Adding the best hockey rookie cards to your sports card collection is like adding ice to your favorite cocktail!
The arrival of Connor Bedard in 2023-24 Upper Deck Series 2 cards signals a new hobby high not seen since Connor McDavid or Sidney Crosby joined the NHL! (Patrick Imhoff details in this article where you can buy different Connor Bedard rookie cards.) But Bedard’s arrival has everyone wanting to go back in time to track down other stellar hockey rookie cards, like Crosby, McDavid, and even Wayne Gretzky!
If this is your first trip to this website, then welcome! We’re all about tracking down the best rookie cards from all sports, and now we’re sharing the best hockey rookie cards!
We already posted articles for the other sports, including:
- The Best BASEBALL Rookie Cards From Each MLB Season Since 1941
- The Best FOOTBALL Rookie Cards From Each NFL Season Since 1956
- The Best BASKETBALL Rookie Cards From Each NBA Season Since 1948
- Topps Rookie Cards of the TOP 100 MLB Players Right Now!
- The Best 2nd-Year Baseball Cards Dating Back to 1953
We went through all the hockey card sets dating all the way back to the 1951 Parkhurst set, including many sets produced by companies like Topps, O-Pee-Chee, Pro Set, Score, and finally Upper Deck. We found all the best hockey rookie cards of Hall-of-Famers and NHL All-Stars that roamed the ice over the past eight decades.
I used PSA’s card values to find many of these, and I used several other sources to track down the best hockey rookie cards. This is obviously a subjective list, but it’s also a living and dynamic list, which means – I can change it! So please contact me with players whose cards you think should be among the best hockey rookie cards, and I’ll check them out!
Best Hockey Rookie Cards – Starting Back in 1951
I will update this article frequently, as some players ascend in value and some decline. The most recent seasons will have a higher number of rookies to collect because we’re still waiting to see if they will fulfill their promise. As the seasons wear on, I’ll remove the rookies that have fallen by the wayside.
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1951 Parkhurst
- Butch Bouchard (HOF) 3
- Maurice Richard (HOF) 4 – View on eBay!
- Bert Olmstead (HOF) 5
- Tom Johnson (HOF) 7
- Doug Harvey (HOF) 10
- Boom Boom Geoffrion (HOF) 14 – View on eBay!
- Bill Quackenbush (HOF) 26
- Bill Gadsby (HOF) 37
- Harry Lumley (HOF) 47
- Doug Bentley (HOF) 48
- Bill Mosienko (HOF) 49
- Red Kelly (HOF) 55
- Ted Lindsay (HOF) 56
- Terry Sawchuk (HOF) 61 – View on eBay!
- Alex Delvecchio (HOF) 63
- Gordie Howe (HOF) 66 – View on eBay!
- Marcel Pronovost (HOF) 68
- Harry Watson (HOF) 70
- Howie Meeker (HOF) 72
- Fern Flaman (HOF) 80
- Max Bentley (HOF) 81
- Teeder Kennedy (HOF) 86
- Allan Stanley (HOF) 94
- Edgar Laprade (HOF) 96
- Chuck Rayner (HOF) 104
1952 Parkhurst
- Dickie Moore (HOF) 10
- Leo Boivin (HOF) 34
- George Armstrong (HOF) 54
- Tim Horton (HOF) 58 – View on eBay!
1953 Parkhurst
- Al Arbour (HOF) (has photo of Bill Dineen) 37
- Bill Dineen (has photo of Al Arbour) 38
1954 Parkhurst
- Johnny Bower (HOF) 65
1954 Topps Best Hockey Rookie Cards
- Gordie Howe (HOF, First Topps Card) 8 – View on eBay!
Topps produced hockey cards for the first time in 1954, but then they didn’t produce them again until 1957. For several years after that, until 1964, Topps produced NHL cards for U.S. teams, and Parkhurst produced hockey cards for the Canadian teams (except in 1960, when Parkhurst also created cards for Detroit Red Wings players.) In 1964, Topps then began to produce hockey cards for all NHL teams.
1955 Parkhurst
- Dick Duff (HOF) 18
- Jacques Plante (HOF) 50 – View on eBay!
