Red Wings Director of Player Development Dan Cleary had a positive reception to 2026 Draft selection Victor Plante's performance during Development Camp.
With the 47th overall selection in the 2026 NHL Draft, the Detroit Red Wings selected forward Victor Plante, who registered 48 points with the U.S. National U18 Team in 2025-26.
Plante, who will be attending the University of Minnesota-Duluth this fall, is the younger brother of fellow Red Wings draft selection Max Plante, who is also heading to the same NCAA program. Ironically, both brothers were taken by the club with the 47th overall pick in their respective Drafts.
Last week, both Plante brothers were on the ice at BELFOR Training Center inside of Little Caesars Arena for Development Camp, and were watched closely by former Red Wings Stanley Cup winner Dan Cleary, who now serves as the club's Director of Player Development.
"I got to see Victor in a crossover game when the program played Notre Dame," Cleary said of the younger Plante. "Obviously, knowing the Plante family, I was like, 'Victor has a nice game to him; he looks a lot like Max'."
"Being drafted the same number, it was whatever you want to call it, but it's great having both of them."
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Understandably, both brothers are highly competitive.
"Whatever we do, we do team bonding and building events; they go head-to-head," Cleary continued. "They're competitive hockey players who love to be at the rink, they love to be around the rink, they want to work on their game and are always looking to improve....that's what the good ones want to do."
Victor, who is only 18, has a long road ahead of him before he can think about playing in the NHL. But so far, he's resembled a sponge - soaking up all feedback that he gets.
"He's super open to all sorts of criticism and encouragement," Cleary said. "He comes from a hockey family. It's very obvious."
Zam Plante, the brother of Victor and Max who was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2022 NHL Draft, will also be playing with the Bulldogs this coming fall.
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