Player Discussion Shane Wright next season: NHL or Juniors?

[BaseballCoach]

Mete, and KK both had good camps, and showed enough to stay beyond 10 games. In retrospect, both guys would have probably been better served to go a slower route. You hear about guys who came in too fast, but you don't really hear about guys coming in too slow.

I have changed my opinion about this from the younger version of myself. Regardless of the kind of camp Wright has, you send him down after 9 regular season games max.

You're going to roll with Suzuki, Dvorak and Evans down the middle next year, and that's fine. You reduce the chance of Wright hitting a wall that sets him further back than where he started. We saw that happen with both KK and mete, and battling for prime ice time with those three guys can compound the issue.

Wright still believes he's the prodigy that he was once touted be, and blames covid for the setback. Fine, use this as the makeup season for covid, and show it.

If we are comparing Wright to Mete and even KK, we have the wrong guy at 1OA.

Given the player development approach the team will have, I am not worried that Wright will take a back seat to Evans.

Still, it might be preferable to take another player. My fear with Wright is that he is an 18 year old in a 21 year old's body, and the physical advantage he had over his peers growing up will no longer be there. I don't think he is a late bloomer, on the contrary.

On the other hand, if the team feels he already has a mature 200 foot game and is really the best 18-20 player available in the world, then take him and play him against the best players in the world so he can improve. Playing him against children and late teens will not benefit him as much. This isn't the Julien or Therrien era. If a 13OA and a 15OA can thrive under MSL, why not a 1OA?

 

[Tyson]

The more I read the more I am not convinced he is the guy.
Hughes and Co. have some serious decisions coming soon.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

It's nice to see you trying to help because you are still getting paid, Coach Ducharme. However, it's really not necessary.

Sure he has talent, but he needs to learn karakter by centring Dwight King

 

[Justin11]

The more I read the more I am not convinced he is the guy.
Hughes and Co. have some serious decisions coming soon.

Reading different reports this time of the year can be very confusing.
Personally after watching a lot of his games this year, I'm not worried about his potential at all.

 

[Matthew McConaughay]

The more I read the more I am not convinced he is the guy.
Hughes and Co. have some serious decisions coming soon.

Their decision is already made, but they won't say it, they will choose Wright, it's the safest bet, the Habs won't take any risks with any another players.

 

[Nico Cauzuki]

Their decision is already made, but they won't say it, they will choose Wright, it's the safest bet, the Habs won't take any risks with any another players.

yes agree i would bet anything Wright was always the pick

 

[Conflicted Habs fan]

Wright is the first pick. If another team takes him and has a flourishing career it will be a curse to Habs history for generations

 

[Habs]

Wright is the first pick. If another team takes him and has a flourishing career it will be a curse to Habs history for generations

one would think the team has learned after the Bustniemi draft, you take BPA always. Wright will still be BPA draft day.

 

[Naslundforever]

Wright is the first pick. If another team takes him and has a flourishing career it will be a curse to Habs history for generations

Why is this not true of the other prospects? Projected ranking? Consensus pick saves face even if he turns into a Dvorak at best and say Cooley turns into a Kane? (not implying either will).

 

[1909]

The more I read the more I am not convinced he is the guy.
Hughes and Co. have some serious decisions coming soon.

The more I read, the more I think he is the guy. He's got superior leadership qualities for an 18 year old. He is aware on the 200' ice sheet. He's got the IQ and attitude to succeed. The OHL year off did not help him as well as the poor coached Kingston team. The talent is definitely there.

Wright is the first pick. If another team takes him and has a flourishing career it will be a curse to Habs history for generations

Habs MUST pick Wright. Not only he is still ranked #1, but Habs are drafting at home at the Bell. I like Slafkovsky a lot, but he is not #1 material. I have never been crazy about tanking and winning the #1 OA. But now that we got it, take him. And hope that it won't turn into a Leblanc vs Kreider fiasco. Or Wickhenheiser vs Savard... Or KK vs Tkatchuck.

 

[durojean]

Caufield Suzuki Anderson :: Proven first line
Hoffman Dvorak Armia :: Defensive Big with players that should go well together
Drouin Wright Gallagher :: Skills, Grit, Experience I actually could see this line being hell for the other teams
Pitlick Poehling Byron : Speed, Plus you put Poehling with still offensively gifted players.

I feel like Wright could actually be a good fit for this line up. We must temper expectations and be ready to live with the mistakes.

 

[1909]

Caufield Suzuki Anderson :: Proven first line
Hoffman Dvorak Armia :: Defensive Big with players that should go well together
Drouin Wright Gallagher :: Skills, Grit, Experience I actually could see this line being hell for the other teams
Pitlick Poehling Byron : Speed, Plus you put Poehling with still offensively gifted players.

