Topps is returning to the ice, and the company is ready to get physical.
Topps, which has operated the NHL Skate app that offers digital hockey cards, has returned with something collectors can touch.
The 2019-2020 Topps NHL Sticker Collection will be available the week of Nov. 15, with 629 total stickers available to chase.
Panini has produced NHL stickers in the past, and Upper Deck owns the exclusive license to produce NHL trading cards. In fact, Upper Deck became the first exclusive trading card partner of the NHL and NHLPA from 2004 through 2009-2010 and has retained exclusive rights since the 2014-15 season. Upper Deck signed another card deal extension in January 2019.
And that’s how Topps got back into the hockey market. The Upper Deck agreement is for cards, so when the opportunity to produce stickers arose, Topps was ready to step in. Panini’s last NHL sticker set came out for the 2018-2019 season. A box had 50 packs, with five cards to a pack. There was a 72-card album and nearly 500 stickers in the set.
Topps is promising a larger set in 2019-2020, with several more album pages to affix all those stickers.
For the 2019-2020 stickers product, there will be 50 packs to a box, with five stickers in each box. On average, one of the stickers in each pack will be a foil. There will be 372 base stickers and 93 foils, all in a vertical design. All 31 teams will be represented in horizontal stickers.
The stickers can be pasted into a 75-page album that will have several themes to supplement the players’ stickers. Those themes will include NHL team pages, NHL Awards, NHL All-Stars, NHL Rookie Debut, Sticker Puzzles, NHL Vintage Hockey Teams and Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Vintage Hockey Team stickers will pay tribute to fan favorites from the past. NHL Rookie Debut insert stickers will highlight the top rookies from the 2018-2019 season. The NHL All-Star stickers (19 of them) will revisit highlights from the midseason game, while the NHL Awards stickers have eight subjects, which will honor the league’s top players from the 2018-2019 season.
The Stanley Cup Final will be represented by 12 stickers commemorating the St. Louis Blues series victory against the Boston Bruins. There will be one sticker for each game, plus a sticker of the Blues hoisting the Stanley Cup. Other stickers will show Ryan O’Reilly with the Conn Smythe Trophy and a Blues Stanley Cup Finals team logo.
NHL Retro Logos will pay tribute to designs some teams no longer use. A six-sticker Stanley Cup Team Photo Puzzle will show the St. Louis Blues players celebrating on the ice after clinching the first NHL title in the city’s history.
You can see 2019-20 Topps NHL Stickers on eBay here.
2019-20 NHL Stickers Collection Checklist
Topps will also produce stickers on its NOW platform, commemorating key moments and milestones throughout the season. A set of nine will be available each week here.
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