2025–26 SP Hockey: Demidov Gold, Rookie Authentics and the Blue Chase

Ivan Demidov’s SP Rookie Authentics Signatures Gold /25 gives a retail hockey card a suitably dressed-up finish. Gold edging runs down the left side and curves beneath his skates, Montreal red fills the opposite edge, and the autograph sits across a pale horizontal panel. The design keeps the photograph large enough to show Demidov’s posture and the Canadiens sweater. Gold adds emphasis without swallowing the player.

That card is one of the attractions in 2025–26 Upper Deck SP Hockey, the retail release dated February 25, 2026. Its core is a 140-card set with a numbered rookie extension, supported by Blue parallels, Authentic Profiles and three autograph families. This is the SP retail product; SP Authentic has its own checklist and Future Watch program.

The images here are Upper Deck’s design previews. Card numbers, print runs and insertion odds below follow the final manufacturer checklist.

Blue gives the base cards their shape

The first 100 cards cover established NHL players, including Connor Bedard, Lane Hutson, Macklin Celebrini, Matvei Michkov, Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid. SP’s layout leaves much of the upper background white, then curves a team-colored panel around the player. The photograph breaks out of that frame, giving a skating pose more movement than a rectangular portrait would.

Auston Matthews’ No. 65 Blue is a particularly coherent example: the blue surround follows the Maple Leafs uniform, his stick reaches across the lower right, and the nameplate remains clear beneath his skates. The parallel color belongs in the picture, rather than looking like a separate border added around it.

The final checklist gives three regular base cards and one base-or-rookie Blue parallel per pack, on average. The veteran and rookie Blue lists share that parallel slot. Blue is the recurring color chase across both parts of the set.

Forty Rookie Authentics, with several distinct finishes

Nos. 101–140 are Rookie Authentics /1,749. Matthew Schaefer is No. 111, Ryan Leonard No. 117, Michael Misa No. 122, Artyom Levshunov No. 129 and Demidov No. 137. Beckett Sennecke, Zeev Buium, Gabe Perreault, Easton Cowan and Jimmy Snuggerud also appear.

The unsigned rookie ladder includes Blue, Red /99, Green /25 and Black 1/1, plus Patterned Foilboard at 1:48 packs and Gold Patterned Foilboard at 1:200. Those foilboard cards supply a separate finish chase alongside the numbered colors. Gold Patterned Foilboard and Signatures Gold /25 are different versions; the latter adds the autograph.

A Chicago collector has five Rookie Authentics to follow: Colton Dach, Ryan Greene, Oliver Moore, Levshunov and Sam Rinzel. That group makes the rookie section useful beyond a single headline player, with the same unsigned color and foilboard choices across all five.

Demidov Gold and the autograph checklists

The Rookie Authentics Signatures checklist contains 37 players, with family odds of 1:480 packs. Signatures Gold has the same 37-player group, each /25. Demidov appears in both. Brady Martin, Elias Pettersson and Sam Rinzel appear in the unsigned rookie set but are absent from these autograph lists.

Demidov’s Gold preview uses the wide light area across his lower torso to separate the signature from the red jersey and dark equipment. It is a useful choice for this particular photograph: the player remains prominent above the ink, while the serial number sits below it. The card’s appeal comes from that readable layout, the Montreal rookie subject and the /25 edition together.

Authentic Signatures takes a different approach. Its 26-card checklist includes Seth Jarvis, whose horizontal preview puts him on the left and gives his signature a broad white field on the right. The red outer curve follows Carolina’s colors, and the autograph has room to stretch across the card.

Authentic Signatures falls at 1:1,600 packs. Authentic Profiles Signatures is a third family, with 17 cards at 1:2,880. These are set-level insertion rates, not the odds of pulling a particular player.

Authentic Profiles changes the portrait

Authentic Profiles has 20 subjects, including Celebrini, Michkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Matthew Knies and Mikko Rantanen. Its taller central photograph and horizontal name treatment give it a different rhythm from the curved base design. The regular insert is /1,749; numbered parallels run Red /49, Green /10 and Black 1/1. Blue falls at 1:5 packs, with Patterned Foilboard at 1:192 and Gold Patterned Foilboard at 1:800.

The Jersey version places a rounded window in the lower part of the photograph. In Matthew Tkachuk’s preview, the red swatch echoes his Panthers sweater, while a silver-gray frame keeps the material visually separate from the action image.

Upper Deck specifies game-worn jerseys for Authentic Profiles Jersey in its sell sheet. That 20-card family falls at 1:640 packs. Rookie Authentics Jersey is a separate 36-card checklist at 1:40; the veteran insert’s game-worn description does not establish the rookie cards’ material provenance.

Eight packs, with Blue at the center

An SP blaster contains eight five-card packs, or 40 cards. The final checklist makes Blue the regular feature of that opening, with numbered rookies, foilboard finishes, jerseys and signatures distributed at their own rates. Autographs are an occasional chase, rather than a stated hit in every box.

SP’s strongest visual ideas are easy to pick out: Matthews’ team-colored Blue frame, Demidov’s red-and-gold rookie autograph, and Jarvis’ spacious horizontal signature card. Those designs give the retail checklist its own character, while the 40-player Rookie Authentics run supplies a substantial season-specific collecting project.