SEATTLE, WA – Shane Wright is still feeling the sting of losing Game 6 of the Calder Cup Finals.
For the second year in a row, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the AHL affiliate of the Seattle Kraken, lost in the finals, with Wright a part of both playoff runs.
SEATTLE, WA – Seattle Kraken’s Shane Wright was named to the AHL Top Prospects Team.
After scoring 22 goals and 47 points in 59 games, Wright was named alongside Logan Stankoven, Jiri Kulich, Brant Clarke, Simon Edvinsson and Yaroslav Askarov on the Top Prospects Team.
COACHELLA VALLEY, CA – So much of Shane Wright’s work this season has centered around the less glamorous but absolutely vital parts of the game.
For any young AHL forward, that might look something like defensive-zone work, tracking, angling, coverages and all of the other elements that go toward making a well-rounded National Hockey League player.
But Wright, the Coachella Valley Firebirds rookie, also managed to record 47 points (22 goals, 25 assists) in 59 regular-season games and earn a spot on the AHL Top Prospects Team.
COACHELLA VALLEY, CA – It only seems that Coachella Valley Firebirds forward Shane Wright is older than his birth certificate indicates.
Wright, after all, has been a household hockey name for years. Nothing has been normal or routine for him.
He was barely a teenager when he was already attracting attention as an emerging star in the ultra-competitive world of minor hockey in the Greater Toronto Area. His teammates with the Don Mills Flyers included the likes of eventual NHL first-rounders Brandt Clarke and Brennan Othmann. It was that kind of environment that Wright dominated.
Then came 2019 and Hockey Canada granting Wright exceptional-player status, a decision that allowed him to join Kingston of the Ontario Hockey League as a 15-year-old. He delivered on the hype, providing 39 goals and 66 points to win top rookie honors in both the OHL and the Canadian Hockey League.
SEATTLE, WA – Kraken prospect Shane Wright was again one of the last players off the ice Wednesday morning before accompanying his travel group to British Columbia for the night’s penultimate preseason game.
Wright’s appearance in a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks in the B.C. town of Abbotsford will likely be his last this preseason as remaining players leave Thursday for Edmonton, Alberta, and Friday’s finale against the Oilers before the Oct. 10 regular-season opener. It has been a workmanlike training camp for last year’s No. 4 overall draft selection, evidenced not only by Wright staying late after practices but also his picking up on professional hockey nuances.
“I think, overall, I’m feeling more comfortable out there,” Wright, who assisted on a first period Andrew Poturalski goal, said before leaving for Wednesday’s game. “I’m more comfortable holding on to the puck a little bit more, making plays and understanding our systems just a little bit better. And understanding teammates and systems and all that.”
WINDSOR, ONT – To borrow a line from the legendary Johnny Cash, Shane Wright has been everywhere this season, man. And while no one could have predicted all the locations the talented young center ended up, it feels like the Seattle Kraken prospect is getting precisely the reps he needs after a first half filled with different and challenging experiences.
The tale of Wright’s draft day is well-worn at this point. Seen as the potential No. 1 overall pick, he instead slid to fourth when the Montreal Canadiens opted for a winger in Juraj Slafkovsky. New Jersey didn’t need a center, so they took defenseman Simon Nemec second overall, while Arizona preferred Logan Cooley down the middle. And all of that was just fine with the Kraken, who were more than happy to snap up Wright for their new pipeline.
SEATTLE, WA –
Shane Wright is officially a goal scorer in the NHL, and just as fate would have it, his first tally came against the Montreal Canadiens.
This past summer, the Canadiens passed over the long-expected top pick with their No. 1 overall pick in the NHL Draft, selecting Slovakian forward Juraj Slafkovsky instead.
Wright, who infamously stared down the Canadiens’ table at the draft after the Seattle Kraken selected him fourth overall, also said he was “definitely gonna have a chip on my shoulder” since he fell in the draft.
Sometimes a little chip on your shoulder is a good thing. In this case, it’s paying off with a bit of revenge.
Wright’s first-career NHL goal came in the first period of the Kraken’s game against the Canadiens Tuesday in Seattle, when forward Oliver Bjorkstrand laid the puck on a platter in the low slot for the rookie, who hammered it past netminder Jake Allen.
Not only is it some sweet revenge for Wright, but it’s also a major monkey off his back. The 18-year-old had gone goalless in his first seven NHL games and has struggled to find ice time with the Kraken.
SEATTLE, WA – Shane Wright signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday.
The 18-year-old forward was the No. 4 pick in the 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft.
“It was the overall fit and what the organization is building to,” Wright said on Day Two of Kraken development camp Tuesday. “They are a new team, so they don’t have as many prospects in the system as some other teams do. I feel it’ll just give me a lot more opportunities, stepping in to make a difference right away. The potential ability to be part of a situation and be a building block and a huge piece in their team and the organization for the future was something that really excited me. Now that it finally worked out this way, I couldn’t be happier.”
MONTREAL, QC – Shane Wright has the confidence to succeed and the perseverance to thrive at any level of hockey.
He’s really had no other choice to this point in his career.
A month after Hockey Canada granted him exceptional-player status in March 2019 at age 15, he was chosen No. 1 by Kingston in the Ontario Hockey League priority draft (regular draft age is 16). He was named rookie of the year in the Canadian Hockey League after he had 66 points (39 goals, 27 assists) in 58 games in 2019-20.
He was proving to be everything everyone expected. And then the OHL canceled its 2020-21 season due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
“It was just a lot of off-ice training, working out in my garage, the gym, trying to maintain my body as best as possible with weights, medicine balls, and I skated on rollerblades or wherever we could find ice,” Wright said. “I mean, you can do all the skating you want but it’s really tough to simulate a game-like scenario and that’s something I missed a lot, something I definitely missed doing for sure.”
He wasn’t alone. But for a player of his status, a lost season was a missed opportunity to solidify his standing as the best the 2022 NHL Draft class had to offer.
To his credit, Wright did all he could this season to answer questions regarding his chances of developing into an NHL franchise player. He was eighth in the OHL with 94 points (32 goals, 62 assists) in 63 games, including 51 points (17 goals, 34 assists) in his final 32 games. He then had 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) in 11 OHL playoff games, including the overtime series-clinching goal in the first round against Oshawa.
The 18-year-old has established himself as a leading option to be the No. 1 pick in the draft.
Wright (6-foot, 199 pounds) was No. 1 in NHL Central Scouting’s ranking of North American skaters from start to finish. He did so despite missing more than 13 months of competitive hockey. His last organized games prior to this OHL season was the 2021 IIHF World Under-18 Championship when he was second among all players with 14 points (nine goals, five assists) in five games while serving as captain for first-place Canada.
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