2025–26 Fleer Ultra PWHL: 1999 Style, Heise Ink and Goalie City

Renata Fast's 1999 variation makes a fine introduction to 2025–26 Fleer Ultra PWHL. Her blue-and-yellow Toronto uniform jumps out of a purple rink scene, while an enormous script signature-style name sweeps across the lower half. The little gold-and-blue Fleer Ultra logo finishes the throwback. It is a hockey card with room for both the photograph and a wonderfully excessive name treatment.

Upper Deck's first Fleer Ultra PWHL release builds around that mix of recognizable players and distinct card designs. There is a clean photographic base set, Taylor Heise's Rainbow autograph, foil Medallions, and a Goalie City card that sends Aerin Frankel into a pink-and-orange skyline. The product arrived on the September 2026 release calendar; its hobby and blaster formats offer different ways into that checklist.

The base set leaves the hockey in the picture

The regular base design gives most of the card to a rink photograph. Kelly Pannek's preview keeps the crowd, boards and ice behind her, with her name and jersey number confined to angled silver rules along the bottom. Her purple-and-white Minnesota uniform supplies the color. The small Fleer Ultra logo occupies a corner without competing with the player.

The set has 100 cards: 75 veterans and 25 rookies. Its numbered veteran run includes Marie-Philip Poulin, Sarah Fillier, Hilary Knight and Taylor Heise. That gives the photographic design a broad player foundation before the inserts begin changing its appearance. The official checklist also includes Seattle and Vancouver team assignments, so a team-focused collector has more to explore than the original six clubs.

Haley Winn and the rookie run

Haley Winn's No. 88 base card uses the same photographic approach, adding a vertical ROOKIE treatment along the right edge. The green stick and Boston uniform cut across the white ice, while the lower nameplate stays out of her face and upper body. It is an appealingly direct rookie design: the player does the work, with the designation easy to find.

The rookie sequence runs from 76 through 100. Casey O'Brien opens it; Nicole Gosling is No. 83, Winn is No. 88, Kristyna Kaltounkova is No. 98 and Rory Guilday closes it. A base rookie falls in each pack on average. Rising Stars supplies a separate all-rookie insert set, giving those collectors another design to pursue alongside the numbered base run.

The 1999 variations change more than the color

Fast's throwback offers a substantial visual change from Pannek's regular base card. The straight silver rules disappear, the background becomes a unified purple field, and the large white-and-silver script curls beneath the skates. The name becomes part of the composition. A base card and its 1999 counterpart make a satisfying pair because the two designs organize the same sport so differently.

The format-specific parallels give that throwback its own collecting choices. Blasters have exclusive Purple 1999 variations numbered to 349; hobby and e-Pack have Gold versions numbered to 99. A collector following the 1999 design has a numbered target in either format, with the two colors belonging to different box lineups.

Upper Deck's hobby sell sheet advertises seven 1999 variants per box. The blaster configuration averages two, including one exclusive Purple. Those extras make the throwback a recurring part of opening either format.

Taylor Heise's autograph has space to breathe

Heise's Rainbow autograph retains the action photograph and Minnesota colors, then opens a pale signing area across the lower middle. The blue ink is easy to follow against that light panel. Rainbow color around the photograph adds shine without making the signature fight the background. The card still looks like a hockey photograph first, with the autograph occupying a deliberate place in it.

The checklist marks Heise's Rainbow autograph SSP. Red Rainbow autographs are numbered to 10 and Gold Rainbow autographs are one-of-ones; those numbered versions are designated for hobby and e-Pack. Fresh Ink adds another autograph family, including Winn, Fast, Frankel and Natalie Spooner.

The hobby autograph expectation is four per case on average, rather than an autograph in every box. Rainbow autographs also appear in blasters, while Fresh Ink belongs to hobby and e-Pack. That distinction matters when choosing a format specifically for signatures.

Medallions, Meteor Shower and a goalie with her own skyline

Claire Dalton's Medallions preview removes the rink entirely. Her blue Toronto uniform sits against a silver field packed with repeating Fleer Ultra and Medallions marks. The diagonal black name strip anchors the bottom; the photograph supplies almost all the strong color. It is a more graphic treatment than the base set, with the pattern doing the work a conventional border might do.

Emily Clark's Meteor Shower takes the opposite approach to background restraint. A large helmeted portrait fills the upper left, a smaller skating image crosses the lower right, and blue-green streaks run behind both. Her red Ottawa uniform gives the eye something solid to land on amid the motion. The two photographs make this feel more like a player poster than the single-shot base card.

Then there is Goalie City. Frankel's green-and-white equipment fills almost the entire card, framed by blue buildings, a warm sunset and chunky yellow lettering. The oversized goalie makes the illustrated city feel like a stage built for her. Upper Deck identifies the insert's technology as lenticular; this flat promotional image shows the composition, while the physical card supplies the viewing effect.

The manufacturer's product breakdown puts Meteor Shower at 1:38 hobby packs and Goalie City at 1:60. The blaster page gives 1:75 and 1:120, respectively. Those are insert-set odds, not the odds of pulling Clark or Frankel specifically.

What changes between hobby and blaster?

Hobby is the fuller expression of Ultra's parallel and autograph lineup. Its six numbered cards and larger run of 1999 variants give a box more chances to move between the release's different looks. Mise-en-Scene, advertised at one per hobby case on average, adds a further target beyond the inserts shared with blasters.

Blasters make a particularly coherent choice for the 1999 design: the exclusive Purple parallel is part of their average box contents, alongside examples from both Medallions and Rising Stars. Meteor Shower, Goalie City and Rainbow autographs remain possible pulls. Upper Deck's stated averages describe production across the release; individual boxes can vary.

For our eye, Fast's sweeping throwback script and Frankel's bright Goalie City scene are the designs that give this release its personality. Heise's autograph adds a different appeal: purple Minnesota colors, a clear action photograph and blue ink with enough room around it. Fleer Ultra's PWHL debut has several distinct faces, and those three are especially easy to remember.