There’s no shortage of longtime hockey traditions that mark the beginning of a new season.
Rookies fight for roster spots, and veterans shake off the rust in training camp. The defending champion raises its Stanley Cup banner to the rafters, and fans of the other 31 teams convince themselves that this is their year. Gary Bettman gets booed when he appears on arena Jumbotrons and TV screens at home, before the puck finally drops and the games begin.
And of course, the arrival of a new NHL campaign signals the chase is on for a new crop of Young Guns, parallels, and case hits in Upper Deck Series 1.
The flagship product, set for release on October 7, sticks with its tried-and-true, don’t-fix-what-ain’t-broken formula of rookie cards, numbered variants, and popular insert sets, while adding a few new twists to the lineup.
Top Young Guns Cards to Chase
Young Guns, one of the most recognizable lines in the hobby for over three decades, continues to be the biggest draw for hockey collectors.
The 49-player checklist is a mix of notable recent draft picks, players who’ve already shown flashes of stardom, and prospects who enter the year with varying degrees of pro experience and potential opportunity.
Headlining that list are Porter Martone, the first-line winger for the Flyers who racked up 10 points in nine regular-season games and another five in the playoffs last season; James Hagens, the No. 5 pick in the 2025 draft who has top-six upside on a talented Bruins team; and Anton Frondell, the No. 3 pick last year who’s playing on the first line in Chicago alongside the legendary Patrick Kane and could soon share the ice with Connor Bedard, one of the hobby’s biggest names, on the power play.
Beyond that top trio, there’s plenty of intrigue in a deep class that also includes two Capitals who are both younger brothers of NHL stars. Cole Hutson, the sibling of Canadiens standout Lane Hutson, produced 10 points in 14 NHL games last season, while forward Ilya Protas, the reigning AHL Rookie of the Year, begins the year on Washington’s third line with his brother Aliaksei.
Along with the base versions of all Young Guns and veteran cards, returning parallels include acetate Clear Cut; Deluxe (/250); Exclusives (/100); High Gloss (/10); plus Silver, Red (/25), and one-of-one Gold (/1) Outbursts.
Fan Favorites and New Insert Cards
While familiar favorites such as Dazzlers, Debut Dates, Population Count, and UD Canvas carry over from past years, new additions to the lineup include Here We Go!, which offers an overhead shot of players in the faceoff circle, and the visually distinctive Stencils.
Instead of any traditional ink on the front of the card, the 100-card set offers just the basic essentials of a shoulder-up player portrait, his last name, and the Upper Deck logo, all rendered in foil.
And because it’s apparently mandatory by law for all modern releases to offer enough parallels to make collectors question whether they actually need thatmany versions of the same image, each Stencils insert comes in six colors, ranging from red (/399) to purple (/25).
Super Short Print Chase Cards
While the next iteration of the ongoing holographic Holotypes is tough to pull with 1-in-1,008 pack odds, the additional SSPs in Series 1 are super short-printed, falling at 1 in 2,880 packs. I was told there would be no math, but after some serious Excel number-crunching, that works out to, on average, one ultra-rare hit in every 20 cases.
It will take a whole lot of luck, and probably a whole lot of break spots, but as Michael Scott (or was it Wayne Gretzky?) once said, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
Macklin Celebrini and Matthew Schaefer are two of the young superstars featured in the second edition of Bootleg, with each of the 18 cards sporting its own design and a mix of foil, soft-touch, and gloss finishes.
Electric Soul makes its Series 1 debut with a rendering of each player in a single hue against a backdrop featuring his team’s primary colors.
And instead of traditional action photos, Youthful Spirits swaps in original artwork, pairing 12 NHL stars, including Bedard and Celebrini, with paintings created specifically for the set by award-winning Aboriginal artist Presten Warren.
Whether you’re hoping to beat the odds on an SSP, chasing the next big rookie, or hunting down a player’s rainbow, there’s plenty of reasons to rip packs when Series 1 soon hits hobby shops.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/collectibles as 2026-27 Upper Deck Series 1 Preview: Top Young Guns and Inserts to Chase.
