General Forum

Wondering if anyone has knowledge they are willing to share on the card manufacturing/lead time process.  

I'm just curious, how long or what is the process/timeline for a manufacturer to make a card?  When is it decided which players get a card and how far before the release date is that?  When do they start printing in relation to the release date? If something changes on that card (I.E. - player no longer plays for that team) what is the length of time needed to change the card out all together, change the team or photo on card, etc.  

I have wondered this a bit before with various players over the years, but was reminded of it again now as I was looking at the 2018-19 O-Pee-Chee Hockey set released on 9-5-2018.  It shows Anthony Duclair #113 as a Blackhawk, he was not a Blackhawk as of 7-5-2018. I was thinking it was actually much longer than 2 months before looking up the departure date.  Given it was only 2 months prior to set release I can see this being too late to try and change, but still kind of wondering if anyone has insight on the development process.

Thanks for any info and Happy Thanksgiving!

It's about two months. You could do a deep dive and check and see which players that changed teams are relfected in the sets, but it's more time requirement than I want to put in right now. 

I know this year's Panini sticker set shows some players with their new teams but Erik Karlsson is still listed with the Senators.