He's had a nice season, took some steps from last year. Among 2022 forwards, only Lambert and Kulich have been more impressive in the AHL this year (though in his limited sample, Savoie was pretty incredible).
He's doing fine, but it's a flawed ranking because of the many other players in Europe, NCAA, KHL or simply past the AHL in the NHL.
Me, too.
A lot of good NCAA kids that stay 3 years can bypass the AHL because they are already 22 when they are pro rookies. Completely agree though that CHL to AHL is a monumental jump, hence why it's silly that pro teams sometimes end up feeling like they have to keep a kid in the NHL all season when the org feels like they've graduated out of juniors... or if they're competing they basically waste another year playing juniors when they are already too good for it. First round picks deserve to graduate into the AHL if the pro org thinks they are ready.
That's fair.
Yeah, but just barely. What was it, 1 game short?
I think what the poster is alluding to is that, outside of the COVID season with no OHL that produced some inflated stats, it is very rare for a CHL player in their "19 year old" season to be playing in the AHL, so there isn't much to compare him against. A lot of the U-20 European prospects in the AHL have had experience in men's leagues, and NCAA guys have played against older players, whereas CHL players might have more of an adjustment jumping to a men's league coming from U-20. There just isn't much data to rely upon for Wright's case.
He's behind Lambert:
He's a late 03 for all intents and purposes. He's played with 03s since he was very young and only missed the 03 cutoff by about a week.
Yeah, but it's not like Wright came into this season without solid pro experience. He played 8 NHL games and 32 AHL games last season. If anything, I think he has an advantage over a lot of the guys from that draft, who are playing their first AHL season.
@landy92mack29 - care to say what's so funny about this statement (that is true, fwiw)? Or just more blatant hating of NCAA Hockey?
could pm instead of sidetracking this thread but they bypass the AHL because they have leverage and get guarantees to go straight to the nhl or else they won't sign. Then after a certain time the guarantee runs out and the majority never see the nhl again. It's basically the same thing euros but especially Russians use where it's have me in the nhl or I'm going home. Don't blame them for using it as it gets them in the nhl. The Avs have a history of a lot of awful NCAA players going straight to the nhl because of no picks or depth and hand spots to players that don't belong.
Fair. Thank you. I always forget about Lambert. Felt like he was drafted way longer than 2022.
Yeah, sure, if you're talking about bad players. But many do manage to stick or will play like ~10 games (or other very short stints) in their whole life in the AHL. Not just talking top 5 picks either. It's really not a controversial statement that NCAA players may not need as much AHL seasoning beause they come in older and sign when they are ready.
