag for the player's country of birth.

5) Canadiens Bobbleheads

Forever Collectibles produced three bobbleheads of Canadiens players for the 2011-12 season. While the pieces of Tomas Plekanec (which was misproduced with a C on his chest), Brian Gionta, and Mike Cammalleri bare little resemblance to their real life personas, they still make nice shelf-sitters for the room of any diehard Hab follower. Sold from a number of online vendors, so Google away to find the best deal!

Of course, plenty of older bobbles exist as well, so check out my Habs Project site for a complete list of what you might find if your special someone has another favourite player.

4) Chairs R Us Jersey Chairs

If your budget is a little bigger, these custom-made soft seats make wonderful conversation pieces for your Man Cave, basement, or bachelor pad. I've seen a bunch of them in person, and the photos on their website (found here: http://www.chairsrus.ca/category/hockey-chairs/) don't come close to doing them justice. The only Canadiens samples on their site are pretty basic / non-spectacular P.K. Subban, Mike Cammalleri, Maurice Richard, and Guy Lafleur models, but here are some non-Hab examples from their site as well to show you the kind of requests you can make:

3) Habs Tickets

This one only comes in at #3 because it's kind of obvious. But tickets, particularly for the best games, can be tough to come by without paying a premium. Fortunately, the Canadiens have a monthly on-sale day where they release some more seats for games in the following month. There will be tickets made available for the 8 home games of January on Thursday, December 15th, at 10:00 AM (http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=56633).

Nothing beats the experience of attending a live game at the Bell Centre for a Hab fan. Why not

add a little something extra by complimenting it with a pair of passes to the Canadiens Hall of Fame (at the Bell Centre) as well? When you have a ticket to that night's game, it's only $5.50 per person to get in! (http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=59997)

2) Bleacher Creatures 14-inch Plush Dolls

Series two of this new and popular line began hitting stores last week, just in time for the Christmas rush. Fortunately for Habs fans, the series included 14-inch plush Carey Price, Mike Cammalleri, and P.K. Subban. With a retail price between $20 and $25, these are sure to be big sellers, and are actually of pretty high quality. Available at a number of online retailers as well as at the Bell Centre (though I'm not sure when they will get them in), I think the likenesses are quite good, but you be the judge below!

1) The Goal Light

What Hab fan doesn't want to celebrate every goal the Canadiens score in style?! (especially when the team goes through phases - as it does - where it seems like they have to work extra hard to put a puck in the net)

This new addition to the popular Goal Light product line sells for about $45 and comes pre-programmed with the goal horn of each Canadian team. It is activated via a wireless remote control, and can be plugged into an external stereo system so that, with surround sound, you can feel like you're right in the middle of the action! Sold at a number of retailers, including the NHL.com shop here: http://shop.nhl.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12239974&cp=&clickid=body_bestsell_txt.

A Comprehensive Look at Habs Figurines / Collectibles

Today we bring you a special feature on Montreal Canadiens figurines, bobbleheads, McFarlanes, and other figures in line with the other Habs site I run, which can be found at:

http://habsproject.weebly.com/

That site covers my collection / project to seek out, document, and ultimately obtain pieces of any player to ever play a game for the Montreal Canadiens. Clearly such a venture would require significant investment, so I'm in no hurry to track it all down, but it is a fun, gradual mission to find good deals on hard-to-find collectibles from any of a number of sources.

For the Habs collector reading from home, we will go over the evolution of player-specific Canadiens collectibles, documenting some pieces you yourself may want to add to your collection. Let's call this Your Official Guide to Habs Collectibles.

1) Hockey Heroes Stand-Ups

Going wayyy back to 1975-76, we find a series of NHL and NHLPA-licensed Hockey Heroes Stand-Up cardboard statues. Once you punch them out of their yellow frame, they can be inserted into their base and stand as a diecut figure, nice to display. The series featured players from around the league, including 6 Habs: Yvan Cournoyer (pictured left), Guy Lafleur, Jacques Lemaire, Pete Mahovlich, Doug Riseborough, and Larry Robinson. Today, most pieces in the series (with Bobby Orr a notable exception) can be found in the $10 range.

2) 1989-90 Provigo Series

Provigo grocery stores in the province of Quebec distributed a team set of small Montreal Canadiens figurines for the 1989-90 NHL season. What is particularly remarkable about these figures is that, despite their age, they bare a striking resemblance to the actual player depicted, much better than many more recent attempts by a number of toy production companies. This was also a rare chance to grab a collectible of some of the team's more "depth" players, as there were 13 players in the set in total: Guy Carbonneau, Chris Chelios, Shayne Corson, Russ Courtnall, Bob Gainey (pictured right), Craig Ludwig, Mike McPhee, Mats Naslund, Stephane Richer, Patrick Roy, Brian Skrudland, Bobby Smith, and Petr Svoboda (photos of each included on my Master List).

3) Starting Line-Up Figures

The early collectible that most are likely familiar with, Starting Line-Up figurines were manufactured in various forms by Kenner. Throughout the 1990s, there were many Montreal Canadiens featured in series like the annual standard run, the multiple Timeless Legends series, One-on-One Freeze Frames, multi-player combo packs such as Classic Doubles, 12-inch player dolls, and Pro Action motion figures. A full list of former Habs with figures can be found on my Master List page. The standard run figures are the hockey pieces that most resemble a traditional G.I. Joe-type action figure, and because of their cheap plastic nature, can still be found for just a couple of bucks each. One of the unfortunate parts about these figures was the limited variety of player poses, and with limited facial similarities to the actual player for the most part, figures often looked like simple repaints.

