JP Hurlbert finished his draft year with 42 goals and 97 points in 68 games for the Kamloops Blazers. That production pushed him to NHL Central Scouting’s 12th-ranked North American skater and turned a player once seen as a second-round possibility into a first-round name in the 2026 NHL Draft.
Kamloops Blazers and JP Hurlbert
He did it after leaving the U.S. NTDP for Kamloops, a move he said he made for the “opportunity” that came with it. The change gave him a full season in the WHL, and the numbers followed fast: he scored a hat trick in his WHL debut and was sitting atop the WHL in scoring with 44 points in 25 games by the end of November.
Hurlbert’s path to the Kamloops Blazers started before that breakout. The Blazers selected him with the 20th pick in the 2023 WHL US Prospect Draft, then twice invited him to camp while school was starting, and the response was, “Thanks for the invitation, but school is starting.” A few months later, he accepted the camp invitation and moved into the lineup that would become the center of his draft-year climb.
WHL scoring and shot volume
The season line shows more than finishing touch. Hurlbert ended fourth in WHL scoring, and he finished second in the league with 294 shots on goal. He also took 361 draws while listed as a left winger and started the season as a center, a workload that shows how the Kamloops staff used him in more than one role.
His earlier track record helped explain why the Blazers were willing to wait. At Dallas Stars Elite U14 AAA, he posted 112 goals and 195 points in 75 games, then moved through the U17 and NTDP stages before making the jump to Kamloops. For a player who entered the year viewed as a potential second-round pick, the shift to the CHL gave him a clearer route to draft-day momentum than a quiet season would have.
2026 NHL Draft and beyond
The rise ended with the Detroit Red Wings taking him at No. 23 in the 2026 NHL Draft. Hurlbert also framed the CHL and NCAA path as “a great thing for hockey, honestly,” and added, “The CHL is such a great league, and the NCAA is right there with it. Now it’s the best of both worlds,” which fits the broader appeal of his route. What changed for him was simple: the move to Kamloops turned opportunity into production, and production into a top-23 draft slot.
