2010-11 Upper Deck Hockey I Launches

Upper Deck’s  250-card Series One base set has been released.

The issue is headlined by its lineup of  “Young Guns” rookie cards spotlighting up-and-comers like Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle (both of Edmonton), Zach Hamill (Boston), Jeff Skinner (Carolina), Derek Stepan (N.Y. Rangers) and Brayden Schenn (Los Angeles).

“We’re very excited about this month’s UD1 release,” said Josh Zusman, Upper Deck’s Hockey brand manager.

“Besides the never-before-seen rookie cards of players who skated on Opening Night, the set has a unique variation insert devoted to Upper Deck’s 20^th Anniversary hockey celebration this year.”

Each of the cards in the 20^th Anniversary variation insert sport the same card design that Upper Deck debuted with its inaugural hockey set back in 1990-91, while also being printed on the same vintage card stock. More limited than the traditional base cards, the 20^th Anniversary variation cards can be found six per box, on average.

Legendary Detroit Red Wing center Steve Yzerman, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame last year, has live, hard-signed autographs on each of his 19 “Hockey Heroes Signature” cards, each numbered to 19.

Upper Deck Series One Hockey also includes die-cut acetate cards with fresh themes including “Clear Cut Champions” (numbered to 100) and “Clear Cut Hall of Fame Inductions” and “Clear Cut Lineage” (both numbered to 25) are also part of the mix, along with regular set parallels: “Exclusives” (numbered to 100) and “Exclusives Spectrum” (numbered to 10).

The UD Game Jerseys insert, which falls at a rate of 1:12 packs (on average), includes current stars like Alex Ovechkin, Adam Oates, Eric Staal, Dustin Brown, Henrik Lundqvist, Jarome Iginla and Jason Spezza, along with retired greats including Luc Robitaille and Wayne Gretzky.

The “Signature Sensation” autograph cards include such old-time favorites as Don Cherry, Grant Fuhr, Mario Lemieux. Phil Esposito, Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe, alongside current standouts like Dany Heatley, Jari Kurri, John Tavares, Matt Duchene and Joe Thornton.

Upper Deck’s 2010-11 Series One Hockey set holds eight cards per pack and 24 packs per box.

2010-11 Upper Deck hockey on eBay

About Rich Mueller

Rich is the editor and founder of Sports Collectors Daily. A broadcaster and writer for over 40 years and a collector for even longer than that, he's usually typing something somewhere. Type him back at [email protected].