We have been talking a lot, a lot regarding Shane Wright for several months. And that’s completely normal. But while the comments regarding him have generated their share of negativity, I would like us to focus a bit on the positive.
Because yes, there are positives.
Wright is fresh off winning gold with Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship and was serving as team captain. He collected seven points in as many games, but it was his involvement in the locker room that caught the eye according to Stéphane Julien, assistant coach of the Canadian team.
The latter told on the airwaves of BPM Sports that the hope of the Kraken had impressed him greatly not because of his qualities on the ice, but for his qualities as a leader. Julien also brought a concrete example to defend his words:
Shane Wright stood up in the bedroom following the 1st period and said, Michigan is over! – Stephane Julien
Obviously, the coach was referring to the team’s very first match once morest Czechia. We remember that Connor Bedard and Adam Fantilli had both tried the maneuver in the first period and that it had caused a lot of ink to flow.
Dylan Guenther also came out publicly saying that the team was not going to make it to the final with such “craziness”:
Whether it was a teammate, coach, or the media, Michigan’s two attempts didn’t pass the board https://t.co/dFVDN3Cx7Q
— DansLesCoulisses (@DLCoulisses) December 28, 2022
The executives and coaches sensed that Wright was going to be the perfect candidate to stand up in the bedroom when things were going badly and they made the right call. And to see Stéphane Julien praise the striker is direct proof of that.
While he was having a tougher time in Seattle, I have a feeling the tournament will be good for Shane Wright’s confidence. He may not have dominated as much as hoped, but he did his homework and was one of the undisputed leaders of the squad that won the gold medal.
And this deserves to be underlined.
Now I can’t wait to see how he responds to his OHL dismissal. Note that he was traded to the Windsor Spitfires yesterday:
Despite rumors to that effect, he was traded to the Windsor Spitfires instead https://t.co/HxB06TdwuN
— DansLesCoulisses (@DLCoulisses) January 10, 2023
A lot of
– The DG of the Preds admits having made a mistake in the file of Eeli Tolvanen. [Rumeurs de transaction]
– Nice read on the development of Juraj Slafkovsky.
Asked Nick Suzuki in October how he thought Juraj Slafkovský was doing. Said he can be hard on himself, but, “We’ll fix that.”
Half a season later?
“It’s still a work in progress,” Suzuki said last night.
On the halfway point of an important rookie year: https://t.co/m2NhEWkgc8—Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) January 10, 2023
– All the same.
Sorry, got that wrong. It’s 85 goals once morest in 21 games since Nov. 25. Still….
Most goals once morest in the league since that date.
—Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) January 10, 2023
– Spencer Knight is placed on the injured list.
The #FlaPanthers have placed goalie Spencer Knight on IR with an undisclosed injury with Alex Lyon now backing up Sergei Bobrovsky. https://t.co/vx7HBMIiFe
— George Richards (@GeorgeRichards) January 10, 2023
“He’s going to be good, that one.
Lukas Reichel’s three-point breakout game on Sunday was special. @ByScottPowers broke down his shifts to learn why: https://t.co/qVlA0zcTDk
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) January 10, 2023