The Calder Trophy finalist has vaulted hockey cards and collectibles to levels never seen before. Who, besides Bedard, should you be looking for and how can you buy their cards for pennies on the dollar?
Connor Bedard has set the Hockey card world on fire. Products featuring a chance at hitting a Bedard card have risen in cost by 50%, or greater, from a year-over-year perspective. Take 2023-24 Upper Deck Black Diamond Hockey for example. The 2022-23 version of Black Diamond retails for $209.95 per box. Be ready to shell out $499.95 if you wish to take your chances on hitting a Bedard card in the 2023-24 version of Upper Deck Black Diamond Hockey. Prices courtesy of Dave & Adam’s Card World.
Watching people open 2023-24 boxes of hockey cards is extremely exciting. This is the first rookie since Connor McDavid in 2015-16 products with this much upside. Breakers are celebrating every Bedard card they pull.
Bedard or Bust?
It surely feels that way. There is a letdown factor when a Bedard card is not pulled from a box. There are videos of people cracking cases of 2023-24 hockey products only looking for Bedard hits. You can see people shoving aside Leo Carlsson, Adam Fantilli, and Devon Levi cards like they are meaningless. It is quite interesting to watch.
Bedard has vaulted hockey cards into the mainstream card chase. Breakers who never dreamed of touching hockey cards are now ripping hockey cases daily on their streams. Watching inexperienced hockey breakers trying to pronounce names like Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Jiri Slafkovsky, and Tim Stutzle is fun.
How Can You Cash In On the Bedard Hype?
Remember, it is Bedard or bust to many. It is your job to find out who that applies to. The next time you are at a local card show, ask vendors if they have any hockey cards they are selling.
There is a good chance vendors have a box of hockey cards they are looking to move for pennies on the dollar. You probably will not find any Bedard cards in that box. But there is a good chance there could be a Carlsson, Fantilli, or Levi hit in the box.
A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats
Bedard is the tide, and the boats are other rookies from the Chicago Blackhawks with cards in recent Upper Deck Hockey products. Now is a great time to speculate on Blackhawks players besides Bedard. Everyone who wears a Blackhawks sweater is in the spotlight thanks to Bedard.
Philipp Kurashev had 54 points last season and his rookie cards can be found in 2020-21 Upper Deck Hockey products. Lukas Reichel had an up-and-down season with 16 points. Reichel’s rookie cards can be found in 2022-23 Upper Deck Hockey products. Kevin Korchinski is a young defenseman with upside and his rookie cards can be found in 2023-24 Upper Deck Hockey products.