New Jersey Devils notes: On Wright and Bear Watch

I took a closer look at Shane Wright's draft year production and a potential target for blueline depth.

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A few New Jersey Devils notes as we wait for the season to conclude and the off-season madness to begin:

On Shane Wright’s production

Shane Wright is likely to be the 1st overall pick in July. Perhaps very likely. But this isn’t a Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews draft where, whether there’s noise or not, you can say with certainty who is going to be selected first.

There’s at least a chance Wright is there for the taking at No. 2. As such, I think it makes sense to spend some time on him.

One knock we’ve seen is that his platform year was good but not great; at least for a guy projected to go 1st. There is some truth to that.

While his raw outputs are solid, 13 OHL players have averaged more primary points per game since 2015.

Connor McDavid, Mitch Marner, Andrei Svechnikov, Matthew Tkachuk were highly ranked prospects who panned out exactly as expected. Consensus No. 1 or not, there’s no shame in falling behind them.

Nick Suzuki and Alex DeBrincat were ultra productive prospects (clearly) who slipped due to flaws scouts thought would hinder them at the next level. With Suzuki, it was skating/pace. With DeBrincat it was *checks notes* being small. You’d like Wright to outperform them but, again, if that’s the kind of player he becomes, you’re still happy.

Then there’s the rest of the group: Dylan Strome, Quinton Byfield, Jack Quinn, Marco Rossi, Cole Perfetti and Jacob Perreault.

Strome disappointed but it’s too early to make definitive calls about the others. Regardless of what happens with the latter group, though, it is a little discouraging that the consensus No. 1 prospect was out-produced by players who went 8th, 9th, 10th, and 27th in their classes.

If we focus on primary points at even-strength, Wright moves up the table a little bit. He ranks 10th among all OHLers from 2015-22, beating out the likes of Suzuki and Tkachuk; guys who were more productive including all gamestates.

When comparing Wright’s outputs to others across the CHL as a whole, the closest recent comparable just might be New Jersey’s captain.