Tbf I think it was less that Seattle "wanted" him in the AHL and more they didn't want him in Kingston. If he got traded earlier in the year I think they would have sent him down after playing a handful of games in the NHL to start off.
C Shane Wright (2022, 4th, SEA) Part 4
- Thread starter GermanSpitfire
- Start date
- Apr 27, 2005
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Feels like they gifted him an NHL spot based on pedigree. Even Francis was on record saying they planned on keeping him up all year.
He just wasn't anywhere near NHL ready. Maybe they wanted to keep him away from Kingston but when you draft a player that high you'd hope they'd be able to develop regardless of which team they have to play for.
Where would he have gone in this year's draft?
I honestly think it's like 7-9. Same tier as Benson.
I honestly think it's like 7-9. Same tier as Benson.
- Aug 21, 2016
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Impossible to know where he would go since Wright was all hype, a team likely still take a chance with him top 10. Personally I had him ranked 9th last year, I just couldnt buy the hype.
Breakfast of Champs
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- Apr 15, 2007
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I'm so happy the Habs passed on this guy , not that Slafkovsky looks like a future superstar or anything, but I'm pretty confident he would not be getting scratched in the AHL right now, 1 year ago he was dominating international tournaments that are a higher caliber than the AHL.
I'm not sure what happened to this guy, confidence? Injury? Early development? No hockey for a year ? (It can affect some more than others). I remember people were skeptical how much he proclaimed to practice golfing during the year off and I thought it was nothing, but maybe there were kids who were putting in the work on their own and others weren't, can't be sure but he didn't seem to come back an improved player. Whatever it was, he seemed to almost overnight change his game style and went from dynamic offensive threat who was constantly active to a more stationary "wait and react" type of player and it isn't working for him.
Even when he puts up pts, it's never in the way you want to see or expected from him when he was an ES player. His goals were more off the rush , beating dmen , using his skating and skill - now it seems like he's getting a lot of his pts from set plays in the offensive zone where he is more opportunistic or on the pp where he can still use his biggest weapon which is his excellent release.
It's still really early, but it's gotten to the point where it's not just a blip on the radar anymore, he's been flat out regressing relative to his age group for the last 2 years and his upside as a star is now genuinely in question. I still won't be shocked if he finds his groove, but I also won't be shocked if he's a decent #2 C who can score 25 goals in a good year and not really be any sort of game breaker.
I still wanted him on draft day for mtl and I was a little disappointed they passed him up , worried that the Habs would end up getting clowned for passing up a "sure thing" in order to take a high risk/ high reward player. When he fell to 4 I was a bit more confident already because I knew no matter what happens it won't be just the Habs who made the mistake.
Now it looks like it was a good idea to steer clear of him. Again, it's far too early to make any solid projections but the entire last 2 years has been disastrous for his projections as an nhler
I'm not sure what happened to this guy, confidence? Injury? Early development? No hockey for a year ? (It can affect some more than others). I remember people were skeptical how much he proclaimed to practice golfing during the year off and I thought it was nothing, but maybe there were kids who were putting in the work on their own and others weren't, can't be sure but he didn't seem to come back an improved player. Whatever it was, he seemed to almost overnight change his game style and went from dynamic offensive threat who was constantly active to a more stationary "wait and react" type of player and it isn't working for him.
Even when he puts up pts, it's never in the way you want to see or expected from him when he was an ES player. His goals were more off the rush , beating dmen , using his skating and skill - now it seems like he's getting a lot of his pts from set plays in the offensive zone where he is more opportunistic or on the pp where he can still use his biggest weapon which is his excellent release.
It's still really early, but it's gotten to the point where it's not just a blip on the radar anymore, he's been flat out regressing relative to his age group for the last 2 years and his upside as a star is now genuinely in question. I still won't be shocked if he finds his groove, but I also won't be shocked if he's a decent #2 C who can score 25 goals in a good year and not really be any sort of game breaker.
I still wanted him on draft day for mtl and I was a little disappointed they passed him up , worried that the Habs would end up getting clowned for passing up a "sure thing" in order to take a high risk/ high reward player. When he fell to 4 I was a bit more confident already because I knew no matter what happens it won't be just the Habs who made the mistake.
Now it looks like it was a good idea to steer clear of him. Again, it's far too early to make any solid projections but the entire last 2 years has been disastrous for his projections as an nhler
bottomofthefoodchain
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Breakfast of Champs
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- Apr 15, 2007
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Are you responding to me and my claim about slafkovsky? The Olympics (even without NHL) and world championships are absolutely better competition than the AHL.
Not really. Marko Anttila has been a difference maker in those games and guy can barely make a Liiga team.
And well, you could see quite clearly how Slafkovsky was not a good Liiga player yet could do well in Olympics and world championships. Liiga's considered weaker than AHL.
Thing with Olympics and World Championships is that the games are chaotic with limited systems and coherence and also are between ragtag teams.
Breakfast of Champs
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It's still higher competition albeit smaller samples, there were plenty of players on Olympic rosters who were stars I'm the ahl and worlds who were NHL players.
