PWHL Cards are Hot!

That’s Great! But How Long Will It Last?

The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) finally has a set of trading cards – and those cards have been well-received by The Hobby.

Since it was released on January 22, the new Upper Deck “2024 PWHL First Edition” cards have been a hot commodity. In just two short weeks, box prices have more than doubled – going from around $80 and now selling for between $180 and $200 at hobby shops…that is, if you can even FIND a box. 

Big online retailers like Steel City Collectibles, Blowout Cards, and D.A. “No Bounty to See Here” Card World are currently sold out of PWHL cards.

Continue reading “PWHL Cards are Hot!”

Topps Gives Stickers the “Fanatics” Treatment with Serial-Numbered Parallels

The 2024-25 Topps NHL Sticker Collection was released last week. Full 50-pack boxes are available on eBay and Amazon. Unlike the print-on-demand Topps Now NHL stickers, the Topps NHL Sticker Collection stickers are available in stores and are made to be put into an album. 

What is really interesting this year is that Topps is giving its NHL album sticker set the full “Fanatics” treatment by including serial-numbered parallel stickers. 

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Calling Out DA Card World on its Bogus Bedard Bounty

It’s easy to talk the talk but not walk the walk.

Last month, DA Card World surreptitiously posted on its blog that the $1 million dollar bounty for finding the 2023-24 Upper Deck Connor Bedard Gold Outburst 1/1 Young Guns card was “no longer an active bounty, it has expired.”

Now, I realize that DA Card World made this sneaky “announcement” on December 9 – over one month ago – and that this is old news.

However, like a lot of things that happen in December, this got lost in the shuffle, flew under the radar – whatever metaphor you want to use – because of its timing around the holidays. Heck, I didn’t even hear about this until December 20. 

I also needed some time to stew on this a bit and mull things over before I chimed in my two cents. Continue reading “Calling Out DA Card World on its Bogus Bedard Bounty”

My Collecting Resolution for 2025

Happy New Year Puck Junk readers! I hope the holidays have been great for you, that you got a cool present, and had some time to relax and watch some hockey.  

About two weeks ago, I started thinking about what my Collecting Resolution for 2025 should be while I was trying to find room to put some cards away in my “card closet.” Continue reading “My Collecting Resolution for 2025”

Puck Junk’s Top Articles of 2024

Happy New Year, Puck Junk readers! The holidays were great for me – but they also kept me away from this blog quite a bit during the month of December. Hopefully, I will have more time in 2025 to write about hockey and hockey collecting. 

Looking back at the past year, we published 40 articles on Puck Junk – in addition to releasing 34 episodes of the Puck Junk Podcast (more about that here) and sending out 52 issues of the Puck Junk Newsletter

Not surprisingly, the most popular article on this website was about Connor Bedard – specifically, his Young Guns rookie card. In fact, four of the top five articles were about card values. Here’s a look at the five most-read articles published on Puck Junk in 2024. 

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Puck Junk’s Top Podcasts of 2024

With the first Puck Junk Podcast episode for 2025 just a few days away, I thought now would be a good time to look back and see how the Podcast did in 2024. 

During the 2024 calendar year, we released 34 episodes. Topics ranged from reviews of new hockey card releases, “setrospectives” of older hockey card sets, interviews with players and insiders, and recaps of major conventions such as the National and the Toronto Sport Card Expo. We really “ran the gambit” of topics, as Tim would say. 

We had listeners from all over the world tune into our show in 2024. About 53% of our audience hails from the United States, while 38% are from Canada. Rounding out the top three is Germany, which accounts for 2% of our audience. We also have listeners from Finland, China, Singapore, Sweden, Australia, Norway and France. (This might be the only time that China ranks higher than Sweden in anything related to hockey.)

For what it’s worth, most of our listeners get our show from Apple Podcasts, followed by Spotify. 

Below are the five most listened to episodes of the Puck Junk Podcast that were released in 2024. If you are a new listener, or you missed some of these episodes, give these a listen to tide you over until our next episode comes out at the end of the week. 

Continue reading “Puck Junk’s Top Podcasts of 2024”

The Case of the Resold OPC Case

Just imagine owning an O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky rookie card, pack fresh and with four sharp corners. Now imagine owning 24 of them.

For one recent auction winner, that dream could become a reality. On December 5, Heritage Auctions sold a full case of 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee hockey cards for $2.52 million USD. A case has 16 boxes. A box has 48 packs. Each pack has 14 cards. If the entire case is opened, it could have anywhere from 24 to 28 Gretzky rookie cards inside. 

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Interlocking Card Frames Make a Great Wall Display

You put a lot of time, passion, and money into your collection. So, it is only natural that you would want to display your best cards – either graded or ungraded – on your wall. BCW Interlocking Card Frames are a great way to display your cardboard treasures for the world to see. They are versatile, easy to hang, fit together nicely, and add a touch of class to your display. Read the rest of the story at the BCW Supplies Blog.

The 2024-25 Collecting Season Starts Today

Launch of MVP Signals Start of New Collecting Year

Happy New Collecting Year!

Today, Upper Deck released its 2024-25 MVP Hockey card set. In recent history, MVP is always the first hockey set released for the season – meaning that the 2024-25 hockey collecting season has officially begun.

Like previous years’ MVP sets, the 2024-25 MVP Hockey set consists of 200 base cards and 50 short prints. The 50 short prints are either of rookies who made their debuts late during the previous season – a.k.a. “Leftover Rookies,” as I like to call them – or of star NHL players.

Of course, there are parallels and inserts galore, as well as the chance of pulling a redemption card that can be exchanged for a “Number One Draft Pick” card of Sharks’ rookie Macklin Celebrini.

With the start of hockey season still over six weeks away, it does seem a bit premature to release cards for the new season. I mean, some of us are still trying to complete several sets from the 2023-24 season.

Continue reading “The 2024-25 Collecting Season Starts Today”

My Recap of the 2024 National Sports Collectors Convention

Last month, the 44th annual National Sports Collectors Convention took place in Cleveland, Ohio. And for the fourth year in a row, I set up at the National to sell hockey cards and Puck Junk t-shirts, and to promote the Puck Junk Podcast.

As much fun as it is to be at a five-day card show, it is also a grind. Continue reading “My Recap of the 2024 National Sports Collectors Convention”