The Kraken announced Friday that center Shane Wright has been reassigned to its junior team, the Kingston Frontenacs, of the Ontario Hockey League.
Wright celebrated his 19th birthday in memorable fashion on Thursday by captaining Team Canada to a gold medal at the 2023 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Halifax, North Carolina. Wright scored Canada’s second goal to make it 2-0, vital because the Czech Republic scored two late goals before the home side won in extra time.
Wright appeared in eight games for the Kraken, scoring his first NHL goal in a home game against Montreal on December 6, before being loaned to Team Canada the next day. He impressed his teammates and coaches in Seattle with his poise, toughness on the ice and willingness to learn all the ins and outs of the sport that is required at the NHL levels, whether it’s playing pucks off the wall or experiencing firsthand what it takes , to stay on the net-front for layup and rebound chances in the offensive zone.
“We are very proud of Shane’s performance at the World Juniors, helping captain Team Canada to a gold medal,” said Francis. “He has an illustrious NHL career ahead of him with the Kraken and now has the opportunity to lead his junior team as they compete for the Memorial Cup.” We look forward to watching him for the rest of this season and wish him well.”
Wright’s reassignment is far from unprecedented, and is actually a typical path for the top prospects in North America, even those selected in the top five to 10 spots in the NHL draft. It is the rare exception for a teenager to make an NHL team out of camp, then remain on the roster after nine games. If a young prospect appears in 10 or more NHL games to start a season, he “burns” one year of the standard three-year entry contract that all NHL rookies sign.
Examples abound: Matty Benniers, named an NHL All-Star Thursday in his debut season, had just turned 19 playing for NCAA Michigan last April. Mason McTavish, a promising forward with Anaheim (seven goals, 15 assists) as a rookie this year, played for OHL champion and Memorial Cup finalist Hamilton (aligned with Kraken third-rounder Ryan Winterton) last season before participating in the 2022 World junior championship that was played last summer.
Speaking of the pandemic, Wright, like many others in the 2022 draft class, lost an entire year of development when the OHL shut down the entire 2020-21 season due to the pandemic. Every NHL GM and amateur scout will say that the lost year stunted the growth of every OHL player.
Another comparison: Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews is a three-time Stanley Cup winner and future Hall of Famer who will be inducted thanks to his two-way play at the center position. Toews was selected No. 3 overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. He did not make Chicago’s roster as an 18-year-old, but instead returned to the NCAA University of North Dakota and then-head coach Dave Hakstol for a season in which he grew as a player and leader of a team that advanced to the Frozen Four.
Seattle Wright’s choice to join its junior team is one of only two options in the NHL’s agreement with the elite Canadian Junior Hockey League, which includes the OHL, the Western Hockey League and the Quebec Junior Hockey League. The just-turned-19-year-old, who won a gold medal on his birthday on Thursday, is ineligible to play in the American Hockey League because there is a long-standing protocol that if an 18-year-old or 19-year-old (age from the start of hockey season) does not remain on the NHL’s active roster, the player must return to his junior team.
In late November, the Kraken loaned Wright to AHL affiliate Coachella Valley for prep. The NHL allows a team to send a player who has missed five consecutive games to the AHL for up to five games or a maximum of two weeks. Teams often use this tool for everything from a player returning from injury (Colorado’s Bowen Byram, 2021-22) to helping a player find more ice time like Los Angeles’ Brand Clark (2022-23). Clark was a key defender and teammate with Wright on the 2023 gold medal team.
Wright thrived with the AHL Firebirds, scoring four goals in five games and getting shifts on the top line during the 5-on-5 and power play.
Wright attended the Kraken’s development and training camps, making the 23-man active roster for the start of the NHL season. He worked hard during all practices and morning skates, always among the last to leave, whether he was in his suit that game night or not. There was additional development work with assistant coach Paul McFarland and player development coach Matt Lark.
Wright’s ice time during six of his eight Kraken games was under 10 minutes, while the other two contests totaled 11 and 14 minutes. Those numbers are less about the young center’s strengths as a two-way center and more about the Kraken’s roster being loaded with NHL-tested forwards on a team that currently has a 21-12-4 record.
Coach Dave Hakstol said recently after Seattle’s win at Toronto on Thursday that “good player [forward] who deserves to be in the lineup” is a healthy scratch every game night. Ryan Donato was the scratch among forwards Thursday, while Morgan Geekie waited two games while newcomer Eeli Tolvanen waited 19 days to see his first action with the Kraken, making more the bulk of it this week with two power play goals and a key assist on the game-winning goal in Edmonton on Tuesday.
Kingston is currently fifth overall in the OHL Eastern Conference and will no doubt increase the club’s potential to win in the OHL playoffs and advance to the coveted Memorial Cup, which is the championship tournament for the three CHL leagues. The effort to win this trophy draws comparisons to what teams in the NHL and American Hockey League endure to win league crowns.
Add Comment