The celebration continues for Upper Deck‘s 25th season of making trading cards licensed by the NHL and NHLPA and collectors on both sides of the border will reap the benefits when they visit their local hobby shop for the 2015 editions of National Hockey Card Day.
Canadian hobbyists will get to obtain free packs first with a purchase on February 14 and the set will be comprised of 15 cards. A week later, American collectors are able to take advantage of the free packs and will have a unique group of 15 cards to track down.
Both promotions will also have a special 16th Memorable Moments card that is available as a gift with purchase and it is the only way to complete the set. As expected, there will also be random autograph cards inserted much like previous years.
Due to the incredible response to the Upper Deck 25th Anniversary What If Young Guns cards that were made available recently at the Fall 2014 Sportcard & Memorabilia Expo, National Hockey Card Day packs on both sides of the border will have these tribute cards randomly inserted inside. In the American packs, look for the following players:
UD25-CC Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks
UD25-JB Johnny Boychuk, Colorado Avalanche
UD25-PF Peter Forsberg, Philadelphia Flyers
UD25-CO Chris Osgood, Detroit Red Wings
UD25-BL Brian Leetch, New York Rangers
Meanwhile the Canadian packs will be loaded up with the following legends – all of whom made their first appearance on a hockey card prior to the boom years that saw Upper Deck’s arrival on the hockey card market:
UD25-RF Ron Francis, Hartford Whalers
UD25-PT Pierre Turgeon, Buffalo Sabres
UD25-VD Vincent Damphousse, Toronto Maple Leafs
UD25-TF Theo Fleury, Calgary Flames
UD25-DH Doug Harvey, Montreal Canadiens
As a special teaser, Upper Deck also noted that there will be a third group of 25th Anniversary What If Young Guns that will be released at the Spring 2015 Sportcard & Memorabilia Expo in Toronto that is coming up in May. The checklist for that set is as follows:
UD25-BR Brad Richards, Tampa Bay Lightning
UD25-JW Joel Ward, Minnesota Wild
UD25-MG Mike Gartner, Washington Capitals
UD25-AO Adam Oates, Detroit Red Wings
UD25-BP Brad Park, New York Rangers
Keep your eyes on the Beckett News section for more information on this promotion that may surface before release date.
