C Shane Wright (2022, 4th, SEA) Part 4

[MrHeiskanen]

Reminder he lost a year of development in the OHL due to that cancel season...

Ok? He was supposed to be some God amongst boys and sucks in junior tournaments and playoffs this year. Johnston missed an entire OHL season and doesn't seem to have any problem producing in the OHL, OHL playoffs, or the NHL.

 

[Stephen]

Shane Wright's development path has been really interesting to follow as one of those classically anointed CHL/WJC/1st overall darlings on the special "John Tavares" curve. But seems like he's hit a lot of setbacks along the way relative to where the hype machine thinks he should be at, and probably just isn't that guy.

As a standalone prospect, I'll reserve judgement and just see how it plays out. But it is fascinating to consider what if this guy is just on a Nick Suzuki career path, aka a typical 1st rounder who will be a front line, important star player... but not a guy who will be a Connor Bedard level franchise changing talent.

The other question for me is what are the politics behind the system identifing certain individuals for that kind of early career spotlighting. Wright seems like such a Mr. Hockey Canada kind of guy.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

No its not. Decimated by a decent 8 seed team shows more about the team he played for than the player himself.

He didn't really do anything to stand out on his own. Kitchener played very well, but he was very underwhelming in each game. He was decent in game 2, but that's the height he reached in this series.

 

[MichaelFarrell]

Kitchener is a way better team than their record or players’s individual stats show. All season I felt like I kept waiting for them to just put it all together and maybe they have now.

Their defense is pretty good. Hunter Bruzustewicz is a great #1 and they have some older veteran guys as well to complement him.

They have a great forward group as well. Obviously, they have Pinelli but they have a bunch of guys who chip in offense. Frankly, Windsor would’ve played better against them, but I’d much rather face Guelph or even Owen Sound compared to Kitchener.

Shane Wright has the skill to be better and he should’ve been better in that series but it is what it is. We’ll see him in the AHL playoffs.

 

[le_sean]

Shane Wright's development path has been really interesting to follow as one of those classically anointed CHL/WJC/1st overall darlings on the special "John Tavares" curve. But seems like he's hit a lot of setbacks along the way relative to where the hype machine thinks he should be at, and probably just isn't that guy.

As a standalone prospect, I'll reserve judgement and just see how it plays out. But it is fascinating to consider what if this guy is just on a Nick Suzuki career path, aka a typical 1st rounder who will be a front line, important star player... but not a guy who will be a Connor Bedard level franchise changing talent.

The other question for me is what are the politics behind the system identifing certain individuals for that kind of early career spotlighting. Wright seems like such a Mr. Hockey Canada kind of guy.

Wright wishes he was Suzuki. Nick almost single-handedly won Guelph their OHL championship.

 

[majormajor]

Kitchener is a way better team than their record or players’s individual stats show. All season I felt like I kept waiting for them to just put it all together and maybe they have now.

Their defense is pretty good. Hunter Bruzustewicz is a great #1 and they have some older veteran guys as well to complement him.

They have a great forward group as well. Obviously, they have Pinelli but they have a bunch of guys who chip in offense. Frankly, Windsor would’ve played better against them, but I’d much rather face Guelph or even Owen Sound compared to Kitchener.

Shane Wright has the skill to be better and he should’ve been better in that series but it is what it is. We’ll see him in the AHL playoffs.

Where do you rank Brzustewicz?

He looks great, I'm not sure what the hold up is with most of his rankings.

 

[MichaelFarrell]

Where do you rank Brzustewicz?

He looks great, I'm not sure what the hold up is with most of his rankings.

What’s been holding up his rankings has been skating ability and lack of elite offensive tools. But, I think his ability to move the puck and decision making more than make up for a lot of his perceived flaws. I have him ranked 24. I think he’s a clear first rounder for me.

 

[Bubbles]

The other question for me is what are the politics behind the system identifing certain individuals for that kind of early career spotlighting. Wright seems like such a Mr. Hockey Canada kind of guy.

Are you talking about Exceptional Status? Well, it's up to each league, not Hockey Canada. It's also an application thing, some guys just don't apply. It's not like the leagues come knocking on kid's doors. The parents and the player have to apply for ES.

As far as I know,, Rooebroek, Heidt, Yager and McFarland have been rejected for ES status. I don't think McKenna even applied.

Misa was granted ES partly because they feared he was going to Chicago Steel. They also gave Day ES partly because he had dual citizenship and might flip.

