Dan Bylsma Is The Perfect Coach For Shane Wright And His Success Will Continue Next Year With The Kraken

Shane Wright has been dominating the Calder Cup Playoffs and his success will follow him next year with the Seattle Kraken and Dan Bylsma.

With four goals and 10 points in 10 games, Wright has been electric for the Coachella Valley Firebirds. His offence in the finals has been key to the Firebirds' success and is a big reason as to why the series is tied 2-2.

As good as the 20-year-old's offence has been in the playoffs, his 200-foot game is where his full value is shown. Never taking a shift off or cheating for offence, Wright's game continues to grow with each passing game.

His leadership and will to win has never been in question. He's been a captain for Canada at every level and was the captain for the Kingston Frontenacs at 17. Feeding him the confidence to take on players in 1-on-1 situations and drive offence was what he was lacking but HC Dan Bylsma has unlocked that part of his game.

Bylsma was hired as the Pittsburgh Penguins' coach during the 2008-09 season and finished the season as Stanley Cup Champions. During his tenure with the Penguins, he had Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as his top two centres.

Crosby dealt with his concussion issues for most of Bylsma's tenure but when healthy, Crosby was enjoying some of his best offensive seasons. The same could be said for Malkin as well. During Bylsma's tenure, Crosby and Malkin each had seasons scoring 50 goals.

Wright's path to the NHL has been anything but normal. He was granted exceptional status and had a stellar rookie season in the OHL but his sophomore season was cancelled due to Covid-19. He dominated the U-18s that summer and in his draft year with the Frontenacs, he started the year off slowly but picked it up as the season went on. After the Kraken selected him with the fourth overall pick in the 2022 draft, Wright played eight games with the Kraken and eight games with the Firebirds before going back to the OHL with the Windsor Spitfires.

This season was the Burlington-born's first season where he could put 100% of his mind into playing hockey for one team and it paid off.

This season has allowed Wright to go through ups and downs and work alongside a coach who cares greatly about his development. His game and his mentality are NHL-ready and all signs point to it translating to the NHL in the near future.