Hobby Musings: Recapping Strong Hockey Card Season – The past NHL hockey season had a lot of promise from a trading card standpoint. Thanks in large part to one of the strongest rookie classes in recent memory, it certainly did not disappoint.
Besides some of the expected stars like Connor McDavid, there were plenty of surprising youngsters to emerge on the scene. To help take a look back at the hockey card season that was, I had the chance to catch up with Upper Deck’s Chris Carlin. The following interview was conducted via email.
KS: We have another hockey season in the books, and the Pittsburgh Penguins are back on top of the hockey world. Beyond the playoffs, it was a pretty notable NHL season, especially for the rookie class. Looking back on it now, how do you feel this season was from an NHL trading card perspective?
CC: It certainly provided collectors in many of the key hockey markets with incredible rookies to chase. I firmly believe this will be a year that collectors will come back to and collect for decades to come. I’m not surprised many collectors have been squirreling away boxes and cases of many of the releases with hopes we will have a situation like 2005-06. There have been a variety of options for collectors to choose from and many are picking their favorites and loading up.
KS: Touching on the rookies more, the class was headlined by the likes of Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, but there were other strong rookies too, including Dylan Larkin and Artemi Panarin. In terms of hobby performance and reception, how would you rank the 2015-16 crop to other rookie classes?
CC: I think it is right up there with 2005-06 with regard to talent and extremely deep. Especially for goalie collectors. Who saw Matt Murray coming? Connor Hellebucyk is also great prospect for the Jets that could help them with their rebuild.
Garret Sparks of the Leafs had some nice moments this season as well and I know more than a few collectors who have made him the target of their player collections. There’s also young guys who didn’t see much action as well who could be big like Zach Fucale and Malcolm Subban. We will be talking about all these players for a long time!
KS: Out of all the rookies, who would you say had the strongest performance in the card market based on everything you saw?
CC: Of course it has been Connor McDavid. He had so much hype around him, but even with the injury he definitely performed incredibly this season. He is so young, I think he will continue to be an impact for a long time.
KS: Were there any rookies who emerged that were a surprise to you?
CC: Matt Murray, Matt Murray, Matt Murray. His performance in the playoffs was just incredible. 
Being a late-season call-up, he will not have a lot of rookie cards out there which should drive high demand for them as they make their way to the market. His Young Guns update card in 2015-16 NHL SP Authentic could see huge interest from collectors.
KS: One thing about the rookies this season was they didn’t get much in the way of playoff exposure. One exception to that is Penguins goalie Matthew Murray. How does his late emergence, especially in the Stanley Cup Final, affect your trading card production plans?
CC: We had to scramble to get him in pretty much everything we could. Players like him create a lot of fire drills for us, but we’ve been able to get him in most of the late-season releases for fans.
KS: Connor McDavid had a pretty strong year in the trading card industry, but he did unfortunately miss a significant amount of time with injury. While obviously not being able to account for how he would have performed on the ice with the extra time, how do you think his hobby market would have been affected had he played a full season?
CC: I don’t think it would have affected the hobby market. Everyone in the hobby knew about him and chased him. It would have helped with mainstream hockey fans, new collectors, lapsed collectors, etc. seeking out his collectibles. We missed a little bit there, but as long as he continues to perform, fans will chase down the 2015-16 NHL releases (from Upper Deck).
Hobby Musings: Recapping Strong Hockey Card Season – A Look Ahead
KS: Next year’s rookie class is going to have a tough act to follow, but there are some potential stars, with Auston Matthews perhaps being the best of the bunch. How do you think Matthews will project in the card industry compared to some of his recent contemporaries?
CC: I think he will be strong and clearly the Toronto market has been DYING for some young franchise players to cheer for. What fans need to realize is that it will not just be Auston Matthews for the Leafs. They will have a number of impact rookie players this season many of whom are carryover rookies so they will be in all the products starting with MVP.
William Nylander and Kasperi Kapanen are two of the top prospects in that holdover class for the Leafs, but there are several guys that could make an impact and look for Mitch Marner to do some big things in Toronto next season as well. If we have a number of rookies in one of the biggest collectible markets for NHL trading cards, we might not see much of a drop off from this season.
KS: Who are some other rookies collectors should be keeping an eye on in this year’s draft class?
CC: I tend to look at the markets that have a lot of hobby support. Winnipeg going #2 should grab Patrick Laine from Finland who can be an impact player for sure. Jets fans will fall in love with him and search out his collectibles like crazy. Matthew Tkachuk and Alexander Nylander are legacies as well that could have a solid fan base right out the gate. The thing I’ll really be watching for is trades. There have been a number of them speculated and that could really change up player and team collector’s habits.
KS: Getting away from the rookies a little bit, I’m just curious. Based on where the market is today, who would you 
say is the most popular currently active NHL player in the card industry today?
CC: It’s still Sidney Crosby. Sid has his share of haters, but he is the man and hoisting the Stanley Cup again really helps secure his legacy as one of the game’s best. He also has a pretty nice signature which fans appreciate, I just wish he wasn’t so busy so we could have him sign more.
KS: Are there any veteran players you think could be primed to break out in the hobby going forward?
CC: Brett Burns and Joe Thornton were very nice stories this year for the Sharks who had a lot of fans chasing their collectibles again. Outside of that I would look to see what happens in trades AND what happens with the expansion draft. There could be a couple veteran guys who make a name for themselves on the upstart Las Vegas team.
KS: We unfortunately just lost one of the game’s greatest players in Gordie Howe. Does Upper Deck have any tribute items planned for him?
CC: We were deeply saddened by his passing. We were interested in negotiating a new deal with him, but after his last stroke, we wanted to give his family space and be respectful of his condition. We’ve done a lot with Gordie over the years and it was very sad for many of us to see him pass. I think the cards and collectibles we’ve created are the perfect tribute to his memory for now.
KS: If you don’t mind, I’m going to switch gears for my last question. We’re quickly coming up on the National Sports Collectors Convention in Atlantic City. You’ve released some preliminary details about the company’s plans for the show, but any other new information you can provide us?
CC: It’s all right here. We will also be announcing shortly some tweaks to the expired redemption raffle program, but we think collectors will like these changes as it came directly from their feedback.
Kelsey’s ability to bring hobby coverage to the mainstream sports fan has been a true asset. GTS is happy to feature his thoughts on collecting in Hobby Musings. The opinions expressed are his and do not necessarily reflect those of GTS Distribution.
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