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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- 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. - Matvei Michkov • F • Philadelphia Flyers
Matvei Michkov’s top comps at Hockey Prospecting also include McDavid, Lemieux, and Gretzky – plus Celebrini! So it is truly two monsters at the top of this list. Michkov’s skills with the puck on his stick are possibly even better than Celebrini’s, though Michkov’s overall game is not nearly as well-rounded. Offensive dominance seems to be the main driver of interest from card collectors, so I do not expect Michkov’s weaknesses to significantly dampen demand within the hobby. - Macklin Celebrini/Matvei Michkov Checklist
Even Young Guns checklists with a superstar pictured do not typically sustain especially high demand, so it is admittedly a bit of a reach to rank the checklist this high. But if Celebrini and Michkov both live up to expectations, this card could feature the best duo on a YG checklist yet and break the mold. - Macklin Celebrini/Will Smith Teammates • San Jose Sharks
I do not know what type of demand to expect for these new “Teammates” YGs, but Celebrini alone should make this a decent pull. The course of Will Smith’s career will likely determine whether this card rockets into even higher demand. Smith does have strong star potential, though he is not a sure thing. - Matvei Michkov/Ivan Fedotov Teammates • Philadelphia Flyers
Michkov’s presence should make this a nice card. Goaltender Ivan Fedotov is already 28 years old, so the ceiling on this card might be limited. - Seamus Casey • D • New Jersey Devils
Finally we come to a card with neither Celebrini nor Michkov! Seamus Casey joins Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec as young Devils blueliners with exciting offensive potential. But Casey’s career projects to be more in the “solid” rather than star range. - Aleksei Kolosov • G • Philadelphia Flyers
23 year-old Belarussian Aleksei Kolosov does not appear on many subjective goalie prospect lists, but the objective model at Hockey Prospecting suggests he might have more potential than meets the eye. Still, we have reached the dark horse stage of the list, which I estimate also includes the next six cards. - Drew Commesso • G • Chicago Blackhawks
- Joel Blomqvist • G • Pittsburgh Penguins
- Rutger McGroarty • F • Pittsburgh Penguins
- Jett Luchanko • F • Philadelphia Flyers
- Calum Ritchie • F • Colorado Avalanche
- Conor Geekie • F • Tampa Bay Lightning
- Maveric Lamoureux • D • Utah Hockey Club
- Cutter Gauthier/Olen Zellweger Teammates • Anaheim Ducks
- Samuel Honzek • F • Calgary Flames
- Logan Mailloux/Lane Hutson Teammates • Montreal Canadiens
I try to resist the temptation to reorder my rankings after posting them, so I will leave this card here. But Lane Hutson’s star power has risen considerably in the short time between these rankings being posted and me returning to write additional notes, so the outlook for this card is now much stronger. If I did reorder the list here in mid-May 2025, this one would probably move up to #7. - Jackson Blake • F • Carolina Hurricanes
- Zachary L’Heureux • F • Nashville Predators
- Albert Johansson • D • Detroit Red Wings
- Maxim Tsyplakov • F • New York Islanders
- Oliver Kapanen • F • Montreal Canadiens
- Vasiliy Ponomarev • F • Carolina Hurricanes
- Jack Thompson • D • Tampa Bay Lightning
- Ethan Cardwell • F • San Jose Sharks
- Nolan Allan • D • Chicago Blackhawks
- Matthew Stienburg • F • Colorado Avalanche
- Georgi Romanov • G • San Jose Sharks
- Maksymilian Szuber • D • Utah Hockey Club
- Daniil Misyul • D • New Jersey Devils
- Oskar Back • F • Dallas Stars
- Nikita Prishchepov • F • Colorado Avalanche
- Aku Raty • F • Utah Hockey Club
- Nikolai Kovalenko • F • Colorado Avalanche
- Andre Lee • F • Los Angeles Kings
- Isaac Poulter • G • New Jersey Devils
- Victor Mancini • D • New York Rangers
- Logan Morrison • F • Seattle Kraken
- Cameron Butler • F • Columbus Blue Jackets
- Ivan Ivan • F • Colorado Avalanche
- Adam Klapka • F • Carolina Hurricanes
- Patrick Giles • F • Florida Panthers
- Brian Halonen • F • New Jersey Devils
- Noah Philp • F • Edmonton Oilers
- Brandon Bussi • G • Boston Bruins
- Philip Kemp • D • Edmonton Oilers
- Declan Carlile • D • Tampa Bay Lightning
- Brandon Scanlin • D • New York Rangers
- Devin Cooley • G • San Jose Sharks
- 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.
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