 

[JimmySpaetzle]

Shane Wright's development path has been really interesting to follow as one of those classically anointed CHL/WJC/1st overall darlings on the special "John Tavares" curve. But seems like he's hit a lot of setbacks along the way relative to where the hype machine thinks he should be at, and probably just isn't that guy.

As a standalone prospect, I'll reserve judgement and just see how it plays out. But it is fascinating to consider what if this guy is just on a Nick Suzuki career path, aka a typical 1st rounder who will be a front line, important star player... but not a guy who will be a Connor Bedard level franchise changing talent.

The other question for me is what are the politics behind the system identifing certain individuals for that kind of early career spotlighting. Wright seems like such a Mr. Hockey Canada kind of guy.

I’d be surprised if Wright ends up as good as Suzuki at this point… Suzuki is no slouch and Wright has been very underwhelming the last year

 

[Coaches Coroner]

Kitchener is a way better team than their record or players’s individual stats show. All season I felt like I kept waiting for them to just put it all together and maybe they have now.

Their defense is pretty good. Hunter Bruzustewicz is a great #1 and they have some older veteran guys as well to complement him.

They have a great forward group as well. Obviously, they have Pinelli but they have a bunch of guys who chip in offense. Frankly, Windsor would’ve played better against them, but I’d much rather face Guelph or even Owen Sound compared to Kitchener.

Shane Wright has the skill to be better and he should’ve been better in that series but it is what it is. We’ll see him in the AHL playoffs.

worth noting they only had Pinelli for half the seires (he was tossed in the first 5min of game 3, suspended for game 2 and 2 games next series.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

What’s been holding up his rankings has been skating ability and lack of elite offensive tools. But, I think his ability to move the puck and decision making more than make up for a lot of his perceived flaws. I have him ranked 24. I think he’s a clear first rounder for me.

Which parts of his skating? I find his turning, quickness and mobility to be quite good. His speed is pretty good but not elite or particularly high end, maybe lacking a bit of power in his full stride...but it's not something that on the whole sticks out as a weakness for me. My main knock on him is his shot; don't see the power to beat goalies from the point, but does get shots through. His poise and IQ seem quite high; rarely makes a major mistake with the puck under pressure. I think he will be a really good puck mover at the next level, maybe not necessarily an offensive defenseman.

 

[Stephen]

Are you talking about Exceptional Status? Well, it's up to each league, not Hockey Canada. It's also an application thing, some guys just don't apply. It's not like the leagues come knocking on kid's doors. The parents and the player have to apply for ES.

As far as I know,, Rooebroek, Heidt, Yager and McFarland have been rejected for ES status. I don't think McKenna even applied.

Misa was granted ES partly because they feared he was going to Chicago Steel. They also gave Day ES partly because he had dual citizenship and might flip.

No, I'm not referring to exceptional status exclusively but the tendency for certain select CHL/Hockey Canada prospects to be put on a pedestal early in their careers, like the star making machine just chose them for that role. Just feels like the system wants to give certain guys the accolades, the captaincies, the status.

 

[WarriorofTime]

So did everyone else

Exactly. For whatever reason people only want to apply this to Shane Wright, he's on the same playing field as everybody else in the OHL in that regard.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Are you talking about Exceptional Status? Well, it's up to each league, not Hockey Canada. It's also an application thing, some guys just don't apply. It's not like the leagues come knocking on kid's doors. The parents and the player have to apply for ES.

As far as I know,, Rooebroek, Heidt, Yager and McFarland have been rejected for ES status. I don't think McKenna even applied.

Misa was granted ES partly because they feared he was going to Chicago Steel. They also gave Day ES partly because he had dual citizenship and might flip.

The Sean Day situation was borderline criminal. I watched him play AAA because we had a family friend playing on a team in the HPHL when Day was at Compuware. He played up with the '97s, which isn't all that uncommon for that level. As far as I'm aware, that was the first time ever played "up" and that in previous years he had played alongside his '98 age group. Of course he was another one of those super early January birthday types that Minor Hockey seems to produce an abudance of, so age-wise he really wasn't that much younger playing alongside the '97s.

Good player for sure, but didn't stand head and shoulders above the crowd. Very developed in his skating for his age. He wasn't the best player in that League, not even close.

The sole reason they accepted his Exceptional Player status application is because they were worried that he was going to accept an offer for the USNDTP the following season, and that would have him play in the IIHF Under-18s, and thus lock him into USA for all future IIHF competition. In no way was he a kid that looked good enough to PREMATURELY play in the OHL above his age group.

