Alex Ovechkin's PSA 10 rookie is up 20% since he named his final season
It's still short of the $5,100 his Young Guns reached while he chased Gretzky's goal record.
On October 5, Alexander Ovechkin announced that the 2026-27 season will be the 22nd and final NHL season of his legendary career. He told his teammates that morning and announced it two days before the October 7 home opener against Pittsburgh. Ovechkin signed a one-year deal worth up to $9 million in July, and he plans to move back to Russia after he retires.
Ovechkin has long been known as a goal scorer with the Washington Capitals. In April 2025, he broke Wayne Gretzky's record as the all-time leading goal scorer in National Hockey League history.
The Capitals' captain has won numerous awards throughout his career, including the Calder Memorial Trophy (Rookie of the Year) in 2006, the Art Ross Trophy (leading points scorer) in 2008, the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy (NHL regular season goal leader) an NHL record nine times, the Hart Memorial Trophy (regular season MVP) three times, and the 2018 Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals, where he was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy (playoffs MVP).
Ovechkin's accolades, along with many other milestones, make him a highly sought-after player for collectors. His main rookie card, the 2005-06 Upper Deck Young Guns, trades frequently. Unlike most sports cards, Young Guns cards from the Upper Deck base set are harder to find in packs because they're short printed as inserts. In other Topps sets, for example, rookie cards are printed at the same rate as veteran base cards. This distinction makes his Young Guns rookie card especially sought after in a PSA 10.
This data shows that breaking the record wasn't the peak; the lead-up to the record being broken drove sales and increased the price of his card. After the record broke, sales slowed and prices fell, but the retirement announcement drove his values up again. Ovechkin has proven himself over his many years in the league, and his legacy as one of the greatest of all time, will keep his prices high.
While Ovechkin's market sat still for most of this year, the legends' rookie cards kept climbing. Wayne Gretzky's 1979 O-Pee-Chee, Mario Lemieux's 1985 O-Pee-Chee and Sidney Crosby's 2005-06 Upper Deck Young Guns all rose from January through September. Gretzky's rookie shows it best. His PSA 6 went up every quarter this year until, by the summer, it was selling for more than Ovechkin's Young Guns in a PSA 10.
With a huge chapter in the history of the National Hockey League closing at season's end, I think Ovechkin's cards can follow the legends up. That goes beyond his Young Guns to his rarer cards, like his 2005-06 SP Authentic Future Watch Autograph /999 and his 2005-06 Upper Deck The Cup Rookie Patch Autograph, which don't trade nearly as often. When The Cup rookie patch does come up in a PSA 10 or BGS 9.5, it has cleared $120,000 every time this year.
We'll track this storyline throughout the NHL season and see whether cold streaks or fewer minutes on the ice affect his card market, especially for more liquid cards like his Young Guns PSA 10, as well as Gretzky's OPC PSA 6, as a comparison for how the NHL card market moves.
