1974-75 O-Pee-Chee WHA Hockey Forum

I'm interested in everyone's opinion on this hockey collecting subject. Are OPC WHA cards considered RC or PRC for players that went on to the NHL?

As a RC collector (not investor), I think every RC has a place in my PC.  My #1 focus is on NY Rangers and want to collect true RCs of all the blueshirts.  I know TCDB has these marked as rookies, but I'm not so sure I agree.  It seems to me WHA cards are pre-rookie cards.  Any consensus amongst collectors?

I agree with the site using the RC on WHA cards.  Four of the teams did join the NHL.  This is like RC cards being used on AFL cards.

I can't speak for Hockey, but as a racing card collector, I can relate to cards being produced when drivers are in late model, ARCA, truck, Xfinity series before making it to Cup. I think truck, Xfinity, and Cup count as rookies, but do believe ARCA and late model cards would count as PRC. As a say this though, as a specific driver collector, Matt Kenseth's 1992 Hot Shots ARTGO card is currently my most desired card. He didn't make it to the "major league" ranks of NASCAR until 1999, so I count 1999 (Xfinity, then called Busch) and 2000 (Cup) as his actual rookie cards and anything prior to 1999 is PRC. Just my personal opinion, but hopefully this helps a little.

I wish I had saw this post a couple of years ago, sorry for the delay. Cards in the OPC WHA sets are, and should be considered RC's. The sets were distributed in packs/boxes available across Canada and some border towns in the Northern U.S. states. Not as easily found as the NHL cards produced the same years (for example in the town I grew up, 2 stores carried the WHA packs while every variety store carried the NHL series). 

As a Ranger fan I guess you may already know Nick Fotiu's RC is the 75-76 O-Pee-Chee WHA card# 108 ... and not the 77-78 Topps often posted as his RC on ebay and site like that. 

Here's a list of NY Ranger RC's that can be found in the WHA sets from various years; 

1974-75 - #3 Wayne Dillon , #4 Ulf Nilsson , #17 Anders Hedberg , #24 Pat Hickey , #65 Gilles Gratton (The Lion mask!) 

1975-76 - #8 Mike Rogers , #19 Robbie Ftorek , #48 Cam Connor , #108 Nick Fotiu 

1976-77 - Unable to find any Ranger RC's in this set

1977-78 - #43 Claude LaRose