Scouting Report: JP Hurlbert

A closer look at Detroit's 2026 1st round draft pick

Credit: Castanet

When I wrote up my 2026 Red Wings Draft Primer, Detroit didn’t have a first round draft pick due to the Justin Faulk trade. The team however was able to get back into the first round when Utah exchanged their 23rd overall pick for Sebastian Cossa, and with that pick the Red Wings selected JP Hurlbert.

Hurlbert was one of the leading scorers in the WHL this past season, and his game is a bit of a departure from what Detroit’s North American scouts tend to prioritize, but when your team finishes in the bottom third in the league for 5v5 goal scoring, it probably makes sense to start focusing on guys who can score goals, and that’s Hurlbert’s biggest feature as a hockey player.

While the Ruck brothers were the toast of the WHL, Hurlbert made a smooth transition to the WHL from the USHL, scoring 42 goals and registering 97 points, and was entrusted with wearing a letter during his rookie campaign in Kamloops. Since his selection as an alternate captain, there have been stories about how JP was instrumental in getting the boys to gel as a team, with Kamloops general manager Shaun Clouston sharing:

[Clouston] knew they made the right decision when he showed up to clean his desk on one early-season Sunday morning, and when he heard some noise from his office and stepped out, he saw half a dozen players coming in for an extra workout before some golf, both organized by Hurlbert.

It was also Hurlbert who got the team playing cards at the back of the bus for the first time in years.

Hurlbert will head to the University of Michigan this fall, in large part due to head coach Brandon Naurato’s approach to offense, with JP commenting ‘we really connected on how we see and think the game. He’s very offensive-minded and so am I’.

JP Hurlbert’s Career Stats

Credit: Elite Prospects

Let’s take a quick overview of JP Hurlbert as a player. This scouting report will cover Kamloops’ 7-3 victory over Vancouver with the main reason being the fact Hurlbert scored a hat trick on 7 shots on goal, going +3.

JP Hurlbert’s Position and Playing Style

Hurlbert was on the ice for the opening face-off for the first and second periods, playing left wing alongside center Ty Coupland and right wing Natham Behm. Both Coupland and Behm would be credited with two assists on Hurlbert’s goals in this game. Behm was a third round pick of the Blackhawks in the 2025 draft and will attend Arizona State University this fall, while Coupland has gone undrafted.

As you would expect from a player with Hurlbert’s skill set, he’s a fixture on the power play but isn’t a key penalty killer. The main reason he wasn’t out there for the opening face-off in the third period was due to the fact the Blazers started the period on the PK.

The commentators mentioned during this game that Vancouver had 2 goals in their previous 49 power play opportunities for an anemic 4% success rate. Kamloops would surrender 2 power play goals to the Giants in the first two periods, and Hurlbert eventually got some time on the PK in the third. This leads me to believe the coaching staff decided to put Hurlbert on the PK as a short-handed goal scoring threat given how ineffective their PK had been through the first two periods.

Hurlbert is deployed in several locations in the o-zone. For Kamloops’ first power play, he was stationed on the right wing along the boards and scored a power play goal off a shot from the right face-off circle, beating Vancouver goalie Burke Hood cleanly on his glove side. He would go on to score two more goals from the left side. He also had a couple nice cross slot passes to Nathan Behm while attacking from the right side before finding Behm on the far post.

In the d-zone, Hurlbert is mostly in the high slot, waiving his stick at crossing passes and putting in low amounts of effort at attacking an opponent with the puck on his stick. When his team gains possession of the puck, he quickly heads to the neutral zone, at the ready for a breakout pass to head his way.

It’s worth pointing out that Vancouver had a rough season, finishing last in the BC Division with a -86 goal differential. So this opponent played right into Hurlbert’s wheelhouse. During the playoffs, Hurlbert was held by Kelowna to three points, with only one of them being a goal, so his production tailed off when facing better competition.

Let’s take a look at my skill ratings for Hurlbert in this game.

JP Hurlbert Player Ratings

Skating: 4/10

When commentators are trying to be positive about Hurlbert’s skating, they say it’s ‘not bad’. This is a case of damning with faint praise. I try not to focus too much on technical skating skill as that’s not a personal strength and I’m not entirely sure how much impact it truly has. What I prefer to do is get a sense of what the skating allows a player to do or — in this case — holds him back from doing. In Hurlbert’s case, his skating is an issue at both ends of the ice.

For starters, when he gets the puck in his own end, he needs to pass it fairly quickly, as he doesn’t have escape velocity to pull away from a back checker. When he’s playing defense in his own end, he rarely if ever has the skating chops to pressure a puck handler, instead preferring to waive his stick. His forecheck is more theory than reality.

There are cases where he will receive the puck in transition and find a teammate with a pass, and this is important given he’s not going to skate away from many opponents. Poor skating isn’t an issue that held back many gifted NHL scorers, but my hope with Hurlbert heading to Michigan is he’ll work on improving his skating.

