The popular Upper Deck program returns on Saturday, March 3, 2018
Don’t call it a comeback; it’s been around for years! Upper Deck’s National Hockey Card Day returns for 2018. On Saturday, March 3, 2018, collectors in the U.S. and Canada can get an exclusive pack of trading cards when they visit a participating retailer (U.S retailers here, Canadian retailers here.)
This is the 7th year that NHCD has taken place in the U.S., and the 10th year in Canada. For 2018, Upper Deck has upped the ante and added a few more cards to the mix.
Both the Canadian and U.S. NHCD sets consist of 16 cards. Fifteen of the cards can be found in the five-card packs given out for free while the 16th card is free only with a purchase at the store. There are also insert and chase cards that can be found in the packs. As always, the cards given away in Canada differ from the cards given away in the U.S.
Here are the complete checklists for the Canadian NHCD set, the U.S. NHCD set, and all special insert sets.
First up is the Canadian set, which consists of five Canadian-born rookies, five Canadian-born superstars and five retired Canadian greats.
NHCD 2018 Canadian Checklist
1. Nolan Patrick
2. Josh Ho-Sang
3. Tyson Jost
4. Pierre-Luc Dubois
5. Owen Tippet
6. Erik Karlsson
7. Carey Price
8. Mark Scheifele
9. Connor McDavid
10. Auston Matthews
11. Steve Yzerman
12. Guy Lafleur
13. Darryl Sittler
14. Mark Messier
15. Mario Lemieux
16. P.K. Subban (available with purchase)
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of National Hockey Card Day, five 10th Anniversary Young Gun reprints — with a special anniversary logo on the front — can be found in Canadian NHCD packs.
10th Anniversary Young Guns
Connor McDavid
John Tavares
Nathan McKinnon
P.K. Subban
Steven Stamkos
Finally, 10 different Victory Black rookie cards can be found in both the U.S. and Canadian NHCD packs.
Victory Black Rookies
Josh Ho-Sang
Victor Mete
Owen Tippett
Pierre-Luc Dubois
Nolan Patrick
Nico Hischier
Filip Chytil
Alex DeBrincat
Kailer Yamamoto
Alex Tuch
Canadian collectors can also find uncut sheets of NHCD cards at Toys R Us, London Drugs, Pro Hockey Life and the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The NHCD set for U.S. collectors focuses on five top rookies to play on American-based teams, five American-born superstars and five retired American greats.
NHCD 2018 American Checklist
1. Nico Hischier
2. Clayton Keller
3. Charlie McAvoy
4. Alex DeBrincat
5. Will Butcher
6. Phil Kessel
7. Ryan Kesler
8. T.J. Oshie
9. Ryan McDonagh
10. Auston Matthews
11. Tom Barrasso
12. Phil Housley
13. John Vanbiesbrouck
14. Brett Hull
15. Pat Lafontaine
16. Jake Guentzel* (available with purchase)
U.S. packs will also have chase inserts of five Vegas Golden Knights players, in addition to the 10 Victory Black Rookies.
Vegas Golden Knights
Marc-Andre Fleury
Alex Tuch
Jonathan Marchessault
Reilly Smith
James Neal
For more information, visit Upper Deck’s National Hockey Card Day website here, see the list of participating Canadian stores here, and the list of participating U.S. stores here.
Are you going to any card shops for National Hockey Card Day this year? If so, I’d love to talk with you for a longer article that I am writing which will recap NHCD 2018. If so, leave a comment below, send me an email at sjb@puckjunk.com or contact me on Twitter @puckjunk. ■
Follow Sal Barry on Twitter @PuckJunk.
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I always take my kids to The Rookie for NHCD!
I regret to say it is probably not worth it. Was just at my local Toysrus in Ottawa and was told they are only letting kids participate. As an adult collector I am SOL or will have to drive out to one of the card shops (assuming they aren’t pulling the same thing). Someone else told me in Toronto some stores don’t have a clue what this promotion is when asked. This year seems like a real mess!
I drove to one of the stores in NJ on the list…unfortunately, the power was out from the storm, so the store was closed!