Hobby Musings: NHCD set once again to excite collectors – One of the most eagerly-anticipated hobby promotions of the year, Upper Deck’s National Hockey Card Day is almost upon us once again.  Taking place at shops across the United States and Canada, NHCD gives a collectors a chance at free hockey cards and maybe even an autograph.  To find out more about this year’s program, I had the chance to catch up with Upper Deck’s Chris Carlin.  The following email was conducted via email.

Hobby Musings: NHCD set once again to excite collectors

KS: Upper Deck’s popular National Hockey Card Day promotion is back for another year.  For collectors, who may not know, what exactly does NHCD entail?

CC: The goal of the program is to give everyone near one of our hobby or retail partners with the opportunity to try out Upper Deck NHL cards for absolutely free. The promotion couldn’t be easier, just visit www.UpperDeck.com/NHCD to check out the list of participating shops and then visit those shops on National Hockey Card Day on Saturday, February 18, 2017. Just for walking in their door they will give you a free pack of the National Hockey Card Day trading cards. Many shops will have a variety of other activities going on that day, so contact them before you head out so you can take part in raffles or other promotions they have going on.

KS: What are some of the highlights of this year’s release?

CC: The set itself features some great names so fans will definitely have a good time putting it together. Back for the second year are the Victory Black rookie cards, which give collectors a great shot of scoring cards from Patrik Laine, Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, Mitch Marner, Zach Werenski, Ivan Provorov and many more!

KS: Similar to last season, the NHL has a pretty exciting rookie crop this year led by Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine. How are you incorporating them into this year’s release?

CC: Matthews is an American player playing on a Canadian team so he will have content in both the American and Canadian sets. For customers who make a qualifying Upper Deck purchase on National Hockey Card Day, they can get a special 16th Memorable Moments card of Auston Mathews specific to USA and Canada.

KS: As you’ve done in past seasons, randomly-inserted autographs are included as part of this year’s promotion.  Traditionally a very hard pull, how tricky will be they for collectors to find in packs this year?

CC: Just like they’ve been in the past. We want collectors to be excited about pulling these, so the odds are out there, but with so many packs opened on National Hockey Card Day, it is fun to watch on social media as they are discovered to the delight of collectors lucky enough to pull them.

KS:  Any chance you can share with us some of the autograph subjects in the checklist?

CC: We like to surprise collectors with that and let it be discovered organically during National Hockey Card Day.

KS:  Do you think you’ll ever include memorabilia cards as randomly-inserted items in NHCD packs?

CC: This is honestly the first time it’s been requested. Fans have been pretty happy with the set and considered the costs of producing game-used memorabilia cards, I don’t see it happening for a free set.

KS:  With NHCD having been conducted over many years now, how do you keep it fresh and exciting every year? 

CC: It is important to look at what is happening in the NHL with regard to the young players and work to develop a set that fans in both the USA and Canada will want to collect. Our goal is to grow it a little bit every year and we have two new retailers joining the program in Canada this year in Pro Hockey For Life and National Sports so it’s always fun to reach new potential collectors through the program.

KS:  NHCD has traditionally been well-received by both hobby shops and collectors alike.  In addition to this and the Tim Horton’s promotion you do, does Upper Deck have any plans to launch an additional shop promotion like National Hockey Card Day?

CC: We had our Upper Deck Winter promotion for Small Business Saturday in shops for November. We’ve done three regional sets to help promote the Heritage Classic and Centennial Classic for the Winnipeg, Edmonton and Toronto markets this year that were very popular. We will be announcing a special set for our Authorized Internet Retailers next week. We will be doing NHL Draft sets for parties at shops again throughout Canada and some other key markets this June and there will be several other surprises as well.

Hobby Musings: NHCD set once again to excite collectors – Image Gallery

U.S.A. NHCD SET

CANADA NHCD SET

Hobby Musings: NHCD set once again to excite collectors
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