Player Discussion Shane Wright next season: NHL or Juniors?

[Belial]

Wright will most likely be with Montreal next year.

However, it wouldn't be the worst thing for him to go back to Junior one more year.

As for Kingston being a bad team, Habs can help facilitate a trade to a better team in the OHL.

There's a spot for him here, no reason to send him back to junior. He'll play behind Suzuki and Dvorak and develop just fine.

 

[dcyhabs]

There's a spot for him here, no reason to send him back to junior. He'll play behind Suzuki and Dvorak and develop just fine.

There's a spot for him, and they'll prioritize his development. I wonder if it's best for Wright or the team long term, well, if they take Wright.

Lafreniere and Kakko seem to be working out, maybe it's just a matter of patience. Contract is a consideration, though.

 

[Natey]

They would never trade down more then one spot. Wright sounds pretty close to the consensus number 1 and there’s no reason for us not to make that pick, but if he’s not their guy, that means somebody else is and they aren’t going to leave it to chance on whose left.

That's not how trading works. If they see more value with the addition than the difference between their rankings - it makes 100% sense.

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

If he was on a team like London who have developed many players over the years, I wouldn't be against sending him back for one last year.

However since we don't have a dinosaur head coach like Therrien/Julien around, I have more faith in MSL developing him as opposed to him going back to Kingston. In addition, we are expected to suck ass next year so there won't be much pressure on him in the NHL.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

There's a spot for him, and they'll prioritize his development. I wonder if it's best for Wright or the team long term, well, if they take Wright.

Lafreniere and Kakko seem to be working out, maybe it's just a matter of patience. Contract is a consideration, though.

Kakko is definitely not working out. Lafreniere is having a great playoff, but that doesn't mean he'll significantly improve his regular-season play. Kotkaniemi had 2 great playoffs in a row, and he still didn't improve his regular-season play with the habs.

 

[Paddy17]

I’d go with Wright. Up until the start of this year, he was tagged as “generational”. Slow start, better finish, so so playoffs. Average year but all the evidence up until this year pointed towards a great 1st overall pick. Maybe not generational but a good good player.

I’d put a lot of blame for the average season on COVID and the slow start. Playoffs, sure he was average but it’s 10 games….his team wasn’t the best and the coaching was suspect. I’d trust the body of work and take Shane. Even if he is getting dunked on a bit now, EVERYONE still agrees he’s a future great player. Everyone sees a 70 point 2-way centre man. If that’s the downside scenario and the upside is a 80,90 point player, then you take it!

Yeah, what we're seeing happens almost every year when there's no generational player. The consensus no.1 is picked apart and people only focus on their negatives, whereas they focus only on the positives for the "challengers". It happens a lot especially in mainstream media.

And then you have the people that always make a point to go against the grain in case they are right, so they can say "I'm a genius, I told you so. I saw what nobody else saw".

You can tell right away who has legitimate arguments and those that are sensationalists (Boivert) or those that just swallow everything the media throws at them...

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

What about "We'll see"?

Players of that age sometimes take huge leaps in the offseason, and sometimes they plateau. Development is not linear. So I saw we evaluate him at training camp and go from there.

I think he can do very good centering Pitlick and Gallagher on a 3rd line, with a spot on the second wave of both the PK and the PP. If you play him more than 15 minutes a game, you keep him up. If not, you send him down.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

In addition, we are expected to suck ass next year so there won't be much pressure on him in the NHL.

That's false. There's plenty of pressure on being the guy drafted 1st overall, and even more when you're picked by a big market team that has not drafted that high in 42 years.

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

That's false. There's plenty of pressure on being the guy drafted 1st overall, and even more when you're picked by a big market team that has not drafted that high in 42 years.

Hischier, Hughes, Lafreniere, Dahlin are all recent first overall picks who stepped into shit teams and weren't expected to be game changers their first season.

Obviously there will be pressure in years 2, 3, etc., but given he's not a generational talent like McDavid/Crosby, he won't have major expectations to be a difference maker his first year.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Hischier, Hughes, Lafreniere, Dahlin are all recent first overall picks who stepped into shit teams and weren't expected to be game changers their first season.

Obviously there will be pressure in years 2, 3, etc., but given he's not a generational talent like McDavid/Crosby, he won't have major expectations to be a difference maker his first year.

2 of the 4 players you listed had a horrible rookie season in the nhl

 

[nhlfan9191]

That's not how trading works. If they see more value with the addition than the difference between their rankings - it makes 100% sense.

