Like the final part of a three-act play, Upper Deck Extended Series rounds out the company’s most-exciting card set. Extended Series adds 200 more base cards and 30 new Young Guns to collect, as well as 20 “Round 1 Draft Picks” short prints, making Upper Deck’s flagship release the biggest set of the 2022-23 season.
2022-23 Upper Deck Extended Series costs about $95 per box and contains 24 eight-card packs. This is the last Upper Deck flagship set that will have this pack configuration, as the set will increase the card count – but decrease the number of packs – starting next year.
I opened a box of 2022-23 Extended Series. Here is what was inside.
167 Base Cards
Cards 501 to 653 are base cards of veteran players. These cards picture players who changed teams during the 2022 offseason, as well as bit players who were overlooked in Series One and Series Two.
Cards 645 to 698 are of players who participated in the 2022 NHL All-Star Game. Personally, I like cards that picture players in their All-Star Game uniforms, and this subset pictures all 44 players who took part in the 2022 NHL All-Star Game.
Cards 699 and 700 are the base set checklists.
My box had 167 base cards, and none were duplicates.
5 Young Guns
What? Only FIVE Young Guns? Correct, as the 50 short prints (701-750) are divided into two groups: Young Guns (cards 701-730) and Round 1 Draft Picks (cards 731-750). The five Young Guns in my box were Simon Holmstrom, Tim Berni, Anton Levtchi, Nick Cicek, and Fredrik Olofsson.
1 Round 1 Draft Pick
Round 1 Draft Picks (cards 731-750) round out the short-printed subset. These cards picture players who had Young Guns in Series One or Series Two and were, obviously, drafted in the first round during their draft year. Matt Boldy is the Round 1 Draft Picks card that was in my box.
1 Young Guns French
Extended Series also has French Parallels at about one per box. A French Young Guns of former Panthers forward Anton Levtchi is the French Parallel that was in my box. Letvchi played 35 games in the AHL and 2 games with the Florida Panthers before he returned to his native Sweeden to finish out the 2022-23 season. He most likely isn’t coming back to the NHL anytime soon, making this pull a “Scrub Gun”…but in French.
4 UD Canvas
The ever-popular UD Canvas insert set continues in Extended Series. Andre Burakovsky, Victor Olofsson, Rickard Rakell, and Alexander Georgiev were the four UD Canvas cards that I got.
1 Dazzlers Blue
I also pulled one Dazzlers Blue card of Jakub Lauko. Blue and Pink Dazzlers are found in hobby boxes of Extended Series.
1 Smooth Grooves
Smooth Grooves cards are printed on PETG plastic, and are a bit “See-through.” This is a Smooth Grooves of Jack Hughes.
4 2007-08 Retro Inserts
Crickey, am I feeling nostalgic for 2007-08? I sure am! The2007-08 Retro Insert cards use the design from 2007-08 Upper Deck Series One and Series Two. There are 75 “base veterans” of 2007-08 Retro inserts to collect. I got Adrian Kempe, Andre Burakovsky, Dominik Kubalik, and Sidney Crosby
1 2007-08 Retro Young Guns Inserts
Also in my box was a 2007-08 Young Guns Retro Insert. I will say that the 2007-08 design aged well, for both the base design and the Young Guns design. Young Blackhawks’ potential star Lukas Reichel was in my box.
1 2007-08 Retro UD Exclusives /100
Should I be surprised that Upper Deck made UD Exclusive versions of Retro Inserts? Nah. I’m surprised there aren’t like 30 parallels of this insert. Although, I guess if there were /100 parallels done back in 2007-08, it would make sense to repeat that practice for the 2007-08 anniversary inserts. This card of Robert Thomas is numbered 078/100 and uses rainbow foil instead of gold foil for the player name and Upper Deck logo.
1 1997-98 Collectors Choice Commemorative
These Collector Choice Commemorative cards are triptychs – three separate cards that make up a larger composition. This Trevor Zegras is the left part of what is a three-card composition.
1 SPx
Oh, yeah! I always like getting SPx inserts. Martin Necas was the SPx insert in my box. These cards just feel so late 1990s.
1 SPx Bronze /250
I also got an SPx Bronze Parallel of Owen Power, which is numbered out of 250.
1 2006-07 Black Diamond
2006-07 Black Diamond Retro inserts are also found in Extended Series. Nathan MacKinnon was the Black Diamond Retro that I got.
1 2006-07 Black Diamond Rookie Gems
There are also Black Diamond Retro Rookie Gems inserts. Thomas Bordeleau of the San Jose Sharks was the one I pulled from my box.
1 Clear Cut
Clear Cut cards are printed on PETG plastic and are a bit “see-through.” You can see the Oilers logo printed on the back of the card showing through on Derek Ryan’s shoulder.
Well, I guess I finally got used to the “new normal” of Upper Deck costing around $4 for an eight-card pack. Unfortunately, that will change in the fall. Regardless, 2022-23 Upper Deck Extended is a great product and is a must-buy if you are a big fan of Series One and Series Two.
The base set has photos of players with their new teams, bit players, and All-Stars. While the Young Guns class found in Extended Series might be a little thin, there are some decent players in there. (We talk about many of these rookies in-depth in Episode #160 of the Puck Junk Podcast.) The 20 Round 1 Draft Picks cards add secondary rookie cards of this year’s most popular rookies. And the numerous fun inserts, though a bit overwhelming, are a lot of fun.
Extended Series may not have the star power or rookie class of Series One or Series Two, but it is still makes a great thing even greater.
Sal Barry is the editor and webmaster of Puck Junk. He is a freelance hockey writer, college professor and terrible hockey player. Follow him on Twitter @puckjunk
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One thought on “2022-23 Upper Deck Extended Series Box Break”
This release was best extended yet. The inserts are worth more than ygs for most part.
I also got an SPx Bronze Parallel of Owen Power, which is numbered out of 250. 
This release was best extended yet. The inserts are worth more than ygs for most part.