Upper Deck
2008/09 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee Hockey Retail Value Box | 13 Packs + 1 Bonus | Factory Sealed
A factory-sealed retail value box of 2008/09 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee Hockey β 13 packs plus one bonus pack, 14 in total. Released 6 October 2008. NHL and NHLPA licensed. The original retail price printed on the box is $19.99.
This is the only set with the real 1979-80 design
2008/09 is the year Upper Deck introduced retro variation cards to O-Pee-Chee, and it did not imitate an old design β it used one.
The retros in this set reproduce the exact 1979-80 Topps and O-Pee-Chee layout: the pale blue borders familiar from Wayne Gretzky's rookie card, which is the most recognisable hockey card ever printed. Every player in the 600-card base set has a retro version.
It happened once. A legal settlement with Topps meant that from 2009/10 onward Upper Deck could no longer use Topps or O-Pee-Chee designs from the past. Every retro set since has had to invent a design that looks old without being old β which the company has done capably for more than fifteen years, but it is not the same thing.
So the retro variations became a permanent feature of O-Pee-Chee, and only the first year carries the genuine article.
Six hundred cards in one set
O-Pee-Chee runs the most comprehensive single-season base set in hockey, and 600 is not a marketing number β it is enough to include every regular NHL player of the season rather than a selection of stars.
That is the older idea of what a card set was for. Before the hobby reorganised itself around autographs and numbered parallels in the 1990s, a set was a catalogue: you collected it to have the whole league, and the pleasure was completion rather than the pull.
Assembling 600 cards from packs is a serious undertaking, which is the point. O-Pee-Chee is the product for collectors who still want to finish something.
The 2008 rookie class
The set carries rookie cards of Steven Stamkos and Drew Doughty, first and second overall in the 2008 draft. Stamkos scored 555 goals and won two Stanley Cups with Tampa Bay; Doughty won two with Los Angeles and took the Norris Trophy in 2016.
A note on odds
Upper Deck's published rates for this release β one retro variation per pack, one Winter Classic Highlights card per box, OPC Triple Materials at 1:108 packs, OPC Signatures and Autographed Buybacks at 1:432 β are stated for the hobby configuration of 36 packs.
Retail boxes are packed to a different specification, and Upper Deck did not publish separate retail odds. What is certain is the count on the box: 13 packs plus one bonus.
Specifications
14 packs per box (13 + 1 bonus) Β· Factory sealed Β· 600-card base set Β· Released: 6 October 2008 Β· Manufacturer: Upper Deck Β· Brand: O-Pee-Chee Β· NHL and NHLPA licensed
You May Also Like
