Each rookie is sequentially numbered to 1,955. The base set brings back some of the ancient traditions of our hockey card forefathers, with the return of old bubble-gum comic style cartoons of hockey action from the '50s. These cartoons are matched with random hockey facts, like odd stories, awards and game rules. The face of the card features full action portraits of today's great players, done in the style of the 1954-55 Topps set. The players photos are done to look like precise oil paintings, with their team logo in the top corner.
Intense colour is used to mimic the style of the vintage cards they're patterned after.
The likeness is so close, that when you put the Gordie Howe retro insert reprint card next to a new Heritage Brendan Shanahan, you'd swear the photos were done in the same season. But enough about the regular set, let's get to the good stuff. Heritage Heroes is a 20-card insert set that has spotlighted players that might be the subject of a retro set 50 years from now. Jaromir Jagr, Patrick Roy, Mike Modano and Curtis Joseph are some of the featured players in this group. New Traditon is an insert of 10 players who soon may join that elite list, including Milan Hejduk, Vincent Lecavalier, and Joe Thornton.