Kraken plan to send Shane Wright to AHL for conditioning stint

After five straight games as a healthy scratch, Seattle Kraken first-round pick Shane Wright is headed to Palm Desert, Calif., to make his American Hockey League debut.

As Jeff Marek reported on Hockey Night in Canada during Saturday’s 32 Thoughts segment, Wright could be joining the Kraken’s AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, as early as Sunday.

“I’m of the belief that (the Kraken) wanted to send him to the American Hockey League a couple of weeks ago,” Marek said. “He was scratched four games in a row, five would open up the two-week conditioning stint, which is where we’re at now. But Jared McCann got hurt, (Wright) drew into that game and essentially, the clock reset for Shane Wright.”

Now that the clock has hit five straight games as a healthy scratch, as Marek sees it, the two-week conditioning stint with the Firebirds will open up five potential AHL games for Wright — two against Calgary, one against San Diego and two against Henderson.

“He comes back to Seattle on Dec. 4, and then if they’re going to send him to the World Junior Hockey Championships, there is one game in between the end of the conditioning stint and the World Junior camp, and that game is against the Montreal Canadiens — and you’re gonna want to know that Shane Wright will want to play very much against the Canadiens,” Marek said.

Wright was touted to be the first-overall pick in the lead-up to the 2021 draft – a pick held by the Canadiens. Montreal passed on Wright, and the forward wound up falling to fourth, where he was scooped up by the Kraken.

So, his next stop is California. The question after that is whether the 18-year-old will play for Canada’s World Junior team next month.

“I talked to someone from the World Junior squad today and as of right now, Seattle has not indicated at all whether they will send him or make him available for the world juniors,” Marek said.