Detroit Red Wings prospect Brent Solomon was not your typical Minnesota kid while growing up. 

“My parents and my older sister were all born in Wisconsin, and they moved to Minnesota for my mom’s work,” he explains. ‘They thought it was just gonna be a short-term thing.”

But, instead of moving back to their native Milwaukee, the Solomons stayed in Brooklyn Park, a suburb of Minneapolis.

“I’m the first player in my family to figure out how to skate,” Solomon said. “I didn’t really grow up in a hockey household, so I didn’t really have too many close relatives with the hockey experience.”

But he adapted quickly.

 Stepping Right In

“You look around in Minnesota, and everyone in our neighborhood plays hockey,” Solomon said.  “You’re not gonna be left out. We’re throwing skates on you, and I kind of figured it out and kind of just ran with it,”

He hasn’t stopped. He made the jump from high school to the USHL at the end of last season and was drafted by the Red Wings in the fourth round of the 2025 NHL draft in June.

Solomon is averaging nearly a point per game thus far in his first full season with the Sioux Falls Stampede, with 15 goals and 20 assists in 36 games.

“His playmaking ability with and without the puck has increased,” Sioux Falls coach Ryan Cruthers says. “His effort when he doesn’t have the puck has increased a ton.

“He’s definitely gotten stronger, and then his ability to make reads, when to shoot, and when to pass. He’s obviously a shoot-first player. His defensive responsibility, I think, is where we’ve seen the greatest growth.”

Solomon’s offensive abilities helped put him on the radar last year. He scored 28 goals in 21 games in a Minnesota fall league for elite players, added 38 goals in 24 high school games, and four more in eight games with Sioux Falls at the end of the season.

That’s 70 goals over the winter.

“I’ve always had a knack for scoring,” Solomon said. ”It’s the best thing to do in the game. I like scoring because scoring helps the team win. I like to be up front and cause chaos.”

Working On His Overall Game

These days, though, Solomon works on his defense. 

“You gotta focus more on the defensive side of the puck,” he said. “You can’t just be a one-sided guy, and that’s obviously something I’m also learning this year, where just rounding out my game, making that 200-foot player.”

Solomon was named to the USA team in the World Junior A Championships in Quebec in December.

He scored four goals in the tournament and was named an alternate captain.

“I think he’s also starting to see that when he puts the work in,” Cruthers said, “not only just his hockey skills but his maturity and leadership, um, he reaps the benefits and he’s definitely growing into a more well-rounded human being and hockey player.”

Solomon has committed to the University of Wisconsin for college, despite growing up in Minnesota. 

“Most of my extended family are still in Milwaukee today,” Solomon said, “Growing up, I was a Badger fan in Gopher territory. Seeing and talking with the (Wisconsin) coaching staff, seeing the facilities, the campus, and the academics that they have there is something that really drew my eye to Madison.

“I’m kind of right in the middle of my home family and then my family over in Milwaukee, so it’s, it’s perfect.”