Upper Deck details Series 1 hockey box formats

Upper Deck outlined its 2026-27 Series 1 hockey contents on October 6, 2026. Hobby boxes average 6 Young Guns cards, alongside new Stencils inserts and returning parallels.

The hobby and retail box formats have different rookie counts. Tins average 3 Young Guns cards, while blasters average 1.

Series 1 boxes and estimated dates

Checklist Insider gives estimated release dates of October 7, 2026, for hobby and October 21, 2026, for retail. Its configuration details cover hobby boxes, tins, blasters and starter kits.

A hobby box holds 144 cards across 12 packs of 12. Cases contain 12 hobby boxes.

Tins contain 8 regular packs with 12 cards each, plus a separate Dazzlers pack. Each tin contains 96 cards before that extra pack. A case contains 12 tins.

Blasters have 4 packs of 12 cards, totaling 48 cards. Their case count is 20 boxes. Each blaster also averages 1 green Dazzlers card.

Starter kits contain 1 pack with 12 cards and an exclusive Sophomore Sensations insert. A binder, poster and collector guide round out the kit. Cases contain 10 starter kits.

Young Guns and the base checklist

Young Guns remain central to Upper Deck hockey sets. Series 1 begins the season’s base checklist with 250 cards.

Upper Deck divides that checklist into 198 veterans, 49 Young Guns rookies and 3 checklist cards. Rookie subjects include James Hagens of Boston, Philadelphia’s Porter Martone and Washington’s Cole Hutson.

Other Young Guns include Anton Frondell for Chicago, David Reinbacher for Montreal and Konsta Helenius for Buffalo. The rookie cards share the veteran parallel lineup.

The Series 1 product outline gives hobby boxes an average of 1 Outburst Silver card. Numbered base versions include Deluxe to 250, UD Exclusives to 100 and High Gloss to 10.

Outburst Red has a print run of 25. Outburst Gold is numbered 1-of-1. Clear Cut also appears in the base parallel lineup.

Stencils and the hobby box mix

Stencils uses foil for its portraits, names and logo, without ink on the front. Its first 100 cards cover veterans and rookies, with at least 2 subjects from each team.

Upper Deck gives Stencils red 399, yellow 199, green 99, blue 50; Checklist Insider gives /999, /299, /199, /99. Purple has a print run of 25.

Hobby boxes average 4 Stencils cards and 4 cards from the UD Canvas family. They also average 1 blue Dazzlers card and 2 Speckle parallels drawn from selected insert sets.

Another average box allocation combines Clear Cut, black-and-white Canvas cards and base variations: 1 card from that group. A separate allocation averages 1 numbered card, unnumbered short print or printing plate.

The remaining insert mix includes 8 cards drawn from Repping, Vibe Check and Fan Faves. Another 8 come from UD Portraits, Debut Dates, Sizzle Reel and Here We Go!

Debut Dates marks a player’s first NHL appearance with the date and opponent. Here We Go! uses an overhead view of face-offs.

Canvas, acetate and rarer inserts

Series 1 contains the opening 120 cards of UD Canvas. Its rookie subset averages 6 cards per case, and UD Canvas includes printing plates and black-and-white parallels.

Population Count uses acetate and a design styled after graded holders. Its print runs range from 1 to 1000. The final 30 cards belong to Series Two.

Holotypes adds 30 hologram cards to its continuing checklist. Bootleg contains 18 cards, each with its own design and a mix of surface finishes.

Electric Soul pairs single-color portraits with team-colored backgrounds. Youthful Spirits features original art by Presten Warren. Snow Spray Auto supplies the autograph variation, with a listed card rate of 1:5,570 packs.

What to do

• Check whether a Series 1 listing is for a hobby box, tin, blaster or starter kit before comparing its stated contents.
• Compare a seller’s Stencils numbering with the actual card image, given the conflicting red, yellow, green and blue figures.
• Ask whether listed Young Guns counts describe box averages or specific cards included by the seller.