For evidence of that, he is, as far as I know, the ONLY exceptional player that didn't go first in the OHL Priority Draft (or the equivalent in the other two leagues). Exceptional should be rare... a kid so good that another year of Minor Hockey would be a total waste. A once every few years kinda player. Day wasn't that, hence why 3 OHL teams took a different player ahead of him.

I'm sure he had to go through his whole Junior career getting chirped as "Mr. Exceptional". It probably still happens in the AHL. I know it was his/his family's choice to apply, but you can't really blame a kid getting big aspirations on his head about being the next Ekblad or whatever as far as Exceptional DMan in the OHL. The governing body did him wrong by getting greedy and thinking about World Junior rosters 3-4 years down the line and not doing their job by doing what is best for the player.

Oh and as it turns out, Day never made a Canadian World Juniors roster, and frankly, I don't think he ever would have a USA World Juniors roster either.

 

[BigHitter67]

The Sean Day situation was borderline criminal. I watched him play AAA because we had a family friend playing on a team in the HPHL when Day was at Compuware. He played up with the '97s, which isn't all that uncommon for that level. As far as I'm aware, that was the first time ever played "up" and that in previous years he had played alongside his '98 age group. Of course he was another one of those super early January birthday types that Minor Hockey seems to produce an abudance of, so age-wise he really wasn't that much younger playing alongside the '97s.

Good player for sure, but didn't stand head and shoulders above the crowd. Very developed in his skating for his age. He wasn't the best player in that League, not even close.

The sole reason they accepted his Exceptional Player status application is because they were worried that he was going to accept an offer for the USNDTP the following season, and that would have him play in the IIHF Under-18s, and thus lock him into USA for all future IIHF competition. In no way was he a kid that looked good enough to PREMATURELY play in the OHL above his age group.

For evidence of that, he is, as far as I know, the ONLY exceptional player that didn't go first in the OHL Priority Draft (or the equivalent in the other two leagues). Exceptional should be rare... a kid so good that another year of Minor Hockey would be a total waste. A once every few years kinda player. Day wasn't that, hence why 3 OHL teams took a different player ahead of him.

I'm sure he had to go through his whole Junior career getting chirped as "Mr. Exceptional". It probably still happens in the AHL. I know it was his/his family's choice to apply, but you can't really blame a kid getting big aspirations on his head about being the next Ekblad or whatever as far as Exceptional DMan in the OHL. The governing body did him wrong by getting greedy and thinking about World Junior rosters 3-4 years down the line and not doing their job by doing what is best for the player.

Oh and as it turns out, Day never made a Canadian World Juniors roster, and frankly, I don't think he ever would have a USA World Juniors roster either.

Hmm..Strange that you say he wasn’t head and shoulders above others at 14 when Brian Kilrea quoted at the time saying that Sean Day was the best 14 yrold defenseman he’d EVER seen.

 

[Bubbles]

Agreed.

The Sean Day situation was borderline criminal. I watched him play AAA because we had a family friend playing on a team in the HPHL when Day was at Compuware. He played up with the '97s, which isn't all that uncommon for that level. As far as I'm aware, that was the first time ever played "up" and that in previous years he had played alongside his '98 age group. Of course he was another one of those super early January birthday types that Minor Hockey seems to produce an abudance of, so age-wise he really wasn't that much younger playing alongside the '97s.

Good player for sure, but didn't stand head and shoulders above the crowd. Very developed in his skating for his age. He wasn't the best player in that League, not even close.

The sole reason they accepted his Exceptional Player status application is because they were worried that he was going to accept an offer for the USNDTP the following season, and that would have him play in the IIHF Under-18s, and thus lock him into USA for all future IIHF competition. In no way was he a kid that looked good enough to PREMATURELY play in the OHL above his age group.

For evidence of that, he is, as far as I know, the ONLY exceptional player that didn't go first in the OHL Priority Draft (or the equivalent in the other two leagues). Exceptional should be rare... a kid so good that another year of Minor Hockey would be a total waste. A once every few years kinda player. Day wasn't that, hence why 3 OHL teams took a different player ahead of him.

I'm sure he had to go through his whole Junior career getting chirped as "Mr. Exceptional". It probably still happens in the AHL. I know it was his/his family's choice to apply, but you can't really blame a kid getting big aspirations on his head about being the next Ekblad or whatever as far as Exceptional DMan in the OHL. The governing body did him wrong by getting greedy and thinking about World Junior rosters 3-4 years down the line and not doing their job by doing what is best for the player.

