Tomorrow’s prospects to be found in 2015-16 Upper Deck AHL Hockey

By Stephen Laroche | Beckett Hockey Editor

Many of the NHL’s big names experience an apprenticeship in the American Hockey League and hockey card collectors have a chance to collect tomorrow’s stars before they get their official rookie cards with 2015-16 Upper Deck AHL Hockey.

Each 20-pack box will be loaded with inserts and autographs. Traditionally, products like this have a strong following among prospectors and while Upper Deck has yet to incorporate a game-used memorabilia component, there are plenty of signed cards to appeal to those busting packs.

Base Set

Like last season, there will be 100 regular base set cards and they should cover prospects from every team. Each pack of 2015-16 Upper Deck AHL Hockey contains one Future Superstar SP card and the roster could include some top talent such as Mikko Rantanen, Michael McCarron, Nick Ritchie, Kasperi Kapanen, Jordan Subban, and more.

Inserts

In terms of non-memorabilia inserts, 2015-16 Upper Deck AHL Hockey features fan and youth-friendly items which should have strong regional appeal. Once again, look for AHL Team Logo Tattoos (4:box or 1:7 packs), but new for this season are Team Wordmark Logo Stickers that are seeded at the same rate. The absence of Team Logo Patches is somewhat surprising, though, as they were one of the products main draws in 2014-15.

Autographs

The biggest draw for many collectors to 2015-16 Upper Deck AHL Hockey are the two different autograph collections. The most readily available are the Base Set Autographs (1:6). Rookie Autographs are a bit of a tougher pull (1:12), but should fall once or twice among the five signed cards in each box. For some players, these will be their first certified autographed cards.

2015-16 Upper Deck AHL Hockey at a glance:

Packs per box: 20
Cards per pack: 5
Boxes per case: 20
Set size: 100 base cards
Release date: April 13, 2016

What to expect in a hobby box:

• Future Stars Short Prints – 20
• Autographs – 5
• Team Logo Tattoos – 4
• Team Logo Wordmark Stickers – 4

Stephen Laroche is the editor of Beckett Hockey, Beckett Basketball, and Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazines. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at slaroche@beckett.com or follow him on Twitter @Stephen_Laroche.