The neighborhood eyesore, the Wrights’ garage door. Looking like it had survived a shelling, because it had — from two athletic and competitive teenagers.
The younger child, Shane, had proudly put his first hockey puck through it at about 6 years old. Balled-up plastic bags kept birds from coming inside. An older couple walking by once commented that it looked mangy.
“We were an embarrassment to our neighborhood,” their mother, Tanya Wright, recalled.
After many years of dedicated service, the garage door in Burlington, Ontario, was retired and replaced. The kids have upgraded their equipment. Maddie, 21, studies kinesiology and plays soccer at the University of Waterloo.
Shane, 18, was selected fourth overall by the Kraken in the 2022 NHL entry draft. He did what he needed to do to lock down a roster spot in training camp. If he’s deemed not quite ready for a full NHL season, he’d return to juniors.
“I think he’s ready. But it is what it is,” Tanya said. “We’ll support whatever decision.”
It was a good sign when general manager Ron Francis on Friday teased Wright’s regular-season debut in an interview with The Seattle Times.
“We’re hoping he can be here all year,” Francis added.
Seattle is a less-pressurized environment than the one Wright came from near Toronto, and the one he appeared bound for in Montreal. That could work in his favor in the long run.
“I don’t think anyone can ever say they’re fully ready,” big sister Maddie said. “But as far as having done all the preparation, having the tools and the support you need to get through it, I think he’s well set.
“If anyone can do it, I’m pretty sure Shane can handle it.”
***
Shane is an avid golfer and a YouTube-taught guitarist. If all goes well, the plan is to splurge on an instrument to keep in Seattle.
He has been in bed and reading by 10 each night, even during the past summer. Regimented, controlled, focused.
“I would call it slightly boring,” Maddie joked.
That’s how he’s coped with the pressure, his parents suspect. For about as long as he can remember, his hockey-crazed home country of Canada has kept tabs on him.
“I think all those little routines are ways that he managed those eyes and that pressure and people looking at him and watching him,” Tanya said. “This is one thing he could do and shut out other people’s opinions and noise.
“He has literally been under scrutiny in this sport since he was 9 years old.”
Shane, at about 2 ½, and Maddie tried a skating program. Maddie didn’t take to it like Shane did. She also didn’t melt down when teammates failed to follow the rules or take it seriously enough.
“Super competitive, thought everybody should already understand how games work, that you have to win,” Tanya said of little Shane.
“I was mortified, always. That never happened with Maddie.”
The hockey buzz started young.
“Wow, he did really well today, and he’s the youngest kid on the ice,” Tanya recalled. “You just keep supporting him and giving him opportunities and try to be normal about it.”
They made a family decision to have Shane’s father, Simon, who works as a director of sales for a large Canadian-based health and wellness organization, spend weekdays with Shane about an hour away from home, where he could play in the Greater Toronto Hockey League. Tanya, who teaches high-school math and science, stayed home with Maddie in Burlington.
“Is he on a path? This is the only way to know,” Simon recalled thinking. “You’ve got to push him to the edge of it to see.”
Clearly, Shane thrived. He was part of a small and elite club of hockey players granted exceptional status to play major junior a year early, at 15. He had to write an essay. He underwent a psychic evaluation at his kitchen table.
Shane was on the NHL track. The milestones that Maddie put so much care and attention into weren’t even on her brother’s radar. She asked if he even knew when his school’s prom was and was brushed off.
“I’d ask him sometimes, ‘Do you wish you did this?’ ” Maddie said. “And his answer would always be like, ‘Nope, I love what I do.’ ”
He’s watched Sidney Crosby, Simon said, how the superstar of Shane’s youth handled and behaved himself. Simon suggested Shane’s longtime number, No. 51, sort of based on Crosby’s method. Crosby’s birthday is Aug. 7, hence No. 87. Wright’s birthday is Jan. 5.
That’s about as fanciful of an anecdote as you’ll hear about Crosby for long stretches.
“There’s a reason you don’t hear much about Sid in the news. He’s very, very careful and controlled in how he manages himself,” Simon said. “I think [Shane] saw that as: ‘It works pretty good for this guy.’ ”
***
Shane doesn’t text randomly. But from Seattle, his parents started getting random, daily texts: “I love this place.”
“No ‘hello.’ Just, ‘I love it here,’ ” Tanya said.
They’re not heavy social-media users, in some part because they raised a hockey phenom. People could say whatever they wanted.
Shane didn’t shoot up the draft board — he was the presumptive top overall pick for quite some time. He had an outstanding first year with the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League. His 66 points in 58 games earned him the CHL Rookie of the Year award. A year away from competitive play during the pandemic scrambled the outlook, and a delayed sophomore season that didn’t blow away projections was seen as something of a disappointment.
He’s been studied and scrutinized. Not all of it was kind. Not all of it was true.
“He’s got good character. He’s coming from a good place. We know who he is — he’s a good kid,” Tanya said.
When it came time to pick a key piece of a rebuild, the Montreal Canadiens went another direction. So did the New Jersey Devils and Arizona Coyotes. He’d bombed the interviews, some speculated.
Like everyone else online before and after the draft, the Wrights were amused by the jokes surrounding Shane’s supposed glare at the Canadiens’ table after the Kraken picked him. Then, as these things often do, it got traction, got warped and got weird.
There are also positive developments, which friends will pass along. During an autograph session early in Kraken camp, Shane received a written request from a deaf fan. He sprinted back to the locker room for a stick. The exchange was widely shared, and Tanya teared up when she saw it.
“I know that that’s the kid that he is,” Tanya said. “But I love when other people get a glimpse of that, too.”
“I just hope he doesn’t run out of hockey sticks,” Simon added.
Tanya is on leave this semester. The fall is for watching Shane’s first NHL training camp and his big-league debut. They had dinner the night before his first preseason game, and his parents could tell he was nervous.
“I knew he was just going to step in and understand he’s the rookie with the most to learn, but not be intimidated in this space. I do think he knows he belongs here,” Tanya said.
Crosby famously lived with Pittsburgh Penguins captain Mario Lemieux at the start of his career, an arrangement that lasted several years. Kraken alternate captain Jaden Schwartz hosted Shane for about a week before rookie camp. Schwartz called him a good house guest — very polite.
“When I was young, I was fortunate to have a lot of good veterans and leaders around to help me out, show me the ropes, give me tips here and there,” Schwartz said. “Being a little bit of an older guy now, it’s nice to help those guys out.”
Another member of the team leadership, Yanni Gourde, said unlike his own 18-year-old self, Wright hasn’t shied away from getting involved and speaking up.
“You can’t be impressed by anything. You’ve just got to go out there and play your game, do what you do best, do what made you successful to get to this level,” Gourde said. “If he does that, he’s got the skill set, the talent. He’s got every tool in the bag, too, to be successful.
“It’s going to be fun to watch him play.”
***
Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes created a stir when he called the preseason performances from Juraj Slafkovsky, the player Montreal took first overall, “a little underwhelming” to that point. Slafkovsky, who ultimately made the opening night roster, had yet to score.
Wright had a few close calls but didn’t score in the preseason. You won’t hear Francis make a similar comment.
Seattle has a busy sports market, and hockey officially joined it just a year ago. Wright won’t often be recognized in public. He’s used to watching eyes, but now he gets to see how he likes a lower profile.
“This community has been an absolute perfect spot in so many ways,” Simon said.
And now he’s a valued member of the neighborhood.
“I’m living out my dream here. I’ve living out something I’ve been working toward and dreaming of my entire life,” Shane said after his preseason debut. “Couldn’t ask for a better situation.”
