2009 Upper Deck Rookie Debut

Mississauga, ON. – On August 26, 14 of the top NHL prospects gathered at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga for the inaugural Upper Deck NHL Rookie Debut.

Upper Deck and the NHLPA teamed up to host the event and allowed the media to attend and watch as the players posed for their rookie cards.

“There are many great things when you get to the NHL,” said first-overall pick John Tavares. “Signing your first contract. Getting drafted. Having your first camp and having your first rookie card is pretty special too.”

The players were excited to be there and anxious to get on the ice to have their first rookie cards made.

“It’s crazy,” said Penguins rookie, Eric Tangradi. “You know the last three years I’ve jumped to a whole new level in my hockey career and to be able to have your own rookie card kind of exposes yourself to the rest of the hockey world.”

Nashville Predators prospect Colin Wilson always collected cards when he was younger. His favourite set that he had to have year in and year out. Well that was the McDonald’s set of course.

“I was really big into it,” said Wilson. “I had four or five binders of cards. I wanted to get the whole set of the McDonald’s cards that was the biggest. I wanted to get the Gretzky holograph for a while too. I was a big card collector.”

For many, the thought of kids going out to collect their rookie cards put a smile from ear to ear on their faces.

“It feels really good that maybe some day some kids will get my card and be really happy,” said Calgary Flames rookie Mikael Backlund.

“Kids are going to be buying your cards and looking for you to do big things in the NHL,” added New York Rangers rookie Bobby Sanguinetti. “So, it’s real exciting and it’s a great time.“

Some players, like third overall pick Matt Duchene and ninth overall pick Jared Cown, were a little more hesitant to talk about their potential rookie seasons.

“It’s pretty cool but I guess the one focus is to make Colorado so that can happen,” he said.

“The thought of that is pretty cool.,” reiterated Cowen. “We’ll see how long that takes though.”

Duchene admitted that he collected quite a bit as a kid and was going to go pull out his old cards when he got home to see what he had.

Only one player was willing to say how much he hoped his card would be worth when he retired. That player of course was Montreal Canadiens rookie PK Subban. Who stated that he hoped his card would be worth millions. For the record the most exspensive NHL card ever sold was a 1911-12 Georges Vezina rookie card worth $100,000.

Other players in attendance were: Tyler Bozak and Jonas Gustavsson (Toronto Maple Leafs); Logan Couture (San Jose Sharks); Victor Hedman (Tampa Bay Lightning); Cody Hodgson (Vancouver Canucks); James van Riemsdyk (Philadelphia Flyers).