The Stanley Cup Playoffs are still two weeks away, but some information about next season’s hockey card releases is starting to trickle out, including one of the season’s key products.
Upper Deck has unveiled its plans for its 2022-23 Upper Deck Series 1 Hockey. Traditionally, UD Series 1 is released on the second weekend of November, in conjunction with the Sport Card and Memorabilia Expo in Toronto. During the 2021-22 season, however, Series 1 was delayed and did not hit the market until February due to a complication in acquiring needed materials.
The excitement around Upper Deck Series 1 is usually centered around the Young Guns shortprinted rookie cards. In 2022-23, part of that excitement will be driven by Minnesota Wild rookie Matt Boldy. The former Boston College star is a highly-skilled, 21-year-old left wing who has so far racked up 34 points in 40 games. Boldy did not have a rookie card this year because he joined the Wild later in the season, though he has appeared in the Upper Deck Game Dated Moments program.
Boldy will be one of 49 Young Guns in the 50-card subset – the other card is a checklist – that appears 1:4 packs. The Young Guns will be card 201-250.
2022-23 Upper Deck Series 1 Configuration and Base Set
Each Hobby box will again offer eight cards per pack, 24 packs per box with 12 boxes per case. The average box break will feature six Young Guns rookie cards, six Centre of Attention, Debut Dates, Defense Mechanism and/or Rookie Retrospective Cards, four UD Canvas cards, two UD Portraits cards, two Honor Roll cards, one Blue Dazzlers card, 1 Clear Cut Parallel Card, Freestyles card or other hit, one French Parallel card, and one wildcard.
The base set (200 cards) has a full-bleed, photo-driven design. Parallels include Exclusives (#’d to 100), High Gloss (#’d to 10), and hobby exclusive Clear Cut (1:288 packs Young Guns, 1:96 packs veterans) and French language (1-120 packs Young Guns, 1:30 packs veterans).
Inserts
Upper Deck Series 1 also includes an extensive insert set line-up, with many different variations.
UD Canvas returns featuring 120 stars in the first installment of an inter-series set. They are inserted 1:7 packs, while there are Printing Plates and UD Canvas signatures #’d to the player’s jersey number.
Centre of Attention features the NHL’s top center icemen. This new insert set is inserted 1:16 packs, with a Gold parallel inserted 1:192 packs, as well as Printing Plates randomly inserted.
Freestyles is a colorful set with a graffiti style design. Also a new insert set this year, it is inserted 1:72 packs, with a rare Gold version inserted 1:1,140 packs.
Population Count is designed to look like a graded card. There are seven different print runs for each card: 1000, 500, 100, 50, 25, 10 and 1).
Back for another year are the Honor Roll, Dazzlers and Portraits.
Honor Roll is inserted 1:12 packs, with a Rainbow Parallel numbered to 250 and a Gold Parallel numbered to 25. There are also randomly inserted Printing Plates.
Dazzlers appear 1:24 in the Blue version, with a Pink version inserted at 1:144 packs.
UD Portraits returns as a two-tiered insert set with a new design. The stars will be found in 1:14 packs with a Black and White Parallel numbered to 99. The higher tier features superstars, inserted 1:120 packs with a Black and While Parallel numbered to 25.
Rounding out the insert program in UD Series 1 are Clear Cut Foundations (1:360 packs, Honoured Members Update #’d to 100, League Leaders inserted 1:4,000); Day With the Cup (1:4,320), Debut Dates (1:16, Gold Parallel 1:192, Printing Plates randomly inserted), Defense Mechanism (1:14, Gold Parallel 1:160, Printing Plates randomly inserted), Attacking Zone (1:1,152), and Draft Day SP1 (1:34,560).
Related Stories:
Recent Struggles Aside, Don’t Dismiss Devon Levi as a Young Gun to Watch
Upper Deck, Vanderbilt Baseball Coach Honor Heroes Fighting Against Coronavirus
Caufield’s Playoff Performance Fueling Anticipation for His 2021-22 RCs
Avid Collector and Canadiens Fan Wins Trip to Game 4
2020-21 Upper Deck SP Signature Legends Preview
A Hockey Card Collector’s Guide To The Stanley Cup Playoffs
Dallas’ Star On The Rise: Collecting Roope Hintz Rookie Cards
One Of The Best Ideas for a Sports Card Product That Just Didn’t Work
