Cards
Jack Hughes, Connor Hellebuyck hockey cards in demand at card shows after Team USA gold medal
CHARLOTTE— Jack Hughes and Connor Hellebuyck hockey cards rose to the surface of dealer tables at the Charlotte Card Show, held one week after Team USA captured the gold medal at the 2024 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy.
Hughes, already among the top players in the NHL with the New Jersey Devils, scored the winning goal in overtime as the American squad upended Team Canada 2-1 on Feb. 22. It was the first time in 46 years that the U.S. won the gold medal, dating to the “Miracle on Ice” at the 1980 Winter Olympics.
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In addition, Hellebuyck, goaltender for Team USA and a member of the Winnipeg Jets, had a monstrous game, recording 41 saves in the victory, upping the value of his cards at the show.
Ryan Thompson and Daniel Vincent, a pair of dealers from Raleigh, N.C., had three tables filled with hockey cards, the most of any vendor at the show. Hughes and Hellebuyck cards were front and center in their space.
As the two-day show got underway on Feb. 28, they hoped the post-Olympics spike in hockey cards would prove fruitful in Charlotte, where the American Hockey League’s Charlotte Checkers play next door at Bojangles Coliseum.
“We’ve got those two players more prominently displayed than we would otherwise,” Thompson said. “We went back through and looked at those prices again. They’ve changed a little since the show we did at the beginning of January.”
Thompson and Vincent showcased a pair of Hughes autographed Upper Deck rookie cards, produced in different series, for $300 and $350, respectively. Those two cards have increased in value by 40% since the Olympics, according to Thompson.
One of the Hellebuyck cards they had for sale, an Upper Deck Canvas with a 10 grade that came out his rookie year, was priced at $225, a relative bargain compared with the same card posted at $325 by one online outlet, Vincent said.
“We posted the card three weeks ago at $100 flat and it didn’t sell,” Thompson said. “We had people coming back to us [post-Olympics] and asking if they could get it at the same price. Our answer was it’s packed up for the Charlotte show.”
The H&H boys are hot items, but Thompson and Vincent pointed to Team Canada’s Macklin Celebrini as the hottest card they’ve seen this hockey season. Cards tied to the second-year player with the San Jose Sharks have gone through the roof, about 1,000% over their value in October, they said.
In general, dealers said the hockey card market is underserved, mostly because hockey fans are typically loyal to the core and hold on to their personal collections more than collectors focusing on baseball and football.
“Hockey cards have been spiking for the past year plus,” Vincent said. “Diehards don’t sell their cards. As a result, it’s one of the safer markets. There’s bigger fluctuations, up and down, for other sports. In hockey, [the values] almost never go down. It’s a much more limited market, so it actually insulates the value of the cards more than others.”
Adam Simmons, a collector from Summerville, S.C. agreed. Hockey collectors love their cards, and historically, it’s about expanding their personal collections, Simmons said. He’s seen renewed interest post-Olympics and feels the time is right to invest in emerging talent, such as Celebrini.
“Crosby, Ovechkin, McDavid, Gretzky and Jagr—those guys are already solidified, but it’s the younger group that’s starting to become more relevant,” Simmons said. “That’s exciting because now you can get in at a really good price and hopefully make some money in the future.”
Simmons had an Upper Deck Jack Hughes rookie card priced at about $300. The price went up from the $150-$200 those cards were selling for online. The increase is a direct result of him scoring the “Golden Goal” for Team USA.
“I had to adjust with the market,” he said. “The good thing is I bought in low, because [Hughes] is 24 years old and I thought he might be somebody [valuable] long term. It worked out that way. The same is true for Matthew Schaefer from the New York Islanders. Every once in a while, I’ll strike gold, but more often than not, I’ll fail.”
Nick Marconi, a vendor with Mac’s Muster, a military veteran owned and operated outlet in Statesville, N.C., has seen heightened interest in hockey cards since the 2025 Four Nations Face-Off, when the Canadians beat the Americans, another chapter in the heated rivalry.
One of his Hellebuyck cards, part of the Upper Deck Allure Glitter Bomb collection, was priced at $5, an uptick for a card that otherwise “would’ve been in the dollar bin not too long ago,” Marconi said. “He’s doing well, so there’s a price tag on there now.”
Marconi plans to search for more Team USA player cards because “everybody loves them right now, so I might as well jump on board.”
Timothy Hennie and his grandson, Matt Hennie, hobbyists and vendors from Salisbury, N.C., saw the need to stock up on hockey cards in late November after getting more queries from potential buyers about NHL stars such as McDavid.
They had a smattering of hockey cards available in Charlotte, most notably a Johnny Gaudreau 2018-19 Upper Deck limited-edition jersey patch card priced at a premium $89. The family of Gaudreau, killed in a tragic car accident in 2024, participated in the Olympics postgame celebration on the ice.
Dealers said the challenge for some of the premier players on Team USA is that their NHL teams won’t make the playoffs, such as Hughes and Hellebuyck. The Devils and Jets are both languishing toward the bottom of their divisions, but they said the higher value of their cards should remain intact.
The same is true for the Chicago Blackhawks and their star player Connor Bedard, who was left off of Team Canada’s roster, drawing questions over the omission of one of the NHL’s brightest talents.
Bedard drove up the price of Upper Deck boxes by 20% during his rookie season in 2023-24.
“When Chicago makes the playoffs, his stuff will be even hotter than it is now, but that’s probably still a few years off,” Vincent said. “Celebrini’s team, the Sharks, have a chance to make it this year. He made Team Canada and played very well. Bedard was on the outside looking in. It shows where they are in their progression.”
Don Muret
