Shane Wright denies staring down Montreal's draft table
Seattle Kraken prospect Shane Wright created a lot of buzz on the first night of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.
After being the projected number one pick for well over a year now, Wright slipped to fourth overall after the Montreal Canadiens selected 2022 Olympic MVP Juraj Slafkovsky first overall.
Following Montreal's selection, New Jersey took Simon Nemec second overall and Arizona took Logan Cooley third overall. You could see the frustration in Wright's face as he dropped to the Seattle Kraken. Granted, he wasn't mad at the fact Seattle took him, but because three other franchises passed over him after he thought he deserved to go first overall.
Wright walked up to the stage and took a picture with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and after the picture was taken, it looked like the 18-year-old stared down the Montreal Canadiens' draft table.
Shane Wright staring down the Habs draft table??? 👀 #NHLDraft2022 pic.twitter.com/Nv0zYsTf2Z— Peter Walker (@petetheleafsfan) July 8, 2022
During an appearance on Blue Jays Central before Toronto took on the Seattle Mariners, Shane Wright was brought on as a guest and clarified that he was not staring down Montreal's draft table on Thursday night.
He added, "To be honest, I don't really remember too much going up on stage. It was just kind of a whirlwind for me so. I wasn't intentionally trying to stare anyone down I guess maybe it looked like that from the video, but there was no intent to stare them down. Just kind of look at the camera and their table was right behind it so I guess it kind of looked like it but there's no intent behind that."
While Wright didn't go where he expected, he still has an incredible opportunity ahead of him with the Seattle Kraken. Wright, alongside 2021 second overall pick Matty Beniers, will form one of the best 1-2 center duos in the NHL for years to come.
It's unclear if Wright will be with the Kraken this season or return to Kingston for another year. Because of COVID-19 shutting down the OHL for the entire 2020-21 season, Wright lost a year of development, so sending him back to Kingston may be in the best interest of all parties.
Source: Sportsnet.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mikko Rantanen | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| Jake Debrusk | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Dylan Guenther | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Connor McDavid | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Jack Eichel | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Brock Nelson | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Clayton Keller | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Anthony Cirelli | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Jonathan Drouin | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Roman Josi | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Kirill Marchenko | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Kyle Palmieri | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Artemi Panarin | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Evan Bouchard | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Leon Draisaitl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Matt Duchene | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 21 | 17 | 4 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 20 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 30 | |
Devils | 23 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 30 | |
Hurricanes | 20 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 29 | |
Golden Knights | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 20 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 27 | |
Flames | 21 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 27 | |
Stars | 19 | 13 | 6 | - | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 19 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||