Shane Wright

October 2024 – The 2024-25 season will be the season where Wright finally gets to spend the year in the NHL. He has yo-yoed between Coachella Valley and Seattle over the past two seasons, and has steadily grown his game in the AHL. There’s perhaps no bigger name that has as wide a variance in his value than Wright, and managers would be well advised to knock on some doors to check prices. He’s likely not as sure a thing to hit his lofty projections leading up to draft day, but he’s also seen his perceived stock fall farther than warranted. Buying opportunities likely exists in your leagues. A Wyatt

February 2024 – Wright has spent the majority of the season continuing his development in the AHL, which in the long run, is likely the best move for his development. Seattle seems content to protect him from the spotlights, allowing him to quietly gain professional experience. His game is growing, as he sits second in goals scored on the Firebirds, with 18 in 41 games. His even strength individual points participation (IPP) is strong, at over 80%, showing he’s getting involved in the play far more often than not. He’s come on in the last few weeks, with 14 points in 17 games thus far in 2024. With Seattle a bubble playoff team at the moment, he might get more reps with the Kraken to end the season if they find themselves on the outside looking in as the season winds down. Alex Wyatt

March 2023 – So far this season, Wright has seen himself starting in the NHL (two points in eight games), sent to the AHL (four goals in five games), and now finds himself in the OHL, where he has eight goals and 13 assists for 21 points. Add on four goals and three assists in seven World Juniors games, and it makes for a busy season for the youngster. Given the noise around his slide to fourth after being the consensus Number One selection for most of the year, getting a chance to dominate in Windsor again to get his confidence back might be a good move. He currently leads the Spitfires in points per game, and is second only to Brandt Clarke by that measure league wide. Alex Wyatt

July 2022 – Wright has been selected by the Seattle Kraken with the fourth overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. Nick Richard

May 2022 – Though he started off a little slow by his standards, Shane Wright put up another stellar OHL season when all was said and done. He managed 30 points through his first 21 games of the season and after an appearance at the abbreviated World Juniors where he failed to make much impact through two games, he returned to the OHL and improved upon his already impressive production. Through the final 42 games of the season, Wright notched another 64 points – including nine points in the final three games of the regular season. His 32 goals and 62 assists through 63 games were enough to lead all OHL draft eligibles by a significant margin. Wright maintained his strong play into the postseason and though he scored just three goals, he managed a total of 14 points through 11 games before the Frontenacs were eliminated by North Bay in the second round. While players like Juraj Slafkovsky and Logan Cooley have made it an interesting conversation with impressive seasons of their own, Wright answered a lot of the questions that were beginning to pop up in the early part of the season and he is still considered the favorite to be selected first overall in the 2022 NHL Draft. Nick Richard

September 2021 – Wright entered the OHL as an exceptional status player after being selected first overall by the Kingston Frontenacs in the 2019 OHL Draft and set the league on fire as a rookie. He didn’t turn 16-years-old until January of his first OHL campaign and put up a remarkable 39 goals and 27 assists in just 58 games to lead OHL rookies in goals as well as points on his way to CHL Rookie of the Year honors.  His sophomore season was wiped out as the OHL never got up and running in 2020-21 due to the pandemic but he was a force at the U18 World Championships in the spring, tallying nine goals and five assists in just five games as he captained Team Canada to a Gold Medal finish.

Wright enters the 2021-22 season in a tier of his own as the projected first overall pick for the 2022 NHL Draft and with the OHL set to return this year, he will have the opportunity to separate himself even further from the rest of the class. The Kingston Frontenacs star can do it all and it starts with his intelligence all over the ice. He reads the play at an elite level, finding space in transition as well as in the offensive zone, getting into passing lanes on the defensive side, and just generally being in the right place at the right time more often than not. Wright is a technically sound skater with good speed and the agility to weave through traffic or adjust to broken plays and come up with contested pucks. He takes great routes on the forecheck and in defensive transition, often forcing opposing puck carriers into rushed decisions or turnovers. Opposing defenders always have to account for Wright when he is on the ice and he has a knack for luring defenders in to create space for his teammates before hitting them with a quick and accurate pass. He keeps his feet moving and hunts space after distributing the puck, making himself available for a return pass to unleash his absolutely deadly wrist shot. For all his strengths, that shot might be his greatest weapon. It is heavy, pinpoint accurate, and his release is both quick and deceptive. He doesn’t need a lot of time or space to release it and it comes off his blade with power from multiple points which makes him dangerous both in tight and from distance. A highly intelligent two-way pivot with good size and elite offensive ability, Shane Wright is a potential franchise cornerstone in the making. Nick Richard