It seems only yesterday the “Shane Wright Experiment” was in full force, with much of the hockey world fixated on the Kraken No. 4 overall draft pick being caught in a no man’s land of sorts between rock-hard NHL reality and the too-soft-landing of the major junior ranks.
Only a handful of teenagers ever start off making that NHL leap full-time, which is why the American Hockey League is a natural compromise. But it wasn’t allowed for Wright in October 2022 because of a 45-year-old transfer agreement between major junior hockey and the NHL.
The deal protects for-profit junior teams in the Western Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League from being strip-mined of young stars -- forcing teenage draftees to be returned to their squads and not the AHL if they don’t stick in the NHL after a maximum nine-game trial.
But where it gets tricky and prompts development concerns are rare occasions when major junior players demonstrate complete mastery at that level and are prevented from immediately turning pro despite being ready. That was the case with a then-18-year-old Wright in the OHL and could very well be next fall for last summer’s No. 8 overall Kraken draft pick Berkly Catton of the WHL Spokane Chiefs.
For those not paying close attention, Catton has gone on a 2.5 points per game tear the past two months and now has 38 goals and 105 points this WHL season. It’s his second straight 100-point campaign, but because Catton only turned 19 in January – missing next season’s Dec. 31 AHL eligibility date for turning 20 by mere weeks – he’ll have to play once again in a WHL he’s been dominating.
Unless, of course, he begins next season with the Kraken.
The Kraken have already seen their foundational core of centers rounding into form this season with team points leader Chandler Stephenson and fast-improving Matty Beniers and Wright. Catton is thought to be a future elite level NHL player and having him complete a quartet of quality Kraken centermen on all four lines has been somewhat of a distant dream since last summer.
But could Catton break camp with the Kraken as quickly as next fall?
Asked about it last week, general manager Ron Francis shrugged and said: “We did it with Shane Wright.”
Indeed, they did.
Amid much criticism they risked hampering Wright’s development by not playing him enough, the Kraken kept Wright for an eight-game NHL trial run spread over two long months of 2022-23 so he could keep practicing with the big club. They then put him through a multi-league grind of stiff non-NHL competition.
Wright had a onetime loophole conditioning stint in the AHL, captained Canada’s entry at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships, finally did play the latter part of the OHL season and then, only once his junior team was eliminated, became eligible for the AHL playoffs.
In all, the Kraken got Wright more than 75 regular season, playoff, tournament, and preseason games at a level mostly higher than your average major junior contest. And now, they face the possibility of a Wright Redux with Catton.
“If he continues like that,” Francis said of Catton, “it’s going to at least warrant us taking a closer look.”
Catton first must show at his second Kraken training camp next September that he won’t be physically overmatched.
“It’s a big step from junior hockey to the NHL, but you know, he looked fine last year in camp,” Francis said. “I think he’s got a summer here to try and get a little bit stronger. He’s been working all season long with our development team to try to get stronger off ice the ice and with his performance on the ice.”
Worth remembering, though, is that Catton breaking camp wouldn’t automatically mean sticking with the Kraken all season. That initially proved too big a physical challenge in Wright’s case.
Nor would Catton breaking camp with the Kraken mean later being put through a hodge-podge of higher-level games and leagues for a season as Wright was. It’s possible the Kraken would decide after any initial NHL trial that Catton needs another full junior season to physically mature into a pro-level player.
At this point, nothing is off the table.
Worth remembering, though, is Wright actually was a full year younger than Catton would be next fall when he got that rather unorthodox first Kraken taste. Francis had to later go out and obtain a special onetime AHL exemption for Wright – very unlikely to be repeated – the following year so he wouldn’t have to go through the whole bypassing junior hockey exercise again in October 2023.
So, an older Catton might be as physically ready as Wright was and possibly more. He’s already training remotely with Toronto-based Kraken fitness consultant Gary Roberts, just as Wright wound up doing in-person the past few summers.
Wright played a full AHL campaign last season and was pro-conditioned by the time he broke camp again with the Kraken this past fall. The difference this time was obvious, with a confident looking Wright among the Kraken’s top players the past few months.
“Just learning what it takes and getting up to speed with the pro game and pro level, that’s always a tough adjustment to make,” Wright said. “So, to have that experience under my belt before jumping into my first full year with the NHL really helped.”
And all it took was that one full AHL season. Meaning, Wright’s prior year of bouncing around leagues at the Kraken’s direction rather than returning to junior hockey right away clearly didn’t negatively impact his development as some feared.
Even the part where Wright appeared in only eight NHL games over two months.
“It was a good experience,” Wright said. “You’re still practicing. You’re still on the road. You’re still in video sessions. And you’re still around the guys on a daily basis.”
Wright as of Thursday had 15 goals and 23 assists for 38 points that’s fourth highest on the team. Montreal Canadiens winger Juraj Slafkovsky, famously drafted No. 1 overall in 2022 ahead of Wright, has one fewer goal and only two more points at a forward spot with fewer responsibilities and considered less challenging to learn at the NHL level than the center position.
And Slafkovsky being European meant he wasn’t subject to the transfer agreement and was eligible to play in the AHL right away. That he did. And yet, Wright has still kept pace developmentally, meaning that hybrid season the Kraken put him through turned out to be a good idea.
Worth considering as the Kraken ponder what to do next with their latest top prospect turning junior hockey on its head.
