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The Kraken stood pat with the 4th overall pick on Thursday night and came away with what has long been considered the number one prospect in this draft class: Shane Wright!
WRIGHT. ON. THE. MONEY.
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) July 7, 2022
With the fourth-overall pick, the #SeaKraken select Shane Wright. pic.twitter.com/oxFlbKEB70
News of Wright’s drop in the draft has been trickling in for the past few weeks, but it was always difficult to tell just how much truth there was to it. Apparently Wright’s 94 points in 63 games with the Ontario Hockey League’s Kingston Frontenacs wasn’t good enough for the top three teams.
The Kraken now have Shane Wright and Matty Beniers as the present and future first line/second line centers. Jared McCann will likely spend a lot more time on the wing now, and Yanni Gourde will go back to centering the best third line in hockey — a role he played incredibly well in Tampa Bay.
We’ll dive deeper into Wright soon, but for now just sit back and enjoy, Kraken fans. Ron Francis made the Wright choice. (No, that is not the last time we will be using that)
Welcome to Seattle, Shane!
Wright’s Stats
| Year | Team | League | Games Played | Goals | Assists | Points | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | League | Games Played | Goals | Assists | Points | PIM |
| 2013-2014 | Toronto Pro Hockey | Brick Invitational | 6 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 6 |
| 2015-2016 | Burlington Eagles PW | QC Int PW | 4 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| Pro Hockey Hutson Selects U12 | WSI U12 | 9 | 12 | 10 | 22 | 8 | |
| 2016-2017 | Pro Hockey McDonald U13 | WSI U13 | 8 | 13 | 6 | 19 | 6 |
| Don Mills Flyers U14 AAA | GTHL U14 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2017-2018 | Don Mills Flyers U15 AAA | GTHL U15 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Oshawa Generals Selects U15 | WSI U15 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |
| Don Mills Flyers U15 AAA | OHF Bantam AAA | 8 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 6 | |
| 2018-2019 | Team Ontario | CWG | 6 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 8 |
| Don Mills Flyers U16 AAA | U16 AAA | 72 | 66 | 84 | 150 | 18 | |
| Don Mills Flyers U16 AAA | GTHL U16 | 33 | 31 | 41 | 72 | 10 | |
| Don Mills Flyers U16 AAA | OHL Cup | 7 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 2 | |
| Team GTHL Red | OGC-16 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | |
| 2019-2020 | Kingston Frontenacs | OHL | 58 | 39 | 27 | 66 | 10 |
| Canada Black U17 | WHC-17 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 14 | |
| 2020-2021 | Kingston Frontenacs | OHL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Canada U18 | WJC-18 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 2 | |
| 2021-2022 | Kingston Frontenacs | OHL | 63 | 32 | 62 | 94 | 22 |
| Canada U20 | WJC-20 Cancelled | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |