In the often unpredictable world of sports memorabilia, sometimes a single collection drop can send collectors into a tizzy akin to penguins spotting a flopping fish. The release of the 2024-25 Upper Deck Series 2 Hockey cards is one such seismic event in the card-collecting calendar, thanks to a certain young phenom skating his way into both hearts and sports headlines.
Macklin Celebrini, the newly minted San Jose Sharks wonder boy, has become the star attraction of this collection. The overachieving rookie, whose name now drips off the tongues of hockey enthusiasts with the casual familiarity reserved for household staples like peanut butter, was the first overall pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft. At only 18, he’s been a considerable ray of sunshine amidst the Sharks’ lengthy rebuilding process.
With speed that court wizard Hermes would covet and the offensive instincts of a caffeine-fueled chess grandmaster, Celebrini, endearingly dubbed “The Cheetah,” has lunged into the NHL with the sort of aplomb that makes jaws drop and highlight reels salivate. His knack for laser-precision playmaking, thrill-inducing goals, and a hockey IQ that calls to mind arenas studiously designed for awe and ambition have garnered him comparisons to previous draft darlings like Connor Bedard and Auston Matthews. Unfazed by the towering expectations and relentless spotlight, Celebrini is swimming in the Calder Trophy race, keeping pace with promising talents like Montreal Canadiens rearguard Lane Hutson.
As the Upper Deck Series 2 hits store shelves and virtual carts, collectors are blitzing the market, much like Celebrini catalyzing a power play. Inhabiting the veritable holy trinity of must-have memorabilia from this collection are three distinctly precious Macklin Celebrini Young Guns cards.
First up is the creme-de-la-creme: the base Young Guns rookie card. Within just a single day of its unveiling, eager fans snatched it up for a cool $200 on eBay, emulating tourist-elbows-out behavior at a theme park on free t-shirt day. Trailing like the supportive pals they feature, the “Teammates” card, featuring fellow Sharks rookie Will Smith (no, not that Will Smith), is tagged with a more modest $20. Meanwhile, the Young Guns checklist card, containing images of Celebrini and Philadelphia Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov, is collecting $25 per exchange.
Given the Young Guns series’ storied reputation as a perennial darling among card enthusiasts, the demand for Celebrini’s collection is expected to crescendo throughout the season, ensuring there’s much ado and ado again over these cardboard treasures.
Behind the scenes (or perhaps behind the scenes of the scenes), Upper Deck astutely positioned itself to ride this gold dust hurricane by clinching an exclusive autograph deal with Celebrini back in July 2024. Henceforth, collectors clamoring for a Celebrini autograph must journey through Upper Deck’s ornate portals, adding yet another stratum of allure to these already perennially sought-after items.
It’s not just cards dancing through esports’ fever dreams—generational talents like Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby have seen their early cards not only as milestone markers of their careers but as wise investments returning twofold over time. Celebrini, with his rapid-fire ascent into sporting mythology, has begun to trace the footsteps of these judgment-of-time-defying prodigies.
Nevertheless, amid the acclamations and accolade-bathed comparisons to his illustrious peers, Celebrini maintains a zen-like focus, described in an enlightening chat with Puck Junk. “I have my expectations for myself. I’m not really comparing myself to other guys [like Bedard]. I know what I can do, and I’m just going to try to play my game. I can’t really control the results, so I’m just going to focus on the day-to-day and try to get better,” Celebrini articulated with a maturity that belied his years.
His response serves as a reminder that, while the world may froth and fizz over cards bearing his likeness, Celebrini’s eyes remain steadfastly on his game. As the feeding frenzy for Young Guns cards gains momentum, collectors and investors find themselves cradling pieces of a potential future juggernaut’s inception, buoyed by the possibility that these cards could become valuable tickets to an epic narrative in hockey lore. The race to acquire these pieces is on, and it’s a thrilling harbinger of Celebrini’s burgeoning saga, one that promises to enchant and enthrall long after the cards have been tucked neatly into their protective sleeves.
