A sign at Kelsey Butt's booth at the Toronto Sports Card expo. Butt said a couple of years ago people would drop off women's cards free of charge.Alex Wauthy/The Globe and Mail
Rows of sports cards lined nearly 1,000 booths at the Toronto Sports Card Expo this weekend. Collectibles – some worth $5, some upwards of $5,000 – got picked up, set down and purchased.
Walking between people holding backpacks, satchels and suitcases full of collectibles, one would see a sprinkling of Marie-Philip Poulin, Hilary Knight or other women’s hockey cards on tables. At Kelsey Butt’s table, the only athletes gracing the cards were women.
Butt is one of a few vendors specifically focusing on women’s trading cards. A couple of years ago, Butt said people would give them women’s cards for free.
“Men would never give me cards now, not women’s cards,” Butt said. “There’s too much value.”
According to Card Ladder, a website that tracks sales data for trading cards, the hockey card market has grown by over nine per cent since the puck dropped on the PWHL’s first season. The PWHL surpassed one million ticket-buying fans in a single season for the first time during the 2025-26 campaign while online merchandise sales increased by more than 50 per cent.
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Upper Deck’s data specifically tracking the rise in women’s hockey cards is proprietary, but the cards continue to sell out and secondary market prices have continued to increase as people seek these collectibles.
At the expo, collectors and sports card vendors alike said there’s been a boom in the women’s hockey card market since the first PWHL product released in January, 2025 – 2024 PWHL First Edition. The boom, they said, is due to the league’s growth and lack of options for cards featuring players in their PWHL uniforms.
“Those first initial products surpassed our expectations,” said Paul Zickler, the director of sports brands at Upper Deck. “We didn’t quite know if that trajectory would continue or if it would plateau a little bit, but it has just continued to grow.”
Zickler agreed that there’s been a growth in demand for women’s hockey cards.
Kelsey Butt's booth at the Toronto Sports Card Expo featured only women's sports cards and collectables.Alex Wauthy/The Globe and Mail
But the boom comes with higher prices on the secondary market and trouble finding sealed products at affordable prices.
“It’s exciting because we want the women to be on a bigger stage,” Butt said. “At the same time, it makes it harder for new people, young people, people who are just interested in hockey.”
Collector Emma Mattiacci said the rise is “bittersweet.”
“The prices are quite high, especially for the first edition,” Mattiacci said. “But it’s great to have the emergence of these boxes.”
First Edition is the debut of Upper Deck’s PWHL flagship series – each box contains 12 packs. Hobby boxes initially retailed for around $100 before prices shot up due to demand. Recent sales on secondary markets such as eBay are in the $400 range.
A Hobby box offers better odds and chances of acquiring cards not found in its retail counterpart. Retail boxes are cheaper options found at stores such as Walmart, but the lower price means fewer packs and lower or no odds of netting special inserts.
Sealed hobby boxes of the second set – 2024-25 Upper Deck PWHL Hockey – range between $130 to $200 per box.
“The prices went up, the kids can’t afford it,” Butt said. “You can’t really compare it to men’s sports because right now, there’s no relics, very few autographs, there’s not a lot going on for the price range to be that high.”
There are other ways to get women’s cards outside of PWHL-specific products, such as Upper Deck’s Tim Hortons or Team Canada Juniors sets.
Upper Deck can’t control the secondary market. As for influencing prices for stores containing its product, Zickler said after the company sells directly to its “distributors and retail partners,” price points are determined by its partners.
Zickler said some accessible points Upper Deck offers include promotional sets around “key events” and PWHL Game Dated Moments cards available through its online e-pack service.
The company is also releasing two new products this year – 2025-26 Upper Deck PWHL and 2025-26 Fleer Ultra PWHL.
Jonathan Bragdon, the founder of The P-Dub Card Club, a women’s hockey card group on Facebook with over 700 members, said more offerings will increase accessibility.
“The easiest way to get cards into the hands of kids and collectors who can’t afford to buy a hobby box is card shows,” Bragdon said.
Butt agreed.
At shows, Butt teaches people how to find fair value on individual items and navigate the online marketplace to ensure they don’t “get taken advantage of.”
“It’s very easy to be taken advantage of,” Butt said. “But if you do meet the right people, then you might want to learn more.
“Boys grew up having this be a part of their narrative since Day 1 – go open a pack of sports cards – this is new to girls’ worlds,” Butt added. “And now, one of my biggest clientele is dads and their daughters. It’s a bonding thing.”