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Shane Wright (ice hockey)

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Shane Wright
Shane Wright closeup 2022.jpg
Wright with the Seattle Kraken in 2022.
Born (2004-01-05) January 5, 2004 (age 20)
Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight 187 lb (85 kg; 13 st 5 lb)
Position Centre
Shoots Right
NHL team (P)
Cur. team		 Seattle Kraken
Coachella Valley Firebirds (AHL)
NHL draft 4th overall, 2022
Seattle Kraken
Playing career 2022–present

Shane Wright (born January 5, 2004) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre for the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the American Hockey League (AHL), as a prospect to the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League (NHL). Projected as a potential first overall pick throughout the 2021–22 NHL season, Wright was drafted fourth overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft by the Kraken.

Internationally, Wright won gold as a member of Team Canada at the 2021 IIHF World U18 Championships.

Playing career

Amateur

Kingston Frontenacs (2019–2022)

Shane Wright during his time as captain of the Kingston Frontenacs in 2021.

Wright was granted exceptional player status for the 2019–20 season, becoming the sixth player to be granted exceptional status. The preceding five players were John Tavares, Aaron Ekblad, Connor McDavid, Sean Day and Joe Veleno.[1]

Wright was drafted by the Kingston Frontenacs with the first overall selection in the 2019 OHL Priority Selection. On September 20, 2019, Wright made his OHL debut at the age of 15, as he was held to no points in a 4–1 loss to the Oshawa Generals. One week later, on September 27, Wright scored the first OHL goal in his career against Andrew MacLean of the Oshawa Generals in a 4–1 loss. On October 4, Wright had his first career multi-point game in his OHL career, scoring a goal and adding an assist in an 8–4 loss to the Niagara IceDogs. Wright recorded his first multi-goal game on October 11, as he scored twice, including the overtime winning goal, in a 4–3 victory over the Niagara IceDogs.[2] On December 30, the Frontenacs named Wright an alternate captain of the team, as he became the youngest team captain in CHL history. On February 29, Wright recorded his first career OHL hat trick, as he scored three goals and added an assist for a career-high four points in a game in a 6–1 win over the Flint Firebirds. Wright finished the 2019–20 season with 39 goals and 66 points in 58 games. Wright was named the winner of the Emms Family Award for OHL Rookie of the Year.[3]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020–21 season was cancelled, leaving Wright without a league to play in. His only competitive hockey in that span was an appearance at the 2021 IIHF World U18 Championships.[4]

Wright returned to the Frontenacs for the 2021–22 season. On October 8, 2021, he was named captain of the team, making him the youngest captain in OHL history.[5] Expectations were high based on his rookie season, his performance internationally, and his presumptive status as the first overall pick in the NHL draft, but the season began with only 22 points in 19 games in his first two months. Many attributed this in part to the loss of the prior OHL season. However, he was widely credited with taking major strides in performance for the remainder.[6] Wright finished the regular season with 32 goals and 62 assists, the former less than in his debut season, the latter a significant increase. The Frontenacs qualified for the OHL playoffs, and faced the Oshawa Generals in the first round. Wright scored the series-winning goal in overtime of Game 6 to eliminate the Generals and advance to the second round.[7] The Frontenacs were eliminated by the North Bay Battalion in the second round, concluding his season.[8]

Professional

2022 NHL Entry Draft

Wright during a preseason game against the Vancouver Canucks in October 2022.

Considered the presumptive first overall pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft at the start of the season, Wright's status began to be called into question by the midpoint of the 2021–22 season, with many scouts saying that he had "left the door open for someone to unseat him."[9] As the draft approached, debate largely focused on the merits of Wright versus Slovak winger Juraj Slafkovský of Liiga's TPS.[10][11][12] The first overall pick was won by the Montreal Canadiens, whose general manager, Kent Hughes, confirmed days before the draft that the choice was between Wright, Slafkovský, and Logan Cooley of the USNTDP.[13] Ultimately the Canadiens used the first overall pick to select Slafkovský, the New Jersey Devils selected Šimon Nemec second and the Arizona Coyotes selected Cooley third, giving Seattle the opportunity to draft Wright with the fourth overall pick. He remarked afterward that he was "definitely gonna have a chip on my shoulder" as to being passed over by the first three teams.[14]

Seattle Kraken (2022–present)

On July 13, 2022, Wright signed a three-year entry level contract with the Kraken worth $2.85 million over three years.[15] Kraken general manager Ron Francis stated that he believed Wright would likely play the season with the Kraken.[16] He played 6:14 in his NHL debut on October 12 in a 5–4 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks.[17] Following his debut, Wright was a healthy scratch for the following two games before returning to the lineup on October 17.[18] He recorded his first NHL point, an assist, in an October 19 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues.[19] As October concluded, coach Dave Hakstol's usage of Wright became a major source of debate in the media and among fans, as he was frequently scratched and being played for less than seven minutes per game on average when allowed into the lineup.[20][21]

