This coming Saturday, April 11, is National Hockey Card Day. As an avid collector of all things sports cards and memorabilia with my sons, I’m always on board with these days because it’s fun. And this year’s National Hockey Card Day has a lot to be excited about for folks to enjoy the hobby.
The rookie cards everyone’s chasing this year are obviously Matthew Schaefer and Ivan Demidov. And Upper Deck has put together a fun collection of cards that will be distributed in free packs and giveaways with purchases for fans to get some current and former stars and young studs.
Unfortunately for Blackhawks fans and Arvid Söderblom, the Blackhawks’ goaltender is featured on a special card commemorating Demidov’s first career NHL goal.
In the special packs for National Hockey Card Day, Blackhawks fans can get cards of legend Chris Chelios and rookie Artyom Levshunov.
What National Hockey Card Day is All About
I had a chance to speak with Paul Nguyen from Upper Deck about the hobby’s growth, working with Connor Bedard as one of Upper Deck’s signature athletes, and some unique events around National Hockey Card Day. You can see the list of participating shops in the USA and Canada here.
Here’s some of my conversation with Nguyen.
How has the collector market for Connor Bedard evolved over his three seasons in the NHL?
“When he first came out with his Young Guns card, there was a huge amount of people that were joining into the hobby just to start collecting. And I think that was one of the earlier times that I had seen that happen where people that weren’t collecting before really started to join in because they saw how good of a player that he was and wanted to be part of that history. I think that’s really how it’s evolved there in the past three years. And you continue to see that his cards still really hold a collectibility with fans because of that.”
How do you feel like hockey cards and memorabilia both have kind of played a role in helping grow exposure for hockey as a game?
“I think what you’re kind of seeing on the ice — like, who’s being represented on the ice — you’re kind of also seeing in the collector community as well. There used to be only like a little bit of an older type of collector, but now after COVID, after the popularity of trading cards and collectibles, you’re seeing like all age ranges collecting right now. So I think everyone’s potentially seeing some of themselves in the veterans, the superstars and the hot rookies right now. So, they have something to chase for everybody. And I think that’s reflective of what you’re seeing on the market right now and who’s collecting and what.”
How have you seen National Hockey Card Day grow over the years?
“We’ve seen the amount of hobby shops in the US and Canada and all over really start to expand. And so the spread of this event in hobby shop participation has grown as well, not only in the United States and Canada, but also internationally. We have it in places like China, the UK, Australia, and the Netherlands. So it’s really become like a worldwide event.”
Younger players like to rip packs on social media and at events. How much more have you seen your signature athletes and athletes in general embrace the hobby? And how have you seen that relationship grow over the last few years?
“It’s completely grown and I think it will continue to grow as like this younger generation that’s coming up is entrenched in this collecting community. Like, this is a popular, common type of hobby now, right? And if they are opening and breaking, their fans are seeing that’s something that they want to emulate too. So they’re continuing to help grow the hobby by just doing something that they intrinsically love as well.”
PWHL cards are included in this year’s sets for National Hockey Card Day. How exciting is it to embrace that league and open doors with their fans as well?
“When we first came out with the first PWHL product before, we had high hopes for this product, but we didn’t expect as big of a reaction as we did in such a positive way. So when we were thinking about how we could help improve this year and create something new, something exciting for people to chase, we thought that putting in the PWHL trading cards would be something people would really want. So we’re excited to see fans reactions as they get more access to more PWHL cards.”
If you’re out shopping this weekend, make sure you also check out the special limited edition Blackhawks Centennial Set, which commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Blackhawks. There are hobby tins and retail boxes with really incredible cards that I’ve written about previously here. I’ve got some at home and might need to get Darren Pang to sign one before the season ends!View this post on Instagram
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