Oh and as it turns out, Day never made a Canadian World Juniors roster, and frankly, I don't think he ever would have a USA World Juniors roster either.

Agreed. The CHL/HC have learned a lot from the Sean Day situation though. Every ES guy has been a no.1 pick in their league and subsequently no. 1 in the NHL (except for Wright and Veleno) To be honest it's very hard to analyze a 14-15 year old projection. All the CHL is worried about is if the kid can compete at the major junior level, not necessarily his NHL-capability.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Hmm..Strange that you say he wasn’t head and shoulders above others at 14 when Brian Kilrea quoted at the time saying that Sean Day was the best 14 yrold defenseman he’d EVER seen.

Not head and shoulders in Compuware playing with 15 year olds...

Anyways if Kilrea was right, he would have gone 1st overall in the OHL Priority Draft

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

For the hype, attention, and draft position of the player he was at best the 5th best forward on the team. Majority of shifts he was invisible and he had zero high end plays. Was he a bad player on the ice? No. Did he do anything that would suggest he is a highend prospect with game breaking talent? Absolutely not.

He basically just played the games, didn't contribute much and went about his business.. which is fine for most prospects but when you are supposed to be a #1 overall selection and top end prospect it was a bad tournament IMO.

its actually crazy like he has regressed or something

For him to be held to 1 goal in a 4 game sweep vs an 8 seed is astounding. I would have expected 15 yo Shane Wright to be able to put up a better performance than that, how can a kid who was one of the OHL's elite goal scorers at 15 now be such a non factor at 18 in a series, its bizarre really.

Also, has anyone else noted a distinct difference his his game style too? At 15 I thought he was assertive, actually a pretty good skater, so confident with his offensive game. Now, it seems like he can only really be a major offensive threat when he is in that spot on the pp where he can still use his amazing release. I think a lot of it is mental for him at this point, maybe he can still recover but it has been a pretty odd season for him overall.

Even in his highlights from the OHL this year where he produced very well, I did not see any highlight reel plays or anything that looked like a super translatable offensive characteristic besides his release on the PP. At 15 he had a lot more dynamic offensive skill than he does now in the same league

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

its actually crazy like he has regressed or something

For him to be held to 1 goal in a 4 game sweep vs an 8 seed is astounding. I would have expected 15 yo Shane Wright to be able to put up a better performance than that, how can a kid who was one of the OHL's elite goal scorers at 15 now be such a non factor at 18 in a series, its bizarre really.

Also, has anyone else noted a distinct difference his his game style too? At 15 I thought he was assertive, actually a pretty good skater, so confident with his offensive game. Now, it seems like he can only really be a major offensive threat when he is in that spot on the pp where he can still use his amazing release. I think a lot of it is mental for him at this point, maybe he can still recover but it has been a pretty odd season for him overall.

Even in his highlights from the OHL this year where he produced very well, I did not see any highlight reel plays or anything that looked like a super translatable offensive characteristic besides his release on the PP. At 15 he had a lot more dynamic offensive skill than he does now in the same league

I didn't watch much of Wright as a 15 year old so I do not have a reference point.

He reminds me of a hard worker who knows what needs to get done, but does it with as little enthusiasm as possible, if that makes any sense.

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

Hmm..Strange that you say he wasn’t head and shoulders above others at 14 when Brian Kilrea quoted at the time saying that Sean Day was the best 14 yrold defenseman he’d EVER seen.

I remember reading that too, but I watched a few of his games when he was 14/15 I will say this - the kid showed some flashes where you really said "wow", his skating was absolutely incredible and every once in a while he would go on this Bobby Orr type rush that just displayed so much skill and potential it was impossible to ignore. But you also got 90%+ of the time when he looked like an average player. Defensively he wasn't that good and he was prone to make careless mistakes, turning the puck over or making awful decisions. I agree that overall with his lack of consistency and total body of work he didn't merit ES, but those flashes were what got him in. Kilrea must have seen a game where he was free wheeling around because it was a sight to see, just not something you would see nearly enough of. You have to let a kid like that stay back and actually dominate in minor hockey, he was in no way "too good" to go back. Putting him in the OHL was a huge mistake because he never developed those skills, I think having him dominate for a year and grow into his body + build offensive confidence would have been huge for him because he would have come into the OHL a lot better and not had his confidence shattered the same way. There was some personal stuff with Day too as it was noted he came into camp out of shape and was not taking it as seriously as you would expect. He is the only ES player I think it was truly a mistake to grant - even Veleno (who is no superstar) was able to keep pace in the Q at 15 and did not see his development hinder so much. This was also a unique scenario because he was taken by a good team due to them having previously acquiring the pick that ended up being #1. Day was thrown to the wolves with almost no help at 15 which was the worst possible thing you could do

FWIW Kilrea actually said player, and even said yes that includes Wayne Gretzky - I remember that quote really blew up his profile and made the ES buzz get really loud.

