A hockey player's rookie card isn't always easy to pin down. For many years (up until the early 1980s) the first card most players were issued by a major manufacturer was considered their 'rookie card' - not necessarily in their first NHL season. As only one or two sets were issued each season, some players were missed, and they might not have a card issued for several seasons after their NHL debut, if at all.

With the explosion of the card market in the early 1990s, things changed. More and more players were included in sets, including many players who had not suited up for a single NHL game as of the time their card was issued. UpperDeck issued very popular WorldJuniorHockeyChampionships subsets with their products that gave collectors rookie cards of stars such as PaulKariya, ChrisPronger and SakuKoivu before they made their NHL debuts. The inclusion of non-NHL players in NHL sets continued through the 1990s.

2000-2001 sets were the last [NHL]/[NHLPA] licensed sets to feature non-NHL players - most notably being the rookie cards of DanyHeatley, featured in his Team Canada uniform. After this, only players who had made their NHL debut could be included in these sets. Another refinement of the rookie card definition. These previous issues did not lose 'RC' designation, though, which minimized confusion.

Since collectors were clamouring for rookie cards, manufacturers included them in mass quantity. Any player who skated a couple shifts, or dressed for a game as a backup goalie was deemed worthy of a rookie card.

The 2005-2006 hockey card season brought additional evolution to the rookie card. A SidneyCrosby card issued by McDonalds was designated as a rookie card by BeckettHockey, after some debate on the subject. There was also some changes in which rookies were eligible for rookie card status in a given season. As the sole manufacturer licensed by the NHL/NHLPA, UpperDeck introduced an early cutoff date for rookies from 05/06. Any player debuting after the Olympic break had no cards issued in 05/06 products, and instead will have their official rookies in 06/07 products. The first rookie cards for these held back players are in 06/07 UD Victory. UpperDeck continued this trend at the end of the 06/07 season, as of the conference finals, there were 63 rookies held back for inclusion in 2007-08 products.

For most hockey collectors parallel cards of a rookie card are not as desirable as the base version of the rookie card. They sometimes have higher value, but this can usually be attributed to scarcity.