Hurlbert selected by the Detroit Red Wings in Round 1 of the NHL Entry Draft

Image Credit - Alex Beckett/Fallsway Marketing & Media

The Kamloops Blazers have another player heading to the NHL. J.P. Hurlbert was selected 23rd overall by the Detroit Red Wings in this year's NHL Entry Draft, capping off a breakout WHL season that saw the "Texas Tornado" establish himself as one of the top prospects available.

Detroit's path to landing Hurlbert was anything but conventional. The Red Wings traded goaltending prospect Sebastian Cossa, their own 2021 first-round pick, to the Utah Mammoth specifically to acquire the 23rd overall selection, clearing the way to take Hurlbert off the board.

The Blazers product made the move worthwhile for Detroit. In his first season in the WHL, Hurlbert piled up 42 goals and 55 assists for 97 points in 68 games, ranking fourth among all WHL skaters in both points and goals. His rookie campaign included four game-winning goals, three hat tricks and nine multi-goal games. He was named the WHL's alternate captain in Kamloops, won the Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy as WHL Rookie of the Year, and was a finalist for Player of the Year while helping the Blazers secure a playoff berth. NHL Central Scouting ranked him 12th among all North American skaters heading into the draft.

Hurlbert now joins a growing Kamloops pipeline in Detroit. Former Blazers captain Emmitt Finnie, a seventh-round pick by the Red Wings in 2023, made Detroit's NHL roster out of training camp last season and finished his rookie year with 13 goals and 30 points in 82 games. The connection between the Blazers and Red Wings continues to grow, with Hurlbert now set to follow the same path forged by Finnie just a year earlier.