N.B. teen takes his collection of Connor McDavid hockey cards to next level

A New Brunswick teenager spent the pandemic wheeling and dealing hockey cards around the world to grow a massive collection of his favourite player, NHL superstar, Connor McDavid.

Recchi Robichaud, 14, now has nearly 500 cards of the reigning MVP.  And when he's not working at his part-time job, or in school, he's adding to the collection. 

His efforts have even attracted the attention of McDavid's team, the Edmonton Oilers.

The Baie-Sainte-Anne teenager used his downtime during the pandemic to put together an MVP calibre performance himself, and more than doubled the number of McDavid cards he had back in the summer of 2020.  

"The past 14 months I worked a lot, I worked ten times harder than I ever have on my collection," Robichaud said.  

Recchi's dedication hasn't gone unnoticed. The Edmonton Oilers featured him and his collection on social media earlier this month — the second time the NHL team put him in the spotlight. 

Back in July of 2020, the team first put his collection on the map through social media, when Recchi had 192 McDavid cards. 

Once the article was published, people started to get in touch with the teen from around the world to help build his collection.

"People reach out to me like, 'Hey, I got all these McDavid cards, you got anything to trade?'"

Robichaud is not spending money on his collection anymore. Instead, he's able to trade or sell his other hockey cards to acquire more McDavid cards. 

Robichaud has been making transactions through social media, and even made a deal with someone in Sweden recently. 

"The mailbox has honestly been flooded these past 14 months with McDavid cards," he said. 

Robichaud has many duplicate cards of McDavid's, including 20 of one card from last year's season.

But one particular card is this superfan's favourite — an autographed McDavid card — that was sent to him from the Edmonton Oilers.

The organization sent Robichaud the card after the teen sent a handwritten letter to the team.

"I sent a card with [the letter] hoping to get it signed. And it took around 6 to 8 months but then I did get it back eventually, autographed. It was quite the surprise."

Robichaud was born to be a hockey superfan. His dad Brian is a diehard fan of the sport too. 

And, if you follow hockey, you might have an inkling of where Recchi Robichaud got his first name. He is named after one of his dad's favourite NHL players — former star Mark Recchi.

Brian, and his wife Paula, are proud of how their son is able to be focused on something he loves at such a young age.

"Whatever you want to do in life — the sky's the limit, go for it." said Paula to her son. 

Robichaud hasn't met McDavid yet, but hopes that someday he will.