Your opinion on the top 3-5 rookie card series? The Cup, FWA, YG . . .

[jcharles66]

I'm curious what rookie series (including key parallels) you consider as the top 3-5 to collect for a particular player. My list would look something like this:

1. The Cup Cookie Patch Auto (Very high $ for the key players I want so I generally ignore)
2. SP Authentic Future Watch Auto /999
3. Young Guns / Young Guns Exclusives. I generally leave out Canvas though they're highly collected.

So for me, #2 and #3 are the only two I generally go after. I'd love to identify a great next choice but haven't been able to make up my mind.

What's your list look like?

[theboxbreaker96]

I have the same top 3 as you do. 4 and 5 are tricky. Everyone will have different lists. What makes a set is the longevity of it so something like Ultimate collection might be there. They hardly outsell FWAs and are significantly numbered less. My 4 and 5 are as follows.

4. Premier RPAs
5. OPC Platinum RC Autos

I love the big window OPC Premier offers. The cards look stunning too. Its definitely going to be in my top 5 every year its produced. OPC Platinum might be the most surprising product to me. I'm not a fan of parallels but wow OPC Platinum is just awesome. I'm a huge fan of it. That's my top 5

[ari4l2010]

Cup
Ice
Ultimate
SPA
Young Guns

Ultimate and SPA can be flipped. Personal preference there for me.

[pwskelly]

@jcharles I agree with your top three, and similar to @ari4l2010 I would personally include the Ice RCs.

I personally love the YGs and I think they are somewhat iconic to Upper Deck hockey however I do not count the YG Exclusives or Canvas as they are not really RCs but rather parallels.

[pwskelly]

..... and Ultimate, those RCs are often highly sought out by many collectors as they tend to be some of the most difficult to acquire after The Cup and Ice (particularly the high-end guys /99) in my experience.

[creasecollector]

I like these as well:

1) The Cup RPA
2) SPA FWA
3) Young Guns

My 4 & 5 would be:

4) UD Ice Rookie (Not a RC parallel, but the Ice Premieres Auto Patch /10 can also go here)
5) Premier RPA (Lower on the list since Premier just made a comeback)

[RGM81]

I'd say you're pretty spot-on. In the 2005-up era, most of the "signature" rookie cards will be UD of course but I think you can include the Dominion and National Treasures (13-14, not the 10-11 inserts) rookies from Panini.

Not too long ago I wrote an eBay buying guide on the top current players to collect and the main challenge to it was not just saying "get his Cup, YG, and SPA" for all of them. You have to make it interesting, after all.

[pwskelly]

The National Treasures were beautiful cards, it's pity they were not able to continue with that set.

[Stryfex]

I find that over time, despite the groans of breakers and upper deck, more and more people are gravitating towards there only being one set of hockey cards to collect every year - series 1 and 2

so for me I have 1 answer and that's "Young Guns".

[creasecollector]

The National Treasures were beautiful cards, it's pity they were not able to continue with that set.

+1,000