Updated with Scott Wheeler and David St-Louis’ takes at 7:56 PM: The Athletic’s Corey Pronman isn’t a huge fan of the Red Wings’ 2026 NHL Draft haul. Detroit’s amateur scouts stay almost religiously tied to their own lists of player targets, and that can be a positive, and it can be a negative:
Corey Pronman details what to expect from the Detroit Red Wings’ new prospects and how they fit into the farm system.
2026 Draft Grade: C
Detroit took a swing on JP Hurlbert at 23, a highly skilled winger with a lot of offensive pop who can create off the rush. The Red Wings selected Victor Plante in the second round; he’s a classic NTDP competitive forward who does a lot of the little things right, though his pure offensive ceiling is a question mark. Hurlbert for me is the only real name in this class, although some of their later picks do have a chance to play.
Draft Class
23. J.P. Hurlbert, F, Kamloops Blazers (WHL)
April 11, 2008 | 6′ 0″ | 183 pounds
Tier: Middle of the lineup player
Skating: NHL average
Puck skills: Above NHL average
Hockey sense: NHL average
Compete: NHL average
Shot: Above NHL averagePlayer comparable: Jordan Eberle
Analysis: Hurlbert is a very skilled scoring winger. He’s very creative and dynamic as a puck handler and passer while also having a good shot. With the puck, he looks like an NHL player, but his effort level and speed are average, and he can be pushed to the outside too easily. If you see his best games, he looks like a clear middle-six NHL winger who will point and help a power play, but the holes in his game are a concern for the NHL level and could frustrate coaches.
Thoughts on the pick: I think if you’re a Red Wings fan, though, you’re happy that they finally took a shot on a guy where the first words coming out of your mouth are skill, scoring, playmaking, as opposed to another high compete or two-way guy. The pace is fine, although it’s not special for his size. I think his compete is good enough, too.
Pronman continues (paywall), evaluating the Wings’ 7-player haul (I can’t share the entire article, sorry!), and then Wings beat writer Max Bultman, a prospect guru in his own right, weighs in:
Initially without a first-round pick coming into the week, the Red Wings came out of the draft with a creative winger prospect in J.P. Hurlbert — adding a missing offensive flavor to their pipeline — and a collection of complementary prospects highlighted by competitive winger Victor Plante (second round) and Czech goaltender Michal Oršulák (third round).
Plante is the younger brother of Red Wings prospect Max Plante, the 2026 Hobey Baker winner, and although he doesn’t project to be as dynamic offensively as Max, the older Plante’s upward trajectory and the motor and bloodlines they share provide reason to believe in Victor’s development path, too. Oršulák, who backstopped Czechia to the World Junior silver medal in 2026, adds to Detroit’s stable of young goalies.
Fifth-round pick Beckham Edwards is an interesting shot to take on a 6-foot-1 center who had strong underage production in the OHL in his draft-minus-one year but whose numbers stayed stagnant in his draft season. The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler ranked him in his top 90, though, so perhaps there’s the potential for a find there.
But Hurlbert is the one with the best chance to make a significant impact for Detroit, as his one-on-one skill and scoring ability should be nurtured under coach Brandon Naurato at Michigan and lead him to a scoring role in the Red Wings’ future middle six.
Detroit’s biggest need, of course, was a potential top-line center, and it remains that way exiting the draft. But that was always going to be the case, unless the Red Wings moved into the top 10. Perhaps they can address that need in a Dylan Larkin trade in the coming days or weeks. — Max Bultman
Update: The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler weighed in on the Wings’ draft haul as well:
Detroit Red Wings
I’ve been clamoring for the Red Wings to deviate a little from their focus on projectable competitors over the last several years and prioritize a skill swing, and so I was happy to see them make that pivot with their first pick this year with J.P. Hurlbert. He’s a smart and talented forward with great sense and timing around the offensive zone and top-six upside if he can add a little more pace.
The selection of Victor Plante with their first pick of Day 2 was a little early for me, but represented a similar swing for the Red Wings and is a hard pick to dislike (I’m a sucker for the story, and taking Victor so that he and his big brother Max can be together is fun). He checks their work ethic box as well, even though he’s on the smaller side.
Michal Oršulák was one of only a handful of goalies to make my list, and while he was at the end of it and they took him in the 70s, his highs were really high in my viewings (his lows were also low).
Beckham Edwards had a difficult year in Sarnia, and that pushed him into the draft’s later rounds, but he’s a great athlete, he has an NHL shot, and I’ve always had time for him. I think Notre Dame will help him earn a pro contract in a few years, too.
Sixth-round forward Luka Arkko didn’t make my list, but he’s a big player with some attributes.
I don’t view Adam Levac as an NHL prospect, and Plante was early for me, but I liked the rest of what the Red Wings did.
Update #2: Here’s EliteProspects’ David St-Louis’ take:
Detroit Red Wings: C
In recent years, the Red Wings have emphasized checking skills and certainty over scoring upside. J.P. Hurlbert represents a bit of a shift, and a welcome one at that. The reigning WHL Rookie of the Year is a point-producing machine thanks to dual-threat scoring ability and a knack for finding open ice. There’s a lot of rounding out to do, but he shows flashes of a more projectable game. It’s a big swing, but a needed one.
Then, the Red Wings continued to tend to their prospects garden, adding another Plante – Victor is a forward who could blossom into a similar two-way playmaker as his brother, Max. Though we didn’t love every pick, Adam Levac brings some gritty playmaking, Beckham Edwards is a bounce-back candidate, and Myles Brosnan is the classic late-round upside swing.
Overall, their first two picks could be needle movers for an organization that really needs some.
