Do you remember the time you opened your first ever pack of hockey cards? Some of us gained a new pastime that day. While others may look past collecting cards of any kind, you should appreciate them as a collecting sub-culture, just like any other item people like to collect.

But over the past few years the reason why people are starting to collect hockey cards may have shifted. What once was a fun little hobby might be changing into a form of investing through collecting.

(Unsplash / Mick Haupt)

I started collecting hockey cards like many of my friends at a young age. It was so cool to open a pack of hockey cards and discover the mystery of which players we would receive. I still remember going to my local card shop for the first time and being amazed by the boxes upon boxes of cards available for sale, and the “special” cards that were on display in glass cases.

The aura around collecting hockey cards changed right around when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Like any other hobby during the early days of the pandemic, people had more time to spend on fun little activities to occupy their time. Sports cards collecting saw a sudden rise in collectors, and I noticed that popular names within the hockey card collecting community started to expand their products online, making YouTube videos and livestreaming themselves opening packs of cards.

(Pexels / Erik Mclean)

What changed as a result of the pandemic for card collecting was that it was no longer seen just as a hobby but was now being “used” as a way of making money. You might have seen photos or videos of empty shelves at stores like Target and Walmart, and this included the usually stocked sections with sports cards. People started selling out stores of their boxes of cards to create more demand, and consequently increased the price of the product.

Even though the pandemic “hobby phase” has died down, the ripple effect is now being seen in the pricing of newly released hockey card sets. The average collector is no longer able to afford a box of cards, and “card breakers” buy large numbers of boxes and sell spots for different teams to people who hope to receive a valuable card. Like anything else affected by inflation, hockey card boxes are now offering less for a higher cost.

(Upper Deck)

Personally, I’ve stopped collecting hockey cards because of these troubling factors. My most valuable card is a graded Connor McDavid “young guns” that I am going to hold on to until I’m much older (could be part of my retirement fund).

There’s money to be made from hockey and other sports cards, but until the prices settle down or something changes within the hobby, it will no longer be like it once was when we were kids.