- Bill Durnan (HOF) 63
- Frank Selke (HOF) 68
1956 Parkhurst
1957 Parkhurst
- Henri Richard (HOF) M4 – View on eBay!
- Bob Pulford (HOF) T4
- Frank Mahovlich (HOF) T17
1957 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Johnny Bucyk (HOF) 10
- Glenn Hall (HOF) 20
- Pierre Pilote (HOF) 22
- Norm Ullman (HOF) 46
1958 Parkhurst
There were no great hockey rookie cards of note in this set.
1958 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Bobby Hull (HOF) 66 – View on eBay!
1959 Parkhurst
- Punch Imlach (HOF) 15
1959 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
There were no great hockey rookie cards of note in this set.
1960 Parkhurst
- There were no great hockey rookie cards of note in this set.
1960 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Bill Hay (HOF) 6
- Stan Mikita (HOF) 14 – View on eBay!
1961 Parkhurst
- Dave Keon (HOF) 5
1961 Topps Best Hockey Rookie Cards
- Ted Green (HOF) 2
- Rudy Pilous (HOF) 23
- Jean Ratelle (HOF) 60
- Rod Gilbert (HOF) 62
1962 Parkhurst
There were no great hockey rookie cards of note in this set.
1962 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
There were no great hockey rookie cards of note in this set.
1963 Parkhurst
- Jacques Laperriere (HOF) 27
- Jacques Laperriere (HOF) 86
1963 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
There were no great hockey rookie cards of note in this set.
1964 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
There were no great rookie cards of note from this set.
1965 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Ed Giacomin (HOF) 21
- Gerry Cheevers (HOF) 31
- Yvan Cournoyer (HOF) 76
- Phil Esposito (HOF) 116 – View on eBay!
1966 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Emile Francis (HOF) 21
- Harry Sinden (HOF) 31
- Bobby Orr (HOF) 35 – View on eBay!
1967 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Jacques Lemaire (HOF) 3
- Glen Sather (HOF) 38
- Rogatien Vachon (HOF) 75
1968 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Bernie Parent (HOF) 89
1968 O-Pee-Chee
- Bernie Parent (HOF) 89
1969 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Serge Savard (HOF) 4
1970 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Brad Park (HOF) 67
- Gilbert Perreault (HOF) 131
1970 O-Pee-Chee Best Hockey Rookie Cards
- Brad Park (HOF) 67
- Gilbert Perreault (HOF) 131
- Guy Lapointe (HOF) 177
- Bobby Clarke (HOF) 195 – View on eBay!
- Darryl Sittler (HOF) 218
1971 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Ken Dryden (HOF) 45 – View on eBay!
1971 O-Pee-Chee
- Ken Dryden (HOF) 45 – View on eBay!
- Marcel Dionne (HOF) 133 – View on eBay!
- Guy LaFleur (HOF) 148 – View on eBay!
- Craig Patrick (HOF) 184 – View on eBay!
1972 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
There were no great hockey rookie cards of note in this set.
1972 O-Pee-Chee
There were no great hockey rookie cards of note in this set.
1973 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Bill Barber (HOF) 81
- Billy Smith (HOF) 162
1973 O-Pee-Chee
- Bill Barber (HOF) 81
- Billy Smith (HOF) 142
- Larry Robinson (HOF) 237 – View on eBay!
1974 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Lanny McDonald (HOF) 168
- Borje Salming (HOF) 180
- Denis Potvin (HOF) 195 – View on eBay!
- Scott Bowman (HOF) 261 – View on eBay!
1975 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Clark Gillies (HOF) 199
1976 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Bryan Trottier (HOF) 115 – View on eBay!
1976 O-Pee-Chee
- Bryan Trottier (HOF) 115
1977 Topps, O-Pee-Chee NHL and O-Pee-Chee WHA
There really weren’t any rookie cards worth owning from these three sets.
1978 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Mike Bossy HL (HOF) 1
- Mike Bossy (HOF) 115 – View on eBay!
- Bernie Federko (HOF) 143
- Doug Wilson (HOF) 168
1978 O-Pee-Chee
- Mike Bossy HL (HOF) 1
- Mike Bossy (HOF) 115
- Bernie Federko (HOF) 143
- Doug Wilson (HOF) 168
1979 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Wayne Gretzky (HOF) 18 – View on eBay!