I feel like Wright could actually be a good fit for this line up. We must temper expectations and be ready to live with the mistakes.

Will we see the Armia that played at the World or the one we saw during the whole last season ? Hughes gonna sign one or two UFA forwards and-or trade for some. Byron is damaged goods at 90%. Whre is Evans in your line up ? Way better than Poehling.

 

[JoelWarlord]

Keep in mind that we'll have a pretty good idea who they're picking in the weeks leading directly up to the draft based solely on the predraft coverage and rankings. If it stays vague leading up to the draft it's going to be Wright, but if we start seeing mainstream guys talk about a late rise for one of Cooley/Slafkovsky/Nemec/Jiricek in the same way Kotkaniemi was talked about in the leadup to the 2018 draft that's going to be a strong indicator.

The team doesn't want to pick someone other than Wright and have them get booed at the draft at home, so they'll start laying the groundwork in the next couple weeks if they're leaning towards another player. If that doesn't happen, we can be nearly sure they're taking Wright.

 

[BenchBrawl]

The more I read the more I am not convinced he is the guy.
Hughes and Co. have some serious decisions coming soon.

I wouldn't want to be in their shoes. I wish all the best to whoever we pick, but this is not a good year to have the 1st overall pick, at least as of today. The future will tell.

Keep in mind that we'll have a pretty good idea who they're picking in the weeks leading directly up to the draft based solely on the predraft coverage and rankings. If it stays vague leading up to the draft it's going to be Wright, but if we start seeing mainstream guys talk about a late rise for one of Cooley/Slafkovsky/Nemec/Jiricek in the same way Kotkaniemi was talked about in the leadup to the 2018 draft that's going to be a strong indicator.

The team doesn't want to pick someone other than Wright and have them get booed at the draft at home, so they'll start laying the groundwork in the next couple weeks if they're leaning towards another player. If that doesn't happen, we can be nearly sure they're taking Wright.

Good points.

 

[durojean]

Will we see the Armia that played at the World or the one we saw during the whole last season ? Hughes gonna sign one or two UFA forwards and-or trade for some. Byron is damaged goods at 90%. Whre is Evans in your line up ? Way better than Poehling.

Evans is not in my line-up right now exactly because there is bound to be injuries and I feel he is not that much better than anyone over him.

I can't take the move that we didn't make in consideration when I build a line-up. But considering what we got right now. I feel like Wright could be a fit and yes, probably to the expense of Evans.

 

[Saundies]

If we are comparing Wright to Mete and even KK, we have the wrong guy at 1OA.

Given the player development approach the team will have, I am not worried that Wright will take a back seat to Evans.

Still, it might be preferable to take another player. My fear with Wright is that he is an 18 year old in a 21 year old's body, and the physical advantage he had over his peers growing up will no longer be there. I don't think he is a late bloomer, on the contrary.

On the other hand, if the team feels he already has a mature 200 foot game and is really the best 18-20 player available in the world, then take him and play him against the best players in the world so he can improve. Playing him against children and late teens will not benefit him as much. This isn't the Julien or Therrien era. If a 13OA and a 15OA can thrive under MSL, why not a 1OA?

Yeah but the same people taking Slaf first laud how big he is as an advantage. When your physicality isn't unique anymore, you have to rely on skills and IQ and Wright as both of those in spades. Does Slaf? Looking at his Liga stats, I'm not sure.

I want the pick to be Wright, and I think it will be. But if it's not, I want Cooley.

 

[Sorinth]

If we are comparing Wright to Mete and even KK, we have the wrong guy at 1OA.

Given the player development approach the team will have, I am not worried that Wright will take a back seat to Evans.

Still, it might be preferable to take another player. My fear with Wright is that he is an 18 year old in a 21 year old's body, and the physical advantage he had over his peers growing up will no longer be there. I don't think he is a late bloomer, on the contrary.

On the other hand, if the team feels he already has a mature 200 foot game and is really the best 18-20 player available in the world, then take him and play him against the best players in the world so he can improve. Playing him against children and late teens will not benefit him as much. This isn't the Julien or Therrien era. If a 13OA and a 15OA can thrive under MSL, why not a 1OA?

Is Wright actually physically mature compared to the rest? I guess since he didn't play the covid year he would have spent a lot more time working out so maybe, but I never got the impression that he produced because of a physical advantage. People would be way happier with him if he in fact did power through defenders with his size/speed, the knock against him is he doesn't do stuff like that so even if he is more physically mature then his peers I'm not sure we can attribute his success to that (Especially given his production when he was underaged in the CHL).

But I agree playing another year in the CHL is not likely to benefit him much.

