Macklin Celebrini Young Guns 1/1 Sets Hockey Card Record

Macklin Celebrini Young Guns 1/1 Reaches $1.281 Million

A one-of-one Macklin Celebrini rookie card sold for $1.281 million Saturday in the Goldin Auctions 2026 Monthly Sports Elite #7 Auction, setting a new record for the most expensive hockey card not featuring Wayne Gretzky.

The card, a 2024-25 Upper Deck Young Guns Outburst Gold 1/1 authenticated by PSA, moved past previous high-water marks for modern hockey cards tied to stars such as Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. It also became one of two seven-figure card sales in the auction.

The result places Celebrini in a new tier of hockey card collecting, where the seven-figure market had long been reserved for Gretzky cards.

What Makes the Card So Rare

Upper Deck’s Young Guns cards have long been the mainstream rookie standard for NHL players, and the Outburst Gold parallel is the rarest numbered version of Celebrini’s Young Guns rookie. Goldin described the card as the only Outburst Gold version of his Young Guns card.

According to Goldin’s auction description, the other Young Guns parallels with print runs of fewer than 100 are the High Gloss version numbered to 10 and the Outburst Red numbered to 25. The Outburst Gold is serial numbered 1/1.

PSA authenticated the card but did not assign a numerical condition grade. Goldin described it as displaying a mildly circulated manner of appearance.

How the Card Surfaced

The card had already drawn major attention in the hobby after it was pulled earlier this year. The collector, identified publicly only as James, said he bought a hobby box at Chicagoland Sports Cards after specifically targeting Celebrini because he had been watching him play and following his season with the San Jose Sharks.

In a video posted by Goldin, James said, “I was chasing a base Young Guns and ended up getting the Grail of Young Guns.” He said he opened the box at home around midnight while his wife and daughter were asleep.

“It’s just an amazing, amazing, life-changing pull for me,” he said.

James also said he was trying to stay quiet while opening the box because his family was sleeping when he found the card. He later said selling it could create opportunities for his family, including a possible trip to Disney. He also said he planned to replace it in his collection with another Celebrini Young Guns parallel, mentioning a Silver Outburst or Outburst Red as possibilities.

Bounties And Auction Interest Grew Quickly

Before the card reached Goldin, there was already substantial interest in it. An initial offer of $250,000 had been posted for the card. After the discovery became public, Canadian eBay consignor SlabSharks increased the offer to $600,000 Canadian.

The owner chose not to accept either offer and instead consigned the card to Goldin. That decision led to a sale well above the bounties and beyond the $1 million level that some in the hobby had projected.

Celebrini’s Rise Helped Push The Market Higher

The card’s value reflects both its one-of-one status and Celebrini’s rapid rise as one of the NHL’s most closely watched young players. San Jose selected Celebrini with the first overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. He recorded 63 points in 70 games as a rookie before taking another step forward in his second NHL season.

Celebrini scored 45 goals and added 70 assists during his age-19 season as the Sharks improved from 52 points in the standings to 86. That performance increased demand for Celebrini cards across the hobby. PSA 10 examples of his standard Young Guns rookie have sold for more than $3,500, while lower-numbered parallels have become some of the most closely watched modern hockey cards.

The sale also stands out because the Outburst Gold is a one-of-one parallel of a traditional Young Guns card rather than an autographed memorabilia card. For years, many of the top spots in the modern hockey card market have belonged to high-end rookie patch autographs from Upper Deck’s The Cup.

Celebrini’s result creates a different benchmark, with a non-autographed Young Guns parallel reaching seven figures.

How The Sale Compares To Other Hockey Card Records

The overall hockey card record remains the PSA 10 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Gretzky rookie card, which sold privately for $5.2 million in 2021. Until this weekend, the top public prices for modern hockey cards had been well below Celebrini’s result.

Before the sale, one of the highest prices paid for a modern hockey card was $571,000 for a PSA 10 2015-16 Upper Deck The Cup Connor McDavid Rookie Patch Autograph numbered to 99 in December 2025.

Celebrini’s $1.281 million result now tops public sales for cards featuring McDavid, Crosby and Ovechkin. Crosby and Ovechkin entered the NHL in 2005-06 and have rookie cards across a wide range of Upper Deck products from that season. McDavid followed a decade later and became one of the most heavily collected hockey players of his generation.

None of those players has a Young Guns Outburst Gold rookie parallel. Upper Deck introduced the Outburst parallels long after their rookie seasons, which makes Celebrini’s 1/1 a type of Young Guns card that did not exist when those stars entered the league.

Other Top Results In The Goldin Auction

Celebrini was not the only young international sports star to post a six-figure result in the auction. A 2026 Panini Prizm World Cup Black Shimmer Prizm Lamine Yamal 1/1 sold for $212,280. The card was graded PSA 8 and was produced during a year in which Yamal helped Spain win the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Like the Celebrini card, it is the only copy of its parallel.

Kobe Bryant cards accounted for the next four largest sports card sales listed from the auction.

• A 2015-16 Panini Flawless Momentous Autographed Memorabilia Platinum Bryant 1/1 patch autograph, graded BGS 8.5 with a Beckett 10 autograph grade, sold for $489,830.
• A 2000-01 Upper Deck Game Jersey Autograph Series 2 Bryant card numbered 8/8, graded PSA 8 with a PSA/DNA 10 autograph grade, sold for $368,441. Goldin said the price is a record for the grade.
• A 1997-98 SkyBox Metal Universe Championship Precious Metal Gems Bryant numbered to 50 and graded BGS 8.5 sold for $368,440.
• A 2015-16 Panini Flawless Greats Dual Memorabilia Autographs Emerald Bryant patch autograph numbered to five, graded BGS 9.5 with a Beckett 10 autograph grade, sold for $367,830.

The Celebrini sale now gives the hockey card market a new modern benchmark. Until Saturday, the sport’s seven-figure tier had belonged almost entirely to Gretzky. Celebrini’s Young Guns Outburst Gold has now joined that company.