Spotlighting many future NHL draft picks, the 2024-25 Upper Deck CHL hockey card set features the best players from the Ontario Hockey League, the Western Hockey League, and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The set consists of 300 base cards and 100 short-printed cards. 

A box of 2024-25 Upper Deck CHL contains 12 packs and costs around $70. Each pack has 14 base cards, one short print “Star” or “Star Rookie” card, and one insert or parallel card. Each box contains either an autographed card or an Outburst parallel card.

I recently opened a box of 2024-25 Upper Deck CHL hockey cards. Let’s see what I got:

168 Base Cards

As I mentioned before, the 2024-25 CHL set has 300 base cards. Each pack had 14 base cards, and I did not get any doubles. 

Card backs have vitals like height and weight, up to two years of stats and career totals, and a paragraph about the player. The same photo from the front is used again on the back. 

6 Star Rookie & 6 Star Short Prints

Cards 301-400 are short printed, falling one per pack. You either get a “Star” (301-350) or a “Star Rookie” (351-400) in each pack. My box had six of each. Stars are established CHL players who will probably (or already did) get drafted by an NHL team, while Star Rookies are of CHL players making their major junior debut. 

While I don’t mind having 50 or so short printed “Star Rookie” cards, it is a buzzkill that 50 of the best players in the CHL are short printed “Stars” cards.”

For example, five of the top 10 players picked in the 2025 NHL Draft are in the “Stars” set: Michael Misa (2nd), Caleb Desnoyers (4th), Porter Martone (6th), Jake O’Brien (8th), and Roger McQueen (10th). It’s not fun when most of the best players in the CHL set are tough to get. However, Matthew Schaefer – the first-overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft – is found in the base set, and not among the short prints. 

Insert Cards

Every pack of 2024-25 Upper Deck CHL has an insert card of some sort. Many of them are SHINY – so the scans may look a little odd. 

3 In the Lab

“In the Lab” insert cards look like a heads-up display that you’d see in a video game (or how The Terminator “sees” things), with numbers and graphics at the right giving some sort of technical readout about the player. Kind of a neat idea, but the name of the set isn’t very fitting. When I think “in the lab,” I think of a mad scientist bringing a monster to life. Or making some sort of high-tech James Bond weapon. Maybe that was the idea here. 

3 Prominent Combos

“Prominent Combos” is a little easier to wrap my head around. It shows two good players from the same team. The text on the back details a game where both players scored multiple points. 

2 That’s a Rocket 

“That’s a Rocket” spotlights players who score a lot of goals. I guess the “rocket” is referring to their shots. 

1 First Draft

“First Draft” cards depict players who were recently drafted by a CHL team. 

Parallel Cards

My box had three different parallels. 

1 Silver Outburst Parallel

You either get an autographed card or an Outburst card. I got an Outburst Silver Parallel card of Pierce Mbuyi.  He had a stellar first season in the OHL. Mbuyi scored 29 goals and 23 assists for 52 points in 63 games in 2024-25 and won the Emms Family Award as the OHL’s rookie of the year. So, even though I did not get an autograph, I still got a nice parallel of an exciting future NHL prospect. 

1 Red Parallel

Owen Van Steensel is the team captain of the North Bay Battalion, but he was traded to the Barrie Colts midway through the 2024-25 season. He is 20 years old and has not been drafted by an NHL team. He has signed with Clarkson University (NCAA Division 1) for the 2025-26 season. This Red Parallel card is serial numbered 043/100. 

1 Printing Plate

My last parallel in the box of 2024-25 Upper Deck CHL is a yellow printing plate of Victoriaville Tigres goalie Gabriel D’Aigle. He was drafted in the 3rd round (84th overall) by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2025 NHL Draft. Although I don’t necessarily collect printing plates, it is a thrill whenever I get one of these in a pack. 

2024-25 Upper Deck CHL delivers what most junior league card collectors would want: an expansive base set with rookie cards of first-year CHL players. One short print and one insert per pack keeps the box from getting too monotonous, as you get a TON of base cards, too. 

A set of 300 base cards makes sense, considering that the three CHL leagues have 61 teams between them. But 100 short prints are about 50 too many. Short printing the “Star Rookies” subset makes sense in this era of short-printed rookie cards. But short printing the best players as the “Stars” subset seems punitive. Those who collect CHL cards aren’t doing it for the money or for “investment purposes,” as the larger part of the collecting community practically ignores “pre-rookie” cards. So, why short print the CHL’s best players? 

Other than that, CHL is a good set if you like junior hockey cards. It is affordable, you get a lot of cards for your money, and you might get an autograph or a limited parallel. 

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