2015-16 O-Pee-Chee Platinum Preview

If you take a shine to chrome-like cards, then the 2015-16 O-Pee-Chee Platinum set by Upper Deck might be a worthy addition to a collector’s hockey stash when it is released on Wednesday.

It also helps to love parallels.

This year, for its second unveiling, the Platinum set will have the benefit of a strong rookie class to intrigue hockey fans. Upper Deck also is promising one autographed card per hobby box. Each will contain 20 packs, with four cards to a pack with online pricing currently around $90-$100 per box.

2015-16 OPC Platinum Hockey Basics

For the second straight year, O-Pee-Chee Platinum will contain 150 veteran base cards. This year, the 190-card base set also will include 10 Legends of the Game and 30 rookie autographed cards with no stickers.

A typical box break would include (in addition to base cards), one on-card autograph, six colored, patterned or press-plate parallels, five Rainbow parallels, five O-Pee-Chee Retro cards, and three Superstars, Team Logos or Trophied Talents die-cuts.

Parallel Universe

Upper Deck promises a “multitude of parallels” in 2015-16 OPC Platinum. They aren’t kidding; there will be 10 different levels. Collectors will be able to chase parallels like White Ice (numbered to 199), Red Prism (149), Black Ice (99), Blue Cubes (75), Seismic Gold (50), Purple (25), and Emerald Surge (10). There also will be 1/1 Golden Treasures. Rainbow parallels are seeded one in every five packs for rookies and veterans, and 1 in 40 for Legends; Traxx parallels fall in every 10 packs for rookies and vets, and once in every 160 packs for Legends.

The O-Pee-Chee Retro cards will have four parallels — Rainbow, which will fall one per hobby box; Gold Rainbow, numbered to 149; Orange Rainbow (49) and Red Rainbow (15). There also will be Blue Autograph parallels.

Inserts and Autographs

Inserts aren’t as diverse as parallels, but there still are enough to whet a hockey fan’s appetite. Team Logos will fall about two per hobby box, while Superstars will be more difficult, at one in every other hobby box. Trophied Talent die-cuts, found once in every three boxes, pay tribute to award-winning stars.

The Rookie Signatures will have parallels, too. Traxx will be numbered to 125, with White Ice (99), Red Prism (75), Black Ice (50), Blue Cubes (35), Seismic Gold (25), Purple (10), Emerald Surge (5) and Golden Treasures (1/1) also in the mix.

Connor McDavid will be the key draw in this set, and he headlines a group of rookies that–at least so far– shine almost as brightly as the O-Pee-Chee Platinum product.

You can see boxes, cases and singles on eBay here.

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About Bob D'Angelo

Bob has been a sportswriter and copy editor for more than 45 years and a blogger for two decades. He is celebrating his 60th year of card collecting, and still counts his 1965 Topps Mickey Mantle as his favorite. You can reach him at [email protected].