If it doesn’t improve, he may be relegated to the role of power play merchant.

Passing: 7/10

As mentioned above, with the skating issues, at least Hurlbert has mitigated this limitation by skating with his head up, looking to headman the puck through the neutral zone, or find an attacker in the o-zone with a pass across the slot to the opposite post. This happened twice in the third period where he had the puck at the top of the right face-off circle and threaded a pass to Nathan Behm at the far post. The second pass got Behm the puck with nearly half the net open, but his shot went wide.

Hurlbert’s passing is solid, he has good vision to find an attacker when in transition and he threads his passes accurately, but I find myself second guessing his passing capabilities and wonder how much of that is due to a Kelowna team that doesn’t have much pro caliber talent?

The hope is his passing will stand out more when he’s playing with NHL talent in Ann Arbor.

Shooting: 8/10

This is what we’re here for. Hurlbert’s first goal came from his ‘off wing’, a snipe from the right face-off circle that beat the goalie glove side. The second goal came in transition after a turnover inside the Giants’ blue line where Ty Coupland was able to push the loose puck towards Hurlbert on the left side of the goaltender; JP did the rest, beating the goaltender cleanly. The final goal came in the closing minute of the game, as he approached the left side of the goal to collect a rebound and put the puck behind the goaltender for his final goal.

Hurlbert tends to cheat a bit when his team is in the d-zone and gains possession, but with how good he is at scoring in transition, this seems like a reasonable risk to take. It’s too early to make any definitive claims, but if his shot is behind anyone in the organization it’s probably Alex DeBrincat, but I have a hard time thinking of another player who is so good in close. It should be Lucas Raymond, but Ray seems to defer a bit too much given his elite release. Michael Brandsegg-Nygård is in the conversation.

I feel comfortable saying Hurlbert’s release is top 5 in the organization, with a legit claim to be in the top 3.

Physical Play: 2/10

Hurlbert just doesn’t seem to get involved with board battles, and, as mentioned previously, he’s not much of a forechecker at this point. This game got chippy after a Blazers skater ran Burke Hood, with Kamloops forward Ty Bonkowski eventually getting knocked out of the contest with a hit up high. Hurlbert is 100% a ‘let’s hurt them on the power play’ type of player and for good reason. The guy knows his limitations.

Board Play: 2/10

More of the same. He will skate along the boards, but if he feels pressure he’s moving the puck to an open teammate. If there’s a board battle in his end of the ice, he’s typically making himself available for the outlet pass.

Defensive Play: 4/10

Initially, I had this as a 3/10, but when he got some PK time late, and even took a face-off in his own zone while short-handed — which he won by the way — I had to give him a bit more credit.

As mentioned previously, he’s mostly stationed in the high slot area and ready to make a beeline for the neutral zone if he thinks his team is going to gain possession of the puck. I saw some of this from Carter Bear in reviewing his games last season, and with gifted scorers you can certainly understand the tradeoff.

There were two plays that gave me pause with Hurlbert defending in his own zone:

1. With Kamloops nursing a one-goal lead with 11:20 left in the 2nd, Hurlbert was headed back to the blue line hoping to get a jump in transition. However the Blazers’ d-men both covered an attacker in front of the net, leaving Joe Iginla wide open on the back post. His shot was fortunately stopped by Kamloops keeper Logan Edmonstone. Hurlbert eventually hustled back to help, but by then the play was over.

2. Later with 8:30 remaining in the second period, when JP was alone in front of his own net against Vancouver forward Misha Volotovskii, he just waved his stick at him as he took several point black shots at Edmonstone before another Blazers skater wrapped Volotovskii up.

Seeing Hurlbert get some PK time late in the game was a good sign, as the game wasn’t truly done and dusted until Kamloops scored an empty net goal while short-handed with less than 2 minutes left in the contest.

JP Hurlbert’s Projection

The reason you are drafting JP Hurlbert is due to his goal scoring capabilities. He’s proven to be a scorer across the UNTDP and the WHL, and next season he’ll play for one of the elite offensive teams in college hockey. We should feel confident he’s going to be capable of potting 25-30 goals a year when he eventually matriculates to the NHL.

The question with his skating is whether he’s limited to a role that features him as a power play merchant, or can he find a way to be a contributor on your first line?

The one thing Hurlbert could do that would raise his ceiling the most is to improve his skating. It doesn’t need to be elite or anything close to that, but if it could get to the point where he could put defenders in a quandary when he’s attacking, it would allow him to maximize his offensive upside.

For me, his floor is middle six scorer who is a power play merchant. In that scenario, I could see him being a consistent 25 goal, 45 point producer. If his skating improves and he can hang on the top line with a strong playmaking center, I think there’s the potential for him to be a 35 goal, 70ish point player in the NHL.