Inside the NHL
It was a chance for the NHL draft pick that supplanted Shane Wright at No. 1 overall to get his team back in the game and his young career back on track.
Slovakian winger Juraj Slafkovsky, his Montreal Canadiens trailing the Kraken by three goals late in the first period Monday night, took a pass in deep and was briefly all alone on goalie Martin Jones. Slafkovsky had done everything right to set himself up and attempted a quick deke move to his backhand before fully controlling the puck.
And shot it straight into the goalie’s pads.
That left Slafkovsky with zero goals his past 18 games dating back to Dec. 1 and just one in two calendar months. The hulking forward often appears physically overmatched, and there’s debate about why he wasn’t loaned to Slovakia for the recent IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships or on a more permanent basis to the team’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate.
So the top-prospect grass beyond No. 4 overall selection Wright — at least when it comes to NHL impact — has largely been brown. Wright, of course, was sent back to the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) last week, where he was subsequently traded by the Kingston Frontenacs to the contending Windsor Spitfires for a possible run at a league title and subsequent Memorial Cup.
Just as with Slafkovsky, Wright had done little wrong other than being an 18-year-old — who just turned 19 last week — trying to crack an NHL lineup. The difference is the streaking Kraken, winners of six in a row and boasting the No. 3 offense in the league, are contending for a Pacific Division title while the reeling Canadiens are back in the mix for yet another top teenager everybody can fawn over at next summer’s draft.
The Canadiens can afford to waste the roster spot. The Kraken, in the business of selling tickets and winning hockey games, simply cannot.
Unlike the Canadiens, the Kraken didn’t have the option of sending Wright to the AHL. A decades-old agreement between the NHL and Canadian-based major junior hockey leagues states that 18- and-19-year old draftees from those circuits must be loaned back to their former junior clubs if not kept on an NHL roster.
It’s an increasingly controversial rule, largely because the major junior ranks are no longer the only surefire NHL route they once were. NCAA players such as Kraken rookie Matty Beniers, junior draftees from the United States Hockey League and those from the European junior and professional ranks can be sent to minor pro circuits right away.
Wright and Slafkovsky aren’t the only teenagers struggling to make an NHL impact. The historical list of 18-year-old draftees to immediately accomplish anything in the NHL is about as short as the number of Toronto Maple Leafs first-round playoff series victories the past quarter century.
None of players taken in the top 10 picks of the 2022 draft is playing in the NHL, though several players, including Team Canada gold medalist captain Wright, took part in the world juniors. That’s what made Slafkovsky’s absence so controversial, considering his lack of NHL production.
The No. 2 overall pick, Slovakian defenseman Simon Nemec, hasn’t sniffed the NHL but is doing just fine with New Jersey’s Utica Comets affiliate in the AHL. Nemec has three goals, nine assists and a plus/minus of +11 in 26 games. He had five points in five games at the world juniors for Slovakia.
New Jersey took Nemec because it was loaded with forwards from previous drafts, largely why Wright fell to the Kraken. Nemec also played in the Slovakian pro ranks, which likely helped him acclimate to the AHL.
Nobody doubts Nemec will soon get an NHL shot. But he wasn’t forced there right away.
Neither was Arizona Coyotes No. 3 overall pick Logan Cooley, now 21 games into his first University of Minnesota season and who had seven goals and seven assists in seven games with world juniors bronze medalist Team USA. An interesting note: Take his NCAA and world juniors games — both this tournament and the rescheduled one from last August in which he appeared in five more contests — it adds up to 33 games since being drafted.
Wright appeared in eight games for the Kraken, five more in the NHL preseason, another five on a onetime AHL conditioning stint at Coachella Valley, plus seven at the world juniors. That’s 25 games, 18 coming against pros.
The major difference in games played by both centermen was Cooley attending the world juniors in August after committing to NCAA play, whereas Wright headed to Kraken training camp. So the argument that Wright’s growth has been stunted by a lack of playing opportunity doesn’t hold up. The reason he’s back in junior hockey was those opportunities would have decreased significantly had he stayed with the Kraken with no additional AHL conditioning stint or world juniors play possible.
No. 5 overall selection Cutter Gauthier of the Philadelphia Flyers has 11 goals, seven assists in 14 games with Boston College. The left winger added four goals, six assists for Team USA at the world juniors.
No. 6 overall choice David Jiricek of the Columbus Blue Jackets is also doing well with the AHL Cleveland Monsters after an uneventful two-game NHL taste. The defenseman has five goals, 15 assists and a plus/minus of +6 his first 19 AHL games, plus seven points for Czechia at the recent world juniors and four more at the same tourney in August.
Seattle Thunderbirds prospect Kevin Korchinski, drafted No. 7 by Chicago, is back for his fourth major junior season with the contending WHL club. The defenseman has 31 points in 23 games and just won world juniors gold for Canada alongside Wright.
No. 8 pick Marco Kasper of the Detroit Red Wings stayed with his Swedish pro club. No. 9 Matthew Savoie of the Buffalo Sabres and No. 10 Pavel Mintyukov of the Anaheim Ducks remained in the WHL and OHL, respectively.
That leaves Slafkovsky the only top-10 draftee still in the NHL with 10 points in 36 games and destined to forever be compared with Wright, who had a goal and an assist in eight Kraken games — and five goals, one assist in 13 pro games overall.
Safe to say, Wright’s legacy, is far from being decided and likely just getting under way. Best to check back in a year and see where things stand.