from Bob McKenzie of TSN,

Let’s make one thing clear from the get-go: The 2022 NHL Draft is the Shane Wright Draft.

The Kingston Frontenacs’ centre is the unanimous No. 1 on TSN’s Pre-Season 2022 NHL Draft Rankings. Ten out of 10 scouts surveyed by TSN identified the 6-foot, 185-pound Burlington, Ont., native as the clear-cut choice.

And, until further notice, they say it’s not even close.

“No. 1 this year is his to lose,” said an NHL team head scout. “It would take him having an unusually poor year and someone else having a surprisingly good season for him to not be No. 1 [next July].”

This should come as no surprise for a prospect who was awarded “exceptional” status by Hockey Canada in 2019, which allowed him to enter the Ontario Hockey League as a 15-year-old, a year earlier than usual, and who was Canadian Hockey League rookie of the year in 2020 after his first OHL season in Kingston.

In fact, not only is it highly likely he’ll be No. 1 at the 2022 NHL draft on July 7-8 in Montreal, but he also quite probably would have been No. 1 overall in last summer’s 2021 NHL draft had he been eligible.

Blue-chip prospect University of Michigan defenceman Owen Power went No. 1 overall to the Buffalo Sabres last July. Power will play for the Wolverines this season. He and Wright are quite likely to be teammates on Canada’s national junior team at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton.

Most of the 10 scouts who ranked Wright No. 1 to start this season said, in a hypothetical world, he would have been ahead of Power last year.

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