Not making excuses for Slaf but he wasnt getting many opportunities in Liga, maybe deservedly, but it was a chaotic season for him jumping to hlinka, Liga, wjc, back to Liga, olympics, back to Liga, then worlds. Not consistent enough to develop a solid place on his liga team in the top 6.
Again I said he isn't looking like a future star by any means, but I'm very confident he would not be scratched in the AHL
bottomofthefoodchain
Registered User
I thought you were talking about Wright tbh. I blame my hangover
Liiga > AHL therefor Slafkovsky wouldn't make it there. 
He already played on the NHL team and was good enough to play on the second line. Why is finish league relevant at this point?
He already played on the NHL team and was good enough to play on the second line. Why is finish league relevant at this point?
- Apr 27, 2005
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Shane Wright is like one of those "gifted kids" you hear about growing up. You know, the ones who never had to "study" growing up because they could always get by on their smarts. That works until they're about 18-20 years old...
Then all of the sudden they're 3 years into a pure math degree (because math was always easy) and cannot keep up with their classmates because they don't know how to study and they aren't as smart as they thought they were.
Within months they've gone from being "the gifted child" who was going to "make my family proud" to "my father's biggest disappointment" who "wastes all my time discussing teenage hockey players with strangers on the internet".
Shane matured early and the majority of people refused to accept that he was never that talented. He was just a 20 year old in a 15 year old's body.
The problem with being an early bloomer (in anything) is that when you mature before everyone else, you don't learn how important work ethic is to staying on top. This is a critical lesson that all of us normals are forced to learn. But when things come easy because you're just physiologically older than your peers, it's easy to get through most of your junior career with never having to learn it. He was literally a better player at 15 than 18, because at least then he thought he had something to prove.
The latest Stanley Cup winning goals came from Artturi Lehkonen and Ross Colton, also not exactly the guys you often think of in the context of best-on-best hockey.
- Apr 27, 2005
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For the top few nations, the WC's are probably a bit better than the AHL. But outside the top nations, it's a fair bit below the AHL, so scoring in the tournament can get pretty diluted. All in all it's probably close to a wash.
But then look at Slaf's splits. In the WC's, Slaf had 9 points in the tournament, 8 of which came in 4 games against those weaker nations (France, Italy, Kazakhstan, and Denmark). Those teams might have a few high end players, but for the most part are closer to the ECHL than the AHL.
But against the teams that are "AHL equivalent or above" he had only 1 point in 4 games (Canada, Finland, Germany, & Switzerland).
I think the Olympics (w/o NHLers) was definitely a tier below the AHL. Adam Tambellini was Canada's top scorer and he never scored more than 35 points in 4 full AHL seasons... A team like USA used seven 18-20 year olds, and eight more 21-23 year olds. Latvia's top scorer Renars Krastenbergs had 5p in 4gp and couldn't even hack it in the ECHL...
Fantili with 0+0 against Kazachstan.. Can we call him a bust already?
...and previous AHL MVP, top scorer, first all-star Kenny Agostino recorded 1+0=1. Fortunes of individual players reveal only so much.
- Apr 27, 2005
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That's fair, perhaps the focus should be more on the actual rosters, not individual performances. Especially of some of the "weaker" nations, specifically after the top 3-4 players. It wasn't a very strong tournament.
Bust? He's got just as many points as noted prolific scorer Milan Lucic.
Fatass
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- Apr 17, 2017
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Heard a draft guru guy on our local sports radio yesterday (650 van) discussing this coming draft. He said the top five guys in this draft would all go number 1OA in last years. So Wright might even not be a top 10 pick in this draft.
China was by far the weakest team and also finished dead last, but even they had a lot of AHL experience. A lot of their roster could have made career there too if they so wanted. Whether that says more about the AHL or about Team China one can interpret freely, but it's not like there's a massive gap.
- Aug 21, 2016
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Still, if you watched the games, Slaf was still pretty good against the top teams,, especially against team Canada. The Kazaks had alot of solid KHLers...
- Apr 27, 2005
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He was very good, I'm just saying it wasn't the strongest tournament.
Breakfast of Champs
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He was good enough to show that baring some major regression he's nowhere near being scratched at the ahl level , which was my point.
Honestly I think he would be a top line player in that league.
Fistfullofbeer
Moderator
In context though, the AHL team in Coachella is loaded with a lot of older veterans. We are scratching Goyette, Firkus, and other young players/prospects along with Wright. And I am ok with that. Shows that the team is mainly concerned with winning than icing anyone based on draft pedigree.
- Apr 27, 2005
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I don't disagree, though I think he'd probably be more of a top 6W, 20-25g 40-50p type of guy. I don't think he'd be quite as good as Kulich has been.
He's very clearly a better prospect than Wright at this point.
RainyCityHockey
Registered User
I get that Wright, so far, hasn't been what people though what you're saying here couldn't be further from the truth.
Everyone who covers the Kraken will tell you that the team had to drag Wright off the ice given that he always worked incredibly hard on his game and stayed until the Zamboni came around to work on the ice.
So work ethic isn't the problem here.
Too much hype and potentially being more physically mature earlier than others(and therefore being better than others at his age grop) might be a reason, though.
Overall I'd be happy if he turns into a solid #2C with his solid 200 feet game and a pretty good shot.
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