The Seattle Kraken have announced that Shane Wright has been called up to the NHL from the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Wright has played the bulk of the season with the Firebirds in the AHL, putting up 20 goals and 43 points in 56 games. He also played three games for the Kraken, but was limited to a fourth-line role and hasn’t been back to the NHL since November.
A former fourth overall pick of the Kraken, Wright has taken an unusual route in his development. He was originally projected to go first overall in the 2022 NHL Draft but was surprisingly passed over by the Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, and Arizona Coyotes. Since the draft, Wright has played stints for the Kraken, Firebirds, and even 20 games with the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL in the 2022-23 season.
The Kraken decided that the best way to develop Wright into an impactful NHL player was to give him a full season in the AHL. That decision seems to have worked out so far. Wright has the fifth-most points on the Firebirds this year as a 20-year-old in a league made up of mostly older and more established players.
The Kraken are not going to be making the playoffs this year, as they are 14 points out with only nine games left in the schedule. Now that the focus has shifted to next year in Seattle, it makes sense to see what they’ve got in the young centerman for the last stretch of the season. He’ll likely be given more ice time than his previous stints because the team will be more focused on player development than wins right now.
Wright has played 11 games in the NHL so far, putting up one goal and two points. If he has a strong stretch in the NHL over the last nine games, that will go a long way to earning him a spot on the roster next year.
More must-reads: