NHL 13 Stanley Cup Edition

They put the Stanley Cup on a tin and expected us to stay calm. The NHL 13 Stanley Cup Edition for PlayStation 3 ships in an exclusive collectible tin featuring an embossed Stanley Cup image, the kind of packaging that immediately separates itself from every other sports game on your shelf. Inside, you get two Stanley Cup themed Hockey Ultimate Team packs with randomized players from the Western and Eastern Conference Champions, a Gold Jumbo HUT pack with 24 items including an exclusive Wayne Gretzky Legend card and six rare items, a CCM Boost Pack with the all-new CCM RBZ stick for Be a Pro and EA SPORTS Hockey League, and a 10% discount.

Sports game collector's editions are an underrated corner of the hobby, mostly because people forget they existed. The embossed tin is genuinely well-made and carries that premium weight that standard cases simply don't have. And while the digital content has an expiration date tied to server availability, that tin is forever.

A Wayne Gretzky HUT Legend card was peak Ultimate Team bait in 2012, and having it bundled here was EA knowing exactly which buttons to press. For hockey fans who collect across the sports genre, this is one of the few NHL releases that got a proper collector's treatment. The tin alone earns its place in any PS3 collection.