4) Headliners Mini Figures

Rivaling the Starting Line-Up figures in the market was this batch of miniature big-headed plastic men put out by Corinthian. As would later be the case with McFarlane figures, the first series was licensed only by the NHLPA and not the NHL, so players appeared with logo-less jerseys (see the Chris Chelios at left, for example). By the time the second series (which included logos) was released, the Habs were in turnover turmoil mode, and thus no Headliner figure with the CH crest was ever created. Still, as seen on my Master List, a number of former Habs were included, the rarest of which was a Philadelphia Flyers Eric Desjardins released only in the United States through a Burger King promotion. Another line of these products, larger in size, resembling bobbleheads of today (but without bobble action), was released under the name Headliners XL, featuring amongst others this Patrick Roy.

5) NHL ProZone Dolls

In 1997 and 1998, two series of dolls were released featuring some of the game's greats. Only two former Montreal Canadiens, Patrick Roy (pictured at right) and Chris Chelios, were included. Thus, like with the Headliners, no players were featured in Hab jerseys.

6) Bobbleheads

Hard to place chronologically as they've existed in different forms since at least the 1960s, bobbleheads are probably the most popular of the sport figure collectibles. The array of hockey bobbles out there pales in comparison to those of baseball or football, but there is a wide variety of forms, teams, and players that have been released. We start with the simple but pricey generic player vintage bobbleheads of the 1960s like the one pictured at left, but they can take all kinds of forms and sizes. Some examples:

- Traditional pose bobbles like this Yanic Perreault

- Minor and American league bobbles like this Carey Price

- Other pose bobbles like this brand new Brian Gionta

- Miniature bobbles like this Jocelyn Thibault

- Bendable bobbles like this Saku Koivu

- Mascot bobbles like this Youppi!

- Alternate bobbling pieces like this bobble gloves Donald Brashear

- Rare Disney bobbles like this Mickey Mouse

- Coach bobbles like this Scotty Bowman

For a full list of present and former Hab bobbleheads, check our Master List page.

Various companies have produced these pieces over the years, but the two major players have been Forever Collectibles and Bobble Dobbles. As bobbleheads are collected so widely, prices can vary from just $5 or less for a random player to over $200 for an older or limited run rarity. Generally bobbles issued at games, referred to as SGA (Stadium Giveaway), are more popular than those simply sold at retail locations.

7) PrimeTime Heroes of the Ice / Teams of the World

Only two former Canadiens were featured in this National Team based action figure release. Patrick Roy (pictured at right) was included in his Team Canada jersey, while John LeClair was one of the players from the Team USA line.

8) SMITI Mini Figures

While more successful with their rockstar lines, SMITI took a brief foray into the world of hockey with a line that featured mini player figures inside puck-like discs. The only Canadien featured in this not too popular series was Saku Koivu, pictured at left. Though the packaging is well done, the figures themselves bare no resemblance to the actual player.

9) McDonald's

Over the years, the fast food chain has not only released hockey card sets, but also lines of collectible pieces, ranging from miniature sticks like this Cristobal Huet, to goalie masks like this Jocelyn Thibault, and nicest of all, mini masks with player figures like the Carey Price pictured at left.

10) Celebriducks

A small number of hockey players got the rubber ducky treatment, of which there was a single former Canadien (so again no Habs logos). This Jocelyn Thibault is a cute oddball item to add to any NHL collection.

11) NHL Ultimate Collection Mini Figures

These small toys were sold both individually and in a box set all at once. Two Habs were created in the single run, both in Canadiens jerseys - Carey Price, and Saku Koivu, pictured right.

12) Upper Deck All-Star Vinyl Figures

A cross-sports initiative from sports card manufacturer Upper Deck, no Canadiens have yet to receive proper retail treatment in this line. While the pieces are nice, the price tag ($40+ each) has kept them from taking off in a huge way. As such, Upper Deck was forced to cancel a bigger line of hockey figures which included the Carey Price pictured at left (pretty bad-ass looking if I do say so myself!) that was slated for retail sale at the last minute. Because of the timing, a small number of each player in that series was still produced and have made their way on to the secondary market, occasionally popping up at premium prices on eBay.

13) McFarlane Hockey Figures

We conclude our main groupings with the company that has dominated the sport figure industry for the last decade. Standard figures stand 6-inches, and spin-off lines have seen both 3-inch and 12-inch variations. Hockey releases come out about 5 times a year, with both standard lines and special editions, such as National Team figures and Canadian Tire exclusives. A large number of present and former Canadiens have been included in various lines, so check our Master List for full details of more like the Mike Cammalleri at right. This Fall will see rookie figures for Brian Gionta, P.K. Subban, and Jacques Plante. Unfortunately, due to licensing difficulties, vintage lines of retired players have been increasingly rare the past few seasons.

14) Some Other Figures

While this covers a lot of the major lines, there have been other Montreal Canadiens figures released from a variety of sources. Here we look at a few of these:

- Upper Deck Portraits Busts like this Guy Lafleur

- 4" NHL Rockers like this Jose Theodore

- Predators Dinosaurs like this Patrick Roy

- Troll Dolls like this Vincent Damphousse

- Salvino's BAMMERS Beanie Babies like this Patrick Roy

And various others you can see on our Master List page.

So Habs fans, I hope you found this look at Habs figurines and collectibles of interest. If you have or know of anything that I don't have documented on my other site, please get in touch with me!

If you have anything I listed as not already having on the Master List, also get in touch with me! I'm very happy to buy pieces I want that may be sitting around your attic!