Detroit 2024 second rounder Max Plante suffered an injury in his exhibition NCAA debut and is expected to miss at least a month for Minnesota-Duluth
For 2024 Red Wings second round draft pick Max Plante, life in college hockey got off to an unfortunate start. For any player, the main goal of an exhibition or pre-season game is to avoid injury, but, per reporting from Matt Wellens of the Duluth News, Plante suffered an upper body injury late in Saturday night's OT University of Minnesota-Duluth defeat to Bemidji State.
Per Wellens, after that came UMD coach Scott Sandelin said Plante would be out "a while," then after the following day's exhibition, Sandelin provided a more precise timeline, estimating that the 18-year-old freshman would miss four to six weeks.
To state the obvious, it's a disappointing start to life in college hockey for Plante, not least because it eats away at a significant chunk of his window to make a positive impression ahead of Team USA's selection camp for the World Junior in December. In the mean time, here's to a swift and full recovery for Plante and a fruitful freshman season in Duluth after a trying start.