Fresh off of leading Team Canada to victory at the World Junior Championships, Shane Wright’s status for the rest of the season has been made clear.
The Seattle Kraken reassigned the forward to his junior team, the Kingston Frontenacs, meaning he will spend the rest of the season chasing the Memorial Cup. That chase may not take place in Kingston, though, as NorthStar Bets’ Chris Johnston tweets that the expectation is that Wright will be traded to another OHL team.
Kraken general manager Ron Francis issued the following statement regarding Wright’s status:
“We’re very proud of Shane’s performance at the World Juniors, helping captain Team Canada to a gold medal. He has a bright NHL career ahead of him with the Kraken and now has an opportunity to lead his junior team as they compete for a Memorial Cup. We look forward to watching him the rest of this season and wish him well.”
It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster season for Wright, who somewhat surprisingly fell to the No. 4 slot at the 2022 draft. The now 19-year-old center began the year with the Kraken but played sparingly and was frequently a healthy scratch.
The Kraken exploited a little-known feature of the NHL-CHL transfer agreement that allowed Wright to spend two weeks in the AHL. After a successful five-game stretch there where Wright scored four goals, he was recalled back to Seattle, played in one game, scored his first NHL goal and then left to captain Canada’s World Juniors squad.
Now back in the OHL, Wright will look to have a dominant rest of the season and help his team win the Memorial Cup. Wright’s OHL performance last year was seen as somewhat disappointing, as he failed to lead the Frontenacs on a deep playoff run and didn’t post the dominant production many expected.
He’ll now get another chance to have the overwhelmingly productive OHL campaign many were expecting, and with some NHL experience under his belt and a WJC win in his back pocket, he’s in a prime position to succeed.
