This year has been amazing on so many levels, and especially on the card front. Coming into 2025, I really didn’t know what to expect.
Looking back at my previous predictions of how this year would go, I didn’t expect to complete a Top 5 list of notable cards to share, let alone a Top 10.
However, as 2025 has now come to a close, it’s safe to say this year was one of the best in recent memory within the hobby, and acted as a nice reminder for me to remember that you never know what cards are around the corner. Before I start, if you wanted to pass the time and relive my top additions from 2024 as a nice little warm-up, please click
HERE. Now without further ado, here are my Top 10 Additions of 2025, starting with the honourable mentions…
Honourable Mention: Jhonas Enroth / Linus Klasen
2007-08 SHL Elitset Double Impact (Dual Autograph)
It’s not everyday that I can add signed insert cards to the collection, let alone dual autographed card.
While it won’t crack the official Top 10 this year, landing this dual autograph card from 2007 was really sweet. Bonus points for it having era-matching autographs, too! It’s always interesting seeing how athletes autographs can change over time.
Honourable Mention: Jhonas Enroth 2012-13 Dominion Peerless Patches 18/40
I really enjoyed Panini’s time in the hobby.
While it was short-lived, it produced some great brands and sets that have held up for many years now. Dominion and the Peerless Patches sets that came from those releases are one of those sets that come to mind.
This copy of Enroth’s Peerless Patches from 2012-13 Dominion was the first card I picked up in 2025. While it was one of a few duplicate cards I already own, this patch was the reason for picking it up.
Featuring one of just two Sabre sword patches from this memorabilia run, I just had to grab it. It’s the first sword patch in my collection, and it’s a thing of beauty.
10) Marc-Andre Fleury 2006-07 Artifacts Platinum /10
I don’t add much to the Fleury PC nowadays, as it’s a smaller collection for me that I added pretty much all I’ve wanted to add over the years. While walking the floor at the Spring Expo, I stumbled across this card and had to have it.
While some people might not like the Artifacts parallels, I’ve always really enjoyed them. Paired up with the intricate designs (especially from the earlier years like this one), they can make for some really nice cards. This Platinum parallel is numbered to just 10 copies, and features Fleury in his iconic all-yellow Reebok gear from his earlier days in Pittsburgh.
There is so much about this card that I enjoy, and it made for a fun pickup this year that I will be holding onto for very long time.
9) Vladislav Tretiak 2000-01 ITG BAP Goalie Legends Memorabilia Autographs /50 (UM-01 Ultimate Memorabilia Vault Sapphire 1/1)
At the same Spring Expo back in April, I crossed off a pretty notable milestone for my goalie collection with my very first Vladislav Tretiak autograph.
This slabbed card features a encapsulated 2000-01 ITG BAP Goalie Legends Memorabilia Autographed card. The pack-pulled versions were originally /50, and this one comes from the initial Ultimate Memorabilia release and is branded with a Vault Sapphire 1/1 stamp to differentiate it from the originals.
Some collectors would be turned away from an Ultimate Vault stamp, but not me. I see a great card signed by one of the best goaltenders to ever play the position. As a bonus, it features some sweet game-worn memorabilia from a Central Red Army jersey, too. Can’t beat that!
8) Jhonas Enroth 2025 President’s Choice Mega Patch 1/1
My first President’s Choice card of 2025 definitely kicked things up a notch within my collection.
After seeing that more Mega Patches were on the way earlier on in the year, I was lucky enough to have had an Enroth included in the new memorabilia set. I really enjoyed the look of the card, and the LA patch is outstanding!
After doing some digging, I found out that the patch is from a LA Kings Set 2 Away jersey from 2016. Most notably, this memorabilia is from Enroth’s 50th NHL win!
7) Mike Mole 2008-09 Upper Deck Artifacts Gold Spectrum /5
In 7th place, here’s an awesome throwback with this 2008-09 Artifacts Rookie Gold Spectrum parallel, numbered to just 5 copies. I’ve been searching for this card for 14 long years without ever seeing another copy, as it was the last card I needed to complete this collection. But why this card, specifically?
For those who aren’t aware, Mike was my goalie coach during the 2010-11 season. Once I found out he had a few cards, I wanted to try and collect them all, including the various different parallels that were out there. Mike was called up by the New York Islanders in 2008, giving Upper Deck the ability to get a decent number of his rookie cards in their upcoming products at the time.
While not a massive amount of cards over his career, his unique card count amounted to 34 cards (not including the 1/1’s).
Among those, there were a handful of rare cards that were very tough to track down over the years – The Gold Spectrum /5 parallel being one of the most elusive of them all.Since starting this collection in 2011, I’ve managed to add 8 of his 1/1 cards in that time, which I consider those cards a nice bonus.
I’ll still try and find more 1/1’s if I can, but for now I can finally say this collection is complete.
While this Mole card may not fit in many collector’s annual Top 10 list, it had been the last main piece to the puzzle for this card collection, as it was the final non-1/1 card I needed to find in order have all of his cards out there.
This turned out to be the final PC card I received in 2025, and I couldn’t think of a better way to end the year than adding a whale of a card like this one!
6) Jhonas Enroth 2017 Leaf Superlative Shields 1/1
In any regular year, a Leaf ITG shield card like would be a likely candidate for the top spot. However, to my own surprise, it’s been that good of a year.
Regardless, I was very pleased to have landed this card this year. Released in the 2017 Leaf ITG Superlative product, it was Enroth’s first ever Game-Used shield card up to that point, and simultaneously his first and only officially produced card manufactured by Leaf Trading Cards.
When this product released, I was anxiously awaiting to see when this card would pop up on the secondary market, but months turned into years and it just never happened, at least not as quickly as I expected.
