After opening four boxes of 2024-25 Topps Hockey Stickers, I was down to needing 71 stickers to complete the 800-sticker set. And yet these Topps sticker sets are notoriously difficult to build, so I knew that would probably be impossible. But I figured having more doubles on hand to trade could only help. Plus, there are those parallels. My fourth box had a Red Foil Parallel. Would this box also have a Red Foil Parallel? It could happen, as they are found one in every five boxes, or about three per 16-box case. Or could this box have two Blue Foil Parallels of players that I collect, or even – dare to dream – a Gold Foil Parallel?
That said, let’s see what my fifth and final box of 2024-25 Topps Hockey Stickers had inside.
What I Got in My 5th Box
My box contained a total of 250 stickers. There were no quality control issues. There were also no doubles internally.
198 Regular Stickers
Each pack of stickers has four regular (paper, non-foil) stickers. If the pack has a parallel sticker (Blue, Red, or Gold), then it has only three regular stickers. There were no doubles within the box. However, I didn’t need most of these for my set.
50 Foil (Insert) Stickers
Every pack has one foil sticker. I got 50 foil stickers total. Again, only a few of the 50 helped me with my set.
1 Blue Parallel Sticker
Yes, I only got 1 Blue Foil Parallel sticker.
It was of Mikael Backlund of the Calgary Flames and numbered 057/100.
I got only one Blue Foil Parallel because…
(Dramatic Pause.)
(Drumroll…)
(Suspense…)
(Suspense…)
(Even more suspense….)
I Struck Gold!!!!
1 Gold Parallel Sticker
Gold Foil Parallel stickers are numbered 1/1 and are found one in about every 2,500 packs – or about one in every 50 boxes. The Gold Foil Parallel I got is of Torey Krug of the St. Louis Blues. Maybe not my first choice of players, but at least I’ve heard of him. (And who could forget Krug’s borderline illegal hit on Robert Thomas in the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals back when Krug was with the Bruins.)
Breakdowns by 100s
How many stickers did I get in each group of 100? So glad you asked, because I keep track of that sort of nonsense 🙂
Stickers 1-100
19 regular stickers
6 foil stickers
= 25 stickers / 10% of the box
Stickers 101-200
25 regular stickers
7 foil stickers
= 32 stickers / 12.8% of the box
Stickers 201-300
28 regular stickers
5 foil stickers
= 33 stickers / 13.2% of the box
Stickers 301-400
25 regular stickers
5 foil stickers
= 30 stickers / 12% of the box
Stickers 401-500
25 regular stickers
4 foil stickers
= 29 stickers / 11.6% of the box
Stickers 501-600
15 regular stickers
13 foil stickers
= 28 stickers / 11.2% of the box
Stickers 601-700
27 regular stickers
5 foil stickers
= 32 stickers / 12.8% of the box
Stickers 701-800
34 regular stickers
5 foil stickers
= 39 stickers / 15.6% of the box
For some reason, this box had a ton of stickers from 701 to 800; 39 stickers, which is 15.6% of the box. Otherwise, every grouping was between 10% to 13%.
Progress on My Set
Well…I didn’t do so good with this box. Other than striking Gold, my luck had finally run out. I only needed 12 of the 198 regular stickers that were in my fifth box of Topps Hockey Stickers. Even worse, I needed only TWO(!) of the 50 foil stickers in this box.
Thus, while this box did give me a Blue Foil Parallel and a hard-to-find Gold Foil Parallel, it only contributed 14 stickers towards my set. I now have 593 out of 600 regular stickers and 150 out of 200 foil stickers.
In total, I have 743 out of 800 stickers. I still need 7 regular stickers and 50 foil stickers.
Other than getting a Gold Foil Parallel, my fifth box of 2024-25 Topps Hockey Stickers was somewhat forgettable. Spending $35 for a 50-pack box is a good price, but spending $35 to get only 12 stickers needed is disappointing. Would the money have been better spent on something else? The 12 stickers that I needed cost me an average of $3 each.