1979 O-Pee-Chee
- Wayne Gretzky (HOF) 18 – View on eBay!
- Barry Melrose 386 – View on eBay!
1980 Topps & O-Pee-Chee
- Ray Bourque Record Breaker (HOF) 2
- Michel Goulet (HOF) 67
- Ray Bourque (HOF) 140 – View on eBay!
- Mike Gartner (HOF) 195
- Mark Messier (HOF) 289
- Rod Langway (HOF) 344
1981 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Jarri Kurri (HOF) 18
- Denis Savard (HOF) W75
- Larry Murphy (HOF) W100
- Dino Ciccarelli (HOF) W105
1981 O-Pee-Chee
- Denis Savard (HOF) 63
- Jarri Kurri (HOF) 107
- Glenn Anderson (HOF) 108
- Paul Coffey (HOF) 111
- Kevin Lowe (HOF) 117
- Larry Murphy (HOF) 148
- Dino Ciccarelli (HOF) 161
- Peter Stastny (HOF) 269
1982 O-Pee-Chee
- Grant Fuhr (HOF) 105 – View on eBay!
- Ron Francis (HOF) 123
- Joe Mullen (HOF) 307
- Dale Hawerchuk (HOF) 380
1983 O-Pee-Chee
- Phil Housley (HOF) 65
- Scott Stevens (HOF) 376
1984 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Steve Yzerman (HOF) 49 – View on eBay!
1984 O-Pee-Chee
- Dave Andreychuk (HOF) 17
- Steve Yzerman (HOF) 67 – View on eBay!
- Pat LaFontaine (HOF) 129
- Doug Gilmour (HOF) 185
- Chris Chelios (HOF) 259 – View on eBay!
- Cam Neely (HOF) 327 – View on eBay!
- Steve Yzerman LDR (HOF) 385
1985 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Mario Lemieux (HOF) 9 – View on eBay!
1985 O-Pee-Chee
- Mario Lemieux (HOF) 9 – View on eBay!
- Al MacInnis (HOF) 237
- Mario Lemieux LDR (HOF) 262 – View on eBay!
1986 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- John Vanbiesbrouck (HOF) 9
- Patrick Roy (HOF) 42 – View on eBay!
- Wendel Clark (HOF) 149
1986 O-Pee-Chee
- John Vanbiesbrouck (HOF) 9
- Patrick Roy (HOF) 42 – View on eBay!
- Wendel Clark (HOF) 149
1987 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Luc Robitaille (HOF) 42
- Adam Oates (HOF) 123
1987 O-Pee-Chee
- Luc Robitaille (HOF) 42
- Adam Oates (HOF) 123
- Ron Hextall (HOF) 169
- Mike Vernon (HOF) 215
1988 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Brett Hull (HOF) 66
- Brendan Shanahan (HOF) 122 – View on eBay!
1988 O-Pee-Chee
- Joe Nieuwendyk (HOF) 16
- Brett Hull (HOF) 66
- Brendan Shanahan (HOF) 122 – View on eBay!
- Pierre Turgeon 194
1989 Topps Best Hockey Rookie Cards
- Joe Sakic (HOF) 113 – View on eBay!
- Brian Leetch (HOF) 136 – View on eBay!
1989 O-Pee-Chee
- Joe Sakic (HOF) 113 – View on eBay!
- Brian Leetch (HOF) 136 – View on eBay!
- Theoren Fleury (HOF) 232
1990 Pro Set Hockey
- Mike Modano (HOF) 142
- Sergei Fedorov (HOF) 604
1990 Score Canadian
- Martin Brodeur (HOF) 439 – View on eBay!
1990 Score Rookie/Traded
- Jaromir Jagr 70T – View on eBay!
1990 Topps Hockey Rookie Cards
- Jeremy Roenick 7 – View on eBay!
1990 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards
The first hockey card set from Upper Deck brought us the inaugural edition of their Young Guns subset, which has now signaled the best hockey rookie cards most people want to collect year after year, over three decades later. In more recent years, Upper Deck started limiting how many Young Guns are available per box. While they’re still part of the base set, they are not as common as the rest of the set.
