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Genborg, Hurlbert, and Victor Plante headline a World Juniors prospect check

With the World Juniors six weeks away, a look at where Eddie Genborg, J.P. Hurlbert, Victor Plante, and other Red Wings prospects stand in the race for roster spots.

Shaun
5–7 minutes
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Six weeks from Saturday, the 2027 World Junior Championship opens in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta. The tournament runs Dec. 26 to Jan. 5, and for a handful of Red Wings prospects, November is audition month. Some are making the case loudly. Others are doing it quietly inside one of the best teams in college hockey. Here is where Detroit’s under-20 group stands as rosters start to take shape.

Eddie Genborg is forcing the issue

No Red Wings prospect has done more for his World Juniors case this month than Eddie Genborg. The 19-year-old forward, Detroit’s second-round pick in 2025, had five goals and eight points in his first three games for Sweden’s under-20 team at the Five Nations tournament in Nyköping, Sweden, last week (our story).

The breakdown makes the point. He scored in a 4-1 win over Slovakia, had a hat trick and an assist in a 9-2 win over Switzerland, and added a goal and two assists in a 4-2 win over Finland. That is production in every game, against three different opponents, at the event built to decide who goes to Alberta.

Genborg also has something most of the competition doesn’t: a gold medal. He was part of Sweden’s championship team last winter, and he is spending this season playing against men with Timrå IK in the SHL after signing his entry-level deal with Detroit in March. A returning champion who just put up eight points in three tune-up games should not be sweating a roster spot. Our take: he isn’t just making the team; he should be one of the forwards Sweden leans on.

J.P. Hurlbert’s freshman year is a slow build

J.P. Hurlbert’s first months at Michigan look nothing like his last season in junior, and that is not a red flag. The Allen, Texas, native, whom Detroit took 23rd overall in June, arrived in Ann Arbor after scoring 42 goals and 97 points in 68 games with the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers in 2025-26, according to Michigan’s freshman release.

Through Michigan’s first nine games, he had two goals and four points, according to Michigan’s official statistics, including a power-play goal in the overtime win at Ohio State on Nov. 1. He scored Michigan’s first goal of the season in October and recorded a shot in Friday’s series opener against Penn State at Yost.

Context matters here. Hurlbert is a freshman on the No. 2 team in the country, playing behind Michael Hage and Malcolm Spence on a lineup that has been the most productive in college hockey. Brandon Naurato has a deep group, and power-play time and top-six minutes are earned. Four points in roughly a third of a season is a modest pace, but it’s a reasonable one for a freshman adjusting to older, heavier competition, and the power-play goal at Ohio State shows the scoring touch translates.

The World Juniors picture is less certain. Hurlbert was on USA Hockey’s summer showcase roster in July, but Daily Faceoff’s Nov. 5 projection of the U.S. roster by Steven Ellis did not include him. A strong November would change that conversation. Our lean: he’s on the bubble for this year’s team, and the next few weekends at Yost are his best chance to move off it.

Victor Plante fits the U.S. mold

Victor Plante, Detroit’s second-round pick (47th overall) in June, has one goal and five points in 13 games as a Minnesota Duluth freshman, according to UMD’s official statistics. He scored his first college goal in a three-point night in October (our story).

The numbers are quiet, but the U.S. evaluation sounds louder. Plante was on the summer showcase roster in July, and Ellis’ projection put him on the American team, calling him “a high-end playmaker who thinks the game at a high level.” A product of the U.S. National Team Development Program, he knows the coaches and the system. Of Detroit’s American prospects, he looks like the likeliest to wear the U.S. jersey in Alberta.

Also on the radar

  • Brent Solomon (Wisconsin): The Badgers forward was the third Red Wings prospect on USA Hockey’s summer showcase roster in July. He’s one to watch when the U.S. preliminary roster comes out.
  • Max Plante (Minnesota Duluth): The reigning Hobey Baker Award winner has played only two games this season, with two assists, after a shoulder injury on Oct. 2, as reported by Detroit Hockey Now. He is back in non-contact drills, with no return date set (our story). His return is the biggest Red Wings prospect story of the winter, World Juniors or not.
  • Zam Plante (Minnesota Duluth): Not a Detroit prospect, but Max and Victor’s older brother, a Penguins prospect, has seven goals and 15 points in 13 games, according to UMD’s statistics.

The Michigan-tied name to follow: Landon DuPont

One more draft name belongs on every Michigan fan’s list, even though Detroit can’t claim him yet. Landon DuPont, Michigan’s freshman defenseman from Calgary, sits atop NHL Central Scouting’s preliminary watch list for the 2027 draft. He had two points in Friday’s series opener against Penn State, after posting 73 points in 63 games with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips last season, according to Michigan’s freshman release.

A potential No. 1 overall pick running the back end of the No. 2 team in the country is a storyline worth tracking all winter (our look at Michigan’s November).

The bottom line

Genborg is the surest thing in the group, and his week in Nyköping should settle it. Victor Plante looks like Detroit’s best bet on the U.S. side. Hurlbert has the most to prove in the next month, and his production at Yost against Big Ten opponents will tell us whether he is a World Junior player this year or next. For a Red Wings organization that has been patient with its prospects, a December with three or four of them in Alberta would be a good sign the pipeline is filling the right way.

Sources

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