The teams holding the first two picks in this summer's NHL Draft have scheduled meetings with OHL star Shane Wright, Sportsnet's Jeff Marek reports.
According to Marek, Wright will meet with the Montreal Canadiens — who will pick first overall on home ice at the Bell Centre — for the first time on Monday at this week's draft combine. Following the combine, which runs from Monday to Friday in Buffalo, the New Jersey Devils — holders of the second pick in the draft — will fly Wright out to their facilities for "a series of extended interviews."
Marek adds that the Devils will be bringing six or seven other prospects in for meetings as well.
Wright has been widely considered the consensus No. 1 pick in the draft for a couple of years now, ever since he was granted exceptional status by the OHL as a 15-year-old. While Logan Cooley of the U.S. Development Program and Slovak star Juraj Slafkovsky have certainly made strong cases this season, our draft prospect insider Sam Cosentino had Wright ranked No. 1 in his most recent projection.
"Thanks to the finer points in his game and the details away from the puck, Wright still remains the top player available," Cosentino wrote in April.
Wright, a native of Burlington, Ont., was the captain of the Kingston Frontenacs this season and had 32 goals and 94 points in 63 games before adding 14 points in 11 playoff games.
