Personally I think Upper Deck has been good and bad for the hockey fan or the hockey card collector.  As with most hobbies these days, collecting sports card has become a business.  The price of collecting cards has made it challenging for some fans to continue with.  Don;t you remember as a kid, getting your allowance money and going to the corner store to buy a couple of packs of hockey cards?  It wasn’t that long ago that a pack of hockey cards was like $0.50 or even a $1.00.  You’d get a stick of bubble gum and like 8-10 cards of your favorite players in a pack. Fast forward to today where a pack of hockey cards ranges from $3 to $9 per pack and collecting has become a bit steep for your average kid.  A blaster box of hockey cards might typically include 8-12 packs with 5-8 cards per pack. An average set might range from 300-600 cards.  You can do the math and see just how much it would cost to get a complete set each season.

However, you have to give credit to Upper Deck the quality of the cards has never been better and in the centennial year of the National Hockey League, Upper Deck has launched a couple of special, commemorative sets include the Centennial Standout collection found in various packs of their 2017-2018 Upper deck hockey card packs.

About the Centennial Standouts Set

• the set consists of 100 cards with 12 variants
• the set contains current superstars and past hockey heroes
• the set contains 12 variants cards featuring jersey variations
• the set contains 3 Wayne Gretzky cards
• the set contains 3 Connor McDavid cards (including variant short print)
• the set is missing some key players (case in point Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe is not found in this set)
• the set features the NHL’s 100 Anniversary logo

What we like about the set is the diversity of the players and some of the classic images of the players.  While younger kids may not have seen Bobby Orr, Paul Coffey or Jean Beliveau play, the Centennial Standouts cards capture some of the classic moments from the NHL’s past and present stars.

Top 10 2017-18 NHL Centennial Standout Cards

This is not based on value or difficulty in acquiring, this is simply our own personal preference based on the look and history of the player.

1. Bobby Orr (CS-48) – one of the most iconic images in hockey history. 
2. Wayne Gretzky (CS-99) – classic Gretzky in the Edmonton Oilers uniform. 
3. Bill Barilko (CS-51) – made famous in a Tragically Hip song, Upper Deck did a nice job including this famous image of Barilko from the Toronto Maple Leafs.  It happens to be the Leafs Centennial as well so Leafs fans will find a number of their favorites in this set. 
4. Mark Messier (CS 94) – I used to love it when New York Islanders fans used to chant “1940” at Ranger games.  At that time the Rangers had not won a Stanley Cup since 1940 while the Islanders had captured 4 straight in the early 80’s. Mark Messier should have won the Conn Smythe in 1994 as he shoulder the blueshirts to their first Cup win since 1940. Awesome card! 
5. Jean Beliveau (CS 64) – its cool to see some of the games greatest players with the Stanley Cup.  Habs fans will like this great card with Jean Beliveau hanging with one of the many Cups that he won as part of the Montreal Canadiens organization. 
6. Johnathan Toews (CS 49) – just another cool pose with the cup on this one.  Captain Serious is almost cracking a smile as he hoists the Stanley Cup for the Chicago Blackhawks, the NHL’s modern day Dynasty. 
7. Erik Karlsson (CS 65) – another thing we like about this set of cards is the number sequencing.  Take for example this great card of the Senators star defenceman Erik Karlsson at card #65. |
   
8. Grant Fuhr (CS 13) – this is just a classic pose that was captured with Grant Fuhr in his excellent Edmonton Oilers old school goalie mask. 
9. Guy LaFleur (CS 79) – another great Stanley Cup related image of yet another Montreal Canadian with hockey’s Holy Grail. The LaFleur short print card is also a nice one as well. 
10. Sidney Crosby (CS 87) – the short print Crosby card of Sidney Crosby just seems to illustrate his compete level doesn’t it?  It’s own of our favorites from the set. 

NHL Centennial Standout Checklist

The complete list of cards from the set looks like this:

CS-1	Wayne Gretzky	Los Angeles Kings
CS-2	Duncan Keith	Chicago Blackhawks
CS-3	Patrick Roy	Colorado Avalanche
CS-4	Bobby Orr	Boston Bruins
CS-5	Nicklas Lidstrom	Detroit Red Wings
CS-6	Joe Thornton	San Jose Sharks
CS-7	Paul Coffey	Edmonton Oilers
CS-8	Alexander Ovechkin	Washington Capitals
CS-9	Maurice Richard	Montreal Canadiens
CS-10	Darryl Sittler	Toronto Maple Leafs
CS-11	Mark Messier	Edmonton Oilers
CS-12	Dickie Moore	Montreal Canadiens
CS-13	Grant Fuhr	Edmonton Oilers
CS-14	Jamie Benn	Dallas Stars
CS-15	Ryan Getzlaf	Anaheim Ducks
CS-16	Marcel Dionne	Los Angeles Kings
CS-17	Jari Kurri	Edmonton Oilers
CS-18	Phil Esposito	Boston Bruins
CS-19	Steve Yzerman	Detroit Red Wings
CS-20	Ed Belfour	Dallas Stars
CS-21	Stan Mikita	Chicago Blackhawks
CS-22	Daniel Sedin	Vancouver Canucks
CS-23	Henrik Lundqvist	New York Rangers
CS-24	Chris Chelios	Montreal Canadiens
CS-25	Wayne Gretzky	New York Rangers
CS-26	Eddie Shore	Boston Bruins
CS-27	Frank Mahovlich	Toronto Maple Leafs
CS-28	Claude Giroux	Philadelphia Flyers
CS-29	Patrik Laine	Winnipeg Jets
CS-30	Martin Brodeur	New Jersey Devils
CS-31	Carey Price	Montreal Canadiens
CS-32	Jonathan Quick	Los Angeles Kings
CS-33	Henrik Sedin	Vancouver Canucks
CS-34	Auston Matthews	Toronto Maple Leafs
CS-35	Rod Brind’Amour	Carolina Hurricanes
CS-36	Shea Weber	Montreal Canadiens
CS-37	Syl Apps	Toronto Maple Leafs
CS-38	Bobby Orr	Boston Bruins
CS-39	Dominik Hasek	Buffalo Sabres
CS-40	Ray Bourque	Colorado Avalanche
CS-41	John Tavares	New York Islanders
CS-42	Syl Apps	Toronto Maple Leafs
CS-43	P.K. Subban	Nashville Predators
CS-44	Guy Lafleur	Montreal Canadiens
CS-45	Connor McDavid	Edmonton Oilers
CS-46	Patrice Bergeron	Boston Bruins
CS-47	Roberto Luongo	Florida Panthers
CS-48	Bobby Orr	Boston Bruins
CS-49	Jonathan Toews	Chicago Blackhawks
CS-50	Maurice Richard	Montreal Canadiens
CS-51	Bill Barilko	Toronto Maple Leafs
CS-52	Jarome Iginla	Calgary Flames
CS-53	Mark Recchi	Philadelphia Flyers
CS-54	Red Kelly	Detroit Red Wings
CS-55	Charlie Conacher	Toronto Maple Leafs
CS-56	Jean Beliveau	Montreal Canadiens
CS-57	Drew Doughty	Los Angeles Kings
CS-58	Pierre Pilote	Chicago Blackhawks
CS-59	Alex Delvecchio	Detroit Red Wings
CS-60	Steven Stamkos	Tampa Bay Lightning
CS-61	Corey Perry	Anaheim Ducks
CS-62	Bobby Hull	Chicago Blackhawks
CS-63	Nicklas Backstrom	Washington Capitals
CS-64	Jean Beliveau	Montreal Canadiens
CS-65	Erik Karlsson	Ottawa Senators
CS-66	Mario Lemieux	Pittsburgh Penguins
CS-67	Johnny Bower	Toronto Maple Leafs
CS-68	Jaromir Jagr	Pittsburgh Penguins
CS-69	Zdeno Chara	Boston Bruins
CS-70	Braden Holtby	Washington Capitals
CS-71	Evgeni Malkin	Pittsburgh Penguins
CS-72	Bobby Clarke	Philadelphia Flyers
CS-73	Borje Salming	Toronto Maple Leafs
CS-74	Denis Potvin	New York Islanders
CS-75	Mario Lemieux	Pittsburgh Penguins
CS-76	Teemu Selanne	Winnipeg Jets
CS-77	Ray Bourque	Boston Bruins
CS-78	Larry Robinson	Montreal Canadiens
CS-79	Guy Lafleur	Montreal Canadiens
CS-80	Mike Gartner	Washington Capitals
CS-81	Marian Hossa	Chicago Blackhawks
CS-82	Dale Hawerchuk	Winnipeg Jets
CS-83	Mike Bossy	New York Islanders
CS-84	Pat LaFontaine	Buffalo Sabres
CS-85	Brent Burns	San Jose Sharks
CS-86	Patrick Roy	Montreal Canadiens
CS-87	Sidney Crosby	Pittsburgh Penguins
CS-88	Patrick Kane	Chicago Blackhawks
CS-89	Mike Modano	Dallas Stars
CS-90	Brett Hull	St. Louis Blues
CS-91	Vladimir Tarasenko	St. Louis Blues
CS-92	Pavel Bure	Vancouver Canucks
CS-93	Doug Gilmour	Toronto Maple Leafs
CS-94	Mark Messier	New York Rangers
CS-95	Peter Forsberg	Colorado Avalanche
CS-96	Joe Sakic	Colorado Avalanche
CS-97	Connor McDavid	Edmonton Oilers
CS-98	Martin Brodeur	New Jersey Devils
CS-99	Wayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers
CS-100	Mario Lemieux	Pittsburgh Penguins