- Ed Belfour (HOF) 55 – View on eBay!
- Jeremy Roenick 63 – View on eBay!
- Jaromir Jagr 356 – View on eBay!
- Mats Sundin (HOF) 365
- Felix Potvin 458
- Sergei Fedorov (HOF) 525 – View on eBay!
- Pavel Bure (HOF) 526
1990 O-Pee-Chee Premier
- Sergei Fedorov (HOF) 30
- Jaromir Jagr 50
- Mike Modano (HOF) 74
1990 Score Hockey Rookie Cards
- Eric Lindros Future Superstar 440 – View on eBay!
1991 Upper Deck
- Eric Lindros 9
- Teemu Selanne (HOF) 21 – View on eBay!
- Dominik Hasek 335 – View on eBay!
1991 Parkhurst
- Dominik Hasek (HOF) 263
1992 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards
1993 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards
1994 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards
1995 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards
1996 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards
- Joe Thornton 370 – View on eBay!
- Patrick Marleau 384
1997 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards
- Marian Hossa (HOF) 326
1998 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards
- Martin St. Louis (HOF) 234 – View on eBay!
1999 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards
- John Madden 81
- Jochen Hecht 116
- Patrik Stefan 161
- Roberto Luongo 163
- Daniel Sedin 165
- Henrik Sedin 166
- Brian Campbell 189
2000 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Marian Gaborik 229
- Rick DiPietro 411
2001 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Ilya Kovalchuk 211
- Pavel Datsyuk 422
2002 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Rick Nash 232
- Henrik Zetterberg 234
- Tim Thomas 429
- Jason Spezza 443
2003 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Patrice Bergeron 204
- Brent Burns 221
- Marc-Andre Fleury 234
2004 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Cammi Granato 199
2005 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Sidney Crosby 201 – View on eBay!
- Corey Perry 204
- Zach Parise 206
- Henrik Lundqvist 216 – View on eBay!
- Duncan Keith 230
- Alexander Ovechkin 443 – View on eBay!
- Ryan Getzlaf 452
2006 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Phil Kessel 204
- Anze Kopitar 216
- Shea Weber 222
- Kristopher Letang 240
- Evgeni Malkin 486 – View on eBay!
- Joe Pavelski 487
2007 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Patrick Kane 210 – View on eBay!
- Carey Price 227
- Nicklas Backstrom 249
- Tuukka Rask 456
- Jonathan Toews 462 – View on eBay!
2008 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Blake Wheeler 202
- Drew Doughty 220
- Claude Giroux 235
- Alex Pietrangelo 241
- Steven Stamkos 245 – View on eBay!
2009 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- John Tavares 201 – View on eBay!
- Victor Hedman 202 – View on eBay!
- Matt Duchene 203
- Erik Karlsson 210
- Jamie Benn 212
- Brad Marchand 452
- Logan Couture 487
- John Carlson 497
- Braden Holtby 499
2010 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Taylor Hall 219
- Jordan Eberle 220
- PK Subban 231
- Sergei Bobrovsky 240
- Tyler Seguin 456
2011 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 214
- Mark Scheifele 248
- Roman Josi 478
2012 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Chris Kreider 237
- Mark Stone 239
2013 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Brock Nelson 204
- Morgan Reilly 218
- Jonathan Huberdeau 222
- Vladimir Tarasenko 230
- Nathan McKinnon 238 – View on eBay!
- Filip Forsberg 451
- Alexander Barkov 470
- Nikita Kucherov 483 – View on eBay!
- John Gibson 486
2014 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Sam Reinhart 206
- Johnny Gaudreau 211
- Leon Draisaitl 223
- Jordan Binnington 469
- Andrei Vasilevskiy 478 – View on eBay!
- Bo Horvat 494
- David Pastrnak 495
2015 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Connor McDavid 201 – View on eBay!
- Mikko Rantanen 206
- Connor Hellebuyck 214
- Jared McCann 219 – View on eBay!
- Dylan Larkin 228 – View on eBay!
