Shane Wright likely to be traded, sent back to the OHL a day after winning WJC gold
Less than 24 hours ago, Shane Wright was on the ice with Team Canada, helping the team secure its second consecutive gold medal at the World Juniors on his 19th birthday. Today, he finds himself headed back down to the OHL, likely to be traded.
Per TSN's Chris Johnston, the Seattle Kraken have officially re-assigned Wright to his Junior club in Kingston. Word on the street is that the Frontenacs were contemplating trading Wright for a king's ransom of assets if Seattle had sent him back to Junior. Now, that deal is one step closer to reality.
According to DFO's Frank Seravalli, Wright is likely to be traded to either Barrie or Peterborough - though there are other interested parties, as Ottawa, London and North Bay have also expressed interest.
While some might look at this situation as a bit of a step backward for Wright, this is actually a very wise move by Seattle Kraken GM Ron Francis. Wright has a very, very bright future in the NHL. However, he does still have a few holes in his game that can be fixed with another dominant year in the OHL. The expectation is that he'll come back to camp a more mature player in the fall and with an extra year of experience under his belt after an 8-game taste of NHL action, followed by a World Juniors gold medal, with some renewed confidence.
There's little doubt in my mind that the Montreal Canadiens would have been wise to take a similar approach with 1st overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky, though there has been some talk that the Habs could still send him to the AHL for some additional seasoning.
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 6 | 145 ANSWERS Shane Wright likely to be traded, sent back to the OHL a day after winning WJC gold Will the Kingston Frontenacs trade Shane Wright? | ||
| Yes | 128 | 88.3 % |
| No | 17 | 11.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
