John Barr (aka [@NHLtoSeattle](https://twitter.com/NHLtoSeattle)) said on the latest Sound of Hockey podcast
>I believe [Shane Wright] is going to play in the AHL [for the 2023-24 season], and I believe we’re close to hearing confirmation that he will be eligible to play in the AHL.
Now, he could just be speculating on this. He didn’t say “I know”. But Barr is someone who is close to the team and organization and it’s possible he has heard something behind the scenes. The timing is also just logical. Camp starts in September and all involved need to know where Wright can play in the next few weeks. Even without Barr saying anything I think it’d be safe to assume a decision one way or the other would happen soon. If Barr is so confident that Wright will be AHL-eligible then that raises my hopes he will be.
The segment about Shane Wright starts at 16:18 of the latest Sound of Hockey Podcast, episode 249. If you aren’t already subscribed somewhere, you can listen to the episode here https://www.stitcher.com/show/sound-of-hockey
by SiccSemperTyrannis
9 Comments
**For background**, the NHL and Canadian Hockey League (parent league of the OH, WHL, and QMJHL) have an agreement that says players have to be a certain age or have a certain number of CHL years played before they can be sent to the AHL. Unless they meet those requirements, an NHL team’s options are to bring the player up to the NHL or send them back to the player’s CHL team. The purpose is to keep talent in the CHL to help that league sell tickets as people want to see high profile players. The Kraken had this problem last season and it’s why Shane Wright kept bouncing between so many places. He wasn’t ready to be in the NHL full time, but he didn’t have anything left to learn in the OHL.
Now, Wright is a unique case for several reasons. First, he was given OHL exceptional status which means he was so good that he started playing in the OHL a year earlier than most players. However, he and lots of OHL players lost an entire season due to COVID. He also was a single game short of meeting the CHL’s normal games played requirement to qualify as a season played after getting sent down last season in January. He had an injury and his team got swept in the 1st round of the playoffs, giving him only 24 games played, just short of the 25 game requirement. If he had played 1 more game he would have the necessary qualifying seasons and be AHL eligible.
Ron Francis has apparently been working for the last few months to get the OHL to grant Wright a special waiver given these unique circumstances so that he can be assigned full-time to the Coachella Valley Firebirds. That is probably the best development path for Wright since there really is not a spot in the top 9 forwards for him with the Kraken right now.
There’s a more detailed analysis in this article under the “Where will Wright play during the 2023-24 season?” section if you want to learn more https://soundofhockey.com/2023/05/23/shane-wrights-short-term-outlook-with-the-kraken-remains-to-be-determined/.
This should slot well for Kartye to make roster, I would think?
I would be so stoked if they made an exception for him. He needs to play in a faster and stronger environment than the ohl can provide
As a Coachella Valley resident, I sure hope he’s playing here next season. I was at the Western Conference final clinching game and he didn’t light it up or anything but he won some key faceoffs and was good forechecking and keeping the puck in the offensive zone.
The ECH guys think it’s going the other way, we will see what happens. Until I get hard news that he is eligible for the AHL, I’d go under the assumption that he won’t be going to the AHL.
I really hope he gets an exception here and his 2022-23 season counts as one in the OHL. He would have surpassed the 25 game threshold if he wasn’t injured for most of February. He was with the team for way more than 25 games but wasn’t in the lineup due to injury.
I’m not sure how the CHL-NHL agreement decided on 25 games making a season, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it had something to do with the WHL drafting a year earlier than the OHL and the Q (because in practice top 15 y/o players only get called up for a couple of games with their WHL team)
Just fyi, Sticher is shutting down Tuesday (2023-08-29)
https://stitcher.helpshift.com/hc/en/1-stitcher/section/151-stitcher-farewell-1687885657/
It does seem like all parties would need to know in the next few weeks.
Vibes only, but I have a harder time envisioning them making an exception for Wright because he didn’t meet the minimum number of games this past season. He had injuries, got swept in the playoffs, etc., but that leaves him two seasons short of eligibility, not just one. For the CHL, the stakes are higher than Shane Wright, per se. Covid is a one off factor that is easier to dismiss, but add a second season of missed eligibility and it’s harder to write off.
Who knows though. We’ll see soon enough.
I have said before, if the CHL forces Wright to play another year of junior hockey, their are just acting like a greedy cartel. It’s one game! And it’s surely not in the interest of Wright’s development.