International play

Wright made his international debut with Team Canada's U18 roster at the 2021 IIHF World U18 Championships, finishing second in the tournament scoring race and scoring two goals in the final against Team Russia to help win the gold medal.[22] Later in the year he was selected for the national U20 team for the 2022 World Junior Championships, but was only able to play two games before the tournament was cancelled due to the Omicron variant. Wright expressed "shock and disappointment".[23] Wright did not play in the rescheduled event, held in August 2022.[24]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2019–20 Kingston Frontenacs OHL 58 39 27 66 10 ― ― ― ― ―
2021–22 Kingston Frontenacs OHL 63 32 62 94 22 11 3 11 14 0
OHL totals 121 71 89 160 32 11 3 11 14 0

International

Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2019 Canada Black U17 8th 5 4 3 7 14
2021 Canada U18 1st place, gold medalist(s) 5 9 5 14 2
Junior totals 10 13 8 21 16

Awards and honours

Award Year
OHL
First All-Rookie Team 2020
Emms Family Award 2020 [3]
CHL Rookie of the Year 2020

References

  1. ^ Leth, Rob. "Shane Wright granted exceptional player status by Hockey Canada". Global News. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  2. ^ "15-year-old Shane Wright is the youngest player to be named a team captain in OHL history". BarDown. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "2020 Emms Family Award: Shane Wright". Ontario Hockey League. May 15, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  4. ^ Johnson, Kimberley (May 11, 2022). "Kingston Frontenacs forward Shane Wright could be the top pick in the NHL draft". CTV News. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  5. ^ Steiner, Ben. "Frontenacs Announce 2021-22 Team Captains". Kingston Frontenacs. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  6. ^ Baracchini, Peter (March 5, 2022). "Frontenacs' Wright Proving Doubters Wrong As Top Prospect". The Hockey Writers. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  7. ^ MacAlpine, Ian (May 2, 2022). "Frontenacs' Shane Wright scores series-winning goal in overtime". The Kingston Whig-Standard. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  8. ^ "Shane Wright's season ends as Battalion survive scare to eliminate Frontenacs". Sportsnet. May 14, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  9. ^ "Bob McKenzie's Mid-Season Draft Rankings". TSN. January 20, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  10. ^ Pronman, Corey (July 5, 2022). "2022 NHL Draft prospects: Juraj Slafkovsky leads Corey Pronman's final ranking". The Athletic. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  11. ^ Wheeler, Scott (June 6, 2022). "NHL Draft 2022 top 100 prospects: Scott Wheeler's final rankings". The Athletic. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  12. ^ "Bob McKenzie's Final 2022 Draft Ranking". TSN. June 28, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  13. ^ Engels, Eric (July 5, 2022). "Canadiens 2022 NHL Draft Preview: Foundation for Hughes' plan can be set this week". Sportsnet. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  14. ^ Fox, Luke (July 7, 2022). "Shane Wright falls to fourth: 'I'm definitely gonna have a chip on my shoulder'". Sportsnet. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  15. ^ "Kraken sign first-round pick Shane Wright to entry-level contract". Sportsnet. July 13, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  16. ^ "Shane Wright likely spending season with Kraken, GM Ron Francis says". The Athletic. October 5, 2022. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  17. ^ Arritt, Dan (October 13, 2022). "Terry gives Ducks OT win against Kraken in season opener". National Hockey League. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  18. ^ "Hurricanes at Kraken". National Hockey League. October 17, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  19. ^ Crabtree, Curtis (October 20, 2022). "Shane Wright gets first point, Kraken fall 4-3 to Blues in OT". FOX13 Seattle. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
  20. ^ Bukala, Jason (October 24, 2022). "Future Considerations: Will Shane Wright stick in the NHL this season?". Sportsnet. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  21. ^ Ferrari, Tony (October 26, 2022). "Seattle Kraken should send Shane Wright to OHL Kingston now". The Hockey News. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  22. ^ Ellis, Steven (May 7, 2021). "Shane Wright's Run With Canada Was Something Special". The Hockey News. Retrieved May 9, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  23. ^ Masters, Mark (January 3, 2022). "Wright on WJC cancellation, draft-year pressure and signed Crosby picture". TSN. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  24. ^ "Team Canada starts prep for unique summer world junior tournament". Sportsnet. August 2, 2022. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Seattle Kraken first round draft pick
2022 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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