Finally, in 2025, a collector on eBay had contacted me after they had listed it for sale. As it turns out, it was still sitting in a box all this time, and they had just pulled it. After a quick deal, this card was on its way home.
While unlicensed cards might turn other collectors away, I don’t mind them. I was excited to add this card into my collection.
As a nice bonus, it even featured the shield from one of my favourite Sabres jersey’s from that era: The 40th Anniversary alternates. This shield was from Enroth’s alternate jersey he wore during the 2011-12 season. Pretty cool!
5) Jhonas Enroth 2025 President’s Choice Mega Number 1/1
There are cards, and then there are CARDS. This card in particular would fall into the latter category.
After speaking to Dr. Brian Price (owner of President’s Choice Trading Cards) at the Spring Expo back in April, he mention that he had secured a new game-worn Buffalo Sabres Enroth jersey to work on some new memorabilia cards with.
After I mentioned a Mega Number card idea to him that I thought would be pretty cool.
Seeing as how a lot of the jersey numbers are a big too large to fit on a card like this, I figured using a chest number would be more fitting, which is unique to the Sabres jersey’s from that time period as most teams don’t feature numbers on the front portion of the jersey.
A few months later, Brian had began to work on the card I had an idea for. Once the card came in, I was floored on how it turned out. What a sweet card with a perfectly placed number patch. It is easily ONE of the most unique 1/1’s in my entire collection.
4) Jhonas Enroth 2025 President’s Choice Complete Logo 1/1
Such an incredible shield card in every way. The photo, the card, and the impressive NHL shield memorabilia. I just enjoy everything about this card!
This was completely unexpected coming into this year, and if you had told me I’d be picking up multiple NHL game-used shield cards, I wouldn’t have believed you.
Cards like these is evidence of unlicensed cards holding their own against any licensed card, in my opinion. These Complete Logo cards in particular give off a older In The Game (ITG) feel with the bold colour choices and detailed design, and it takes me back to that era of the hobby, which I am quite fond of.
3) Jhonas Enroth 2025 President’s Choice Nameplate 1/1 (x6)
Next up is not one, not two, but six cards featured in the number 3 spot.
I usually stay away from grouping multiple cards in a single spot on my countdowns, but I think I can make an exception with these cards…especially if they are all 1/1’s.
This is another President’s Choice created and I couldn’t be more stoked about it.
What makes these cards so significant is that it’s the first completed game-used nameplate in my collection, which is a nice accomplishment. Definitely earned a #3 spot in my mind!
2) Jhonas Enroth 2014-15 Upper Deck MVP Gold Script /100
The Golden Whale.
While not a card most collectors would think twice about, especially a card numbered #/100 in 2025, this card has been at the very top of my want list since the product released back in 2014.
In that time, I had never seen one available for sale, as they were either already sold out or locked away in a set collection. As the chase surpassed the 10-year mark, I had began to wonder if this ‘white whale’ of a card would ever show up.
My most wanted card has been found!Like many of the MVP Gold Script parallels over the years, these were Retail Exclusive hits, which meant they could only be found in retail versions of the product, which are typically sold in more accessible areas of distribution like Wal-Mart, variety stores, etc.
As luck would have it, one of set collectors was abandoning his set. Another collectors junk is another man’s treasure, as they say! I scooped this up along with some other Gold Scripts in a neat and tidy 2014-15 Gold Script lot. Worth every penny!
1) Jhonas Enroth 2021-22 SeReal KHL Platinum KHL Shield 1/1
Surprised, unexpected, unlikely, and even doubtful are all words I would use when describing this card coming into 2025.
Released in 2023, this card had been on my want list and I would have never expected to cross it off. While it might be too new of a card to call it a ‘White Whale’, the backstory and complex realities that surrounded this card was why I would have never expected to own this KHL shield 1/1.
A few years ago, I learned of a new, upcoming KHL Platinum product was being released soon. As a premium product, I expected Enroth to have a few cards, but this product ended up blowing all of my expectations out of the water. After reviewing the checklist, I saw many incredible memorabilia cards listed, but none (in my mind) could top the KHL shield.
After the product released, the harsh realities of collecting cards from the other side of the world hit very hard. From various geopolitical outliers and continued conflict in other parts of the world, the understandable, but logistical nightmare made dealing with other collectors in certain parts of the world increasingly difficult.
However, this hobby knows no boundaries. Through the simple acts of collectors helping fellow collectors, I was able to manage to made a deal for this incredible card.
As an added bonus, this card isn’t just any KHL shield card, but it was used in the 2018 Winter Ice Break: A KHL outdoor game hosted in Latvia. Enroth played a great game that day, helping Dinamo Minsk win this historic game 3-2!
It was just the 2nd outdoor game in KHL history, and the very 1st professional outdoor game in Latvia! I love it when cards can blur the line between cardboard and hockey history like that. So cool.
If you want to read more in-depth about this KHL 1/1 shield card and how I was able to acquire it, you can head on over to the article I wrote a few months ago. It’s a very fun read, and I hope you enjoy it:
Shield Your Eyes: This 1/1 Showcases a Unique Piece of European Hockey HistoryWith multiple shields, incredible patches, low-numbered parallels and white whales, this year will certainly go down as one of my most memorable in that hobby, that’s for sure.
If you’re a regular reader of my blog, or if it’s your first time visiting, thank you for reading. Throughout the year, your kind words and comments are always read and appreciated. I hope you’ve had a wonderful 2025 and are enjoying some valuable time with your friends and family this holiday season. If you’ve picked up anything this past year you’d like to share with my, please drop me an email. I always enjoy it when people share their recent additions with me.
Have a great time collecting in 2026!
Happy Collecting,
Aaron
CREASECOLLECTOR 
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