In our last article, we celebrated the official launch of the cardboard hockey season with the coming of Upper Decks 2018-19 Series 1.

In that post we discussed the various products that you can purchase, in pursuit of completing this years sets, what they contained and which one best suits you as an individual collector.

Now, we delve deeper into these products to get to the heart of the matter and discuss what everyone is interested in, the highly coveted Young Guns, the most collected series within the hobby.

Who Makes the Young Guns Series 1 Cut and Why?

Amazingly, Upper Deck has done it again, pushing out an incredibly collectible product, within an incredibly short period of time.

Unbeknownst to many within the hobby, Upper Deck has only a mere five weeks to compile their first list of Young Guns to be included in the 2018-19 Series 1 list.

This is because of an official ruling by the NHLPA, that states that no player may appear on a licensed trading card until they have a played in an official NHL game.

What this means is that Upper Deck only has one weekend to acquire photos for the Young Guns series, resulting in some rookie players who didn’t play a game, not making the Series 1 cut.

Fortunately, Series 2, which releases next year, has these Young Guns covered.

Young Guns 2018-19 Series 1 Checklist

For those who have made the cut, and appeared on the ice in the very short window that Upper Deck has to produce cards, fans of the hobby can rejoice, for they have some truly great prospects.

As we covered last week, the Upper Deck Series 1 set contains 200 base cards, followed by 50 Young Guns cards. The latter of these are as follows;

Likely, even if you aren’t hoping to collect all of these cards, there are more than a few break out names appearing on this years list. Which as we will soon showcase, are making some serious impacts on the hobby.

But which of these rookies are currently the most sought after?

The Top Ten Most Expensive Young Guns of 2018-19

Everyone has their favorite player and everyone has their preference in who they want to find within any pack they tear open, however, the secondary market ultimately determines who are the “top hits” within any selective year of the hockey season.

As is typical, there are a few Young Guns who stand out above the rest, and are thus going for some staggering prices.

Here are ten of the most valuable Young Guns, as determined by the world’s largest secondary singles market, eBay;

1. Elias Pettersson #248
2. Rasmus Dahlin #201
3. Jesperi Kotkaniemi #249
4. Eeli Tolvanen #217
5. Ryan Donato #225
6. Henri Jokiharju #230
7. Warren Foegele #236
8. Samuel Montembeault #242
9. Miro Heiskanen #246
10. Evan Bouchard #221

Elias Pettersson

First and foremost, we have Elias Pettersson, of the Vancouver Canucks, who fans have a lot of hope for.

This card is the pinnacle of the standard set, and is the card that everyone is hoping to pull as they crack open their Upper Deck 2018-19 Series 1 products, as it is currently going for close to $200 per card!

Rasmus Dahlin & Jesperi Kotkaniemi

Following behind Elias, with a close tie for second place are Rasmus Dahlin and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, the former of which is playing for the Buffalo Sabres and the latter for the Montreal Canadiens.

Both of these cards add an incredible amount of value to this Upper Deck 2018-19 Series 1 set as well, commanding anywhere from $60-$100 on the secondary singles market, depending on the quantity currently available for sale.

The remainder of the cards within our top ten list are all great cards as well, and go for anywhere from $10-$25 a piece each.

In Conclusion

This years Upper Deck 2018-19 Series 1 set is once again a massive success and may even become more of one, as has happened many years in the past, as breakout rookies gain traction and popularity.

As always, this list of top ten cards can fluctuate and change over time, evolving and morphing as some players perform better than others.

Time will determine the true top ten list, but it remains highly likely that Elias Pettersson, Rasmus Dahlin and Jesperi Kotkaniemi will command a spot somewhere within that list.

But how about you? Which rookie is your favorite this year and who do you believe will ultimately come out on top, as this years breakout rookie?