 

[jrom]

Is Wright actually physically mature compared to the rest?

I think he was mature physically before the others (beard as a teenager) while some others like Cooley are still growing up. Combine will clarify who is where now in term of growth.

Playstyle his size/weight helps him not getting shoved around but he’s not a physical player (hitting).

 

[MTL-rules]

Is Wright actually physically mature compared to the rest? I guess since he didn't play the covid year he would have spent a lot more time working out so maybe, but I never got the impression that he produced because of a physical advantage. People would be way happier with him if he in fact did power through defenders with his size/speed, the knock against him is he doesn't do stuff like that so even if he is more physically mature then his peers I'm not sure we can attribute his success to that (Especially given his production when he was underaged in the CHL).

But I agree playing another year in the CHL is not likely to benefit him much.

Gyms were closed to last year... Pretty tough to train. He really lost a whole year of developpement. If he had played last year, no one would question him at 1st OV. Certainly not with a flavor of the month, good in a specific context, obscur europeen winger.

Wright is the safe bet AND also has the highest ceiling... His 15yo season was ridiculously dominant like no one else in this draft... Because of that (and without taking into account the lost season) our expectations were unrealistic... But he still performed well... That to me is more than enough to select him 1st OV. Even when he's not playing at his best, he's one of the best... That's not the case of Slaf in the liiga.

 

[Vachon23]

Gyms were closed to last year... Pretty tough to train. He really lost a whole year of developpement. If he had played last year, no one would question him at 1st OV. Certainly not with a flavor of the month, good in a specific context, obscur europeen winger.

Wright is the safe bet AND also has the highest ceiling... His 15yo season was ridiculously dominant like no one else in this draft... Because of that (and without taking into account the lost season) our expectations were unrealistic... But he still performed well... That to me is more than enough to select him 1st OV. Even when he's not playing at his best, he's one of the best... That's not the case of Slaf in the liiga.

You really think that a futur #1 overall didn't find a way to train last year even if the gym where close ?

 

[Sorinth]

I think he was mature physically before the others (beard as a teenager) while some others like Cooley are still growing up. Combine will clarify who is where now in term of growth.

Playstyle his size/weight helps him not getting shoved around but he’s not a physical player (hitting).

On the flip side how many prospects have we've gone with where we were waiting on them to grow/fill out and then never did? Kotkaniemi was supposed to be a physical beast once he matured physically and Carolina is still waiting for that to happen. Even if Cooley matures physically, it's not like it's going to help him not get shoved around at the NHL level, that will always be a concern for him which he'll need to overcome with smarts/speed so I don't think we can really argue he has a higher ceiling due to not being as physically mature as others because it's not going to be a big part of his game.

If Wright was playing a powerforward type game then I could understand the concern because at 6'1 that type of game wouldn't work in the NHL like it does in the CHL. But that's not the case so even if Wright is more mature physically then other prospects I'm not sure it would change anything.

 

[26Mats]

The more I read the more I am not convinced he is the guy.
Hughes and Co. have some serious decisions coming soon.

what sources in particular have you wondering?

 

[MTL-rules]

You really think that a futur #1 overall didn't find a way to train last year even if the gym where close ?

He surely train, but not with the best equipment and in the best environnement possible... Olympic atheltes complained all year about that.

 

[Sorinth]

Gyms were closed to last year... Pretty tough to train. He really lost a whole year of developpement. If he had played last year, no one would question him at 1st OV. Certainly not with a flavor of the month, good in a specific context, obscur europeen winger.

Wright is the safe bet AND also has the highest ceiling... His 15yo season was ridiculously dominant like no one else in this draft... Because of that (and without taking into account the lost season) our expectations were unrealistic... But he still performed well... That to me is more than enough to select him 1st OV. Even when he's not playing at his best, he's one of the best... That's not the case of Slaf in the liiga.

Sure but public gyms being closed doesn't mean that he couldn't/didn't train. But I agree, he's got the highest ceiling of all the prospects.

 

[26Mats]

Gyms were closed to last year... Pretty tough to train. He really lost a whole year of developpement. If he had played last year, no one would question him at 1st OV. Certainly not with a flavor of the month, good in a specific context, obscur europeen winger.

Wright is the safe bet AND also has the highest ceiling... His 15yo season was ridiculously dominant like no one else in this draft... Because of that (and without taking into account the lost season) our expectations were unrealistic... But he still performed well... That to me is more than enough to select him 1st OV. Even when he's not playing at his best, he's one of the best... That's not the case of Slaf in the liiga.

No one's questioning his 15 year old season. It's the progress since then that have people raising questions.

Has he plateaued? Or was last season just an off season by his 15 year old season standards? Was it being off a year and a half from covid? etc... etc..