And, in fact, a fight is one of the moments that he’s most remembered for – at least in the Wright household. On Nov. 9, 2002, the Blue Jackets beat the Rangers by a 6-3 score in Nationwide Arena, and while Wright contributed a shorthanded goal to the cause, he also was part of a memorable line brawl as the final horn blew.
Wright and massive Rangers wing Sandy McCarthy faced off as an undercard to the main event between Grant Marshall and Krzysztof Oliwa, then as Wright was being escorted to the CBJ bench by a linesman, he loaded up and tried to kick a stray New York helmet with his left foot.
Instead, Wright missed, then spun down to the ice on his follow through, drawing a smile and chuckle from McCarthy – as well as Wright's wife, Christina.
“I was cut from both eyelids, and I was mad," Wright remembers. "It was over by the penalty box, and I was skating off and getting escorted off the ice. I was yelling at (Rangers head coach) Bryan Trottier. There was a Ranger helmet at center ice, and I tried to kick their helmet into the bench, and I fell.
“You know, you just got beat up in front of 20,000 people. Now you fall. You're bleeding from both eyelids. So I come out after, and my wife's waiting, and she's like, ‘That is the funniest thing I've ever seen.’ So, yeah, it's alive in our household. ... My kids play it for me all the time.”
That passion and never-back-down attitude are among the reasons Wright is remembered so fondly by the CBJ faithful. He arrived in Columbus as part of the 2000 expansion draft, selected from Pittsburgh after spending four seasons with the Penguins and four more with Edmonton, who chose him in the first round of the 1991 NHL draft.
After scoring just five goals with six assists in 188 games in his first three years in Pittsburgh, the 26-year-old Wright was coming off a career year (12 goals, 22 points in 50 games) with the Pens when he was chosen by the Blue Jackets.
Wright had played with such names as Jaromir Jagr, Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Alex Kovalev, Martin Starka and Petr Nedved in Pittsburgh, then found himself in a very different spot in both the hockey world and the lineup when he arrived in Columbus. Wright averaged 16 goals and 118 penalty minutes per season in his first three years with the Blue Jackets and twice was named an alternate captain.
“I think it was a unique situation for me coming from a team like in Pittsburgh, where I had to kind of play a certain role to stay in the lineup,” Wright said. “Then I had the opportunity through the expansion draft to come to Columbus, and we were a little bit of a misfit team. You know, I kind of always say we were the Bad News Bears. And I say that in a good way, because we did a lot of stuff off the ice, like, we were really tight. We didn't win a ton of games, but we were pretty close.
“I think the city of Columbus and the fans in the original days, they appreciated hard work and that kind of tenacity that I brought. I usually bit off a little bit more than I could chew a lot of times as well.”
Wright left quite a legacy in Columbus, as he was thrice nominated for the NHL’s King Clancy Memorial Trophy for leadership and was selected as the team’s Community MVP in 2002-03 after helping get the team’s Hats for Heroes program off the ground and dedicating himself to pediatric cancer causes.
Off the ice and on it, Wright exemplified the early years of the CBJ franchise, and the city remained home as he served as first a development coach and later as director of amateur scouting with the Blue Jackets.
“I relish my time here,” said Wright, who is now director of player personnel for the Los Angeles Kings. “For me, when I think of the most success and when I think of myself as a player, I think myself as a Blue Jacket.”
Savard Looks Back
If there were to be a trophy named after Savard in the CBJ locker room, it would be the golden ice bag.
No one took more punishment from pucks in their career than the defenseman, who used his big frame, sizable backside and a high tolerance for pain to block 958 shots, the most in Blue Jackets history.
After leaving to win the Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay in 2021 and then spending four years with his hometown team in Montreal, Savard called it quits at the end of last season, retiring after 870 games and 14 seasons.
And yes, it feels good to leave the bumps and bruises behind.
“I feel better,” Savard said with a laugh. “Some nights it felt a little harder than other nights, but it definitely feels nice to not have the ice bags every day.”
That Savard became known for preventing goals more than scoring them in his NHL career is a lesson in perseverance. Savard had 13 goals and 77 points in 64 games his final season in juniors with Moncton, then tallied 11 times among 44 points in his first pro season with AHL Springfield.
But while Savard had natural offensive talent, he realized that his ticket to not just making it to but staying in the NHL was dedicating himself to the defensive side of the game. There are only so many jobs for offensive defensemen, and while Savard didn’t have the skill of a Zach Werenski, he did have the heart and ability to sell out to stop opposing teams.
“I didn't want to go back down (to the minors),” said Savard, who spent the majority of three seasons in the AHL before sticking full-time with the Blue Jackets. “So I just had to figure out a way to be in the lineup every night, and I kind of saw a chance to be a PK guy and to be good defensively. I jumped on that challenge, and honestly, I kind of fell in love with it.
“I just loved when the team took penalties and stuff. Like, the offensive guy loves when there's a power play, but it was the same thing for a defensive guy. When there's six PKs and you end up killing all of them, it feels pretty good at the end of the night.”
In the end, it proved to be a smart decision for Savard, who spent 10 seasons with the Blue Jackets, totaling 41 goals (tied for third among CBJ defensemen) and 166 points (fourth among CBJ D) in 597 games before being traded to the Lightning at the deadline in 2021. He was a model of consistency in Columbus, playing all 82 games twice, placing second all-time among CBJ defensemen with a plus-24 rating, and blocking at least 100 shots seven times with the team.
His return to Columbus this weekend brought back memories, especially because previous trips with the Habs didn’t allow him the chance to truly enjoy the city he called home for so long.
“Honestly, I'm super happy to be here,” he said. “Everything happens so fast when you get traded, and we did come back to play some games, but I actually never came back and just kind of relaxed and walked around. I went back to the little spots in the last few days that I used to go to all the time ... so it’s fun for me to be back in the city.”
And through a fluke of timing, Savard was in Columbus to see one of his career records go by the wayside. His 597 games played were the most in franchise history for a defenseman until Werenski skated in his 598th career game Thursday with Savard in attendance, and the former CBJ blueliner was happy to pass the torch.
“I knew it was going to happen at some point,” Savard said. “It’s cool. I didn’t even know it was me for a long time until it kind of popped up that he was going to beat me or something this year. So that’s cool for him.”
