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Upper Deck has signed Taylor Heise of the Minnesota Frost to an exclusive collectives deal, … [+] coinciding with the release of the inaugural PWHL: First Edition trading card set (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
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Rookies are big business in the trading card business. So while the number of players featured in the new PWHL: First Edition set that was released last week by Upper Deck was limited by the relatively small size of the six-team league, the good news was that every player could be considered a rookie of sorts in the brand new circuit.
“We have 70 unique players featured in the base set,” said Paul Zickler, Upper Deck’s director of sports brands. “I think the first 50 is the base set, and then 20 Young Guns.”
Taylor Heise Upper Deck Young Guns
Courtesy: Upper Deck
So yes, collectors will be able to find Young Guns cards in these packs for longtime stars of the sport like Montreal Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin or Season 1 MVP Natalie Spooner of the Toronto Sceptres.
The list of true rookie Young Guns in the set is headlined by the PWHL’s first-ever first-overall draft pick and 2024 playoff MVP Taylor Heise of the Minnesota Frost.
When releasing the set, Upper Deck also announced that it has signed Heise to an exclusive collectibles deal, now holding the exclusive right to produce her cards and memorabilia. She’s Upper Deck’s second exclusive PWHL athlete, after 2024 first-overall pick Sarah Fillier was signed in December.
“Growing up, I never would have thought there would be an opportunity for women playing professional sports to have the spotlight. The fact that this is now a reality and I’m one of these players featured on trading cards is unbelievable,” said Heise in a news release. “We’re not only making history, but we’re creating a stronger community of fans and collectors who can connect and celebrate with us through our stories.”
As they rose to the top of their sport during their college years, Heise and Fillier were ideal choices to join the Upper Deck stable.
They each represent a side of the storied women’s hockey rivalry between Canada and the United States. Fillier hails from Georgetown, Ont. while Heise was raised in Lake City, Minn. And while NHL rookies usually need several years to reach their full potential on the men’s side of the game, these two have both made instant impacts.
After leading the PWHL’s first playoffs with five goals in 10 games, Heise’s 14 points through Jan. 28 have her tied with teammates Kendall Coyne Schofield and Claire Thompson at the top of the league’s 2024-25 scoring race. Fillier is right behind, with 13 points in her first 12 PWHL games.
Stats aren’t everything when choosing athletes to represent a brand, but numbers like those are a welcome bonus.
Upper Deck director of sports brands Paul Zickler
Courtesy: Upper Deck
“They’re both really good people so we’re excited on that level, as well as their performance on the ice,” Zickler said. “We kind of fluked out, honestly, to see how well they’re performing this early in their careers.”
Since everything about the launch of the PWHL has happened at breakneck pace, the PWHL: First Edition set features rosters and images from the league’s first year in 2024. The cards will forever be distinctive because they feature the original jerseys with just the team cities, before the nicknames and logos were finalized. And since Fillier is leading the rookie class of Season 2, she is not included in the set.
In the past, female hockey players have been featured on cards as representatives of their national teams. Upper Deck also inked a multi-year licensing agreement with the PHF in 2021, but the first year of that deal in 2022-23 was also the league’s last, before it was purchased and folded by the PWHL’s current ownership group.
“Some of the our contacts from the PHF did move over to PWHL,” Zickler said. “But it was never to the scale of the inaugural PWHL set that we launched last week.”
Hockey has been an integral part of the Upper Deck brand for more than 30 years. The company has maintained the NHL and NHLPA’s trading card licenses since 1990 and is currently the title partner for the NHL Draft.
Adding the PWHL to the brand portfolio made good sense.
“It’s been a personal mandate of mine, and I think of our leadership team, elevating women’s sports,” Zickler said. “But it’s not just our hockey business where we’re focusing on women’s athletes.”
Other women in the Upper Deck family include current LPGA golfers Rose Zhang and Lexi Thompson as well as legend Annika Sorenstam, and U.S. beach volleyball stars Kerri Walsh Jenning and Misty May-Treanor. An NIL product is also in the works, and will feature a large number of female athletes.
“We want to focus on sports that don’t get the same exposure as the core sports,” Zickler said. “You’re going to see gymnastics, you’re going to see field hockey, you’re going to see volleyball. We really want to elevate women’s sports. We think there’s a huge, huge growth in this market.”
That being said, hockey remains a priority.
“The sport of hockey is in a very good place, both on the men’s side and on the women’s side,” Zickler said. “The game’s never been faster, never been more popular, never been younger. The skill on the ice has never been better. It’s been building for a while, so we’re just excited that the PWHL is able to elevate it even further. I’m excited to build more hockey card collectors, more women fan collectors, and elevate the league.”
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