Wright sits atop TSN Hockey's 2022 NHL Mock Draft
Published
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.
For more on each player go to TSN.ca.
1 MONTREAL Shane WRIGHT
2 NEW JERSEY Juraj SLAFKOVSKÝ
3 ARIZONA Logan COOLEY
4 SEATTLE Šimon NEMEC
5 PHILADELPHIA David JIŘÍČEK
6 CHICAGO (CBJ) Joakim KEMELL
7 OTTAWA Cutter GAUTHIER
8 DETROIT Jonathan LEKKERIMÄKI
9 BUFFALO Marco KASPER
10 ANAHEIM Kevin KORCHINSKI
11 SAN JOSE Matt SAVOIE
12 COLUMBUS Pavel MINTYUKOV
13 NY ISLANDERS Conor GEEKIE
14 WINNIPEG Jimmy SNUGGERUD
15 VANCOUVER Owen PICKERING
16 BUFFALO (VGK) Danila YUROV
17 NASHVILLE Frank NAZAR
18 DALLAS Jiří KULICH
19 MINNESOTA (LA) Ryan CHESLEY
20 WASHINGTON Ivan MIROSHNICHENKO
21 PITTSBURGH Brad LAMBERT
22 ANAHEIM (BOS) Isaac HOWARD
23 ST. LOUIS Sam RINZEL
24 MINNESOTA Noah ÖSTLUND
25 TORONTO Liam OHGREN
26 MONTREAL (CGY) Nathan GAUCHER
27 ARIZONA (CAR) Jagger FIRKUS
28 BUFFALO (FLA) Rutger McGROARTY
29 EDMONTON Reid SCHAEFER
30 WINNIPEG (NYR) Denton MATEYCHUK
31 TAMPA BAY Luca Del Bel BELLUZ
32 ARIZONA (COL) Lane HUTSON