This summer, Shane Wright was the long-expected top pick in the NHL Entry Draft. Montreal Canadiens had the No. 1 overall pick but surprised everyone with their selection.
The Canadiens instead selected Slovakian forward Juraj Slafkovsky, and when Shane Wright eventually got selected as the fourth overall by the Seattle Kraken, he infamously stared down the Canadiens’ table.
Wright also got passed by the New Jersey Devils and the Arizona Coyotes, and as he was mic’d up, he told his closest that ”it hurt.”
Shane Wright’s first time in the NHL hasn’t been easy. The 18-year-old had gone goalless in his first seven NHL games. He’s also struggled to get ice time with the Kraken and has been sent down to the AHL.
Tuesday was his first game back from the Coachella Valley Firebirds, where he scored four goals in five games. His first game back just so happened to be against the Montreal Canadiens, and Wright got some sweet revenge on the time that passed on him this summer.
In the first period, forward Oliver Bjorkstrand laid a great pass to Wright, who hammered it past goalie Jake Allen for his first-ever NHL goal.
Shane Wright was, as you can imagine, thrilled. Many saw it as his great revenge and that he showed the Canadiens what they were missing out on.
“What matters most to me is my first goal,” he said. “I think that’s the most important part. It doesn’t matter who it’s against, you know how when and I think just in general the feeling of scoring your first goal in the NHL is always an incredible feeling and that’s the part I’ll remember the most.”
Social media exploded in tweets and posts about Wright; some even called it ”poetic.”
Wright also agreed that it was something special and that it ”was a little something to it.”
“Maybe a little bit,” he said, per Fox13 Seattle. “For me, it was more important coming off the conditioning stint in my first game after that, that was more important to kind of come out with a good start and to really show that the time down there helped me out to really grow and developed a lot down there. So yeah, I wouldn’t say it would be sweeter going against any other team or Montreal or whatever it is. I think overall it just feels good to score in general.”
