Updated 2x at 5:41 PM: Both Max and Victor Plante spoke with the media after the first day of the Red Wings’ 2026 Summer Development Camp, and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff took note of their remarks.
Max won the Hobey Baker Award for his 2025-2026 season performance with Minnesota-Duluth, skating alongside his brother, Zam, and Victor, who was picked by the Red Wings 47th overall on Saturday, will join the brothers on UMD this upcoming season:
“I was kind of talking to Drapes (Detroit assistant GM Kris Draper) the other day about how we just have to let [Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Zam] graduate college, and he’ll be a free agent,” Max said of Zam. “So, yeah, he’s got to have patience. Just got a couple more years of college and then maybe he can do it.”
Minnesota-Duluth coach Scott Sandelin has promised the brothers that they’ll get to play in a game this season as linemates. Each of the Red Wings Plantes was happy to offer up a scouting report on their sibling.
“I think he just competes the whole time,” Max said of Victor. “I think a lot of people will get stats and stuff, and obviously, he does have quite a bit of points. But if you go and watch their team this year, if there was a guy that really flashed out to you, even though he was my brother, I feel like he was kind of the player that kind of stuck out to you. Not only on the ice, but just like in the locker room, too. I feel like getting to know him, obviously, he’s my brother, but just listening to people talk about him, he’s a great kid.”
Speaking to Max’s attributes, the mutual admiration also flows through Victor.
“His work ethic and just his personality is so great,” Victor said. “I mean, he always has a smile on his face. He works so hard in the gym, like everywhere. Like the year he had this year, I could have seen it coming, just how hard he works all the time. So he earned it.”
Update: The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan offers more from Max and Victor:
Zam is 21, and a junior at Duluth, as is Max, at age 20. Victor is 18 and an incoming freshman. So that opportunity, in itself, will be memorable. It was also a key reason Max, the reigning Hobey Baker Award winner (best college hockey player), returned to Duluth to have the opportunity to play with his two brothers.
“I didn’t think about it too much that it would be my last college year, but after the success we had (as a team, eliminated by Michigan in regional final), not only myself but the guys on the team, more guys had an opportunity to sign pro and get to the next level but we kind of wanted to accomplish something in Duluth,” Max Plante said. “It’s something I felt like I wanted to do, not only for my teammates but to play with him (Victor) and my older brother together, it would be a lot of fun.”
Max had 25 goals and 52 points in 40 games, with a plus-19 plus-minus rating. After a 28-point freshman season, Plante exploded offensively and after being a Wings second-round pick the previous year, stamped himself as an intriguing NHL prospect.
“That was something you don’t expect coming into the year,” Max said of the Hobey Baker. “Everyone has goals. But individual goals like that, as the season progressed and I had some individual success, it was something that could happen and when it did, it still didn’t feel real. It’s not often a player goes back (to college after winning the Hobey) but I feel like the situation I’m going back into at Duluth, it’s something not a lot of people have an opportunity to do so.”
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Both Plantes are excited about the chance of playing with Zam on one shift next season at Duluth. Coach Scott Sandelin has promised the three brothers they’ll play a shift together at some point.
“Pretty cool,” Max said of the opportunity. “We’ve never played together. Even in the summer, two guys would be one team against the one other guy. We’ve never had all three on the same team. I’ve only gotten to play with my older brother (Zam).”
Continued (paywall);
Update #2: Here’s even more from MLive’s Ansar Khan:
The Plantes skate in the offseason with NHLers Dylan Samberg, Cole Keopke and Neal Pionk of the Winnipeg Jets, who are either from the Duluth area or played at the school.
“We were really fortunate,” Max said. “When we were younger, we got to play with some of those older guys, so we always looked up to them. That kind of gave us a picture of where we wanted to be whether we were at college or eventually in the pros.”
Asked who’s the best player in the family, they deferred to dad, Derek, who appeared in 450 NHL games, mostly with Buffalo, and won the Stanley Cup with Dallas in 1999.
“Only one NHLer, so I think our dad’s probably got that right now,” Max said.
