{"id":434203,"date":"2026-01-29T12:19:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T12:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/434203\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T12:19:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T12:19:12","slug":"macklin-celebrini-signing-hockey-cards-with-weird-nickname-steph-curry-gave-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/434203\/","title":{"rendered":"Macklin Celebrini signing hockey cards with weird nickname Steph Curry gave him"},"content":{"rendered":"

The hottest name<\/a> in hockey trading cards is a 19-year-old nicknamed after the Cheetos mascot by all-time NBA great Stephen Curry.<\/p>\n

Macklin Celebrini opened the current NHL season with odds of +50000 to win the Hart Trophy, via BetMGM. The San Jose Sharks\u2019 young star could\u2019ve basically been called \u201cthe field.\u201d Now he\u2019s a +180 shot to take home the league\u2019s MVP award, ranking second behind the Colorado Avalanche\u2019s Nathan MacKinnon.<\/p>\n

Celebrini ranks fourth in the NHL with 78 points, so it\u2019s no wonder his rookie card values are climbing. In December, Celebrini led all hockey players in total eBay card sales volume ($684,728), according to tracking database Gemrate, beating out Connor McDavid and Wayne Gretzky.<\/p>\n

The 2024 No. 1 draft pick\u2019s top cards have trampolined in value within the past six months, as two of his most recognizable cards are up between 292 and 403 percent.<\/p>\n

Celebrini\u2019s 2024 Upper Deck Young Guns rookie card<\/a> with a Gem-Mint PSA 10 grade has jumped from $450 six months ago up to $1,675 on Tuesday, according to online card sales database Market Movers. His more rare 2024 Upper Deck Young Guns Silver Outburst<\/a> PSA 10 rookie card launched even higher, starting at $839 six months ago and now up to $4,219.<\/p>\n

And none of those cards even bear Celebrini\u2019s nickname, given to him by the Golden State Warriors\u2019 legend: \u201cChester.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rick Celebrini, Macklin\u2019s father, has worked for the Warriors as the team\u2019s director of sports health and performance since 2018. So Curry has known the younger Celebrini for years<\/a>, which helps explain why Curry nicknamed him on the fly during an interview at the 2024 NHL Draft.<\/p>\n

Curry tagged Celebrini as \u201cChester\u201d<\/a> drawing from Cheetos\u2019 famous mascot \u201cChester Cheetah,\u201d because \u201chis hands are so filthy, just like after eating a big ol\u2019 bag of Cheetos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe Curry has inside knowledge about how often Celebrini washes his hands, but it\u2019s a safer bet that he was referring to Celebrini\u2019s skill with a hockey stick. The Sharks center has more than lived up to the praise this season.<\/p>\n

The nickname didn\u2019t disappear after draft night, though. It\u2019s lived on through a few of Celebrini\u2019s autographed cards, to which he has added a \u201cChester\u201d inscription, making them some of his most unique cards to own.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n The two \u201cChester\u201d inscribed Celebrini cards that have sold publicly. Photos: eBay<\/p>\n

According to Upper Deck, the \u201cChester\u201d inscribed cards exist thanks to a friendly conversation between Celebrini and a representative of the card company. The nickname and its source came up as the two discussed potential inscriptions. Celebrini then wrote \u201cCHESTER\u201d in big, bold letters on four cards \u2014 two in 2024-25 The Cup and two in 2024-25 Stature.<\/p>\n

Two of Celebrini\u2019s \u201cChester\u201d cards have sold on eBay since November 2025. The latest \u201cChester\u201d card \u2014 a 2024 Upper Deck The Cup Baroque auto numbered 71 of 99 \u2014 sold for $10,866.12 on Jan. 15. A Stature \u201cChester\u201d inscription auto numbered 71 of 199 sold for $3,052.33 on Nov. 5, 2025.<\/p>\n

Overall, Celebrini\u2019s top card sale occurred on Dec. 18, when his 2024 The Cup Gold RPA (rookie patch auto) numbered to 24 sold for $47,235.52. So even though \u201cChester\u201d inscriptions may not be the most expensive Celebrini cards (yet), they certainly possess the best backstory.<\/p>\n

The Athletic maintains full editorial independence in all our coverage. When you click or make purchases through our links, we may earn a commission.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The hottest name in hockey trading cards is a 19-year-old nicknamed after the Cheetos mascot by all-time NBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[574,5,10828,555,4,168],"class_list":{"0":"post-434203","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-golden-state-warriors","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-memorabilia-collectibles","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-san-jose-sharks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115978356265916968","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}