The Detroit Red Wings prospects hit the ice Monday for the start of their annual development camp, and several new faces were among them.Detroit put together a seven-player draft class this past weekend, and while the latest on Dylan Larkin dominated the news cycle Saturday, there are some notable prospects being added to the organization — as well as the latest on some key returners — worth checking in on as development camp begins.1. The feel-good story of the weekend for the Red Wings was their second-round draft pick, U.S. NTDP forward Victor Plante. Plante, of course, is the brother of Red Wings prospect Max Plante, the 2026 Hobey Baker winner at Minnesota Duluth and one of the most compelling prospects in Detroit’s system.Detroit drafted both brothers at the same pick, No. 47 (Max in 2024, Victor this weekend), and as you’d probably guess, the similarities don’t stop there. Both are undersized but smart and competitive wingers.Max produced at a higher rate in his draft year, and Victor drew a distinction by saying he was perhaps “a little bit more patient” compared to his brother’s “run-and-gun and fast” style. But as with Max, the bet on Victor is about his brain and motor, as well as the family bloodlines (their father Derek was an NHLer, and their grandfather, Bruce, is a legendary high school hockey coach in Minnesota) and what it could all add up to developmentally.“Incredible hockey family,” Red Wings assistant general manager Kris Draper said. “We were real excited about the development of how and what Max has gone through over the last couple years, and feel that Victor’s wired the exact same way. He’s obviously a very smart, competitive hockey player that has passion and love for the game, and we feel that those types of players are always going to get better.“Sitting here a couple years ago, that’s exactly what we said about Max: how much he loved the game, and with that passion and love for the game that he was going to get better. And that’s obviously exactly what he did.”Max set a high bar with what he did this past season, and his natural offense may be hard to match. But with Victor set to join his brother Max (and their oldest brother, Zam, a Pittsburgh Penguins prospect) at Minnesota Duluth next year, he’ll be in a great environment to push himself and continue that development process. Certainly, being the youngest brother in a hockey family has a way of pushing a player.“It definitely built me to the guy I am today,” Victor said over the weekend. “You’re getting beat up every day against those two, and everything’s competitive. Like, there wasn’t one time we weren’t doing anything competitive. If we’re raking leaves, it’s a race, or something. So it definitely shaped me to be who I am, a little tough — well, a little bit.”Victor said Monday he looked up to Max’s work ethic and that he could have seen the year Max had coming because of the work he put in. And in drafting Victor, the Red Wings are hoping they can say the same about him in the near future.“I think he just competes the whole time,” Max said about Victor. “I think a lot of people look at stats and stuff, and obviously he does have quite a bit of points, but if you go and watch their team this year, if there was a guy that really flashed out to you, even though he was my brother, I feel like he was kind of the player that stuck out to you.”2. The first day of development camp was as much testing as it was actual action. But while we’re on the subject, Max Plante looked a cut above the rest of the prospects in the drills we did see Monday, at least to my eyes.That shouldn’t be a surprise coming off that Hobey Baker season, but Plante looked quick and dangerous, and it’s always good to see how prospects look on the same ice sheet.3. It was good to hear from 2025 first-round pick Carter Bear on Monday, coming off a successful season with the WHL champion Everett Silvertips.Bear essentially replicated his 2024-25 stats for the year, posting 36 goals and 77 points in 53 games (after scoring 40 and 82 in 56 the year before), but the context matters quite a bit. Bear injured his Achilles the previous season, and after a relatively slow start to the season (12 points in his first 15 games), he had 65 in his last 38 — a 1.71 points-per-game rate that, over a full season, would have ranked second only to Utah Mammoth prospect Tij Iginla.And after that, Everett’s long run to the WHL Championship, and then to the Memorial Cup Final, gave him a taste of what a long playoff run is like as well.“You have to learn stuff, how to keep your body right, stay healthy and all that,” Bear said. “It was a good experience for me to experience a long playoff run, for sure.”Bear’s smarts, scoring and competitiveness all stand out, but he identified strength and skating as two areas he’ll need to improve, and I’d agree with that. For him to maximize his impact, blending muscle with his competitive instincts and adding as much explosiveness as possible will both need to be priorities.4. The Sebastian Cossa trade got the Red Wings back into the first round Thursday to select J.P. Hurlbert at pick 23, and Bear offered his scouting report of Hurlbert on Monday.“Obviously, he can score, for sure,” Bear said. “He’s quick with the puck and can handle the puck well, and he has good smarts for the game. Getting to know him now, he’s a great person.”Bear said he and Hurlbert are rooming together, which is a cool setup for the two WHL scorers.General manager Steve Yzerman said Hurlbert was “one of a small group of players” the Red Wings estimated might be available around pick 23, before trading Cossa to Utah for that pick. And when they executed the trade and went on the clock, Yzerman said Hurlbert was “without a doubt the prospect we wanted the most at that pick.”As with Bear, Hurlbert will need to continue to work on his skating, but he’s a natural scorer, and adding a player with that ability to the system definitely addresses a need for the Red Wings.Detroit Red Wings draft "very, very smart" J.P. HurlbertThe Athletic Hockey Show5. After trading away one top goalie prospect in Cossa, the Red Wings picked another goaltender, Michal Oršulák, in the third round. The 6-foot-4 netminder led Czechia to a World Junior silver medal in January, and his .907 save percentage for Prince Albert ranked second in the WHL.The Red Wings signed one of the Prince Albert defensemen, Justice Christensen, so they were watching the Raiders a lot and came away impressed with Oršulák in the process.“The size, the compete, the way he moves, we just felt that with where we were in the draft, we felt it was a real good pick to add,” Draper said. “We feel we have a good athlete, competitive, and we’re real excited to add him.”6. The Red Wings certainly will need to address the center position going forward, with Larkin’s trade request changing their outlook. So it’s no surprise to see Detroit use a pair of later-round picks on shots down the middle. Adam Levac (fourth round) and Beckham Edwards (fifth round) aren’t realistically going to be top-of-the-lineup factors, but both OHL centers have interesting elements.Draper described Levac by saying he was “very, very competitive, he plays a 200-foot game, he understands responsibilities with and without the puck,” and highlighted the background information they got on him in the vetting process. Meanwhile, Edwards was actually the second-highest-scoring U17 player in the OHL a year ago, and while he ended up merely replicating his 45-point stat line in his draft year, you still wonder if there’s a path to him getting back on an upward offensive trajectory. The 6-1 center can shoot it, and his physical stature is a plus, too.7. We’ll see more as the week goes on, including sixth-round pick Luka Arkko and seventh-rounder Myles Brosnan, whom Draper didn’t get the chance to speak about Saturday. For what it’s worth, there were no scrimmages on the initial schedule the team sent out for the week, so we may not get to see much game action this week.But at this time of year, any on-ice reps are a welcome sight.