The Seattle Kraken used a loophole to send 2022 fourth-overall pick Shane Wright to the AHL a few weeks back. Now, he's returning to the team with a very personal matchup ahead of him.
The Kraken recalled Wright from his AHL conditioning stint on Monday. He had four goals in five AHL games, a promising performance after struggling early in his NHL career.
“Obviously it was a really fun two weeks down in Coachella, had a lot of fun,” Wright said. “There was a great group of guys, had a lot of success as well and it's nice to be back in Seattle. Nice to be back with the guys here and just nice to be back on the ice here and hopefully ready to go tomorrow for the game.”
On Tuesday, Seattle takes on the Montreal Canadiens. Montreal had the first-overall pick in July's draft but passed on the former Kingston Frontenacs star for Juraj Slafkovsky.
Wright caused a bit of a stir at the draft. When accepting his Kraken jersey from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, the touted prospect seemed to stare down the Canadiens draft table.
Despite any hard feelings, Wright says nothing is different. The game on Tuesday is just another game, and that's how he'll approach it.
“I'm just going to try to treat it as another game,” Wright said. “Obviously, it's my first game back from Coachella and going try to play with confidence if I'm in the lineup and not really think anything extra or special, just take it as a normal hockey game.”