Ranking the 2024-25 Upper Deck Series 2 Young Guns

2024-25 Upper Deck Series 2 hits the shelves March 5, 2025, and the Young Guns checklist features two beasts to hunt. Somewhat surprisingly, Upper Deck chose to include both Macklin Celebrini and Matvei Michkov in Series 2 (instead of saving one for Extended Series). There are a couple of other mildly interesting names to be found, but this crop is pretty much all about Celebrini and Michkov.

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1. Macklin Celebrini • F • San Jose Sharks
   Macklin Celebrini is certainly making noise in the hobby this year, but his cards do not seem to be generating the same level of hype that Connor Bedard’s did a year ago. Celebrini projects to be just as great of a player as Bedard, and possibly even slightly better. Corey Pronman recently put Celebrini in the leadoff spot of his top players and prospects under 23 list and says Celebrini “is one of the few players I’ve scouted where it’s hard to see any noticeable weakness.” I wonder if playing in San Jose is taking a bit of the shine off Celebrini’s hobby hype. The dude looks like an absolute superstar. Over at Hockey Prospecting, Celebrini’s top comps at the moment include Connor McDavid, Mario Lemieux, and Wayne Gretzky.
2. Matvei Michkov • F • Philadelphia Flyers
   stay tuned, more write-ups to come!
3. Macklin Celebrini/Matvei Michkov Checklist
4. Macklin Celebrini/Will Smith Teammates • San Jose Sharks
5. Matvei Michkov/Ivan Fedotov Teammates • Philadelphia Flyers
6. Seamus Casey • D • New Jersey Devils
7. Aleksei Kolosov • G • Philadelphia Flyers
8. Drew Commesso • G • Chicago Blackhawks
9. Joel Blomqvist • G • Pittsburgh Penguins
10. Rutger McGroarty • F • Pittsburgh Penguins
11. Jett Luchanko • F • Philadelphia Flyers
12. Calum Ritchie • F • Colorado Avalanche
13. Conor Geekie • F • Tampa Bay Lightning
14. Maveric Lamoureux • D • Utah Hockey Club
15. Cutter Gauthier/Olen Zellweger Teammates • Anaheim Ducks
16. Samuel Honzek • F • Calgary Flames
17. Logan Mailloux/Lane Hutson Teammates • Montreal Canadiens
18. Jackson Blake • F • Carolina Hurricanes
19. Zachary L’Heureux • F • Nashville Predators
20. Albert Johansson • D • Detroit Red Wings
21. Maxim Tsyplakov • F • New York Islanders
22. Oliver Kapanen • F • Montreal Canadiens
23. Vasiliy Ponomarev • F • Carolina Hurricanes
24. Jack Thompson • D • Tampa Bay Lightning
25. Ethan Cardwell • F • San Jose Sharks
26. Nolan Allan • D • Chicago Blackhawks
27. Matthew Stienburg • F • Colorado Avalanche
28. Georgi Romanov • G • San Jose Sharks
29. Maksymilian Szuber • D • Utah Hockey Club
30. Daniil Misyul • D • New Jersey Devils
31. Oskar Back • F • Dallas Stars
32. Nikita Prishchepov • F • Colorado Avalanche
33. Aku Raty • F • Utah Hockey Club
34. Nikolai Kovalenko • F • Colorado Avalanche
35. Andre Lee • F • Los Angeles Kings
36. Isaac Poulter • G • New Jersey Devils
37. Victor Mancini • D • New York Rangers
38. Logan Morrison • F • Seattle Kraken
39. Cameron Butler • F • Columbus Blue Jackets
40. Ivan Ivan • F • Colorado Avalanche
41. Adam Klapka • F • Carolina Hurricanes
42. Patrick Giles • F • Florida Panthers
43. Brian Halonen • F • New Jersey Devils
44. Noah Philp • F • Edmonton Oilers
45. Brandon Bussi • G • Boston Bruins
46. Philip Kemp • D • Edmonton Oilers
47. Declan Carlile • D • Tampa Bay Lightning
48. Brandon Scanlin • D • New York Rangers
49. Devin Cooley • G • San Jose Sharks
50. Patrik Koch • D • Utah Hockey Club

These rankings are based primarily on my interpretation of data and articles from Hockey Prospecting, The Hockey Writers, The Athletic, and various other media sites, as well as performance to date, player age (the younger the better), and draft position.