EDMONTON, Alberta — Kraken rookie centerman Shane Wright skated out for this preseason finale as part of a lineup looking as close as could be to a dress rehearsal for next week’s regular-season opener.
The fact he was at center Friday night while incumbent centerman Yanni Gourde had again bumped a spot over as his left wing said everything needed about how this summer’s No. 4 overall draft pick Wright has not only made the team but will likely remain on it all season.
Kraken general manager Ron Francis said as much before his team’s 5-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place Arena, indicating there’s no reason to return Wright for a fourth year of junior hockey so long as he keeps playing this comfortably once the season opens.
“We’re hoping he can be here all year,” Francis said in an interview on Friday afternoon. “That’s kind of what we were hoping for. The key thing is doing what’s right for him and making sure we’re not affecting his confidence and that kind of stuff.”
That hasn’t been an issue for Wright, who played in the team’s last five preseason games. “There’s a lot of new things he’s facing, but he seems to be getting better and better each game,” Francis said.
NHL rules prohibit 18-and-19-year-olds drafted out of major junior hockey from being sent to the minors. Wright can play in up to nine NHL games before the Kraken would have to either keep him all season or return him to the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL.
The Kraken again playing Gourde on the wing signals they’ll likely open the season with Alex Wennberg, Matty Beniers, Morgan Geekie and Wright as their centers, with a couple of bottom roster forward positions still undecided. It was Beniers who snapped a 1-1 tie and put the Kraken ahead 11 minutes into the middle period, chipping home a rebound after Oilers netminder Jack Campbell had robbed Andre Burakovsky with an initial diving stop.
That 2-1 lead stood until Jesse Puljujarvi tied it 4:56 into the final period. Then, Edmonton took the lead when Philipp Grubauer misplayed a puck that ricocheted off Leon Draisaitl into the net for a 3-2 lead for the home side.
Jared McCann would tie it with a late power play goal but Evander Kane put Edmonton back up just 20 seconds later. Conor McDavid added an empty net marker with Grubauer pulled to close things out.
Beniers scoring his team-high fourth goal this preseason leaves little doubt he’s ready to begin his part of this 1-2 youth punch up the middle the Kraken hope to have with him and Wright for years to come. As for those forwards still fighting for Kraken roster spots, Daniel Sprong continued his strong push for inclusion by opening the scoring 12:50 into this game with some hard work digging for a loose puck.
Sprong is one of three forwards — along with Karson Kuhlman and John Hayden — still battling for what could be one or likely two remaining roster spots now that the injured Joonas Donskoi appears unlikely to be ready to start the season. Kuhlman and Hayden both didn’t play in this game, though Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said that wasn’t an indicator of anything as far as solidifying spots.
“We have players that are in the lineup that have had good camps,” Hakstol said pregame. “We also have players that are out of the lineup that have had very good camps. We’ll kind of recoup after the game. That’s when we gather all the information and really have to make some of those harder decisions.”
Hakstol also cautioned that the specific lines used in Friday night’s game were not necessarily what the team will go with. He had McCann playing right wing alongside center Beniers and Burakovsky on the left.
Gourde, meanwhile, had played left wing previously on a line centered by Wennberg but was used with Wright this time to see how they interacted. Hakstol said he’s comfortable using Gourde both on the wing and as a center against the top-scoring lines of opposing teams.
But with the Kraken apparently still committed to developing Geekie as a center and wanting Wright to play at his natural position, moving Gourde out to the wing was inevitable.
For his part, Wright wasn’t taking anything for granted.
“I just wanted to come into camp and like any other player I wanted to earn my spot on the team,” Wright said. “That was my mindset going into this camp. That was what I expected — that I’d have to earn my spot on this team … prove to coaches, the staff and my teammates that I belong here and I can play here.”