- Juuse Saros 464 – View on eBay!
- Shea Theodore 495 – View on eBay!
- Artemi Panarin 221
- Jack Eichel 451 – View on eBay!
2016 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Auston Matthews 201 – View on eBay!
- Brayden Point 205 – View on eBay!
- Sebastian Aho 210
- Pavel Buchnevich #227 – View on eBay!
- Matthew Tkachuk #231 – View on eBay!
- Zach Hyman #222 – View on eBay!
- William Nylander 249
- Matthew Barzal 458 – View on eBay!
- Tristan Jarry #466 – View on eBay!
- Mitch Marner 468
- Tyler Bertuzzi 471
- Jake Guentzel #525 – View on eBay!
2017 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Niko Hischier 201 – View on eBay!
- Jake Debrusk 212 – View on eBay!
- Alex Dubrincat 221 – View on eBay!
- Tage Thompson #228 – View on eBay!
- Charles McAvoy 242
- Brock Boeser 247
- Adin Hill #454 – View on eBay!
- Clayton Keller 477
- Martin Necas #464 – View on eBay!
2018 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Rasmus Dahlin 201
- Roope Hintz 202 – View on eBay!
- Evan Bouchard 221
- Troy Terry 239 – View on eBay!
- Miro Heiskanen #246 – View on eBay!
- Jesperi Kotkaniemi #249 – View on eBay!
- Robert Thomas #472 – View on eBay!
- Brady Tkachuk #499 – View on eBay!
- Elias Pettersson
- Andrei Svechnikov 451
- Casey Mittelstadt 453
- Carter Hart 491
2019 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Jack Hughes 201
- Ilya Mikhkeyev 210
- Carter Verhaeghe 224 – View on eBay!
- Adam Fox 228
- Quinn Hughes 249
- Nick Suzuki 471
- Cale Makar 493
2020 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Alexis Lafreniere 201
- Bowen Byram 205
- Jason Robertson 235 – View on eBay!
- Shane Pinto 246 – View on eBay!
- Kirill Kaprizov 451 – View on eBay!
- Tim Stutzle 482
- Dylan Cozens 495 – View on eBay!
- Ilya Sorokin
2021 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Cole Caufield 201 – View on eBay!
- Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen 202
- Trevor Zegras 232 – View on eBay!
- Quinton Byfield
- Spencer Knight 223 – View on eBay!
- Jeremy Swayman
- Moritz Seider 469 – View on eBay!
- Lucas Raymond 464 – View on eBay!
- Cole Sillinger 498 – View on eBay!
- Dawson Mercer 459 – View on eBay!
2022 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Matt Boldy 201 – View on eBay!
- Matty Beniers 213 – View on eBay!
- Owen Power 228 – View on eBay!
- Wyatt Johnson 459 – View on eBay!
- Kent Johnson
- Mason McTavish
- Marco Rossi
- Shane Wright
- Juraj Slafkovsky
2023 Upper Deck Hockey Rookie Cards – Young Guns
- Mathew Coronato 201 – View on eBay!
- Matthew Knies 222 – View on eBay!
- Yaroslav Askarov
- William Dufour
- Owen Beck
- Logan Cooley
- Adam Fantilli
- Luke Hughes
- Connor Bedard 451 – View on eBay!
- Leo Carlsson 468 – View on eBay!
- Zach Benson 474
- Matthew Poitras 478
- Connor Zary 496
We hope you enjoyed this list of the best hockey rookie cards dating back to 1951! Here are a few similar articles for the other main sports!
- The Best BASEBALL Rookie Cards From Each MLB Season Since 1941
- The Best FOOTBALL Rookie Cards From Each NFL Season Since 1956
- The Best BASKETBALL Rookie Cards From Each NBA Season Since 1948
- Topps Rookie Cards of the TOP 100 MLB Players Right Now!
- The Best 2nd-Year Baseball Cards Dating Back to 1953
As I mentioned at the start of this article, we’ll be updating this page often. Some rookie cards will be removed as players decline in value, and some rookie cards will be added as they bloom later than expected. Either way, feel free to comment below and share some of the players you think should be among the best hockey rookie cards by year from each hockey card set.