Max Plante, the Red Wings’ second-round pick (47th overall) in 2024, is one of the first six players named to the U.S. Collegiate Selects roster for the 2026 Spengler Cup, the invitational tournament held each December in Davos, Switzerland. The Minnesota Duluth junior and reigning Hobey Baker Award winner was announced Oct. 1 along with UMD teammate and fellow co-captain Ty Hanson.

The other early selections are Union defenseman Tyler Dunbar, Minnesota defenseman Evan Murr, Dartmouth forward Hayden Stavroff, and Northeastern goalie Lawton Zacher. The full roster will include 25 players from all six Division I conferences, with the rest to be announced in the coming months. New Hampshire’s Mike Souza is the head coach, with Cornell’s Casey Jones and UMD’s Scott Sandelin as assistants.

The Selects open the tournament against Frölunda HC of Sweden on Saturday, Dec. 26, then face host HC Davos on Dec. 27 or 28. The Spengler Cup, first played in 1923, is the oldest invitational tournament in hockey.

The selection carries a family thread. Plante’s older brother, Zam, played for the Selects last December, and their father, Derek Plante, played in the 2002 Spengler Cup with HC Davos. Max led UMD as a sophomore with 25 goals and 52 points in 40 games, tying for second nationally in goals, and he was a first-team All-American and the NCHC Player of the Year.

Plante is currently sidelined with an upper-body injury that kept him out of Minnesota Duluth’s weekend series at Augustana. Sandelin has not given a timeline for his return.

Sources

• College Hockey Inc.: U.S. Collegiate Selects unveil first six on 2026 roster
• UMD Athletics: Ty Hanson and Max Plante named to U.S. Collegiate Select 2026 roster
• Duluth News Tribune: Max Plante, Hanson named to 2026 Spengler Cup team
• Mitten Hockey: Red Wings prospect Max Plante to miss Minnesota Duluth’s weekend series with upper-body injury