Of course, had I opened this box first, I would have needed every sticker and been absolutely stoked about pulling a Gold Foil Parallel, and would have given this box a 5/5 rating. So, the 4/5 rating is reflective of the collation and how few “needs” this box gave me. Getting doubles is part of the game, and I did get some doubles of players that I collect, so I don’t mind that too much.
Overall, I’m happy with my boxes of 2024-25 Topps Hockey Stickers. However, unless you are chasing the parallels, I think buying four boxes – which would net you 800 regular and 200 foil stickers – is probably a good place to stop. Every box past four will probably contribute very little towards your set, and you’d still have to trade or buy the last stickers you need anyway.
What do you think of the 2024-25 Topps Hockey Sticker Collection? Will you be collecting the full set, or just chasing after certain teams or players? Leave a comment and let me know.
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It’s a great get for gold, Sal. My fifth box netted me only 14 stickers that I needed. It is a huge disappointment but par for the course when building these sticker sets. I will stop for this year and add my unfinished book to the legacy of past unfinished books in my collection. Heck, I didn’t even get to complete the bottom portion of the Stanley Cup this year! I do enjoy doing the sets each year. This year’s subsets were fun, including the 1974-75 set, the 1979-80 rookies set, and my favorite, the sweaters sets. I’ve got lots of doubles if you are interested in trading, something I have never done before because I do not know anyone in my area that builds these sets. Cheers.
Would definitely like to trade once I get all my doubles sorted 🙂
I’m getting a case shortly and should have lots to trade. Dave
Hey Sal, this was a great unboxing idea!
I hope you end up getting the entire set.
Is your goal to just get the set, or are you actually filling out the book? That part is left unclear.
Thanks!
I am going to put the stickers in an album. Just need the time to sit down and do it. I will probably do a review of the set itself, either as a blog post or as a podcast. Thanks for reading!
I just completed the 800 sticker set. It took 8 boxes so 400 packs to do so. The last sticker I needed was the left center piece of the Stanley Cup and it finally came out in the 3rd to last pack of the 8th box. I got 16 blue parallels /100 and 1 red parallel /10. I notice that something is messed up with this set in the sense that there aren’t spaces in the album for all 800 stickers plus there’s some misnumbering which is unfortunate as the album is actually quite nice.
Wow! Eight boxes? That’s some dedication right there. Funny how it took you almost until the very end to get the final sticker that you needed.
The collation is not amazing to be sure. I’m wondering if it’s possible to complete even 2 sets per 16 box case. Technically it should happen but you just never know.
Just got my album. Will probably take me all year again to complete with a limited expendable income at the moment. Still need about 100 stickers from last seasons album ! Looking at this years product, I like some of the changes. I’m a fan of the NHL awards / trophies and covet the cup adds. Ive only been doing this album gimmick for the last 4 years. It’s kind of therapeutic and addicting to complete. Very expensive hobby but Im enjoying it.
Keep up the good work Sal !
Ok so I’ve just finished 12 boxes total. Opening 600 packs of stickers is fun but a bit tedious. I was into these boxes at a really great price. I’ve managed to complete 2 full 800 sticker sets. Out of the 1400 stickers remaining, 20 are blue parallels /100 and just 1 is a red /10. There are 4 unopened boxes left in my 16 box case that I’ll likely leave sealed or offer to my friend who is collecting the set as well. I’m probably pretty close to a 3rd set but I know for sure that I don’t have it because there was one piece of the Stanley Cup that has for whatever reason tough to pull and through the 12 boxes I only got 2. I’m a bit surprised just based on odds that I didn’t hit a 2nd red /10 but maybe there’s 1-2 in the remaining 4 boxes. Assuming the odds are correct and there are blue parallels of all 800 stickers in the set, that would make a total of 80000 blue parallels (800×100) and since they are 2 per box there would be 40,000 boxes in the production run or 2500 cases. These numbers work for the reds too but not exactly for the golds which supposedly are 1 in 2513 packs. This also doesn’t take into account the exclusive album stickers and if there are parallels of those.