2023 Leaf Ultimate Hockey Cards Checklist

Hi crew. I won’t give too detailed a review for this one. It is simply a stellar product. The checklist is rife with Hall of Famers. The Storybook Franchise booklets, book cards, and dual inscription booklets are such beautiful additions to the set. I have heard endless complaints about UD’s monopoly given their exclusive licensing. Yet, year after year, Leaf and President’s Choice have represented incredible value in the hobby as an UD substitute (in the economics sense). And, look at the checklist of those magazine cards, and their artistic quality. I’ve been blown away by what I have hit in group breaks.

You cannot go wrong with a mid-end product that offers an eight-way Canadiens auto-booklet with Yvan Cournoyer, Guy Lapointe, Kirk Muller, Larry Robinson, Saku Koivu, Pete Mahovlich, Steve Shutt, and Serge Savard. Where else will you find Pete Mahovlich and Serge Savard autos on the same card? Does UD even know that Frank Mahovlich had a brother? Pete has four Stanley Cups! And, when ppl vent about sticker autos, I personally – for one – don’t get it. This is precisely how Guy Lafleur remains in Leaf products: Rest in Peace, Flower. Sticker autos democratize the hobby and keep both box and eBay prices down. And, note. UD’s Sign of the Times eight-way autos are also sticker autos, yet go for 5x or 10x more on the secondary market. We should ask ourselves why. Leaf deserves far more love. I also love that Leaf now has inscriptions on the stickers. To me at least, there has never been a difference between a player handling a sticker versus handling a card. Plus all these HOF players have such beautiful autos, compared to the scribbles on hard-signed Future Watch Autos by current players who will over-sign for the next 60 years. I mean, look at Robo’s or UPL’s auto. Zero diligence.

I do have to respond to Cj’s comment on this thread, with due respect. That one star is a bit scandalous. All Leaf autos are pre-authenticated by the manufacturer, by definition, just like any auto from any product. The hobby box itself comes with two seals, and a barcode. The card says “congratulations” on the back, not “you got punk’d.” The Brodeur auto is obviously authentic, as there are no such booklets without autos. The jersey presupposes the auto and vice versa. Resale of the card presumes all of the above, as standard and accepted practice. But, if you want even greater authentication, you have countless options. You can have the card authenticated by a third party, like BGS. You can keep your box barcode. You can print out your correspondences with Leaf and your box receipt. I mean, you can even write Marty an angry epistle. But the card is in fact real by any and every measure. It is from a double sealed box, pre-authenticated by the card company, from an authenticated distributor, and presumably an approved retailer. Boom, bang, bing, bong.

Horrible product – I just received my box today, and 1 card was UBC-MB1 Martin Brodeur #1/2. However, the book card only has authentication for the memorabilia. There is also a sticker autograph, but no authentication at all for the autograph. I emailed Leaf support to confirm if it was a legit or fake autograph, in which they said it is real. Ok, but there was no authentication, I asked them why and if can they provide a certificate for it or anything so I can have it with the card… They responded saying all book cards in this set have no stated authentication for the autograph, but to “trust them” that it is legit.

Box was around $300.00 CAD with tax, so yeah 1 autograph I have has no authentication at all, if you’re a collector i’d avoid this product, who knows if these are legit autographs or forged, for the price of this product you’d except authentication for both memorabilia and all autographs.