After watching three consecutive Seattle games from the press box, Kraken center Shane Wright opened the scoring in the club’s 3-2 win over the Ducks in Anaheim.
On top of his 1st period tip-in, Wright added an assist on an offensive zone face-off win on the game winner in the 3rd period.
It was a delightful way to welcome himself back.
The 20-year-old, selected fourth overall in the 2022 NHL Draft held in Montreal, hasn’t answered all of the skeptics about his overall game, including those in the Kraken’s own development department.
On one hand he’s still just a kid in NHL terms, and obviously all players develop their games at different rates, but on the other hand his lack of progress is concerning. The Kraken opted for 26-year-old, undrafted forward Ben Meyers in filling in for Wright last week.
I was sitting in the press section of the Bell Centre for that Draft that saw Wright drop from a “sure first-overall” to the 4th position, passed up by the host Canadiens, the New Jersey Devils and the Arizona Coyotes. I was as surprised as anyone given the hype leading up.
Now, not so much.
The Habs took Slovakian winger Juraj Slafkovsky. He’s played more NHL games than anyone else from that draft, not surprising being the top pick, and although the club was first criticized for rushing him along, the decision has paid off. He’s up to 71 points in his 138 games played.
Defenseman take a bit longer to develop on average. New Jersey’s Slovakian pick at 2nd-overall Simon Nemec is finding his game again after overcoming injury issues.
Third-overall Logan Cooley, like Wright, a centerman, has 60 points in 103 NHL games, the 2nd-most played from that draft.
Wright has eleven points in 35 career games, seven of them goals. Monday night he doubled his point total for this season; up to four in 19 games.
This campaign isn’t make or break for the Burlington, Ontario native, but by the time it’s over, we should have a pretty good idea where he’s headed.
The Kraken have the luxury of Wright still having two years remaining on his entry-level deal. The contract didn’t kick in the last two seasons because he didn’t play enough NHL games in each of them to activate it. It slid forward. He is eligible for performance bonuses.
Optimists would suggest he just needs a bit more seasoning, hockey sense, and improvement to his all-around game. The Kraken hope they’re right on Wright.