I too agree that if a player is ES they should be guaranteed #1 OA. Back when John McFarland applied in 2009 he was rejected on the notion that the league asked all the bottom teams' if they would take him #1 and they said no - end of story. Day was someone who had a TON of upside but was not nearly polished or consistent enough to say for sure he was ready to be given that exception. Konecny and Strome were both very highly regarded and were players that could each go #1 in most OHL drafts, basically guaranteed OHL stars. They were both dominant players in their leagues , much more than day, to the point that you would rather take them even though Day gives you another year. Matt Spencer was a bit of a head scratcher but that just shows how Day wasn't that dominant at 15 at all.

I didn't watch much of Wright as a 15 year old so I do not have a reference point.

He reminds me of a hard worker who knows what needs to get done, but does it with as little enthusiasm as possible, if that makes any sense.

at 15 he was actually pretty dynamic and looked like a player who could be skating laps around the OHL by now. His skating has not progressed like I would have thought nor has his skill level.

The only thing I still see elite in his game is his shot which is admittedly very good. He just doesn't have the assertiveness or confidence in his offensive game anymore like he used to

 

[gstommylee]

its actually crazy like he has regressed or something

For him to be held to 1 goal in a 4 game sweep vs an 8 seed is astounding. I would have expected 15 yo Shane Wright to be able to put up a better performance than that, how can a kid who was one of the OHL's elite goal scorers at 15 now be such a non factor at 18 in a series, its bizarre really.

Also, has anyone else noted a distinct difference his his game style too? At 15 I thought he was assertive, actually a pretty good skater, so confident with his offensive game. Now, it seems like he can only really be a major offensive threat when he is in that spot on the pp where he can still use his amazing release. I think a lot of it is mental for him at this point, maybe he can still recover but it has been a pretty odd season for him overall.

Even in his highlights from the OHL this year where he produced very well, I did not see any highlight reel plays or anything that looked like a super translatable offensive characteristic besides his release on the PP. At 15 he had a lot more dynamic offensive skill than he does now in the same league

I think it speaks on the OHL team Wright plays with. He's done fine since he's went back to the OHL minus the games he missed from being hurt. Its just the team faced a better team in the playoffs and got swept badly. So why is wright getting all the flack and yet the rest of his team being bleh in the playoffs gets ignored.

 

[gstommylee]

People need to stop expecting him to be a pure offensive forward like mcdavid or bedard when he clearly isn't that kind of a center.

Ok? He was supposed to be some God amongst boys and sucks in junior tournaments and playoffs this year. Johnston missed an entire OHL season and doesn't seem to have any problem producing in the OHL, OHL playoffs, or the NHL.

That's fans and media's own problem with their ridicilous expectations of him being well just as perfect pure offensive player as Mcdavid or Bedard. He's not and my opinion never has been.

 

[rsteen]

Being exceptional at 15 doesn't mean you're exceptional at 18. Or 25.

I wonder what Wright's career would look like if his mom had eaten a spicy curry on New Year's Eve and he was a late 03 instead.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

People need to stop expecting him to be a pure offensive forward like mcdavid or bedard when he clearly isn't that kind of a center.



That's fans and media's own problem with their ridicilous expectations of him being well just as perfect pure offensive player as Mcdavid or Bedard. He's not and my opinion never has been.

Media overrated him offensively, and when they came to terms with his lack of gamebreaking ability they seemed to make up for it by overrating him defensively instead.

Still a good prospect, still someone who can do some damage in the NHL with the right linemates, but he is definitely not tracking as a play driver in the NHL. His drop to 4th overall seems warranted thus far, especially behind No. 2 and No. 3.

All I can say is that we can finally confirm he wasn't too good for the OHL.

 

[LeonDraisaitl]

Embarrassing series. Hopefully he can forget it and move on