Red Wings Prospect Max Plante Added To Team USA’s World Junior Camp Roster – FloHockey

Max Plante, a second-round pick of the Detroit Red Rings in 2024, has been added to Team USA’s preliminary roster for its forthcoming camp ahead of the World Junior Championship. With Plante’s addition this week, there are 29 candidates vying for 25 spots on the final roster.

USA’s pre-tournament camp begins in Plymouth, Michigan, on Dec. 16 and 17, before shifting to Canada where USA will continue preparations and play in two pre-tournament games against Slovakia on Dec. 21 and Finland on Dec. 23.

Plante was a standout for the National Team Development Program last season, posting 61 points in 51 games for the U.S. National Under-18 Team. Detroit selected him 47th overall in the 2024 NHL Draft.

Now a freshman at the University of Minnesota Duluth, Plante missed a few weeks of the season after sustaining an injury in his first collegiate game. Now back in action, Plante has six points through his first five games at UMD.

He was also a top performer at the 2024 World Junior Summer Showcase in August. Plante, a gifted playmaker, saw time on USA’s second power-play unit. Based on his performance there, his odds of making the roster looked pretty good, however he was not one of the initial 28 players named to the team.

The son of former NHL player Derek Plante will bring some quality international experience to the table as he had 11 points in seven games at last year’s World Under-18 Championship, where Team USA finished with the silver medal. He also helped Team USA win the World Under-17 Challenge in 2022.

With Plante’s arrival to camp, Team USA will have 16 forwards vying for an expected 14 roster spots, meaning two will be cut. Team USA will also have to cut two defensemen. 

There is one more weekend of games before Team USA opens its camp, so now the hope is everyone gets through healthy and Team USA gets its full complement of players as they look to become the first U.S. squad to win gold in back-to-back World Junior Championships.

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