Wright on track maturing game with Firebirds | TheAHL.com

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer

It only seems that Coachella Valley Firebirds forward Shane Wright is older than his birth certificate indicates.

Wright, after all, has been a household hockey name for years. Nothing has been normal or routine for him.

He was barely a teenager when he was already attracting attention as an emerging star in the ultra-competitive world of minor hockey in the Greater Toronto Area. His teammates with the Don Mills Flyers included the likes of eventual NHL first-rounders Brandt Clarke and Brennan Othmann. It was that kind of environment that Wright dominated.

Then came 2019 and Hockey Canada granting Wright exceptional-player status, a decision that allowed him to join Kingston of the Ontario Hockey League as a 15-year-old. He delivered on the hype, providing 39 goals and 66 points to win top rookie honors in both the OHL and the Canadian Hockey League.

After COVID-19 wiped out the 2020-21 OHL season, a 17-year-old Wright earned the Kingston captaincy and supplied 94 points in 2021-22. By then the hockey world’s gossip machine was in full motion bandying about Wright’s name as a possible first-overall pick, and of course that spotlight only intensified when the Montreal Canadiens won the NHL Draft lottery that spring of 2022.

Debates raged, especially with the Habs hosting that year’s NHL Draft.

Instead Wright went fourth overall to the Seattle Kraken. He won a spot on the Seattle roster in training camp, but he was 18 and needed to play more, so the Kraken sent him to the Firebirds on a conditioning assignment. Wright showed plenty of promise, pocketing four goals in his first three games.

But the AHL was a short-term option. Wright captained Canada to a gold medal at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship; with that role in that tournament, the spotlight hardly gets any bigger anywhere outside of the NHL. He was then returned to junior, and after his rights were traded from Kingston to Windsor, he notched 37 points in 20 games before the Spitfires were abruptly swept in the first round of the OHL playoffs.

That early exit opened up an opportunity for the Kraken to return Wright to the Firebirds far earlier than expected. He was back in the AHL for the final weekend of the regular season, and got valuable experience on Coachella Valley’s ride all the way to Game 7 of the Calder Cup Finals.

“I learned the intensity of the playoffs,” said Wright, who finished with two goals and seven assists in…