Top 5 Young Guns from Upper Deck’s 2025-26 Series One

Let the hunt begin!

On Wednesday, October 15th, Upper Deck releases the first installment of its flagship product, as 2025-26 Series One hits the shelves.

Series One and Two are highly anticipated due to the coveted Young Guns that are released within the set. These are considered the “main rookie card” for each play, and are highly collectible.

The Young Guns set includes a 50-player checklist each year, and here is a list of the top-five players to chase in Series One.

1. Ivan Demidov, Montreal Canadiens.

Habs fans call him the ‘Demi-God’, and the demand for his marquee rookie card from Series One flagship will be high. The Russian rookie burst onto the scene late last year and played the final two games of the regular season for Montreal, finishing with a goal and an assist, while adding two more points in five playoff games. He is projected to be a top-six star in Montreal, and already has three points in four games ahead of the Series 1 release (Oct. 15th, 2025).

2. Jimmy Snuggerud, St Louis Blues.

Snuggerud was a first-round draft pick of the Blues in 2022. He played the final seven games of the 2024-25 season, scoring a goal with three helpers in those games. He also added two goals and two assists in the Blues’ seven-game playoff series against Winnipeg. The 21-year-old forward is off to a hot start this season as well, with two goals and three points in the team’s first three games before the release of his Young Guns.

3. Ryan Leonard, Washington Capitals.

Leonard had a great NCAA collegiate career, notching 61 goals across two seasons with Boston College. He also captained Team USA’s U20 team at last year’s World Junior Championships, where he tallied five goals and five assists in 10 games. He’s gotten off to a slower start at the NHL level with just two goals in his first 14 games, but the scoring abilities are off the charts, and he’s expected to be a big-time piece of the post-Ovechkin puzzle in Washington once ‘8’ hangs them up.

4. Zayne Parekh, Calgary Flames.

It’s not too often a rookie defenseman creates buzz around the NHL, but Parekh scored in his NHL debut in the Flames’ final game of the 2024-25 season. He’s yet to find the scoresheet early in 2025, but has impressed with his smooth skating and playmaking abilities. He filled the scoresheet in the OHL, putting up 87 goals and 240 points in 177 games at the junior level. It’s that level of production that has scouts and fans excited about what he could develop into, given the recent trend of young puck-movers putting up strong production from the back-end.

5. Sam Rinzel, Chicago Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks have two young blue liners featured in Series One, but it’s Rinzel that I believe will have the most hobby relevance. He was a 2022 first-round draft pick of the Hawks, but played two years of collegiate hockey at the University of Minnesota, scoring 60 points in 79 games at that level. Rinzel then debuted for the Hawks late last season, collecting five assists in nine games. The young defender has just one goal so far in four games this season, but he is a member of the Hawks’ top power-play unit, so I’d expect him to produce once that young group gets going.

Below is the full checklist of 2025-26 Series One Young Guns class:

201 Artyom Levshunov, Chicago Blackhawks

202 Gabe Perreault, New York Rangers

203 Olivier Rodrigue, Edmonton Oilers

204 Carter Mazur, Detroit Red Wings

205 Ivan Demidov, Montreal Canadiens

206 Tim Washe, Anaheim Ducks

207 Jimmy Snuggerud, St. Louis Blues

208 Jack Finley, Tampa Bay Lightning

209 Jani Nyman, Seattle Kraken

210 Karsen Dorwart, Philadelphia Flyers

211 Riley Duran, Boston Bruins

212 Ozzy Wiesblatt, Nashville Predators

213 Luca Cagnoni, San Jose Sharks

214 Ryan Suzuki, Carolina Hurricanes

215 Sam Morton, Calgary Flames

216 Oliver Moore, Chicago Blackhawks

217 Rodrigo Abols, Philadelphia Flyers

218 Colton Dach, Chicago Blackhawks

219 Noah Ostlund, Buffalo Sabres

220 Niklas Kokko, Seattle Kraken

221 Nikita Tolopilo, Vancouver Canucks

222 Michael Callahan, Boston Bruins

223 Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks

224 Quinn Hutson, Edmonton Oilers

225 Jacob Gaucher, Philadelphia Flyers

226 Dalibor Dvorsky, St. Louis Blues

227 Owen Sillinger, Columbus Blue Jackets

228 Matthew Wood, Nashville Predators

229 Donovan Sebrango, Ottawa Senators

230 Jacob Melanson, Seattle Kraken

231 Marc Gatcomb, New York Islanders

232 Ian Moore, Anaheim Ducks

233 Ville Koivunen, Pittsburgh Penguins

234 Dominik Shine, Detroit Red Wings

235 Rory Kerins, Calgary Flames

236 Zayne Parekh, Calgary Flames

237 Joakim Kemell, Nashville Predators

238 Ryan Leonard, Washington Capitals

239 Matthew Robertson, New York Rangers

240 Ethen Frank, Washington Capitals

241 Jacob Quillan, Toronto Maple Leafs

242 Cam Lund, San Jose Sharks

243 Justin Robidas, Carolina Hurricanes

244 Jakub Skarek, New York Islanders

245 Victor Ostman, Seattle Kraken

246 Parker Ford, Winnipeg Jets

247 Skyler Brindâ€Amour, Carolina Hurricanes

248 Sam Rinzel, Chicago Blackhawks

249 Dylan Duke, Tampa Bay Lightning

250 Ivan Demidov/Artyom Levshunov CL, Montreal/Chicago Canadiens/Blackhawks.

Source link