Hockey season has ended, and the Pittsburgh Penguins hoisted the Stanley Cup after knocking off the San Jose Sharks. The season might be over, but hockey cards continue to spur interest, thanks in part to a dynamic rookie class that includes Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Artemi Panarin and Dylan Larkin.
Those rookies, seasoned veterans and all-time greats will be the foundation for 2015-16 SP Authentic Hockey from Upper Deck, which will hit stores on June 29. A full checklist is below.
2015-16 SP Authentic Hockey Breakdown
A hobby box will contain 20 packs, with five cards to a pack; cost will range from $155 to $165, depending on the retailer. Upper Deck is promising three autographs, including a Future Watch on-card signature numbered to 999. Lucky collectors could pull Limited Auto Patch Variations, numbered to 100.
The base set will include 100 veteran players, with a limited parallel of each that is numbered to 25. Limited Autograph parallels will come in two tiers, numbered to 99 (Tier 1) and 25 (Tier 2). Inserts will feature SP Legends, which should fall one in every five packs; a collector can expect to find four 1995-96 Retro cards per box, four Authentic Moments, and four UD and Young Guns Update cards. Each hobby box also will contain a numbered chase card. On-card autograph Patch Cards will be a case hit.
Inserts and Autographs
In a bit of a nostalgic twist (has it really been 20 years?), the 1995-96 SP Retro inserts will be a 30-card set of current stars featured in the design of that mid-1990s set.
In addition to the base set, there are 30 Legends cards that will fall once in every five packs. An additional dozen cards are All-Time Moments, which pay tribute to some of the NHL’s greatest moments. Those are seeded 1:13, along with Authentic Moments; All-Time Moments Multi and Authentic Moments Multi contain three cards apiece and showcase two (and sometimes) three players during an iconic moment. Collectors will find them in every 50th pack, on average. There are limited signed versions of these cards, too.
Franchise Icons will be numbered to 99. It is a 30-card subset that combines past and present star players from each franchise, like Bobby Hull and Jonathan Toews from the Chicago Blackhawks or Wayne Gretzky and McDavid.
Future Watch Rookies is a 95-card subset that highlights the game’s top first-year players. The first 30 are base cards, and the final 65 are autographs.
What’s New
Some new features for this year’s set are Authentic Moments autographed booklets and Authentic Moments dual autographed booklets. Other signed big pulls include Scripted Stoppers (praising
the NHL’s top goalies) can be found in every other case — but how could Upper Deck leave out Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop? Baffling — while Great White North inserts are a case hit. Global Chirography inserts are seeded 1 in every 180 packs. And Sign of the Times will contain single, dual, triple, quad and six-player on-card autographs.
Online pricing for 2015-16 SP Authentic hobby boxes is at around $150. You can see them here.