If the formula for a successful NHL trading card season includes a heavy dose of top, young players, the 2015-16 season is already one of the best ever. Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel may have gotten a lot of the early attention but Dylan Larkin rookie cards are now getting plenty of attention from hockey card collectors.
Michigan Man
The Big Ten Rookie of the Year at Michigan last year, Larkin was taken by the Detroit Red Wings with the 15th pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. Those who watched him in Ann Arbor wouldn’t have to go far to witness the launch of his NHL career.
After a brief stint last spring in the AHL, Larkin became the first teenager to make the Wings’ opening roster in 25 years and made an immediate impact. He set a franchise rookie record with points in five straight games to start the season. He had a goal and an assist his NHL debut and tallied 13 goals and 11 assists in his first 34 games.
Rookie Cards
He appeared on a Pride of the Nation jersey card in the 2014-15 In The Game Draft Prospects set and his first official NHL trading cards arrived this fall. Larkin has been a major drawing card in Upper Deck’s earliest 2015-16 hockey card products, with his Young Guns cards from Series One among the most popular. Artifacts, Full Force and Black Diamond were all among the first issues to feature the 6’1, 190-pound youngster.
Dylan Larkin rookie cards that have been blessed with 9.5 or 10 grades have been hot sellers including the Young Guns High Gloss (# to 10) and Exclusives (# to 100). Recent BGS 9.5 sales of the latter have risen to the $350-400 level in recent days. He has autographed redemption cards in the Artifacts set that have been bringing a few hundred dollars as well as Black Diamond Exquisite serial numbered cards pushing in that direction.
Some of Larkin’s cheapest rookie cards are in the Parkhurst subset from Series 1, with Green,Blue and rare Red border versions available. The ever popular Young Guns cards, which are randomly inserted into Series 1 packs as part of the set that includes McDavid and Eichel, can still be found online for $20-$30 unless they’ve been rated highly by a third-party grader.
Check out the current hottest Dylan Larkin hockey cards via the live list below.