After captaining Canada to World Junior Gold, Shane Wright will return to the Ontario Hockey League on a mission to win the Memorial Cup. (Getty Images)
After leading Team Canada to an epic gold medal win at the 2023 World Juniors, Shane Wright is back in the OHL, at least for now, with a chance to make history.
The Seattle Kraken announced Friday that their 2022 fourth-round pick will be loaned back to the Kingston Frontenacs, though his destination could reportedly change very soon.
“If we were bringing him back to Seattle after the tournament, we wanted to have him play,” Kraken general manager Ron Francis told The Seattle Times. “And right now, I wouldn’t be able to say we’re going to put him in the lineup the way the guys and the team are playing.
“But the bigger picture is that we are not disappointed with his World Juniors. We’re not disappointed with how things turned out. He’s 18, he turned 19 yesterday. We think he’s done a lot of great things.
“His tournament here was outstanding. He might not get the points that maybe people expected, but I thought his leadership on and off the ice and how he played was great.”
NHL insiders, including Frank Serravalli, have indicated the 19-year-old is likely to be moved to a contender before Tuesday’s Ontario Hockey League trade deadline.
The Frontenacs, who lost significant parts of their core from last season along with Wright, are currently fifth in the OHL’s Eastern Conference, treading water with an average record of 17-15-1-1. Last season’s Kingston team ended up finishing third in their conference, but fell just five games short to the North Bay Battalion in the second round of the OHL playoffs.
Among the teams expected to be in the mix to land the former standout star are the Peterborough Petes and Barrie Colts, both of whom look to be contenders to win this year’s J. Ross Robertson Cup. The Petes are currently third in the East, while the Colts are fourth, just one point behind Peterborough with three games in hand.
Coincidentally or not, two of Wright’s closest friends and teammates in Brennan Ottman and Brand Clark, with whom Wright has played numerous times dating back to his days with the GTHL’s Don Mills Flyers, play for each of those clubs, respectively (Clark , like Wright, seems likely to return to the OHL in the coming days).
The story continues
A return to the OHL will have multiple implications for Wright, both this season and going forward. For the Kraken, Wright will be eligible for an initial contract slide after being dressed for just eight games, allowing them to avoid burning the first year of his contract.
Wright can also add his name to an exclusive list of players who will win gold at the World Junior Championships and Memorial Cup in the same year. Only 25 players have caught both in the same year, according to TSN, with New York Islanders prospect William Dufour the most recent player to accomplish the feat this past summer.
In the NHL this season, Wright recorded just one goal and one assist in eight games with the Kraken. He also scored four goals in five games during an AHL conditioning stint with the Coachella Valley Firebirds in late November.
Wright played 63 games, scored 32 goals and added 62 assists for 94 points with the Kingston Frontenacs during the 2021-22 season
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