What are you expecting a team to offer to make it worth dropping several spots? The players are as interchangeable as it gets 2-5 which means if we go to far down, which going farther then 2 could be to far down, it’s not worth it as the player they want could get taken. If you look at how underwhelming the returns teams got for moving down at those spots in the late 90’s/early 2000’s, I’m not surprised you never see it anymore. It’s not even really worth talking about. It will never happen.

 

[Tabarouette]

I expect a first overall to be in the lineup in todays' NHL, the age trend is younger we need to adapt to it

 

[BaseballCoach]

They would never trade down more then one spot. Wright sounds pretty close to the consensus number 1 and there’s no reason for us not to make that pick, but if he’s not their guy, that means somebody else is and they aren’t going to leave it to chance on whose left.

If we think the top 3 are close and Arizona really wants Wright, then I like the idea of flipping our picks with them both this year and next.

Arizona is more likely than us to be really bad next year, and the best of all is we won't need to tank, nor feel guilty if we make the playoffs or come close.

 

[BaseballCoach]

What about "We'll see"?

Players of that age sometimes take huge leaps in the offseason, and sometimes they plateau. Development is not linear. So I saw we evaluate him at training camp and go from there.

I think he can do very good centering Pitlick and Gallagher on a 3rd line, with a spot on the second wave of both the PK and the PP. If you play him more than 15 minutes a game, you keep him up. If not, you send him down.

It's not about exact minutes.

If Suzuki is at 20, Dvorak, 15, Evans 12, then Wright would only get around 13.

So what? If he can handle the minutes and not need massive sheltering like Mete and KK did, then what benefit is there to have him go back and coast against children and teenagers?

 

[dcyhabs]

2 of the 4 players you listed had a horrible rookie season in the nhl

I really wonder whether those horrible rookie seasons have value. Is it a tough learning process that they will have to do sometime that benefits the player, or is it better for them to grow and learn first? No argument for the guys who come into the league and star, but do the 20-40 point early seasons really benefit anyone?

I suppose Wright wouldn't have much to learn in junior but it wouldn't hurt to see him on a good team expected to put up 120 points. I expect Slafkovsky or Nemec or Cooley could play in Europe/NCAA without too much argument.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

It's not about exact minutes.

If Suzuki is at 20, Dvorak, 15, Evans 12, then Wright would only get around 13.

So what? If he can handle the minutes and not need massive sheltering like Mete and KK did, then what benefit is there to have him go back and coast against children and teenagers?

After missing a good 18 months of hockey at a crucial age, he needs to play a minimum of minutes to perfect his skills. He needs to be groomed as an important player right away.

If we want to play him in all situations and give him a good 15 minutes of ice time per game, I'm all for it. But if he gets under that, let him dominate the OHL after requesting that he's traded to a contender team. No prospect ever got burnt because they dominated too much at lower levels. And in Wright's case, it could be more than beneficial.

 

[nhlfan9191]

If we think the top 3 are close and Arizona really wants Wright, then I like the idea of flipping our picks with them both this year and next.

Arizona is more likely than us to be really bad next year, and the best of all is we won't need to tank, nor feel guilty if we make the playoffs or come close.

That’s way to much of a risk then I’d be willing to take. Although I’m high on Wright. I know we’re just bantering on hypotheticals, but I don’t like the idea of fooling around with top picks. This is the first draft we’ve won in 30 years and it’s while we’re hosting. I wouldn’t start playing a game of chance. Especially after over a decade of poor drafting in the first round.

 

[Beaker]

The more I watch of Wright the more I see the Bergeron comparison. Great anticipation, great vision, good stick handling, and a good release. It’s easy to see why he is a solid pick. Cooley is exciting but in a different way - Patrick Kane / stick handle in a phone booth type of way. I’ll be happy with either but feels like Wright is a good choice for the franchise - Suzuki / Wright is a solid 1-2.

 

[expy]

We're a team that's in a reset/rebuild, there's no better place to grow and learn than with the rest of the team. It's not like we have people that should stay up compared to him.

 

[Playmaker09]

We're a team that's in a reset/rebuild, there's no better place to grow and learn than with the rest of the team. It's not like we have people that should stay up compared to him.

This is the logic that had KK and Mete up way before they should've been.

"Well our LD and C suck balls, so I guess they're the default best men for the job" has historically been a terrible way to develop prospects.

And who would he even play with? Pitlick and Anderson? Eww.

Give him this offseason + next to add 10-15 pounds, play in the CHL, WJC x2 and AHL playoffs once his season's over.