The Hockey News’s Connor Eargood spoke with Red Wings prospect Max Plante’s summer hockey school compatriot and those around Plante regarding the plucky young forward’s busy summertime schedule, and strong performance at the World Junior Summer Showcase:
So far, Plante has impressed. In the showcase’s first two games, he played in the top six and on the first power play unit alongside high-level returners like Ryan Leonard, Gabriel Perreault, Zeev Buium and presumptive 2025 No. 1 pick James Hagens. The big dogs, and Plante is running right alongside them. For a young player in his first showcase camp, Plante’s coaches recognize that what he’s doing is impressive.
“To play with players of that caliber, sometimes there can be a level of pressure that comes with it. I don’t think we saw that today,” USA coach David Carle said Friday on the opening day of the showcase. “You know, if you’re playing with Ovechkin, you feel like you gotta put every pass in the perfect spot. As a player, there can be that level of pressure where you want to be perfect. And we have really good players on this team, and him being the younger guy playing with three of the guys on the team a year ago, there can be that little bit of pressure. But again, I didn’t see that today.”
Neither did Plante show signs of pressure later in the camp. In Sunday’s scrimmage against Sweden, he scored the opening goal for a USA Blue squad full of returners. Playing the bumper on that squad’s top power play, his unit scored in each game against the Swedes and Finland on Monday. Plante looked the part of a regular, which is encouraging for a player in the middle of July.
Away from the puck, Plante’s positioning and hockey IQ have stood out. Those are the traits that got Detroit excited to select him 47th overall in the draft last month, and those are traits that will help him get far in his hockey career. They have been apparent for years to those who watched him at Hermantown High School, including [GRIT Hockey Club’s Jasen] Wise himself.
“I think from the neck down, his skill set speaks for itself, but from the neck up, it’s his hockey IQ on the ice — awareness,” Wise said. Wise’s young sons are frequent viewers of Plante’s film online because of this. “He’s always moving. He’s always reading the plays. He’s reacting. He’s good at anticipation, just knowing what’s going to happen before it happens or he can see things developing. From the neck up, I think he’s probably one of the smartest guys on the ice all the time. And just (his) compete level, he wants to win. And I think he elevates the guys around him.”
