One kid looks like he’s going to give the hockey hobby a needed jolt — and his name is — Connor Bedard. If all goes according to plan — hockey fans could see the 18-year-old first-overall pick hit the ice come October with the Chicago Blackhawks — which means he could also hit the Upper Deck hobby boxes.
Here’s how Upper Deck’s flagship product usually works — Series One will feature the rookies who debuted for their clubs in the 2023 portion of last season — like — Preds goalie Yaroslav Askarov — and Sens center Ridly Greig. So here’s what we’re thinking at Dave & Adam’s — it’s likely that we get the phenom Bedard’s Young Guns in Upper Deck Series Two — which is due out for a winter release on February 28 of next year.
Bedard already impressed in the NHL Rookie Tourney with a hatty against St. Louis with that lightning-quick release and silky hands — but does his hype have the power to carry a rookie class to new heights in the hockey portion of the hobby? We’ll answer that later. How well will these sealed boxes hold up to consecutive seasons — 2015-16 and 2016-17?
Well — let’s take a look at the market for these products. Something tells me if you hung on to anything from those two years — you’ll be in luck. Are you curious why I bring up those two seasons? It’s because they housed the Young Guns of some of the league’s biggest stars.
Upper Deck Series One from 2015-16 is what you’re ripping if you’re interested in the Young Guns of the #1 and #2 overall pick in 2015’s draft. The five-time Art Ross — and three-time Hart Trophy winner Connor McDavid and 2023 Stanley Cup winner Jack Eichel are highlights of the checklist in Series One. Along with the base version — you can find their Upper Deck Exclusives out of 100 — High Gloss out of 10 — and one-of-one printing plates.
Card Ladder values the #201 raw Connor McDavid Young Guns at $1,154 — with recent eBay sales of $1,066 — $1,467 — and $1,302. Let’s say that card gems from PSA — now you’re looking at a Card Ladder value of $3,000 — with the three most recent eBay sales being $3,000 — $3,125 — and once again $3,000. Just for fun — we looked at the Exclusives — which — via Card Ladder — the last two sold via Goldin and PWCC respectfully for more than $10,000. As for High Gloss — there’s a sale from August of this year for a BGS 9.5 for $109,866 and a BGS 9 from last year for $50,400.
Dave & Adam’s has sealed boxes on the website for $999.95. So if you hit a clean Connor — you’re making out on this one. Now Google analytics show that the 2016/17 Upper Deck Series One box has fluctuated in the past three months — but online retailers are selling hobby boxes for $749.95 now. That’s thanks to the rise in players like Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk — who’s coming off a Stanley Cup appearance — but more importantly — Calder winner and two-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Card Ladder shows a value of $287.27 — but — when you look at his raw Young Guns #201 — it sells pretty consistently for $330 plus.
Let’s give Matthews the same treatment we did with McDavid. Card Ladder says a PSA 10 of Matthews has a value of $781 — but a closer look at recent sales would dispute that — as there have been multiple examples of eBay sales in the $800 plus range. In a similar fashion to McDavid — the two most recent sales of Exclusive Matthews Young Guns on Card Ladder come from Goldin and PWCC — with a $7,800 sale in early September for a PSA 10 on PWCC and a $4,860 sale a handful of days before that for a BGS 9.5 on Goldin. It was tougher to find sold listings of Auston Matthews High Gloss Young Guns — but I was able to find one on 130Point from eBay in September of 2019 — graded a BGS 9 for $4,270 — and one from PWCC of $8,100 in March 2018 which gemmed from PSA. PS Did anyone notice Matthews and McDavid were number #201 in these sets — a coincidence? Maybe.
To the earlier question of Bedard having enough star power and hype to carry an entire rookie class — we think he can absolutely do it. The nice part that some casual fans may not realize is Bedard could have a strong supporting cast like Matthews had Tkachuk — Brayden Point — Patrick Laine — and teammate Mitch Marner. Leo Carlsson — Adam Fantilli — and Will Smith followed Bedard in the draft.
We are about to see some unprecedented things with Connor Bedard in the realm of Upper Deck. That comes with UD reconfiguring its flagship product for the first time in more than 20 years. That means Bedard will be part of the first class of Upper Deck rookies to have colored parallel Young Guns — including an unnumbered Outburst Silver — Deluxe numbered to 250 — Outburst Red numbered to 25 — and an Outburst Gold one-of-one. What do you guys think? Does the Gold Bedard Young Guns go for four figures? Graded bumps it to five figures? At least, right?!
You can do a generic search of Connor Bedard on Card Ladder — and more than 8,000 will pop up. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that Upper Deck Bedard cards exist. You can find him in 2021/22 Upper Deck Team Canada Juniors with such cards as Program Of Excellence and multiple signature sets. That’s available on our website for $699.95. Graded cards from the Team Canada set continue to sell almost daily. A PSA 9 of his Exclusive /250 sold for $400 on eBay — and a Pillars of Light PSA 10 for $234 also on eBay.
Bedard cards first appear in the 2021/22 CHL Hockey product — which is available on Dave & Adam’s website for $139.95. It does include Bedard autos in his Regina Pats sweater. There’s also recent examples of sales of the CHL cards on Card Ladder. One is a 2021 CHL Connor PSA 10 for $250 — and how about a CHL Stars Bedard PSA 10 for $450 — both on eBay.
Following the examples above — what do you think even a raw Bedard could go for at first? Hundreds? Thousands? Oh — and don’t worry — he’ll still have a Clear Cut — Canvas — Exclusives — and High Gloss on top of the parallels we already mentioned. We’re highly anticipating this release — with presells live on dacardworld.com for $199.95. It might be in your best interest to hang on to these sealed boxes and cases in early 2024.
The post Will Bedard’s Young Guns land in Upper Deck Series Two? appeared first on Dave & Adam's News.


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