2014-15 SP Authentic Hockey Set for Release

As the remaining teams battle for Lord Stanley’s Cup, Upper Deck’s 2014-15 SP Authentic Hockey will be released this week, celebrating its 20^th anniversary.

This year’s product offers a variety of signature and memorabilia cards, the always-popular autographed Future Watch cards of the NHL’s best young prospects as well as a blast from the past with insert sets using a famous design from the 1990s.

2014-15 SP Authentic Hockey has five cards per pack and 20 packs per box with three autographed cards. The price for a box is around $120, with 12 box cases settling at just a bit under $1,400.

The 150-card base set is similar to past SP releases with a large player picture on the front and a white background, along with an angular graphic in the background which also incorporates the player name and team name.

With one appearing in every box, the Autographed Future Watch cards are a large part of SP hockey with cards of young stars from past releases finding a receptive audience. Bo Horvat, David Pastrnak, Shayne Gostisbehere and Seth Griffith are some of the 60 prospects in the Autographed Future Watch insert set this year (see a checklist below). The cards are numbered to 999, and the card design has been tweaked from previous years. The card has less of a border separating the player picture and auto and instead the picture fades to a lighter color where the signature is now placed. There are also unsigned Future Watch cards of other prospects with two or three in each box.

Collectors with a folder full of 1994-95 SP hockey cards can search through that set and find players who also appear in the SP Retro insert set in 2014-15 SP Authentic. Martin Brodeur, Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Jaromir Jagr and Patrick Roy are some players on the 20^th anniversary checklist. The old set also had Premier Prospects cards, which included early cards of players like Jarome Iginla and Ed Jovanovski, and among the ’94-95 SP Retro Premier Prospects in 2014-15 SP Authentic are Evgeny Kuznetsov, Teuvo Teravainen, Johnny Gaudreau and Aaron Ekblad.

The new ’94-95 SP cards share their card design with those from two decades ago, with the distinctive gold border along the left side of the card which includes the player name and SP logo while the team name is in gold along the bottom of the card. There are around six ’94-95 SP Retro cards and one or two ’94-95 SP Retro Premier Prospects cards per box. At around one a case, the ’94-95 SP Retro Gold Die-Cut Autographs and ’94-95 SP Retro Premier Prospects Gold Die-Cut Autographs cards will be hard to find.

The ’13-14 Authentic Moments and All-Time Authentic Moments cards in 2014-15 SP Authentic provide a reminder of the biggest plays and achievements of last year as well as throughout NHL history. Both sets have single and multi-player cards, from Teemu Selanne’s last NHL game to all the way back to Team Canada with Guy Lafleur and Marcel Dionne. There are signed cards available in the 2013-14 Moments Gold Ink Auto, 2013-14 Moments Multi-Player Gold Ink Auto, All-Time Moments Gold Ink Auto and All-Time Moments Multi-Player Gold Ink Auto sets. As the name suggests, these rare cards are signed with a gold pen.

Among the other insert sets for collectors to look for in SP Authentic are Regular Card Limited Autograph Patch Variations, which come in several tiers, numbered to 100, 25 or 10. The Young Guns Updates and Upper Deck Updates come with low-numbered parallels. Signed cards are in the SP Chirography, Premier Chirography, Immortal Inks and Marks of Distinction insert sets. The Immortal Inks cards are reportedly numbered to just 10 and include players like Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr, Steve Yzerman and Wayne Gretzky.

Sign of the Times is a name that goes back many years at Upper Deck and in 2014-15 NHL SP Authentic there are not only single signed cards but others with two, three, four six and eight autographs as well. One Sign of the Times is an eight autograph book featuring all Detroit Red Wings, including Dominik Hasek and Chris Osgood. There’s a triple auto Gretzky, Lemieux and Messier while Colorado Avalanche fans will hope to find a Sign of the Times quad auto with Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, Patrick Roy and Rob Blake.

You can see 2014-15 SP Authentic on eBay here.

Future Watch Autograph Checklist

261   William Karlsson, Anaheim Ducks
262   Darnell Nurse, Edmonton Oilers
263   Jake McCabe, Buffalo Sabres
264   Patrick Brown, Carolina Hurricanes
265   Joni Ortio, Calgary Flames
266   Mark Visentin, Arizona Coyotes
267   Corban Knight, Calgary Flames
268   Stuart Percy, Toronto Maple Leafs
269   Phillip Danault, Chicago Blackhawks
270   Patrick Nemeth, Dallas Stars
271   Colton Sissons, Nashville Predators
272   Curtis McKenzie, Dallas Stars
273   Sam Reinhart, Buffalo Sabres
274   Melker Karlsson, San Jose Sharks
275   Nicolas Deslauriers, Buffalo Sabres
276   Christian Folin, Minnesota Wild
277   Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
278   Sven Andrighetto, Montreal Canadiens
279   Chris Tierney, San Jose Sharks
280   Trevor Van Riemsdyk, Chicago Blackhawks
281   Andy Andreoff, Los Angeles Kings
282   David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
283   Vincent Trocheck, Florida Panthers
284   Teuvo Teravainen, Chicago Blackhawks
285   Bo Horvat, Vancouver Canucks
286   Anthony Duclair, New York Rangers
287   Damon Severson, New Jersey Devils
288   Evgeny Kuznetsov, Washington Capitals
289   Rocco Grimaldi, Florida Panthers
290   Dennis Everberg, Colorado Avalanche
291   Alexander Wennberg, Columbus Blue Jackets
292   Derrick Pouliot, Pittsburgh Penguins
293   Ryan Sproul, Detroit Red Wings
294   Kevin Hayes, New York Rangers
295   Jiri Sekac, Montreal Canadiens
296   Vladislav Namestnikov, Tampa Bay Lightning
297   Tobias Rieder, Arizona Coyotes
298   Brandon Kozun, Toronto Maple Leafs
299   Shayne Gostisbehere, Philadelphia Flyers
300   Marko Dano, Columbus Blue Jackets
301   Calle Jarnkrok, Nashville Predators
302   Seth Griffith, Boston Bruins
303   Griffin Reinhart, New York Islanders
304   Alexander Khokhlachev, Boston Bruins
305   Laurent Brossoit, Edmonton Oilers
306   Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames
307   Brett Ritchie, Dallas Stars
308   Markus Granlund, Calgary Flames
309   Aaron Ekblad, Florida Panthers
310   Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning
311   Adam Lowry, Winnipeg Jets
312   Andre Burakovsky, Washington Capitals
313   Jonathan Drouin, Tampa Bay Lightning
314   Curtis Lazar, Ottawa Senators
315   Mirco Mueller, San Jose Sharks
316   Teemu Pulkkinen, Detroit Red Wings
317   Ty Rattie, St. Louis Blues
318   Victor Rask, Carolina Hurricanes
319   Kerby Rychel, Columbus Blue Jackets
320   Jori Lehtera, St. Louis Blues