Shane Wright: six points in 18 AHL playoff games

The debate surrounding the Montreal Canadiens’ decision to draft Juraj Slafkovsky first overall in the 2022 draft rather than Shane Wright has been raging for a very long time.

Indeed, many believed (and some still believe) that the CH made a bad decision by not going with the easy choice and less risky bet in Shane Wright.

Wright had been seen for many months, even seasons, as the best prospect of his crop, and was therefore the logical, no-risk choice for the team drafting at No. 1.

However, the Habs chose a different path by drafting Slovakian Juraj Slafkovsky, who had been climbing the rankings all year.

Slafkovsky thus beat Wright to the finish line.

Worst of all, it wasn’t just the Tricolore who looked down on Wright for, among other things, his allegedly bad attitude.

Wright was drafted as high as No. 4, while defenseman Simon Nemec (No. 2 by the Devils) and center Logan Cooley (No. 3 by the Coyotes) were drafted ahead of him.

In the end, it was the Seattle Kraken who selected Wright.

We all wondered if the CH had made a mistake by letting Wright go.

Since then, things haven’t gotten any better for Wright.

He got off to a rocky start in the NHL before being sent out on loan to the AHL, only to be sent back to junior, where he did rather well, even if his team, the Windsor Spitfires, were surprisingly swept aside in the first round by Filip Mesar and the Kitchener Rangers.

Finally, Wright returned to the AHL with the Coachella Valley Firebirds to compete in the playoffs.

It was a great challenge and experience for Wright, who may not have performed up to expectations.

He has just two goals and four assists for a total of six points in 18 games.

It’s a decent, non-dramatic harvest, but for a first-round pick with the potential to go out in the first rank, it’s still disappointing.

Even if Wright doesn’t play that many minutes in the top-6, he’s not essential to the success of his team, which, by the way, is currently in the Calder Cup final.

Wright has little to do with the team’s success, even though in the divisional final against the Calgary Wranglers, Wright was twice left out of the final two games of the series.

In short, the Coachella Valley Firebirds currently lead the LAH final series 1-0 over the Hershey Bears.

Coachella Valley could win the Calder Cup in its inaugural season.

That would be quite an accomplishment.

Even if Wright doesn’t dominate, it would be a great achievement and experience for him. It would clearly benefit the rest of his career.

The fact remains that, as things stand, Logan Cooley is probably the strongest prospect in the 2022 draft ahead of Wright and Slafkovsky, but it’s still too early to draw such conclusions.

In the air

– The Messi effect is impressive.

– Incroyable.

– Another win for Jokic and the Nuggets.

Jokic is on another planet 🤯🤯 https://t.co/orlOqmUm3B

– TVA Sports (@TVASports) June 10, 2023

– Jays’ streak ends at three.

It stops at three for the Blue Jays ⚾️ https://t.co/5wuOUACYL7

– TVA Sports (@TVASports) June 10, 2023

– Things are going very well for the Rays.