There’s a certain magical feeling when opening packs of hockey cards. There’s that hopeful sensation in your gut that you’ll pull a player on your favourite team, and there’s the allure of the unknown as you gently flip through the cards, revealing each name and logo individually.
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While some may view hockey cards as nothing more than rectangle pieces of cardboard — or, in some instances, snowmen — every hockey card carries some kind of value.
While the hobby is more about the fun of collecting rather than monitoring eBay sales and tracking values on Card Ladder, it’s impossible to ignore the extreme prices hockey cards can hold. And with the frenzy surrounding Connor Bedard’s rookie card — and San Jose Sharks phenom Macklin Celebrini this campaign — a bright spotlight has been placed on the hobby.
As we roll into 2025, let’s take a look at some Vancouver Canucks hockey cards sold in 2024 that went for big numbers. Values are from Card Ladder’s sales history and eBay’s sold listings. However, eBay sold listings only go back about 90 days; therefore, Card Ladder will be the only reference for some sales. Prices are in Canadian currency.
Hughes’ High Price
It appears that Quinn Hughes tops the list of the highest-selling on-record Canucks hockey cards. Vancouver’s captain is the reigning Norris Trophy winner, leading the Canucks in scoring this season and was on track to eclipse 100 points before his injury.
Hughes 2019-20 Future Watch Inscribed Rookie Autograph — graded a PSA 10— went for $5,325.64. PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) is one of many trading card grading companies that give a number rating to a collectible based on its condition. According to PSA, a PSA 10 is a “virtually perfect card.”
Photo by Bob Frid-Imagn Images
The inscription adds to the rarity of the card. Every autographed Future Watch Rookie Card has a print run of 999, but players inscribe just the first 50, often with the date of their NHL debut.
Ungraded, his Future Watch Inscribed sells for around $2000, highlighting the importance of a high grade in the trading card industry.
Just $300 shy of the Future Watch Rookie — and earning silver — is Quinn Hughes Upper Deck Young Guns High Gloss Rookie Card numbered out of 10 from 2019-20 Upper Deck Series One.
To avoid an article vacant of anyone not named Quinn Hughes, other expensive cards will also be highlighted.
Pettersson’s Price Tag
While Elias Pettersson may not get as much love from the hockey card hobby as his superstar teammate, the 26-year-old certainly holds his own. The forward is still one of the hottest Canucks available on the market.
Like Hughes, Petterson’s highest-sold card of 2024 is a PSA 10 Inscribed Future Watch Rookie Autograph. The seller let go of the card on eBay for $3,683.95.
His second-highest sale is Pettersson’s 2018-19 The Cup Rookie Patch Autograph, numbered out of 99, graded by Beckett Grading Services, for $2,851.20.
The Cup is Upper Deck’s highest-end hockey card product of the year. Unlike the typical product, The Cup is a single box of cards encased in a tin and another box. Foam surrounds the handful of cards found in a box of The Cup. The price for this box ranges year-to-year but typically falls around $1100.
A Couple Of Old School Cards
The usual suspects come to mind when considering collectable rookie cards from the 1980s. Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Patrick Roy, Mario Lemieux. But Vancouver has a multi-thousand dollar rookie as well — at least according to Card Ladders sales history.
Last February, a PSA 10 1980 O-Pee-Chee Stan Smyl rookie card sold in an eBay auction for $1,944.00. While ample Smyl rookie cards are available, there are only seven PSA 10 Smyl O-Pee-Chee rookie cards. Given this card’s release was over four decades ago, a Smyl rookie card in this condition is scarce.
Pavel Bure is another pre-2000 Canucks legend to have hockey card sales in the thousands. One of his cards edged out the nearly two-thousand dollar price tag Smyl’s pristine rookie fetched. An ungraded 1997-98 Pinnacle Epix Moment Emerald card had a buyer fork up $2,160.00 on eBay. Curiously, a PSA 9 version of this Bure card sold a week later on eBay for $600 less than the ungraded version.
Clearly, there is a broad range of Canucks collectables available for fans and collectors alike. And unlike the aforementioned cards, many fail to sniff the $50 mark, let alone thousands of dollars.
It’s impossible to accurately predict if these exorbitant prices will rise or fall over the next year. However, the unpredictability of resale prices — similar to the unpredictability of opening random packs — all adds to the sheer fun of collecting.
