2025–26 Blackhawks Centennial Hockey: Hossa, History and Pieces of the Madhouse

Marian Hossa is bent over the puck in his white Blackhawks sweater, a Bruins player close behind, with a blue signature running across the lower photograph. His Capturing a Champion Autograph card leaves the crowd and rink in the picture. The bold 2013 label gives the scene its place in Chicago’s history; Hossa supplies the movement.

That is a good introduction to 2025–26 Upper Deck Chicago Blackhawks Centennial Hockey. Released January 21, 2026, the Hobby edition combines a 200-card base checklist with championship inserts, autographs, jersey swatches, ticket pieces and relics from Chicago Stadium seats. This is the 15-pack Hobby tin, distinct from the earlier retail complete box set and its separate checklist.

The seven card images here are Upper Deck promotional previews. They show a set willing to change its visual approach as it moves through the franchise: oversized team lettering for the regular cards, a captain’s letter for Toews, a formal portrait for Bobby Hull and a wonderfully theatrical treatment for Madhouse Materials.

Two hundred cards, with five ways to tell the history

Tony Esposito’s No. 18 gets the full red-and-black base treatment. His white mask, brown leather pads and reaching glove break across a diagonal background, above enormous BLACKHAWKS lettering. The equipment does much of the historical storytelling before you read a word. It is a lively use of an older photograph, with the team name loud enough to fill the building.

The final Hobby checklist runs 1–200. Its first 100 cards are the regular player designs. The remaining 100 are organized into Retired Numbers, 101–108; Hall of Famers, 109–126; Award Winners, 127–161; Captains, 162–174; and Team Record Holders, 175–200. That structure gives the same franchise several distinct collecting routes.

Jonathan Toews’ Captains card, No. 162, is especially direct. A huge white C fills the background, his skating photograph crosses in front, and a curved name banner finishes the bottom. The Yellow parallel adds a bright serrated-looking printed border. The letter on his sweater and the letter behind him do the explaining together.

Yellow, High Decibel and Windy City Blue

The base cards and all five subsets share three parallel families. Yellow has a stated run of 1,926 per card, expressed as “1 of 1926” in the checklist. High Decibel is numbered to 125, and Windy City Blue to 65.

Duncan Keith’s High Decibel No. 26 preserves the red-and-black layout while turning the thin background outline and lower edge orange. His blue stick cuts diagonally through the photograph. The parallel accent stays around the action rather than replacing the team colors, so Keith still looks immediately at home in this set.

Bobby Hull’s Hall of Famers Windy City Blue No. 116 takes a different approach: a black-and-white head-and-shoulders portrait inside a circular frame, with blue lines and lettering against a dark field. Compared with Keith’s skating pose and giant team name, this is almost a commemorative plaque. The subset changes the mood; the parallel changes its color and scarcity.

Hossa’s action photograph and Roenick’s broad signature panel

Hossa’s CC-24 sits in a 25-card Capturing a Champion insert set. The autograph version has 19 checklist entries at 1:90 Hobby packs, and Hossa is specifically designated SP. The regular insert falls at 1:4 packs, with Gold at 1:30. Hossa’s white sweater and the mostly photographic background make the autograph version feel close to the game, even with the large title block below.

Jeremy Roenick’s Red Hot Autos No. 86 gives the signature more of its own space. The lower part of his photograph fades into a wide pale panel, allowing the blue autograph to stretch across the card without fighting the red sweater or dark background. It is the more graphic of these two autograph designs; Hossa’s is the more photographic.

Red Hot Autos has 68 entries at 1:18 Hobby packs. Centennial Choice Signatures also has 68 entries, at 1:15, while its Inscriptions parallel has 40 entries numbered to 35. Those are family odds, not the chance of pulling Roenick, Hossa or any other individual signer.

The old building gets its own memorabilia

Chicago Stadium Seat Relics is the most literal connection to the franchise’s former home: Upper Deck identifies the material as pieces of seats from the building. The checklist has 10 cards numbered to 49, including Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull, Chris Chelios and Jeremy Roenick. Nine subjects also have autograph versions numbered to 10.

Madhouse Materials tells its story with a jersey window and a much rowdier design. Toews’ preview places him amid bare branches, cracks and lightning, above a window drawn to resemble torn paper. “Jonathan Toews as the Center” runs across the top like a movie credit. It is an enjoyably strange way to cast a captain in a hockey horror poster.

The final checklist has 35 Madhouse Materials cards at 1:20 Hobby packs, plus 33 Premium parallels numbered to 25. The pictured swatch is part of the promotional design; the window’s contents vary by card. Ticket to Greatness takes another route, incorporating pieces of Blackhawks game tickets. Its 25 regular entries are numbered to one, three or five, with 13 additional autograph entries.

Those three families preserve different things: a piece of the building, a jersey swatch or a ticket. The seat cards are especially suited to this Centennial theme because their material connects the player portrait to a place generations of Chicago fans shared.

Bedard’s patch chase and the multi-signature cards

#1 Overall Picks Relics contains 10 entries alternating Patrick Kane and Connor Bedard, at 1:500 Hobby packs. The Auto Patch parallel is specifically five Bedard cards—ONE-2, ONE-4, ONE-6, ONE-8 and ONE-10—each numbered to five. Kane appears in the regular relic family; the final Auto Patch checklist belongs to Bedard.

The multi-signature combinations give the anniversary another kind of range. CS2-BH pairs Ed Belfour and Dominik Hasek, numbered to 25. CS3-BKP combines Kane, Bedard and Artemi Panarin, numbered to 15. CS4-TKHS brings together Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa, numbered to five. Each combination has a recognizable collecting identity: two goalies, three celebrated offensive names or four familiar Blackhawks teammates.

There are five Combos cards in total, numbered to 25 or 49, four Triples numbered to 15 and four Quads numbered to five. The 10 Centennial Cut Signatures are all 1/1s, with Tony Esposito and Bill Mosienko among the subjects. The cut-signature format reaches another part of the franchise’s history alongside the conventional signed cards.

What is in a Hobby tin?

The manufacturer’s Hobby sell sheet specifies 15 packs of nine cards. Its tin averages are:

• Three cards combining autographs, memorabilia and autograph memorabilia.
• Fifteen inserts from Memorable Moments, First Rounders, Stoppers and Capturing a Champion.
• Two Gold parallels from those insert families.
• Ten Yellow base or subset parallels.
• One High Decibel or Windy City Blue parallel.

The mix gives Chicago collectors several reasons to keep opening beyond the autograph slot. Esposito’s equipment, Toews’ oversized C and Hull’s framed portrait make the base checklist worth a proper look. Hossa’s Capturing a Champion autograph is my visual favorite of the previews: an active hockey photograph, room for the signature and a specific championship year, all working together.