Button has Habs making the Wright pick in final Mock Draft

Wright place, Wright time.

Shane Wright is sitting at the intersection of hockey and history and TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button has no doubt which way the signposts are pointing.

Button has the Kingston Frontenacs’ centre going No. 1 over Slovakian left winger Juraj Slafkovsky in the TSN Mock Draft just three days before the NHL Montreal Draft.

“I think Wright can impact the game in significant ways and to a greater extent than Slafkovsky,” Button said. “He can have an impact over every square inch of ice – with or without the puck. He’s a complete, elite player.”

Button has Slafkovsky going second to New Jersey and American centre Logan Cooley – also in the mix for No. 1 this season – third to Arizona.

It could be argued the hockey gods would have it no other way in terms of who goes first.

Wright wears No. 51 for Kingston and it has been exactly 51 years since Montreal made its greatest pick, taking Guy Lafleur with the first-overall choice in 1971.

And the Burlington, Ont., native’s number has already been on a replica of Montreal’s celebrated bleu-blanc-rouge sweater. The Frontenacs wore throwback jerseys in 2019-20 in honour of the Kingston Canadians, the name the franchise went by in the 1970s and 1980s.

"It's kind of funny,” Wright said. “In my first year… we had, like, a retro jersey night where we actually wore the Kingston Canadians jersey. So, we had all the Canadiens colours, the red, blue, and white. I guess you could consider it a pretty cool twist of fate."

Wright and Slafkovsky have both made good cases to TSN for the highest honour this year.

Wright told Mark Masters, "I think they're looking for another generational centre. They already have (Nick) Suzuki and if you can have two high-end centres, who can drive the play and create offence and be really solid, high-end centres, then that's a pretty good one-two punch.”

Slafkovsky told James Duthie, “I was reading something that Suzuki and (Cole) Caufield need a left winger. I am sitting here it they want."

It promises to be an eventful two days in Montreal with the Canadiens holding two first-round picks and 12 more over the next six rounds. This will be the first time since 1985, when Toronto selected Wendel Clark first overall, that the host city has the No. 1 pick.

Chicago transferred its first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft to the Columbus Blue Jackets (6th overall) as part of the Seth Jones trade. 

Los Angeles transferred its first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft to the Minnesota Wild (19th overall) as part of the Kevin Fiala trade.

Boston transferred its first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft to the Anaheim Ducks (22nd overall) as part of the Hampus Lindholm trade.

Vegas transferred its first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft to the Buffalo Sabres (16th overall) as part of the Jack Eichel trade.

Calgary transferred its first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft to the Montreal Canadiens (26th overall) as part of the Tyler Toffoli trade.

Montreal transferred its first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft from the Carolina Hurricanes to the Arizona Coyotes (27th overall) as part of the Christian Dvorak trade.

Florida transferred its first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft to the Buffalo Sabres (28th overall) as part of the Sam Reinhart trade.

NY Rangers transferred its first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft to the Winnipeg Jets (30th overall) as part of the Andrew Copp trade.

Colorado transferred its first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft to the Arizona Coyotes (32nd overall) as part of the Darcy Kuemper trade.