After putting up 94 points in 63 games for the Kingston Frontenacs last season, the Seattle Kraken were elated to have the opportunity to select the offensively gifted Shane Wright fourth overall in this year’s NHL draft.
The way they’ve treated centreman since his arrival in Seattle, however, has been sorrowful.
Having been given the chance to play in seven of the Kraken’s 15 games this season, the opportunities to showcase the offensive talent that Wright possess have been few and far between.
The Kraken haven’t been doing Wright any favours within those seven games either, averaging roughly 8:23 time-on-ice (TOI) per game with only 11 shifts in four of those seven.
The stat that stands out the most would be his shots on goal (SOG), with Hockey Reference listing Wright’s total SOG at a lonely one – a shocking stat for the 2019-20 CHL Rookie of the Year.
The Kraken find themselves third in the Pacific Division with an 8-5-2 record, good for 18 points in 15 games played, and are recently coming off a five-game win streak.
With a close-to-even record it’s tough to gauge how much of a difference maker Wright would be in those games he was scratched for, but in close games like Friday night’s 1-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild, it’s hard to believe the Kraken wouldn’t have benefited from having the offensive upside of Wright in the lineup – even if he does only have one SOG.
In fact, the Kraken beat the Wild 4-0 during their five-game win streak with Wright in the lineup, and he was a plus 1. Coincidence?
If the Kraken don’t plan on making Wright an every-night player with at least 11-13 minutes of TOI a night, they’re sabotaging the development of arguably one of the best young players in the game today.
At least let the kid go back to the Ontario Hockey League and regain that confidence in his game that Seattle sucked out of him with their inability to use one of their best offensive weapons.
As of late, the Kraken have also made forward Jared McCann a healthy scratch.
Frontenacs would welcome Wright
The Frontenacs are fifth in the Eastern Conference with a 9-7-0-1 record, good for 19 points in 17 games played, with four players posting double-digit point totals.
Frontenacs’ forwards Francesco Arcuri (18), Matthew Soto (18), Linus Hemström (16), and Owen Outwater (15) are leading the charge this season with the team’s fifth highest point scorer being defenceman Alec Belanger with eight points – all five players have played in all of Kingston’s 17 games.
With five games in eight days for the Frontenacs beginning Nov. 13, the team could be desperate for the talents of Wright before long.
It’s a shame that Wright’s NHL career hasn’t gotten off to the highly anticipated start the hockey world was expecting, but we can hope the Kraken figure things out before his development is permanently damaged.
