Panini America Announces Plans for Rest of 2012-13 NHL Season, Double Rookie Class

Panini America, the world’s largest sports and entertainment collectibles company, announced today an updated roster of NHL/NHLPA trading card products for the remainder of the 2012-13 season, following the NHLPA’s decision to restrict the 2012-13 Rookie Cards to those players that debuted between the 2012 All-Star Game and the conclusion of the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals.

P

Panini America, the world’s largest sports and entertainment collectibles company, announced today an updated roster of NHL/NHLPA trading card products for the remainder of the 2012-13 season, following the NHLPA’s decision to restrict 2012-13 Rookie Cards to those players that debuted between the 2012 All-Star Game and the conclusion of the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals.

The decision means that any rookies that debut during the 2012-13 season will have their Rookie Cards appear in 2013-14 NHL/NHLPA Panini America products along with rookies debuting during the 2013-14 season — setting up the category for a highly anticipated double rookie class.

The decision also allows for Panini America to celebrate the NHL’s return to the ice with the release of two more trading card products during the remainder of the shortened season, with one product launching shortly after the start of the NHL season later this week. 2012-13 Limited Hockey will be available at hobby stores in early February. Limited will be followed by 2012-13 Rookie Anthology Hockey, available at hobby shops in early June. The 2012-13 Panini America NHL/NHLPA product calendar will be rounded out with the highly anticipated return of Prime Hockey, which will be available at hobby shops in August.

“We are excited for the NHL and NHL Players to return to the ice and look forward to delivering NHL/NHLPA trading cards to eager hockey fans around the world,” said Panini America CEO Mark Warsop. “We look forward to working with the league and its players to continue the momentum the hockey trading card category experienced last season. The time away from the game has only strengthened the demand and anticipation for new Panini America NHL/NHLPA trading card products.”

Stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance for additional updates.

Share

28 Replies to “Panini America Announces Plans for Rest of 2012-13 NHL Season, Double Rookie Class”

  1. Titanium was already available for presell on certified dealer websites and the product information sheets are out there online. Is this product being pulled for this year? No Dominion this year either? Also, in previous posts it was mentioned that HRX would make it’s long awaited debut in hockey products this year. Is this too on hold until 2013-14?

    It’s great that hockey is back this weekend, but seems like a thin lineup for the rest of the year for trading cards.

  2. Basketball was on fire this year with the double rookie class. It’s definitely better to hold on the rookies and not rush to throw together some cards. 2013-14 Panini Hockey products will be so hot the ice will melt!

  3. I guess maybe the short 12-13 releases will allow me to jump back into hockey again after leaving hockey since 2001 and focusing just on NFL

  4. What about certified redemptions? I think im done collecting hockey this year. you should just cancel your products till next year! What the point in buying top dollars for cards when there’s is only 3 rookie wich are worth it?

    1. So these redemptions will be for rookies in 13-14? What then happens to those rookies next season? They cannot be included in the product?

  5. Thank you for the update on the situation. It’s disappointing from one perspective but very reinvigorating from another. While many of the products that we’ve come to love from Panini won’t be getting a 12-13 treatment, the card lineup for a full 2013-14 calendar and all of those rookie cards is going to be a massive injection of enthusiasm for the hobby.

  6. Tracy,
    That rookie card class next year may be even better than the last 05-06 class.
    Think about potentially MacKinnon, Seth Jones, Drouin, Huberdeau, Yakupov, Grigorenko, Galchenyuk, Schultz, just to start.
    I am so glad they are doing this, this is going to be worth the wait.
    Thanks and I cannot wait until next year.
    T

  7. Last year, Rookie Anthology had a bunch of additional cards plugged in from other products, including Crown Royale. Hopefully, that will be the case this year as well. Obviously there will be no Rookie Silhouette cards, but Silhouette Signatures still seems possible. The Silhouette cards are far and away the nicest and most coveted of the Panini sets, so let’s hope they know the demand for them and don’t rob us of their awesomeness this year. If anybody with info on this reads my post…feel free to respond with any information. Silhouette Signatures cards at any point? Yes or no?

  8. Think this is a great step by Panini and NHL. Its way too late to release the current year rookie crop and it would just be with tons of redemptions.

    1. Agreed 100%.
      Had enough redemptions before when the rookie cutoff date was the all star game. Basically this ruling moved the cutoff back about 1 week.

  9. Very well done, let’s hope there aren’t any printing issues like the unfortunate one that occurred for the basketball rookie class. I’m actually more excited than I thought I would be about the return of hockey, this adds to it as well. Thanks Tracy!

  10. Wow… Rookie Anthology in June(no less) with no new rookies after its dazzling debut last year. You never cease to amaze me Panini.

    1. But what you could do with Rookie Anthology is do rookie cards for several different products with the rookies we have know. Not a absolutaly terrible idea.

  11. This legendary “dual redemption class” was an ultimate bust and fail in the basketball hobby. Let’s hope you guys fare with better luck.

    Good luck hockey heads.

Leave a Reply to Frannk Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *