2024 Draft Profile:
LW Max Plante, USNTDP
Plante was a tale of two different seasons for me. In my early viewings, he felt like a soft, perimeter focused playmaker who could pile up assists on a good USNTDP squad but didn't offer much else beyond that. As the season progressed, I started to grow a bit more optimistic about his projection since I began to see him deliberately try to address the deficiencies in his game. The undersized winger (and I say winger in spite of him playing a decent center load this year) is generally regarded as a 3rd rounder, though Craig Button currently has him just outside the 1st.
The best part of Plante's game is quite easily his playmaking ability, and this was apparent in every viewing I had. The player showcases some exceptional vision and creativity with the puck, applying a mix of deception, manipulation, and patience to find lanes. He can hit long, multi-line breakout passes just as effectively as he can finesse pucks in smaller areas and through traffic. And it's not even the case that he needs these lanes either, Plante is more than capable of threading the puck through the tiniest of openings. He complements this ability with an equally impressive level of timing, evasion, and spatial awareness while skating to ensure he's finding space for himself just as easily.
As the year progressed, I noticed him increasingly willing to try to play through contact as well. Now, at a meager 5'10" 170lb, he stands very little chance of holding up against larger defenders right now, but I want to reiterate that we're thinking intent. Plante shows signs of leveraging his body up and under bigger players to buy himself space, while simultaneously applying some impressive puck protection ability with his stick. His shot is a bit of a contested topic, but I want to make sure I highlight his ability to identify shooting lanes and his general instincts with the puck. Plante applies all the hallmarks of his vision, patience, and handling to put himself in the most dangerous scoring opportunities possible, and his instincts in terms of when to shoot and when to continue to make a move are impressive. Plus, it helps that he has a knack for being able to elevate the puck in tight.
What isn't great, though, is that Plante loves to look off scoring opportunities for himself. I don't think it's nearly as bad now as it was early season, but there's a level of predictability to his game insomuch as defenders generally can assume he's looking for a pass when the puck's on his stick. Even when he does opt for a shot, it's not particularly threatening most of the time either. Additionally, Plante can't really be considered a high pace player, but I should note there's a caveat to that. He's almost always moving, trying to bait defenders, willing to fight for pucks, and he's even got a quick first couple steps, but generally speaking everything's happening a touch slower than you'd typically want for a player of this frame. Plante is engaged as a backchecker and, while not super active, will support down low, it just comes down to a matter of projecting whether or not this will be that much of a strength moving forward considering his lack of reach, pace, and pure speed.
There's a lot to like with how Plante's game has grown this year. He applies a ton of skill and vision to drive play regardless of the line he's playing on, and there's legitimate earnestness in competing for pucks, supporting defensively, and essentially being more than just a pass-first player. The progression in terms of physical contact, shooting, and even pace to a smaller degree were all apparent this season, which I really do like to see. The issue lies in the fact that, even with those positives considered, he still has a ways to go. The exciting part is more the framework from which he can build off of, rather than the current translatability, or lack thereof, of his game. I think it's worth taking a look at the player in the middle/late rounds and hoping you get some sort of Guentzel-style swing out of him, where the player is savvy enough and committed enough to overcome his lack of tools.